It's time for the Minnesota Vikings to unleash Cam Akers in 2023

Alexander Mattison has been a big letdown as the top running back for the Minnesota Vikings, so it's time for the team to give Cam Akers a bigger role in the offense.

A few weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings decided to make a low-risk move and make a trade with the Los Angeles Rams to acquire disgruntled running back Cam Akers.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell worked with Akers during their time together with the Rams in 2020 and 2021, so Minnesota figured it wouldn't be a difficult transition for the running back to make.

So far, Akers has been very efficient just about every time he's had a chance to make a play with the football in his hands. He's averaging 5.7 yards per rushing attempt, he has a 63.6 success rate when carrying the ball, and he has caught all five of his receiving targets (100 percent catch rate).

Yes, this is a small sample size, but when compared to fellow Vikings running back Alexander Mattison, Minnesota's offense has been much more successful when Akers gets the ball.

In six games this season, Mattison is only averaging 3.9 yards per carry, his success rate on rushing attempts is 46.3, and he's only caught 64.3 percent of his 28 receiving targets.

Akers has been with the Vikings for about a month now, and it's time for the team to give him more than the 5.3 touches he's been averaging in his three games with Minnesota this year.

Week 7 against the San Francisco 49ers would be a great time for the Minnesota Vikings to get Cam Akers more touches in their offensive backfield.

The Vikings' upcoming Week 7 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers is the perfect opportunity to get Akers more involved in the offense. The 24-year-old running back likely knows more of what to expect from the 49ers' defense since he faced them five times during his tenure with the Rams.

This past offseason, O'Connell mentioned multiple times how he wanted Minnesota's rushing attack to be more efficient during the 2023 season, and the numbers currently show that this has a better chance of being accomplished with Akers on the field instead of Mattison.

So instead of attempting to convince themselves that Mattison has what it takes to be a legitimate No. 1 running back in the NFL, the Vikings need to just face the music and admit they've been wrong about the veteran running back.

It's perfectly fine to make mistakes, they're always going to happen in the NFL. But at least Minnesota can quickly make up for their bad decision by making Akers a bigger part of their offense moving forward.