Vikings’ Old Friend Gets Cut by Saints
Tuesday marks the official cutdown date for all 32 NFL teams to trim their rosters down to 53 players.
That means a number of players are hitting free agency or the waiver wire all at once over the next few days, and on Monday, the New Orleans Saints officially decided to get rid of an old friend of the Minnesota Vikings.
Saints Part Ways with Vikings’ Old Friend
That player is running back Cam Akers, who has spent portions of each of the past two years in Minnesota.
The news was reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, who posted to X, writing, “The #Saints released RB Cam Akers, per source.”
Akers himself actually responded to the news on X as well, posting, “NFL a crazy place.”
The running back, a former second-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams during the 2020 NFL Draft, has become a very familiar face to Minnesota Vikings fans since he first joined the team in 2023.
Akers was productive as a rookie for the Rams, totaling 145 carries for 625 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground over 13 games.
However, Akers missed most of the 2021 campaign due to a torn Achilles. He was able to return just in time for the playoffs, and during that playoff run on the way to a Super Bowl, he led the way in carries with 67 for 172 yards along with eight receptions for 76 yards.
Akers remained in Los Angeles until the start of the 2023 season when the Rams decided to trade him to the Vikings as Minnesota found themselves struggling to get any type of production in the running game.
Akers played six games for the Vikings in 2023 before unfortunately tearing his other Achilles tendon, leaving him on IR for the remainder of the year. In those six games, he totaled 38 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown.
Akers then signed with the Houston Texans to begin the 2024 campaign, but the running back was again traded to Minnesota last October after playing five games, including two starts, for the Texans.
Akers then proceeded to play the final 12 games for Minnesota, totaling 64 carries for 297 yards and a touchdown to conclude the year.
Akers then decided to sign with the Saints this offseason, hoping to land a job behind Alvin Kamara in New Orleans’ backfield.
Obviously, that reality never unfolded, and now, Akers is back to searching for his next NFL landing spot. It seems unlikely that he could make a return to Minnesota, given the fact that Jordan Mason is around as RB2 and Zavier Scott seems set to take on the RB3 role, but if an injury were to occur, it cannot be entirely ruled out.
Akers turned 26 years old in June.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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