Should the Saints take a chance on Cam Akers?

At just 2-5 so far this season and all the way at the bottom of the NFC South, things aren't looking too good at the moment for the New Orleans Saints. With the NFL Trade Deadline quickly approaching on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, with a 4:00 PM Eastern Time deadline, it will be interesting to see if general manager Mickey Loomis will make any moves between now and then.

The Saints definitely have several areas of opportunity to address that will easily take them a few years to address. One of which is their rushing attack which has been lacking as of late. There is only so much running backs Mark Ingram and even Alvin Kamara can do. Ingram is getting up there in age and doesn't resemble the rusher we all used to love many years ago.

Kamara has yet to score a single touchdown this season as it might make sense for the Saints to make a low-risk, high-reward trade for someone like running back Cam Akers. It could help the Saints bolster this part of the team as having a better 1-2 punch at running back could help the cause to have it be a strength again on offense. Rumors have been circulating that the Los Angeles Rams are in talks with "several teams" looking for the right partner to trade Akers where it works out for all parties.

The Saints would be wise to add better depth at RB with Cam Akers

While it shouldn't be expected that Akers will come to the Saints' offense and immediately light things up, at the very least he would provide a new style of rushing to the running back corps. Ingram just isn't cutting it anymore and Kamara has been dealing with a lingering ribs injury so far this season. It would be great to actually have a new running back behind both of them to spell relief and shake things up, especially in 3rd and short situations.

A late-round draft pick should be all that is needed to bring Akers in and see if that'll help boost things with the Saints' rushing attack. All Akers needs is a new opportunity with a change of scenery as that could bring back that spark the football world saw in his rookie season back in 2020 before his unfortunate torn ACL injury in 2021.

In 2020 with the Rams, Akers totaled 625 rushing yards on 145 attempts, two touchdowns, and averaged 4.3 yards per attempt. These are decent numbers and who knows, perhaps Akers could be a hidden diamond in the rough if he comes to the Saints ready to take care of business on a new team that is in dire need of more offensive playmakers.

In the grand scheme of things, yes, the Saints should definitely take a chance on Akers. They have nothing to lose and honestly if it takes a late-round draft pick to make it happen, it might be worth it if it'll help the Saints win a few more games this season. Winning fixes everything and the Saints need more of it immediately.