Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Gurley's trainer: All-Pro has an 'arthritic component to his knee'
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June 17, 2019 at 3:43 pm #102216
znModeratorTodd Gurley's trainer confirms there's 'arthritic component to his knee' https://t.co/UUs7RtsMAR
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) June 17, 2019
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Todd Gurley’s trainer: All-Pro has an ‘arthritic component to his knee’
Todd Gurley’s trainer Travelle Gaines confirmed to CBS Sports that his client is dealing with an “arthritic component to his knee,” but stressed that Gurley will be ready for the 2019 season.
“Everybody knew when Todd came out of Georgia that there would be some kind of arthritic component to his knee, which is part of every surgery whether it’s a shoulder, a knee, an ankle,” Gaines said late last week. “He’s now at the year-five mark, all we’re doing is managing that. If we can pound him less in the offseason while keeping his weight down, working on his strength, working on his agility in short areas, that’s going to give him a better chance to be healthy Weeks 14 through 17 when they really count.”
When asked about Gurley losing touches, potentially to new rookie Darrell Henderson, Gaines expressed optimism.
“It’s never been told to me that there’s a plan to decrease his workload come Week 1,” Gaines said. “At the end of the day, you need solid running backs, and they grabbed a home-run running back in the third round. … If you watched the games last year, Todd typically sat out two to three series last year. I don’t see anything changing with that, so you need a back who can catch, and I believe Darrell averaged around 9.0 yards per carry, a home-run type guy.”
Gurley tore his left ACL while at Georgia in 2014. Though he recovered fully and went on to post All-Pro caliber campaigns in 2017 and 2018, he seemed to deal with some kind of problem related to the knee last December. Gurley missed the final two games of the regular season and played sparingly in the playoffs, including a 10-carry, 35-yard outing versus the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
The Athletic reported in March that Gurley was dealing with arthritis, but that was never confirmed by the team or by Gurley. Rams head coach Sean McVay has only discussed a plan put in place for Gurley to follow this offseason, noting as recently as last week that Gurley “looks good” after doing “some things over here that we thought would be good from a maintenance standpoint.”
Those things aren’t actually anything different than what Gurley’s been doing during each of the last three offseasons since Gaines became Gurley’s trainer in Los Angeles.
“Not one thing has changed,” said Gaines, who owns and operates his own performance training center, Athletic Gaines, in Los Angeles. “Our routine has worked, he’s been strong, he’s been in great shape, he’s done well.
“He got a little tired toward the end of last year because he was carrying the ball a lot. Could he have played last year? Yeah, but when you already have the division and seeding clinched, what was the point?”
NFL Network reported in late May that Gurley intended to lose about six pounds after playing at 224 pounds last year. Gaines shot down rumors that the weight loss had to do with his knee.
“It was a collective decision for him to play a little lighter this year, not because of injuries, just because I just feel he’s one of the faster players in the league,” Gaines said. “He doesn’t have to play at 224. 218 is only six pounds less, so I wanted to decrease his body fat a little bit and get him to the point where he’s a tad smaller so he can be a tad faster and a little bit bigger from a lean muscle mass standpoint. He’s going from basically 10 percent body fat to 7 percent body fat.”
Ultimately, Gurley did not participate in any offseason workouts or minicamp practices with the Rams. Gaines believes the reason for that was obvious.
“Todd was paid $60 million over four years and the Rams want to get every dime out of that contract,” he said. “So what good is it to pound him in April and May when you need him in November, December and January?”
The plan, per Gaines, is to spend all of July ramping up Gurley’s work away from the field so that he can participate in training camp. And after that?
“Todd is asked to do a lot in that offense, so to preserve him as much as possible is what the goal of the game is,” he said. “Their sports science department and sports medicine department are made up of very sharp individuals, so whatever they subscribe and ask me to help out with to do with Todd as Todd’s with me every single day, I’m going to do it. I think the Rams have a great formula and are a phenomenal franchise.”
The Rams didn’t use Gurley in any preseason games last year, something Gaines expects to happen again this fall.
The team may also have a couple of joint practices with other teams but it’s not clear if Gurley will partake in those or be held out.
June 17, 2019 at 3:44 pm #102217znModeratorto be honest no other theory made sense
The idea that NOTHING happened? Not plausible.
