Certainly, Williams had a better outing in the season-opening victory and appeared to become McVay’s favorite back after scoring two touchdowns in Los Angeles’ surprising season-opening triumph. The preference shouldn’t matter, not in a league in which committee backfields are all the rage, but it apparently had enough of an impact to lead McVay to make Akers inactive on Sunday.
Without Akers, Williams had a similarly productive, but not overwhelmingly positive, day on Sunday, gaining 52 yards and scoring a rushing touchdown on 14 attempts. He was the only running back to record a rushing attempt in the Week 2 loss.
“It’s different. It’s more about always making decisions that are in the best interest of our football team,” McVay said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cam Akers, but I felt like for our football team today and in this game and as we moved forward, this was going to be the best decision for us.”
You don’t need a doctorate in psychology to read between the lines here: Akers is probably unhappy with his role in the Rams’ offense, and McVay isn’t interested in acquiescing.
Akers became just as unhappy in 2022, walking away from the team for several weeks in hopes of being dealt before the trade deadline. When that didn’t happen, he and the Rams found a way to work together again, which led to some of the best games of his career.
This time around, it appears McVay doesn’t have much patience for Akers’ displeasure.
“I think there will be an opportunity to see what it looks like in the future, but it’s not going to be a back and forth,” McVay said. “He and I had a great dialogue and we will see what happens in the coming days.”
In two weeks, the 2023 Rams are proving to be a fascinating group. They were not expected to face each other for the first time since the middle of the last decade. McVay is operating in a new space, no longer weighed down by the pressure of having to produce instant success, and the results suggest that McVay will operate without worrying about star power.
Take the receiving corps, currently led by Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell with Cooper Kupp on injured reserve. The former had a team-high 25 catches for 266 yards in two games, while the latter is finally starting to deliver on the second-round pick Los Angeles spent on him in 2021.
McVay doesn’t need to please his stars. He is free to try to win with whoever he deems to be his best option. For now, that option is Williams. We’ll see if Akers ends up finding a better opportunity elsewhere via trade, or if he works with the Rams to once again settle their differences for a second straight year.
Based on his phrase “the next few days,” it appears the window for finding common ground won’t last as long this time around.
