Rams trading up for Darrell Henderson shows concerns with Todd Gurley

The Los Angeles Rams selecting a running back in the third round in Darrell Henderson may tell us something about Todd Gurley and their plans to use him going forward.

After stockpiling third rounders throughout the 2019 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams packaged two late third-round picks to move up and take Memphis running back Darrell Henderson.

Henderson was a work horse at Memphis, averaging over eight yards per carry for his career, including 22 touchdowns and 1,909 rushing yards in his last season.

The interesting element of this pick is the position. The Rams just signed Todd Gurley to a record contract for a running back last offseason.

Gurley nearly had as good of a year in 2018 as he had in 2017, but a knee injury made him miss time and led the Rams to sign CJ Anderson, who was not re-signed this offseason.

The Rams were also without Malcolm Brown, who was out with a collarbone injury, towards the end of last season, putting the team in a difficult position in the backfield

Los Angeles suggested they felt good about Gurley’s knee throughout the offseason along with Brown as the backup, but teams never lie in the draft room.

Clearly, the Rams wanted to add talent to the position and some insurance for Gurley. This also may be part of a plan to give Gurley a bit of an in-season rest, to the chagrin of fantasy owners everywhere.

So, perhaps it is not surprising that the Rams took a running back, but here are a few things to consider.

First, they traded up for Henderson. For a team obsessed with gaining picks, this is an interesting move, and must suggest the team likes him a lot.

Second, I would have suspected the Rams to draft a heavier runner that can run between the tackles, similar to Anderson.

There is no doubt that Anderson brought something to the power-run game of the Rams in December. However, Henderson is more of a “baby Gurley” than a “new CJ”in the backfield.

A final curious thing is that the Rams came into this draft with most assuming their biggest needs were offensive line (losing Rodger Saffold and John Sullivan this offseason) and defensive line (losing Ndamukong Suh and struggling to get pressure off the edge last year).

The fact that Los Angeles felt running back was more of a need than those positions says a lot about their feelings towards Gurley’s knee injury.

There are still plenty of picks left, but perhaps this tells us something about the offensive plans going forward and how they plan to use Gurley moving forward.