KEONI'S WAIVER WIRE PICKUP - WEEK 14
Cam Akers- Los Angeles Rams RB
Each week it seems to become more and more difficult to decide who to take off the waiver wire. It is as if we are climbing the tower in the Game of Death along with Bruce Lee, with each progressive floor becoming more and more treacherous to navigate. When all seems lost and it seems as if your team will make a quick exit from the upcoming playoffs, we hope to act as the spiritual guide like a Navi or Tatl to Link for your own legendary tales. However, we are not going to be saying “Hey, listen” every five seconds leading you to speed run the game for the sake of your sanity resulting in you getting your ass handed to you by Calamity Ganon in the end. We hope to avoid that at all costs.
I think one of the best chances you can have to take advantage in your initial playoff matchup and beyond is to pick up Cam Akers. He faces the New England Patriots first which is his most daunting matchup of the next three. They just shut down Austin Ekeler and the Los Angeles Chargers, but to be fair, the Rams are the much better LA team. Here’s a pretty neat fun fact in regard to the Patriots rushing defense; 2/3 of the touchdowns they've given up to the position have been to the teams in the NFC West which includes the LA Rams. I don’t know how relevant that is, but it’s a flashy stat to pad this argument. Even more enticing in regard to Akers is his tremendous leap in terms of snap count over the past two weeks.
In week 12, Akers had a 27% snap count which was his highest since week one where he had 35% of the snap count. However, in this past week, he more than doubled that 27% by getting 62% of the snap count compared to Henderson and Brown’s 23% and 15%, respectively. He has clearly taken the lead in that backfield most likely due to the 80+ yards and a touchdown he had in week 12 despite the low snap count. He also had a touchdown this past week along with 72 yards.
Another positive aspect for Akers, in this specific matchup, is that New England often shuts down the best player on a team. For the Rams, that is arguably either Robert Woods or Cooper Kupp. Hopefully, this leaves room for Akers to get decent yardage and possibly into the endzone. The ultimate cherry on top is if you are able to make it to weeks 15 and 16, the Rams face the “not afraid to show we are tanking” New York Jets and then the Seattle Seahawks. Both are great matchups that give him RB 2 potential with the Patriots presenting him as a nice flex option for your team. He is 35.7% owned, so I wouldn’t wait to get him now before his matchups get way better than the Patriots.
