The rise and fall of Todd Gurley: How did it go so wrong, so quickly
Todd Gurley was my first love in the NFL. I’ve always enjoyed the spectacle of the Super Bowl, but it was the Offensive Rookie of the Year who truly enchanted me. He was the sole reason I was enticed into following the LA Rams, and three years later, I would have never imagined him not being an integral part of the team, let alone getting cut after such a drastic demise. But somehow, that’s how it’s unfolded. It feels like a first heartbreak.
The 23-year-old had already spent two years with the Rams, but my first season of watching coincided with his remarkable transition to the league’s best running back. He celebrated 19 touchdowns en route to being named Offensive Player of the Year, and bettered that the following season with 21 touchdowns while heading to Super Bowl LIII.
Gurley led the league in rushing touchdowns in both years, but it would be the build-up to that prestigious night — made that little bit more special by the Rams involvement — that would mark the beginning of the end for the Gurley-Rams lovefest. He had minimal impact as his team crumbled in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history, and in what subsequently proved to be his final season in Los Angeles, he put up career lows in rushing yards and total yards as the Rams missed out on the playoffs.
The three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro had once looked an unstoppable force, but it seemed a college injury sustained back in 2014 was undoing any progress. His injury record isn’t the only factor likely to be involved in his downfall, but it’s certainly the biggest.
Issues began in his final season with the Georgia Bulldogs, with Gurley tearing his ACL and ending his junior year after just six games. It also marked a premature end to his collegiate career after he decided to forgo his senior year in favour of the 2015 NFL draft. Selected 10th overall by the Rams — then located in St Louis — Gurley’s former troubles had little impact in his first three campaigns and it was only towards the concluding stages of the latter season that he publicly struggled. But in March 2019, it was revealed he was suffering from arthritis in the same knee that he previously injured.
Throughout his troubled year with the Rams, it was routinely questioned how open they had been about the extent of the injury. Even in the earlier build-up to the Super Bowl, mixed messages were given from the Rams camp and those looming doubts always remained. It seems the Rams were never truly honest with the degree of Gurley’s woes, but this ambiguity came back to haunt them when trying to pursue a trade.
Teams were dubious about the extent of the damage and all felt it was too problematic to risk in a trade. As a result, his Rams career came to an abrupt end on 19 March when he was released a day before he was due a $10.5 million bonus. Even now, it’s still a little raw to consider that Gurley won’t be lining up in royal blue and sol next year and that there weren’t weeks of rumours to soften the blow.
However, it’s simplistic to put his recent difficulties solely down to his problematic knee. The Rams’ offensive line changed considerably last year and not for the better. The options that guided them to the Super Bowl were an elite set of players who were fortunate to avoid injuries throughout the season. But shortly after, head coach Sean McVay lost left guard Rodger Saffold to the Tennessee Titans, center John Sullivan retired and right tackle Rob Havenstein succumbed to injury midway through the season. And the stats are there to prove the effects this had.
In just one year, the Rams went from having the league’s best Adjusted Line Yards to a mediocre 19th. The statistic is used to separate the ability of a running back from the offensive line and proves just how important the group were to the gameplan throughout their victorious NFC West campaign. Todd Gurley can’t be the sole reason for the Rams failing to make the playoffs, and they did still go 9–7 in the regular season. The Rams don’t require an immediate and total rebuild of the line and next season they could flourish once again. And that’s no fault of Gurley.
But regardless of what fans would consider to be the main issue, this may be the steepest decline of any player in recent years. It can’t be ignored that Gurley is still only 25 and could return to form with the Atlanta Falcons, but it’s unlikely we’ll see his league-leading standards again due to the nature of his injuries. With the right set-up, Gurley may not be finished just yet and could still improve on last season’s form. And as hard as it can be to accept, the Rams could be all the better for it.
