Gurley: long thread, on der knee

An update on what was going on in the postseason with @RamsNFL Todd Gurley. @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/nXjFEEKn0y

— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) February 20, 2019

Todd Gurley’s late-season health issues reportedly due to ‘wear and tear’ on knee

Frank Schwab

https://sports.yahoo.com/todd-gurleys-late-season-health-issues-reportedly-due-wear-tear-knee-203100677.html

Todd Gurley is just 24 years old. That’s young, even for an NFL running back.

Yet, the Los Angeles Rams have used him a lot already. And when it comes to Gurley’s mysterious injury late in the season that affected his usage late in the playoffs, apparently the miles on his legs are piling up a bit already.

Gurley split time with C.J. Anderson in the NFC championship game and Super Bowl, a situation we’ll talk about for a long time. NFL Network’s Steve Wyche shared what he knew about that and Gurley’s health in general.

It wasn’t necessarily an injury affecting Gurley late in the season, Wyche said, but “wear and tear.” Which is a little scary considering Gurley’s age.

Wyche said he spoke to someone “close to the situation” who explained Gurley’s injury situation. Or, more specifically, that there was no injury. The 1,229 touches through four seasons just seemed to take a toll on him late last season, though Wyche’s comments still leave it a bit unclear how much that had to do with Anderson splitting time in the final two playoff games.

“There was no specific injury,” Wyche said on NFL Network. “Remember Week 12 against the Kansas City Chiefs, he aggravated the knee, OK? There was an aggravation right there. Something inflamed. They sat him out those final two games right there, but then he came back in the playoffs and he looked just fine.

“So they said as the season wore on, that knee became a little bit worn down. Remember, that’s the knee he injured in college. So again, there was no specific injury. He was sore. He was feeling something right there, but when it came to the usage, it was not injury-related. This was more coaching decision-based in terms of the usage or lack thereof of Todd Gurley in those final two playoff games.”

Wyche went on to say Anderson surprised the staff with how well he played, and that was a factor in his continued playing time too. According to Wyche, the Rams felt they could “rest Todd Gurley a little bit and kind of save him in spots, because C.J. Anderson can play.”

It’s still mysterious, and a bit concerning, but it provides some context.

As far as Gurley moving forward, Wyche said his source told him there’s no need to worry.

“They are not saying he is damaged goods,” Wyche said. “They fully expect after the offseason for him to come back into training camp fresh and to do the things that he has done.”

Wyche said the Rams staff will have to manage Gurley’s touches a bit more after a sizable workload already in his career.

It’s OK to be skeptical about the Rams’ claim, through Wyche, that they clearly know Gurley isn’t “damaged goods.” He had a torn ACL from college and had to miss time last season due to wear and tear. That’s unusual, especially given Gurley’s age. Anderson already said this offseason Gurley was hurt a little more than the Rams thought. It’s possible Gurley is fresh and as good as new next season, but it’s something worth monitoring. It will be for the rest of his career.

It will always be a little weird that the Rams decided to feature an All-Pro running back less in their two biggest games of last season, but at least we know a little more about Gurley’s situation in general. And that will lead to another set of questions going into next season.

Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
Best sense I can get, if any stem cell treatment is being contemplated for Todd Gurley’s knee issue, the suggestion/idea is not coming from the #Rams.

InvaderRam wrote:

first of all. what the fuck?

second of all. i heard stem cell therapy might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

third of all. what the fuck???

It’s a worst case scenario and we don’t even know who the source is.

It’s this article (the one just before your post), which talks about a lot more than stem cell stuff.

According to McVay, the team is hoping that they can get Gurley back at full strength this offseason.

“We’re going to implement a plan to have him attack it to get that knee back to feeling full strength, feeling good based on just the amount of work that he’s gotten,” McVay said. “That would be no different whether he missed any games or not, though.”

