Todd Gurley was the face of the Rams during his prime. The offense went through him, whether it was Jeff Fisher at the helm or Sean McVay calling the plays. In his first four seasons, Gurley made the Pro Bowl three times, led the NFL in total touchdowns twice, won Offensive Player of the Year once and was a two-time first-team All-Pro.
He was legitimately one of the biggest stars in the league until the 2019 season hit and he struggled with a lingering knee injury that never got better. The Rams didn’t see him as the same player he once was and shockingly cut him in March of 2020 – less than two years after the Rams signed him to a four-year, $60 million contract.
Gurley has always been a laidback guy and never made a big deal about his reduced role in the 2018 playoffs or 2019 season, but he opened up about his downfall in Los Angeles with DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy on “The 25/10 Show”.
While he doesn’t have any disdain or hatred toward McVay for cutting his carries in 2018 and 2019, he obviously wasn’t thrilled about taking a backseat to a guy like C.J. Anderson in the playoffs.
“It wasn’t like, ‘(expletive) ‘em,’ but it was like, ‘damn,’” Gurley said of his minimal role in the 2018 playoffs. “Still trying to be the team guy, not trying to really trip. But, too, I’m just like, ‘Y’all (expletive) want to pay me to sit down? All right, bro. So be it.’
Before the 2020 season, Gurley knew the Rams were going to move on from him one way or another. He didn’t know if he was going to get traded or cut, but he knew his time with the Rams was coming to an end.
He didn’t want to get traded to teams like the Bills or Steelers, though, telling the Rams to just cut him so he could pick his next team.
“Everybody didn’t think they were going to cut me. ‘Ain’t no way.’ The dead cap, or whatever it is. ‘They’re going to owe you so much.’ But I think if they would’ve kept me, they would’ve had to owe me another $5 (million) the following year, so they ended up cutting me,” Gurley explained. “I knew they were either going to cut me or try to trade me, but if they were going to try to trade me. They said something about, like, Buffalo, Pittsburgh. And I’m like, ‘(expletive) no. Cut me.’ I knew something was going to happen, though.”
Gurley struggled in 2019 and only averaged 3.8 yards per carry after rushing for an average of 4.9 in 2018, so he didn’t have a huge market, especially with teams knowing his injury history. He admitted that after hearing the talk about how he couldn’t play at a high level anymore, he thought about retiring.
“I was like, ‘Damn, I could go ahead and just retire since they said I can’t play and go ahead and get the whole $17.5 (million). And I’m like, but I had to go see what Atlanta was talking about. I had to go to Georgia,” Gurley said.
As for how he learned he was being cut, he never sat down with McVay and discussed the move, partly because that was during COVID. He talked to the coach on the phone but he doesn’t remember the finer details of that conversation. He just remembers hearing something to the effect of, “It was great working with you.”
“I never had no conversation with them. I remember him calling me and asking me, ‘Is there any team?’ I think I suggested a few but that was pretty much it,” Gurley said. “He definitely called me. Honestly, I don’t remember. I remember he did call me right before they released me saying that, but where I stay at, my service was so bad, I had a house phone at this point. It was going in and out, I’m just like, ‘I don’t know what he’s saying but I know he said it was good working with him or something like that.’”
One game that sticks out in Gurley’s mind that really told him he was falling out of favor was against the Steelers in 2019. In the first three quarters, Gurley had 12 carries for 73 yards, a healthy 6-yard average. But in the fourth quarter, he didn’t touch the ball once and the Rams lost, 17-12.
After that game, Gurley had a meeting with his running backs coach, Skip Peete, and McVay where he got the feeling that the Rams didn’t think he could be a top back anymore.
“I think we were playing Pittsburgh and I ain’t have 100 yards the whole season and I was going crazy, though,” Gurley said. “I don’t know, like 90 yards, but the fourth quarter didn’t even start. … Basically, I didn’t even get the ball in the whole fourth quarter. After that, that was self-explanatory. We had a meeting with my running backs coach … me, the running backs coach and McVay. I don’t think he thought I could do it anymore. I do remember that game. And my agent was mad. Everybody be more mad for me. I just be super chill. I don’t really be raging mad. People are like, ‘I know you mad.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, why you madder than me?’ But I do remember that game. Was going crazy and then didn’t touch the ball the whole fourth quarter. … That was really when the writing was on the wall.”
As for what it was like playing in an offense coached by McVay, Gurley loved the play calls he was dialing up. McVay’s more open offense prevented defenses from loading the box against Gurley, which created space for the All-Pro running back to make defenders miss and create big gains.
“McVay came, and you’re going through OTAs and seeing all this stuff, like, ‘Dang, he dialing that drink up. Like, we got some plays. … I don’t know, bro. We just went crazy, just the offense. Screen plays.
“He was calling some stuff, man. I liked the duo but you know football, it’s a team effort, for real. You need the receivers to block downfield. … McVay be calling that joint. He was doing his thing.”
Gurley went on to say he was happy for the Rams when they won the Super Bowl in 2021, and he even went to the game at SoFi Stadium. He stayed at the stadium after the game ended and watched players celebrate with their families on the field, too.
“I was happy for the organization and the trainers and my old teammates and stuff like that,” he said. “I knew they were going to win one with the moves they were making.”
Gurley, Jackson and McCoy talked about a variety of other topics, including the Rams trading away both Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in 2019, Gurley’s love for Los Angeles, Cooper Kupp’s football IQ and more.
Larry Fitzgerald