The idea that he got INJURED, played with the injury (that is–played with an injury to a surgical knee)? Not plausible.
The idea that it was just “wear and tear”? Well…maybe that’s just a euphemistic way of saying “arthritic knee” while avoiding the issue. Like telling kids that a stork brings new babies.
I personally kept arguing that there seemed to be some kind of underlying condition, something that can flare up and then calm down. Which is why he could play well for several weeks starting in game 3, even though the knee flared up in game 1.
The problem is you couldn’t say “arthritis” because all we had for that was a reporter citing an unnamed source. Okay, this confirms it.
AND. A running back can play with an arthritic knee. Faulk did. So this is not a case of him being completely diminished as a resource in 2019. It CAN flare up, BUT they can also manage it, AND he can be productive when it DOESN’T flare up.
So Gurley is not “done.”
June 19, 2019 at 11:02 pm #102260znModeratorfrom Ranking all 32 RB1s heading into 2019
Maurice Jones-Drew
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6 Todd Gurley
Gurley was one of the most productive backs in the league last season, ranking second among RBs in touches per game (22.5), rushing yards per game (89.4) and scrimmage yards per game (130.8). He also scored a league-high 21 touchdowns. A knee injury sidelined Gurley for the last two weeks of the regular season, and he wasn’t the same in his return in the postseason. Looking ahead to 2019, less is more in his situation — as I explained on “NFL Total Access” earlier this month. Of course, the knee issue will be something to continue to monitor, but the Rams will get carries from Malcolm Brown and third-round draft pick Darrell Henderson, which will allow Gurley to be fresher and more explosive when he is on the field. Don’t get it twisted, though; Gurley’s production will still be among the best in the league. Just on fewer touches.
June 20, 2019 at 12:41 am #102263
InvaderRamModeratori agree when mcvay talks about not depending so much on todd at the beginning of the season. his overall touches don’t seem all that bad, but the bulk of those touches came in the first half of the season.
for example, last season he had 200 touches in the first half. 115 in the second half. they should cut those first half touches down to about 130-140 touches. now does this mean for certain that his knee issue won’t flare up? no. but the chances are better that he’s able to finish stronger in the second half and hopefully the playoffs.
in 2017, his splits were 172 in the first half. 171 in the second half. so he actually had more touches for the whole season but didn’t peter out like he did in 2018.
i’d still reduce his touches to like around 300 for the season, but also make sure that they are spread more evenly from beginning to end.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by
InvaderRam.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by InvaderRam.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by InvaderRam.
June 20, 2019 at 7:58 am #102268
wvParticipantAND. A running back can play with an arthritic knee. Faulk did. So this is not a case of him being completely diminished as a resource in 2019. It CAN flare up, BUT they can also manage it, AND he can be productive when it DOESN’T flare up.
So Gurley is not “done.”
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He’s not done, but sometimes it seems to me, the rams act like “managing it” is some miraculous cure. And of course it isnt. It could flare up any time. There’s no way they can count on him. They can never know when its going to be a big problem.
The Rams played the Pats, without Kupp and essentially without Gurley.
w
vJune 20, 2019 at 11:09 am #102273znModeratorHe’s not done, but sometimes it seems to me, the rams act like “managing it” is some miraculous cure. And of course it isnt. It could flare up any time. There’s no way they can count on him. They can never know when its going to be a big problem.
Until Gaines spoke out no one had a very clear idea what was going on. Now we know that that his trainer–a guy well known for doing complete medical work-ups on his clients and tailoring his approach to individual clients around that medical info–says he has an arthritic knee. We also know that Gaines, Gurley, and the Rams all expect him to play at a high level, though that’s said in a context where there’s also talk of managing his practices and playing time. (Bonsignore calls it “load management.”)
I keep saying that Faulk played well in 2001 with a far worse knee, so why can’t Gurley. Plus, on top of managing his carries, Gurley is training with a guy who is known for tailoring workouts around a guy’s specific medical issues, so that would mean tailoring things to Gurley’s issues in order to maximize him as a player. (One of the several advantages of the Rams being in LA is having direct access to a guy like Gaines.)
So I think he can be produtive. I take it for granted that “being productive” does not mean being merely average–it’s still Todd Gurley.