Gurley’s knee situation shows Rams should’ve waited to sign him

Todd Gurley's knee situation shows Rams should've waited to sign him

Coming off a season in which Todd Gurley won Offensive Player of the Year, finished second in MVP voting and led the league in both total yards and touchdowns, the Los Angeles Rams felt the time was right to lock up their All-Pro running back.

Last July, they gave him a big check worth $57.5 million for four years, including $45 million in guaranteed money. It made Gurley the richest running back in the league and locked him up through 2023.

On the surface, it was easy to see why the Rams wanted to sign him long term. He was the best back in football and fit perfectly in Sean McVay’s offense as a runner and receiver. With 2,093 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2017, how could Los Angeles not ink him to a lucrative extension?

The answer is simple: The Rams could’ve waited a year, or even two.

Gurley was under contract through 2018 with the $9.63 million fifth-year option available in 2019. Realistically, the Rams could’ve waited until this offseason to get a deal done, knowing he was already under contract in 2019. They even had the option to wait until 2020, knowing they’d have the franchise tag in their back pocket at around $12 million (depending on potential contracts for Ezekiel Elliott and Le’Veon Bell).

Instead, the Rams jumped at the opportunity to sign Gurley last offseason before his price increased with the salary cap going up. Unfortunately, they now find themselves in a precarious situation.

At the NFL combine this week, Les Snead and McVay both talked at length about Gurley’s knee injury. They both said it was more about wear and tear and soreness than anything, rather than a new injury that popped up in Week 15. Having torn his ACL once already, there seems to be some concern about how Gurley’s knee will hold up in the future.

McVay told CBS Sports that the Rams have been monitoring Gurley’s surgically repaired knee every year since he was drafted in 2015 and that will continue this offseason.

“We’ve always had the approach with him even going back to when we drafted him before I was here, and that’s really where we’re at,” McVay said. “There’s been a plan in place specific to monitoring that knee every single offseason for him and having a plan to make sure that we’re putting him in a position to sustain that workload. This season will be no different.”

That’s not the concerning part. It’s perfectly reasonable for a team to consistently check up on a player who’s undergone surgery on a specific part of his body. What’s troubling is the way Snead talked about limiting Gurley’s workload.

It’s been about seven months since the Rams signed him to an extension and they’re already worried about limiting his touches so he doesn’t get worn out? This might sound harsh, but running backs aren’t meant to be maintained like a Bentley. They’re more like a daily driver – a car that gets you to and from work until it hits 350,000 miles.

Running backs typically get driven into the ground while on their rookie deals and replaced by someone younger and cheaper with less wear on the tires – just as the Steelers tried to do with Bell. It’s the reality of the position, and it’s why running back contracts typically lag behind other positions.

Instead of pushing Gurley to the limit for five years before his contract expired, the Rams now have to worry about keeping him “fresher,” as Snead put it, for all 16 games and for seasons down the road. In other words, they can’t give him 25 touches a game because he’s going to get worn down like he did in 2018.

Snead compared Gurley’s situation to a marathon runner, having received 150 more touches than any other player since 2015.

“I do think with Todd and his career, it happens with a lot of young guys,” Snead said. “All of a sudden, they wake up – it’s like a marathon runner. If you run a lot of marathons, all of a sudden you wake up one morning and you’re a little sorer than you were the day before, so recovery, things like that have to come into it, but it’s something we want to be intentional about and proactive.”

Gurley has five years left on his contract with a potential “out” not coming until 2022 when the Rams can realistically cut him. Yet, they’re already considering limiting his workload in fear of him wearing down? Yikes.

The Rams didn’t do much to keep Gurley fresh in 2018 aside from sitting him for the final two games of the season and we all saw how that worked out in the postseason. We still haven’t stopped talking about his lack of involvement on offense.

It’s entirely possible Gurley will share touches again in 2019 the way he did with C.J. Anderson. Snead has already brought up the possibility of a “Batman and Robin combination.”

