Rams better hope duo of Todd Gurley, Malcolm Brown pays off in 2019

It appears the Los Angeles Rams feel confident in Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown leading the way in the backfield during the 2019 season.

After watching C.J. Anderson step up in a big way towards the end of the regular season along with the playoffs, it almost seemed like a guarantee that the veteran running back would be back in the picture for the Los Angeles Rams during the 2019 season to compliment Todd Gurley.

Towards the end of last season when Gurley was dealing with a knee injury, it was Anderson that came through when the Rams needed him the most after rushing for 299 yards with a touchdown during the final two games against the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.

Even when Gurley returned for the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys, and split carries with Anderson, the duo seemed like they had all sorts of potential for 2019 since this appeared to give Los Angeles a major advantage in the backfield.

Instead, Anderson is still a free agent, and while the concerns continue to pile up about Gurley afer news broke that he’s dealing with arthritis in his knee, the Rams quietly made an underrated move by matching the offer Malcolm Brown received from the Detroit Lions.

All of a sudden, Los Angeles will be going from the duo of Gurley and Anderson to a new duo that still involves the Pro Bowler, but also another running back in Brown that could be in for a career year if Sean McVay provides him with an increased role in 2019.

Over the last two years, Brown has always been a favorite at running back for McVay. But also with 106 rushes for 458 yards with a touchdown in that two-year span, it shows that Brown hasn’t really been needed as much, with Gurley being a workhorse part of the reason for the lack of carries.

However, since the news of Gurley’s arthritis as mentioned before, the Rams have already made it clear they will take a different approach in 2019 to make sure their star running back doesn’t overdue things too much to make the situation worse.

Los Angeles has every reason to believe that Brown will be able to succeed with an increased role if needed, but also the running back faces additional pressure after looking at what Anderson was able to do in this offense last winter.

Assuming Brown lives up to the hype, and Gurley figures out a way to be effective again, then Los Angeles will be thrilled over this decision in their new duo. If not, well at least Jared Goff still has enough weapons to work with in the passing game to make sure the Rams’ offense continues to rank near the top of the league.