The Faulk thing means a lot to me in this context which is why I keep mentioning it. During training camp in 2001 they sat Faulk for 3 weeks because his knee acted up. His knee at that time was far worse than Gurley’s is now. In 2001, turns out, Faulk had a good season–1300+ yards, 21 TDs running & receiving. My thing is, if Faulk with a worse knee could be productive in 2001, why not Gurley now.
Can it flare up? Sure. But in 2018 it flared up twice (Sept. and December) and he was still productive after those episodes. And that was before they has a specific training regimen in place that accounts for the knee.
I like Farr on this. Farr played with Faulk and works with the current Rams and so is a reporter informed about Gurley. He said, Faulk could play with that knee for a while. Gurley can still play. I stole my whole Faulk analogy thing from Farr.
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June 21, 2019 at 2:10 am #102284znModeratorMore on or rather from Gaines.
Talking about what he does.
From the moment they arrive at the facility, where they get a full medical evaluation. So every injury they’ve ever had, we ask them to bring in their full medical history reports. We have a team of physicians, and our rehab and regeneration team takes the kids into a full movement prep and movement screening process. We put them on a grid and find out if their shoulders or hips or knees or ankles are off. We put them through a series of movements to see how their body operates. From there, we can build out a customized warm-up for every kid that’s there. So before we’re even thinking about training them, we want to put them in the proper positions to warm their bodies up properly. We’re not going to warm up the same because we have different aches and pains and alignments.
June 21, 2019 at 12:27 pm #102294znModeratorJeff Fisher skeptical of Todd Gurley's trainer sharing details about knee https://t.co/jzZzmQQ9jw
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) June 21, 2019
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Personally? I don’t care. Gaines cut through a lot of fog and smoke. And he IS in a position to know. His entire approach to things depends on doing a detailed medical eval of his clients and developing very individualized work outs based on that medical info. Of the handful of people on the planet who have direct, detailed knowledge of TG’s medical info, he is one of them. He;s not beholden to the league’s way of handling that–he;s an independent.
That also means that when he says TG is preparing to have a good season, that insight counts too.
When TG plays well this year, Gaines will be one of the big reasons why. I care more about THAT than I do about some league “hush hush” code.
June 21, 2019 at 5:36 pm #102299znModeratorALBERT BREER
• Todd Gurley’s trainer, Travelle Gaines, filled in the gaps on the condition of the tailback’s knee to Dave Richard of CBS over the weekend. But this isn’t news to NFL teams, and least of all the Rams. Gurley tore his ACL going into his draft year of 2015, so clubs had to sort through that then, and a bit of a degenerative condition in the knee (which is code for an arthritic condition). Now, it sounds bad. But lots of players come into the league with these kinds of conditions. Some are seen as major—Myles Jack and Jay Ajayi were in that category coming out. Gurley’s was seen as less than that. And the question in most of these cases is one of longevity.
June 21, 2019 at 7:39 pm #102300znModeratorfrom Jeff Fisher skeptical of Todd Gurley’s trainer sharing details about knee
Jeff Fisher skeptical of Todd Gurley's trainer sharing details about knee
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Former Rams coach Jeff Fisher appeared on NFL Network Thursday to share his thoughts on the situation and expressed skepticism about Gurley’s trainer, Travelle Gaines, revealing details about the running back’s knee.
“A little unusual that a player’s personal trainer will go public with respect to the condition of his client,” Fisher said. “Most of the injury information – most, if not all of it comes from the club, it comes from the head trainer. This did not, so we’ve got to be cautious with respect to jumping to the conclusion on that.”
Fisher’s right: it is unusual. The team has remained tight-lipped about Gurley’s condition, so to have his trainer go in the opposite direction and reveal details is likely frustrating to the Rams’ training and coaching staffs.
The severity still isn’t exactly known, and so Fisher remains confident in Gurley’s ability to push through this injury situation. He didn’t have any concerns whatsoever about Gurley’s knee when the Rams drafted him in 2015.
“No concerns whatsoever. We checked Todd out like everybody else did, we were happy with the graph, we were happy with the reconstruction,” Fisher explained. “We took our time, we didn’t play him right away – I think we got him in Week 4 or 5 and he was still Rookie of the Year. But, you still have to address these issues as you move forward as you get a year post-op, or two years or three years. There’s obviously an issue there, and unfortunately, he didn’t play at the end of the year last year, didn’t play in the [postseason].”
