Rams running back Todd Gurley recently told reporters to stop putting bad energy on his knee. Rams coach Sean McVay would prefer that reporters not put any energy into asking questions about Gurley’s knee.
“I do,” McVay told reporters on Tuesday when asked whether he gets tired of questions about Gurley’s knee. “And you know what? With a player of his caliber that’s as special as he is, that’s to be expected. He’s in a good place and we feel good about Todd right now.”
McVay also said that Gurley got Tuesday off, and that it was part of the plan.
“He’s feeling good and he’s right on track with where we want him to be,” McVay said.
That’s fine, but the circumstances justify the questions. When a workhorse tailback shows real signs of no longer being able to be a workhorse, the questions arise. True workhorse tailbacks show up, week after week, getting 20 or more touches per game. Gurley lost that status last year by missing a couple of late-season games, and then by not being the same guy in the postseason who he’d previously been.
Throw in Rams radio analyst Maurice Jones-Drew admitting that the knee initially bothered Gurley after Week One and bothered him all year long (injury report omissions notwithstanding), and the questions are natural and obvious -- especially when the team has been using Gurley sparingly in practice, and when the team used a third-round pick on a rookie running back.
So the questions will continue, indefinitely. Even if Gurley stays healthy and plays like he did when he became the offensive player of the year in 2017, the chance of the knee instantly becoming a problem again will always hover over Gurley and the Rams, for as long as he’s on the roster.