Todd Gurley’s days of being every-down back could be over after latest update

Todd Gurley’s knee injury continues to be one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Los Angeles Rams this offseason.

No matter how much the Los Angeles Rams want to focus on offseason workouts, the defending NFC champions just can’t seem to escape all of the talk surrounding Todd Gurley and his knee injury, although they are at fault in a way.

Going back to the winter time when the Rams continued to make the claim that Gurley’s knee was completely fine, and there wasn’t a reason for concern, the running back’s performances in both the NFC Championship and Super Bowl made it clear that was far from the case.

Even weeks after the Super Bowl came to an end, Los Angeles stuck with the story that Sean McVay just failed to come through on his end by utilizing Gurley in the best way possible for word eventually came out that arthritis was actually the issue.

Knowing this, it was easy to understand the mindset of the Rams wanting to take a different approach with Gurley during the 2019 season since the last thing they can afford is to make the injury worse.

But if that wasn’t already difficult for some Rams fans to accept, it sounds even more concerning to hear the latest report how Gurley’s days of being an “every-down bell cow” for Los Angeles on offense could be over.

From Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:

"Gurley’s return to “all-purpose” form might not be so simple, though. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that it is understood in Los Angeles that Gurley will no longer be the bell-cow back that he was over the first four seasons of his career, something that was hinted at during Super BowlWeekend and will continue this year.“The days of Todd Gurley just being the straight-up, every-down bell cow are probably over, just based on his knee, his age, the position, the amount of carries he’s had,” Rapoport said on Monday’s edition on NFL Total Access. “It’s probably not going to be like that, which by the way is maybe why the Rams drafted a running back in the third round, someone they really like a lot. This is a team that is clearly ready to spread the ball around."

For a running back who will only be 25 by the official start of next season, this is the last thing the Rams should be wanting to deal with when it comes to Gurley, especially after signing him to that hefty contract extension last summer.

Over the years when healthy, Gurley has proven to be one of the most dangerous running backs in the NFL, and there’s no way that Los Angeles would be where they are on offense over the last two seasons without him.

Deep down, it’s safe to assume that Rams fans were hoping to see a full offseason to recover would eventually result in Gurley returning to his normal ways, but reports like this make it seem unlikely to happen.

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Drafting Darrell Henderson in the third round of this year’s draft was viewed as somewhat of an insurance policy at the time since running back wasn’t exactly a top need for Los Angeles, but now it looks like the rookie’s role could be larger in 2019.

The Rams were already facing heavy pressure to make another run at appearing in the Super Bowl during the 2019 season after coming up short the way they did last February, but the way the team has handled this Gurley situation puts even more pressure on them.

Until Gurley actually steps foot on the field, and proves there are no reasons for concern over his knee, this topic of discussion isn’t going to go away, no matter how much the Rams want it to.

Unfortunately, all the Rams can seem to do at the moment is to continue taking the safe approach with Gurley this offseason with his personal workouts, and hope for the best over the next few months, or it could be a long, interesting 2019 season.

Todd Gurley’s knee injury continues to be one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Los Angeles Rams this offseason.

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