We finally have a little more clarity on the status of Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley. All offseason, Gurley's health has been a huge mystery, with conflicting reports flying seemingly every week. Gurley clearly wasn't himself down the stretch last season, as the Rams increasingly gave C.J. Anderson more and more snaps.
There was a report months ago that Gurley had arthritis in his knee, and now we have at least partial confirmation of that.
Gurley's trainer Travelle Gaines spoke with CBS Sports recently, and confirmed there was an “arthritic component” to his knee.
“Everybody knew when Todd came out of Georgia that there would be some kind of arthritic component to his knee, which is part of every surgery whether it's a shoulder, a knee, an ankle,” Gaines said. “He's now at the year-five mark, all we're doing is managing that. If we can pound him less in the offseason while keeping his weight down, working on his strength, working on his agility in short areas, that's going to give him a better chance to be healthy Weeks 14 through 17 when they really count.”
While Gaines downplayed it, he also more or less confirmed the initial report. The Rams raised a lot of eyebrows when they traded up to draft Memphis running back Darrell Henderson, but Gaines isn't too concerned.
“It's never been told to me that there's a plan to decrease his workload come Week 1,” he said.
Even if the Rams aren't overly concerned about Gurley's knee, it's still likely they'll look to scale back his workload early on. Los Angeles needs him for the postseason, so don't be surprised if he's splitting carries with Henderson early on.
As for Gurley's absences last year, Gaines said he merely “got a little tired toward the end of last year because he was carrying the ball a lot.”
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