“Obviously, senior year, junior year at Georgia, he did the ACL,” Snead said. “So over that time, there’s an element of wear and tear and I think we have to determine, are we going to give him the amount of load he’s had in the past? Or are we going to lessen that load to, let’s say, keep him fresher for the season and for seasons beyond? And then if you go that route, you have to have a good, let’s call it, Batman and Robin combination. We’re in the process of figuring that out.”

So now the guy you’re paying $14.4 million per year is going share the backfield? That’s a tough pill to swallow.

This knee situation might wind up being nothing. Gurley could very well go on to dominate for the next five years, leading the Rams to three Super Bowls. He could also wear down in the next two years and become a shell of himself because of the heavy workload he’s gotten in the NFL.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but given the timing of his contract, it’s safe to say the Rams would’ve been better off waiting a year or two before deciding what to do long term.

Okay old issue but things to notice.

Written late December:

Gurley’s knee also was an issue after a season-opening victory over the Oakland Raiders, when Gurley rushed for 108 yards and caught three passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.

“It was a similar situation,” McVay said.

Gurley said Thursday that he, “Felt like s—” after the Monday night game in Week 1.

“It was bad,” Gurley said. “I was contemplating on giving the Rams back their money and everything. It was bad. It was real bad.”

Written after the season:

“I don’t know exactly medically when you categorize what arthritis is,” McVay said. “I do know that just from the amount of work that he’s had, there’s been a wear and tear on that knee.”

“Amount of work” does not address game 1. And as is clear here, McVay himself said in December, when sitting TG, that the flare up in September was a “similar situation.”

TG said he was fine after a couple of days in September but then he had a subpar game in week 2 against Arizona’s defense, which was ranked 32nd v. the run (in that game TG averaged 2.2 a carry). After that he was back in gear in the following weeks , until the 2-game sit in December.

When directly asked about arthritis recently, in separate venues, Demoff, Snead, and McVay all danced around it. No one could just say “no that’s not an issue, we rule that out.” Anyway. Whatever the cause of this thing is, it has the hallmarks of a condition of some kind and not an injury per se. It presumably can be managed by a combination of things like physical therapy and decreased snaps in practice and games.

…

Here’s what McVay said in his Dec. 27 press conference: https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2018/12/28/18158182/transcript-los-angeles-rams-san-francisco-49ers-week-17-preview-sean-mcvay-wade-phillips-todd-gurley

Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay
(On if there is any update on RB Todd Gurley II)

”Yeah, it’s the same as yesterday. Those guys are still day-to-day – he and (S) Lamarcus (Joyner) both. They will not participate in practice. So, we’re kind of right where we were yesterday.”

(On if he would play Gurley if he doesn’t practice at all this week)

”If he’s feeling good, similar to last week, if he’s feeling like he’s progressing but he’s able to just take some mental reps – things like that – then that could definitely be an option. You’d prefer for him to practice, but it wouldn’t be something that if he doesn’t practice, then there’s definitely no chance he plays. I definitely wouldn’t say that.”

…

(On if they’re still describing Gurley’s situation as inflammation to the knee)

”Yeah, that’s what it is. It really is that. It’s inflammation of the knee. I think just like anything else, when you just look at just the overall pounding that a running back takes. I think a lot of it, too, was a result of, probably wasn’t going to come back in the ‘Philly’ game. He was such a warrior that he ended up coming back in as a result to some of the things that occurred in that game and his ability to gut through and fight through that, probably made it swell up. It was a similar situation earlier in the year after we played Oakland (Raiders) as well. So, he recovers really well. He kind of gets his body back. Takes really good care of himself. But, this is something that we want to be smart about. He had never gone through where you’re really having to gut through and fight through that type of pain throughout the game, like he did against ‘Philly’. Then, with the workout, like we said last week, just talking to Todd on Saturday morning, I was fully anticipating him going. Then, we had to make the decision. It wasn’t really Todd saying, ‘I can’t go.’ It was more of us making that decision because of how much he wanted to play, but there’s an element of, we’ve got to be mindful of protecting him as well. He makes his own decisions. He’s great about being able to communicate that to us, but he also is so considerate of, ‘Okay, if I’m not going, what does this mean for the team?’ That’s the type of guy that you want. But, if it it’s a similar outlook or if he’s not feeling totally ready to go, then we’ll take the same approach that we did last week.”

