The St. Louis Rams made a bold statement when they used the tenth overall pick on Georgia running back Todd Gurley. They want to be a tough, smash mouth football team that beats up opposing defenses on the ground. That's a commendable and potentially effective approach in today's pass-happy NFL. But there's just one problem: the Rams have no idea when Gurley will be able to actually take the field.
Gurley suffered a torn ACL last November and is still not ready for live game action.
"While the team practiced on one field, a pad-less rookie ran routes against air and caught passes," NFL.com's Ian Rapoport wrote earlier this week of St. Louis' training camp practice. "He looked completely normal, which is the curse of Todd Gurley, their first-round pick. He's so athletic that even when he's rated at 90 percent on a surgically repaired knee, he looks 100 percent. But make no mistake, Gurley isn't ready yet. He won't play in the preseason. I'm told the Rams don't even expect him to be ready for the season. They believe he'll miss the first couple games, not wanting to risk injury until he's ready. The ligament is strong, but the area around it isn't there yet. With so much invested in a player compared to a young Adrian Peterson, St. Louis will be cautious. But the future is so bright for Gurley, team personnel can barely contain themselves."
Gurley possesses a rare combination of size (6-foot-1, 227 pounds) and speed. He rushed for 3,285 yards with 36 touchdowns and a 6.4 yards-per-carry average in 30 career games at Georgia. He projects to be a true-blue three-down feature back once he is fully recovered.
Rams head coach Jeff Fisher wants to use the run to set up the pass for new quarterback Nick Foles. Gurley figures to be an effective option for that strategy once he finally gets on the field. In the meantime, those responsibilities will fall to Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham.
