Browns definitely considering Cam Akers as replacement for Nick Chubb, per report

With Chubb out long-term, the Cleveland Browns are looking into L.A. Rams running back Cam Akers

The Cleveland Browns lost Nick Chubb for the season, if not longer, due to a devastating knee injury on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers and it is no surprise that they’re immediately looking for running backs who could help fill the void. One such obvious name brought up is Cam Akers, the L.A. Rams running back who has been deactivated due to another “difference in philosophy” with Sean McVay, and a Cleveland insider reported on Tuesday that the Browns are indeed considering a trade for him.

Mary Kay Cabot, known for often breaking Browns news, reported on Tuesday that the team is looking into both Akers and free agent Kareem Hunt.

With Nick Chubb set to undergo season-ending knee surgery soon, the Rams’ Cam Akers and former Browns running back Kareem Hunt are among the possible replacements the Browns are exploring, league sources say.

Akers had a serious injury of his own in the summer of 2021, tearing his Achilles and missing almost the entire season. He miraculously returned to play in the final regular season game and all four playoff games en route to the Rams winning the Super Bowl. However, Akers has not been a dynamic runner in the NFL, either after or before the injury, and he has had an issue with fumbles. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry in 2022 and was a healthy scratch in Weeks 6 and 8 while the team was searching for a trade offer that never came.

He returned in the second half of the year, after L.A. had fallen out of the playoff race and placed most of their key starters on IR, and ended up rushing for 410 yards and 5.5 YPC in his final four games. Prior to then, Akers was rushing for 3.33 yards per carry and had lost two fumbles. He’s also not much of a help in the passing game as either a pass blocker or a receiver.

Akers had 22 carries for only 26 yards in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks and news broke just before Week 2’s game against the San Francisco 49ers that he would be inactive and not play as the team searched for another trade offer.

The Browns now may be one team desperate enough to take him off of L.A.’s hands.

Others who are rumored to have checked with the Rams on Akers are the Ravens, who lost JK Dobbins for the season, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would be reunited with Baker Mayfield.

For the Rams to get anything other than a late round pick swap for Akers, there would have to be multiple teams who really want him. That still seems unlikely, as Kareem Hunt could be an even better option for Cleveland since he knows their offense, their coaching staff, their players, and he’s more valuable in the passing game. However, the Browns could need both Akers and Hunt to fill even a small part of the void that is left by losing one of the NFL’s best all-around players.