(On if his knee is still inflamed or if he would say it’s just sore)

”Yeah, just sore. You’re right, I’m not a doctor, but my understanding is, it was just a result of the inflammation – that has gone down. We’re really just taking it one day at a time, like we’ve said, just from a rehab and just the overall pain management, just the way that your knee feels functionally. But yeah, the swelling is gone right now.”

This one looks like it’s about Gordon but it is interesting to see how Hammond talks about Gurley.

==

Will Todd Gurley depress the running back market, and what does it mean for Melvin Gordon?

Rich Hammond

https://theathletic.com/879784/2019/03/21/will-todd-gurley-depress-the-running-back-market-and-what-does-it-mean-for-melvin-gordon/

Every​ time​ a general​ manager​ dips a toe​ into the​ water, piranhas​ seems to appear.

‘Tis​ the​ season​ when the debate resumes in the​​ NFL. Is a running back worth a first-round draft pick or a big contract? They’re valuable yet fragile, tough to identify yet surprisingly replaceable. Every few years, this chatter seems to cycle back around. Teams get the itch to go big on a superb back, then regret it.

It’s almost decision time for the Chargers. Melvin Gordon is in the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. He’s dynamic, a perennial candidate to top 1,000 yards and double digits in touchdowns.

When Chargers general manager Tom Telesco was asked at the combine about re-signing Gordon, he said he didn’t have a timetable but “we want to extend those guys we’d like to have back long-term. Running back is a punishing position, but not too many concerns on that.”

So what’s the problem? Well, he plays a few miles up the 110 freeway, and his name is Todd Gurley.

Gurley started all this, or at least re-started it. Four years ago, the Rams drafted him No. 10 overall, which ended a two-year streak with zero first-round running backs. Last July, the Rams doubled down and signed Gurley to a four-year, $57.5-million contract extension, 20 months before the expiration of his rookie deal. The extension included $45 million in guaranteed money, a $20-million signing bonus and, on a per-year basis, it became the largest contract ever given to an NFL running back.

It made a fair amount of sense. Five months earlier, Gurley collected the NFL’s offensive player of the year award. Under coach Sean McVay in 2017, he developed into an unparalleled running-receiving threat. He hurdled defenders. He looked like a cyborg on the field and avoided trouble off of it.

Then came the knee.

At the end of a mostly brilliant 2018 regular season, Gurley missed the final two games. The Rams said he had some knee inflammation, that he would sit as a precaution. That’s it, nothing to see here.

After Gurley registered just five touches in the NFC championship game, McVay said, oops, that was a flow-of-game thing, or a mistake, or something. Nonetheless, Gurley would be a big part of the Super Bowl game plan, 100 percent ready to go. Gurley had 11 touches in the Super Bowl as the Rams fizzled in a 13-3 loss.

Then, inevitably, the apparent full truth started to emerge. Jeff Howe of The Athletic learned that Gurley has an arthritic knee. Rams officials, given multiple opportunities to dispute the report, have not, and they’ve been steadfast that Gurley’s situation can be managed and that he can remain productive.

The Rams might be correct. They better hope so, because Gurley’s roster bonuses are starting to kick in, and in 2020 he will have a salary-cap hit of $17.25 million. The Rams have a potential “out” after 2021.

Shortly after Gurley’s deal got done, Arizona signed David Johnson to a three-year, $39-million extension. Johnson then averaged a paltry 3.6 yards per carry — but don’t read too much into that, because the 2018 Cardinals were in dumpster-fire territory. They fired their offensive coordinator after nine months and their coach after 11 months.

