Many considered Todd Gurley the king of NFL running backs last year. People are sure singing a different tune now. After a 2019 campaign in which the Los Angeles Rams star barely even looked like a mere shell of himself, one must really wonder what the future holds for Gurley.
In 15 games this season, Gurley rushed for 857 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging just 3.8 yards per carry. He also logged just 31 catches for 207 yards and a couple of scores.
This coming from a guy who racked up 1,251 yards and 17 rushing scores while registering a robust 4.9 yards per attempt in 2018. Oh, and by the way, he also caught 58 passes for 580 yards and four touchdowns that season.
And going back to 2017? Gurley totaled 1,305 yards while reaching the end zone 13 times as a rusher, hauling in 64 receptions for 788 yards and six touchdowns.
The man who was once, at worst, a top-three halfback in the league may now no longer even be an every-down back, and he has a knee injury to thank for it.
When Gurley injured his knee in Week 15 of 2018, missing the final two games of the regular season and basically no-showing in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl as a result, a whole lot of people worried about his prospects moving forward, and the fact that Gurley remained mum on his health status throughout the offseason was even more alarming.
The Rams clearly tried taking it easy with Gurley early on in 2019, limiting his workload to try and keep him fresh (regardless of what Sean McVay says). That didn't work.
Do you realize that Gurley didn't have a single game this season where he rushed for 100 yards? Not one.
Yes, he is just 25 years old, but it has become very obvious that his knee is a problem, and based on the fact that Gurley has had over a year since getting injured and hasn't looked any better, there seems to be a chance this could be a chronic issue, which is what some people feared after last season.
Gurley can still dial it up every now and then, but for the most part, he has been relegated to an essential afterthought, and Los Angeles' offense has suffered as a result.
Why do you think Jared Goff took such a major step back this year? Why do you think McVay suddenly looks like much less of a strategic genius?
When you lose a player of Gurley's caliber (which is basically what has happened), it severely affects your entire gameplan, and the once-dominant Rams saw the results in a middling 9-7 campaign in which they missed the playoffs entirely after going 13-3 and making it all the way to the Super Bowl a year ago.
Hopefully, Gurley is able to get healthy and turn things around, but judging from the way he looked this season, it's hard to envision that happening, and that is very sad.
Gurley deserves credit for battling in 2019 and for handling the situation with class, but the production just wasn't there.
Still, because of how hard he fought, I'm giving Gurley a B-minus grade for his performance this season.
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