Rams running back Todd Gurley has shared his opinion that it might take a work stoppage for NFL players to get fully guaranteed contracts at some point in the future and players at his position have had a hard time in recent years matching peers at other spots when it comes to getting portions of their contracts fully guaranteed.
The latest example of that came this week when running back Le’Veon Bell’s agent made it clear that the Steelers’ final offer to his client fell short of the guarantees they wanted in a long-term deal. The trend at running back isn’t good for others who will be looking to sign such deals in the coming years, which Gurley noted while talking to Taylor Bisciotti of NFL Network about Bell’s situation.
“As a player I definitely feel where he’s coming from,” Gurley said. “I don’t know exactly what he wants. But if he did what he did I’m pretty sure in his mind he did the right thing. I definitely stand behind him and definitely support him. I wanted him to get that long-term deal but unfortunately it didn’t work out. He’s playing on the tag for the second time, which is not bad at all, but you know you just want that security. It’s definitely a sad situation for a guy to be a top-three back since he’s came into the league and put in the work and can’t even get the money that he deserves. Definitely a sad situation.”
David Johnson and Ezekiel Elliott are other backs who will be looking for long-term deals in the near future and it will be interesting to see if the Rams, Cardinals or Cowboys break with recent trends in those negotiations.