Cam Akers injury: Fantasy football fallout for dynasty, redraft and more
By Drew DeLuca
I just drafted Cam Akers — now what? Who should I target?
We are sorry for your incredibly bad luck, though it pales in comparison to that of Akers and the Rams. If it’s a redraft league such as Scott Fish Bowl XI, prepare to cut bait ASAP; otherwise, follow our tips above for keeper and dynasty leagues.
Most likely, Darrell Henderson is gone, but maybe not: at the time of this writing, the 23-year-old third-year player was only 73 percent owned in Sleeper (and 60 percent owned in Yahoo!, per FantasyPros). He’s an obvious target and prime beneficiary as the “next man up” on the Rams’ backfield depth chart.
Henderson jumps all the way up to RB26 in my rankings and now finds himself in the same tier as Kareem Hunt, Javonte Williams, Travis Etienne, Chase Edmonds, Leonard Fournette, Damien Harris and Michael Carter. He may continue to rise up my rankings if the Rams elect to stand pat and refrain from making a run at a player like Melvin Gordon, whose days in Denver may be numbered, or one of a plethora of capable San Francisco 49ers running backs (such as Raheem Mostert or Wayne Gallman).
It’s also possible that the Rams could bring in an unsigned free agent running back, such as Le’Veon Bell, pass-catching specialist Duke Johnson, an ageless wonder like Frank Gore or Adrian Peterson, or perhaps even Todd Gurley. The latter already knows the offense and would provide depth and leadership to a young backfield stable.
Another possibility: the team could wait a few weeks until rosters are trimmed and bring in a cap casualty on a team-friendly deal. None of the possibilities above stopped Sleeper users from adding Xavier Jones to a whopping 307,399 teams (and counting) within hours of news breaking about the Akers injury.
Jones, a 23-year-old second-year player, has amassed a total of zero NFL carries or receptions and has touched a live ball only once in his NFL career as a member of the special teams unit. However, the former undrafted free agent signee was rather productive behind the line of scrimmage at SMU, and is our favorite of all speculative adds mentioned above.
Aside from Henderson and Jones, only Jake Funk, Raymond Calais, and Otis Anderson presently appear on the depth chart; Funk and Calais should be basically free on waiver wires for a reason, yet no harm comes from adding either as bench depth if you’re not sold on the idea of investing FAAB or trade capital to address the newly-created running back hole on your roster.