Todd Gurley’s hefty contract from Rams adds extra pressure after mysterious postseason

Until Los Angeles Rams get answer, Todd Gurley’s mysterious postseason is going to be the popular topic of discussion this offseason.

Towards the end of the regular season, there were some concerns surrounding Todd Gurley after the Los Angeles Rams running back was dealing with a knee injury that became a problem during the team’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

At the time, the Rams were in a decent position where they could afford to rest Gurley during the final two games since they were against struggling teams in the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.

Not to mention, C.J. Anderson, who was signed as insurance, turned out to be quite the surprise in the backfield after breaking the 100-yard rushing mark in both of those contests along with the first playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Round.

Call it lucky or not, all that mattered at the time for Los Angeles is they were able to win those final two games during the regular season without Gurley to allow him some extra rest time before returning in the Divisional Round, which the Rams managed to win 30-22.

As fans know, Gurley was right up there with Anderson when it came to breaking the 100-yard rushing mark after finishing with 115 rushing yards to go along with a trip into the end zone, making it seem like there were no reasons for concern involving his knee.

Flash forward to the following weekend in the NFC Championship, Gurley finished with arguably the most disappointing game of his career after rushing for just 10 yards and a touchdown on four carries in the win over the New Orleans Saints.

Rightfully so, the early speculation was Gurley’s knee was acting up again, and this was the main reason behind his disappointing performance, but Sean McVay continued to push the narrative this wasn’t the case at all.

With two more weeks to rest and prepare for the Super Bowl in what was expected to be a tough battle against the New England Patriots, the Rams knew they couldn’t afford to see another one of these performances by Gurley. Otherwise, Los Angeles would have a very difficult time defeating New England, which turned out to be the case.

Gurley’s numbers weren’t as bad in Super Bowl 53 as the NFC Championship, but how on earth does a running back with his level of talent only finish with 35 rushing yards on 10 carries in an important game like this?

No matter how bad things seemed at times throughout the contest, Gurley has proven to be an absolute workhorse at running back with the ability to handle anywhere between 20 and 30 carries if necessary.

So while it was difficult for the Rams to get anything consistent going in the ground game, it still doesn’t explain why McVay would only allow his star running back to receive 10 carries in a meaningful game like the Super Bowl.

Even more frustrating, the only thing that seems to make sense in regards to Gurley only seeing 10 carries in the Super Bowl is something was up with the knee, which McVay and the team continue to deny.

In good time, Rams fans will hopefully receive some sort of update over what was really going on with Gurley, but since answers have been hard to find from the team, some concerns over that hefty contract extension he received last offseason have all of a sudden come up.

Back in the offseason, it made perfect sense for Los Angeles to reward Gurley with the four-year, $60 million contract ($45 million guaranteed) to get this situation out of the way, and avoid any potential holdout down the road.

From a realistic stand point, Gurley will most likely use the next couple of months to rest his body, and return to full strength to make sure he’s 100 percent healthy for Week 1 in September, as the Rams will be motivated more than ever to make another run at the Super Bowl.

However, as mentioned before, until there are actual answers in regards to what was really going on with Gurley that make sense, it’s going to be difficult for some fans not to wonder if the team jumped the gun on giving the running back that hefty contract when they did.

For a running back that found the end zone 40 total times over the last two seasons, Gurley only receiving 14 total carries between the NFC Championship and Super Bowl just sounds mind blowing to think about, so here’s to hoping some answers emerge sooner rather than later.

Otherwise, the additional pressure that Gurley was already going to be feeling could end up hitting a whole new level heading into the 2019 season as a result of the hefty contract he’ll be playing under.