Malcolm Brown could be odd man out if Rams bring back C.J. Anderson in 2019

Malcolm Brown and C.J. Anderson are just two of numerous decisions the Los Angeles Rams will focus on this offseason during free agency.

After coming up just short of winning Super Bowl 53 against the New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Rams face plenty of major decisions this offseason to put them in the best position possible to make another deep run during the 2019 season.

From deciding on whether Dante Fowler Jr. deserves to return for his first full season to figuring out whether Ndamukong Suh would be worth another hefty deal, the Rams will face plenty of tough choices once free agency officially gets underway next March.

As for the offensive side of the football, one of the biggest decisions Los Angeles will need to address is what to do in the backfield when it comes to backing up Todd Gurley.

Over the last couple of years, Malcolm Brown has proven to be quite the reliable No. 2 running back, and has received plenty of praise for his ability as a blocker, but the circumstances changed once his season came to an end in December with a shoulder injury.

Between Brown being out for the remainder of the regular season along with Gurley dealing with a minor knee injury, Los Angeles was in need of help at the running back position, which is part of the reason C.J. Anderson was signed towards the end of the year, and the rest was history.

Never in a million years did anyone think Anderson would end up rushing for 100+ yards three games in a row (including playoffs), and even lead the Rams in the ground game during the NFC Championship when Gurley had one of the worst games of his career, but it happened.

In fact, the argument can be made that without Anderson, chances are Los Angeles never would have made it to the Super Bowl, making it easy to understand why the Rams seem to be strongly considering the possibility of bringing the veteran back in 2019.

Gurley has always proven to be an absolute workhorse of a running back who always seemed capable of handling as many snaps as Los Angeles needed him to, but watching him team up with Anderson showed just how dangerous the offense truly could be.

Of course, if the Rams were to bring Anderson back to continue teaming up with Gurley, this would most likely mean Brown, a restricted free agent, would be the odd man out.

While Gurley and Anderson would handle the majority of the carries for obvious reasons, it seems unlikely that Los Angeles would want to give up on John Kelly and Justin Davis since their potential seems to be too high.

Brown has been a fan favorite over the years, and even Sean McVay has praised on numerous occasions just how impressed he was with him at running back, but the NFL is still a business at the end of the day, meaning if it’s time to move on, then so be it.

On a positive note, at least if the Rams did in fact decide to move on from Brown, and figure out a way to bring Anderson back for another season, this would be a major upgrade in the backfield since from a production perspective, these two are on completely different levels.