Los Angeles Rams: James Jones names Todd Gurley top 5 playmaker

After a breakout season in 2017, Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley was named a top 5 playmaker by former player and current NFL Network analyst James Jones.

As the Los Angeles Rams continue to pass the time before training camp, one of the biggest questions heading into the 2018 season will be whether Todd Gurley has what it takes to put together another monster year.

One year after failing to record a single 100-yard rushing game, Gurley exceeded all expectations in 2017 by helping the Rams make history by going from worst to first in scoring after recording 2,093 yards from the line of scrimmage to go along with 19 total touchdowns.

Even better, Gurley’s stellar play helped Los Angeles win the NFC West title over the Seattle Seahawks while making them the team to beat in the division for 2018 as well.

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Without question, Gurley and the Rams have finally earned the necessary respect across the NFL as a result of last season’s success. To top it all off, former NFL receiver and current NFL Network analyst James Jones rewarded Gurley with some additional recognition by naming the star running back one of the top 5 playmakers in the league at the moment.

Other than Deshaun Watson being ahead of him at No. 4, coming in at No. 5 on this list seems fair for someone like Gurley when looking at the kind of impact he made during the 2017 season.

Hiring Sean McVay‘s as the youngest head coach in NFL history in January 2017 was supposed to change the culture of this team in a good way, but nobody expected the decision to have this quick of an impact for Gurley and the rest of the Rams’ offense.

Now, the question becomes whether Gurley and company can continue playing at the same high level during the 2018 season since Los Angeles will be forced to deal with a new kind of pressure as a top team to beat throughout the year.

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At least with Gurley’s playmaking abilities like Jones discusses, doing so will be a lot easier for the Rams to accomplish while hopefully helping the team live up to the hype of being a top Super Bowl contender come September since the talent is certainly there to do so.