What does all this mean for Gordon? He and Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott are the next two young running backs up for new contracts. It’s fair to wonder whether Gurley expanded the market, then shrunk it. The sample size from this offseason is limited, but it could provide some hints, and it’s worth the Chargers’ attention.

Le’Veon Bell signed a four-year, $52.5-million deal with the New York Jets this month. Not only did Bell get less money than Gurley — which is fine because Gurley, at 24, is three years younger than Bell — but his value also dropped after Gurley’s deal. A year earlier, Pittsburgh reportedly offered Bell five years and $70 million. He apparently was so insulted that he sat out the entire 2018 season, then signed for less.

This year’s free-agent market has, thus far, not been generous to a decent crop of running backs that included Bell, Tevin Coleman (two years, $8.5 million), Adrian Peterson (two years, $8 million) and unsigned C.J. Anderson, who left his couch in December to serve as the Rams’ co-lead back.

The draft doesn’t look much sunnier, as most mock drafts project only one first-round back, Alabama’s Josh Jacobs, and he’s not slotted higher than No. 24 on any of the major boards. Last year, three backs — Saquon Barkley, Rashaad Penny and Sony Michel — were first-round selections.

Not since 2013 and 2014 has there been a first round without a running-back selection. That could have something to do with 2012, when Trent Richardson went No. 3 to Cleveland, then quickly crashed. Gurley seemed to reset things in 2015, and five picks after the Rams took him, the Chargers grabbed Gordon at No. 15. Elliott, Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey were top-10 picks in 2016 and 2017.

The Cowboys already are talking about extending Elliott. But owner Jerry Jones says a lot of things, so check back later on that one. In terms of new contracts, that could put Gordon next in line, along with veterans such as LeSean McCoy and Lamar Miller, who are set to hit the free-agent market next March.

This is rather complicated for the Chargers. Given that Philip Rivers is 37 years old, soon they’ll be starting anew at quarterback, so they’d probably prefer to have stability at running back. Most likely, something will get done with Gordon, and should get done. But for how long, and how much?

“He’s a three-down back and puts a lot of balls in the end zone for us, a lot of touchdowns,” Telesco said at the combine three weeks ago. “He’s a great player. We’ve got him and a number of other guys that we’ll look at extending at some point.”

It’s tough to find a comparable for Gordon, whose four-year stint with the Chargers has been uneven. In 2018, he averaged 5.1 yards per carry, which is excellent, and it marked the first time he even topped the 4.0 mark. Gordon scored 10 rushing touchdowns, sixth-most in the NFL, and didn’t lose a fumble.

Durability is an issue, though. Gordon had 284 carries in 2017, third-most in the league, but coach Anthony Lynn put down some speed bumps in 2018. Gordon had only 175 carries, as backups Austin Ekeler (106 carries) and Justin Johnson (50) took on larger roles. Part of that was because, for a third time in four seasons, Gordon had trouble staying on the field.

Gordon missed two games as a rookie with a knee injury, then missed three games in 2016 with hip and knee issues. After a full season in 2017, Gordon sprained his MCL last December and missed three games. He returned for the final two games and two playoff games, but totaled only 138 yards.

It’s also notable that in four seasons, Gordon has missed eight of 22 games in December in January. It’s natural to assume that as hits add up, a running back might miss games late in the season, as opposed to early. But is this going to be an annual occurrence? Even when the Chargers are managing his carries?

“Melvin does an outstanding job taking care of his body,” Lynn said at the combine. “He will manage those injuries well. That’s why I like to use tandem backs. Austin Ekeler stepped in and did a good job. Justin Jackson stepped in and did a good job. Detrez Newsome stepped in and did a good job. I have a good group of guys that I have a lot of confidence in. I don’t have to put the load completely on Melvin.”

That makes sense from a coaching standpoint, but does it put more on Telesco’s plate? On which level does Gordon get paid? A general manager can’t work with fear. Gurley’s issue shouldn’t necessary create a straight-line comparison to Gordon, but it’s also not something to dismiss.