Fisher did express some optimism for Gurley moving forward, complimenting him for being such a hard worker and saying he can get past this.
“I don’t think it’s a durability issue or a career-threatening issue, but if anyone can get this put behind him, Todd can,” Fisher said. “He’s that kind of worker. You just have to wait and see how the next couple of months play out.”
June 22, 2019 at 4:19 pm #102316InvaderRamModeratorthis really shouldn’t be all that shocking. running backs who carry the load as much as gurley has – their bodies eventually break down. he’s played four years. hopefully, he got another three left.
unless you’re barry sanders this is to be expected. smith went through it. faulk went through it early in his career and again toward the end of his career.
it’s just something that has to be managed. the rams knew it. i don’t think that means extending him was a bad move. they just need to manage it, and hopefully, he makes it another three years. it looks like they have a plan, and i have full faith that todd will do everything he can to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. whether he does or not remains to be seen, but he was worth the money. if anyone can be worth that amount of money. he’s one of the best players in the league.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by InvaderRam.
June 25, 2019 at 1:31 pm #102380znModeratorfrom The NFL’s 20 biggest outlier contracts, and why a fullback reigns again
Bill Barnwell
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10. Todd Gurley II, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Three-year compensation: $40 million
Percent above average: 40.8What a difference a few weeks make. Gurley was a borderline MVP candidate in 2017 and continued to produce like a superstar for most of 2018, only to miss time in December with a knee injury. C.J. Anderson came off the street to excel in Gurley’s absence, then looked like the better back during the postseason. Reports after the offseason have suggested that Gurley is dealing with arthritis in his knee, which was surgically repaired in college. The Rams then used a third-round pick on Memphis back Darrell Henderson while suggesting that they plan to use more two-back sets in 2019, getting Sean McVay away from the 11 personnel he used on virtually every snap between 2017 and 2018.
The case for paying Gurley was built around the idea that he was a uniquely gifted back who could both shoulder one of the league’s largest workloads while remaining extremely efficient. Both arguments seem shaky at best as we head into 2019. The Rams reset the running back market when they paid him last July, as the previous leader for three-year cash flow on an active extension was LeSean McCoy at $27.3 million. Even now, Gurley and Le’Veon Bell are way ahead of the running back pack by virtually every contractual measure.
What makes this even more difficult is that the Rams didn’t need to do this. As I mentioned last July when Gurley signed his deal, the Georgia product still had a year left on his original rookie deal. The Rams could have picked up a fifth-year option for 2019 and would have also been able to franchise him on a relatively modest number for 2020. My best estimate is that the Rams would have been able to go year-to-year with Gurley and paid him somewhere around $24 million without having to commit on a long-term deal.
Instead, the Rams virtually guaranteed Gurley $40 million over three years by signing him to an extension. That’s an enormous bet that the guy we saw in 2017 was going to continue to play at that same level for years to come. The Rams theoretically ran the risk of upsetting Gurley by not handing him a deal at the first opportunity, as Washington did with Kirk Cousins, but this is the same organization that waited until Aaron Donald finished the fourth year of his rookie deal before handing out an extension. Neither Cousins nor Donald was dealing with an arthritic knee or playing at a position with significant attrition rates. It’s too early to write off Gurley — he was living up to expectations as recently as November of last season — but it’s hard to believe that the Rams would do this deal again if they had the chance.
July 1, 2019 at 10:28 pm #102540znModeratorfrom NFL’s most indispensable offensive players for the 2019 season
Adam Schein
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2) Todd Gurley, RB, Los Angeles Rams
When Todd Gurley is healthy, he’s a candidate for MVP (remember midway through last season?) and Offensive Player of the Year (remember the 2017 campaign?). When No. 30’s firing on all cylinders, the Rams can be considered the best team in the NFL. L.A. was nearly perfect in the first three months of last season, sitting at 11-1 in early December.
When Gurley’s compromised, the entire complexion of Sean McVay’s team changes. A grand total of three points on Super Bowl Sunday? Yeah, I don’t think that happens with a healthy Gurley.
Gurley is not only an incredible runner — he’s a security blanket for Jared Goff out of the backfield catching the football (see: ten receiving touchdowns over the past two seasons). He’s the Swiss Army Knife that makes this offense go. The Rams need to do everything they can to keep that balky left knee from barking.
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