St. Louis Rams: Todd Gurley returning to poor situation?
News broke on Tuesday that St. Louis Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley would be on the active roster for the start of training camp, perhaps the best news we’ve heard regarding Gurley since he was the 1st running back taken in the 1st round of the draft.
Gurley tore his ACL in a suspension-shortened season last year at Georgia, in what turned out to be a disappointing year overall for football fans who enjoy watching greatness before their very eyes.
Make no mistake about it, Gurley is an absolute star. The Rams weren’t reaching when they took him as high as they did in the 1st round of the 2015 NFL Draft. This is a player that can come in and make an instant impact, but what will that impact be for the Rams, who apparently have the ‘worst’ offensive line in the NFL on paper.
That assessment is according to fantasy football guru Evan Silva of Rotoworld.com and NBC Sports. Here’s what he had to say on Wednesday morning:
When Gurley returns, he will run behind the worst OL in NFL on paper with an all-rookie right side in RG Jamon Brown & RT Rob Havenstein.
— Evan Silva (@evansilva) July 29, 2015
That’s not the most glowing endorsement for Gurley as a fantasy football back, and Silva also pointed out the fact that he’ll be sharing carries/downs with Tre Mason and Bennie Cunningham. Of course, Gurley could simply win those carries/downs outright with his play on the field, and the offensive line certainly has time to gel and improve.
It might seem like a lot of question marks right now, but one would hope that as of last season, the Rams would have improved their offensive line at least in some way. They went to the draft this year for starters at RT and RG, and have penciled in starters at the other three positions that were all in-house draft picks as well.
At least the have the ‘home-grown’ thing going for them.
If what they have currently doesn’t work, the Rams also used a fourth round pick on Iowa’s Andrew Donnal (RT) and a late supplementary draft choice on Clemson’s Isaiah Battle, who likely will work first as a left tackle.
It’s going to take some significant growth from the offensive line, but right now, it looks like Todd Gurley is going to have his work cut out for him coming out of the backfield. Lucky for him, one of his biggest strengths is breaking tackles and gaining yards after contact.
Hopefully he’s ready to do plenty of that early on.