Todd Gurley, when healthy, may be the best running back in the National Football League. Unfortunately, that knee of Gurley’s have caused him problems over the last year, hindering his production and touches greatly. Last season, Gurley had career-lows in rushing yards (857) and attempts (223).
Currently, Gurley is two years into a contract that that included a $21 million signing bonus and $45 million in guarantees.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, before the next set of contract guarantees lock in for Gurley, the Rams want to meet with the former Georgia running back to discuss the future.
“From what I am told, what the Rams want to do—and what coach Sean McVay specifically wants to do—is sit down with Gurley before any decision was made,” Rapoport said Thursday on “NFL NOW.” “So that’s probably going to happen before they decide how are they going to proceed with someone who at times has been the best running back in the NFL.
Obviously this is not a simple decision. Cutting him just to save cash would be something that, while theoretically possible, cap-wise would be extremely difficult, more than $10M in a salary-cap hit just for releasing him and if they did it before June 1 it would be astronomical.”
According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, Gurley, if cut outright right now, would count $20.15 million in dead money.
Then there’s the idea of a trade, which NFL.com outlined here:
Perhaps they could find a trade partner with excess cap space willing to take a flier on a great player who has dealt with injury issues (and the Rams would probably have to pay a pick to unload the deal). But, as Pelissero pointed out, any trade would likely need to be made before the March roster bonus kicks in.
What will likely happen is the Rams will hold onto their superstar running back. It’s on them to figure out how to use him better.