Rams Completely Screwed Themselves by Giving Todd Gurley Premature Extension

Just a year ago, Todd Gurley was unquestionably one of the premier weapons the football and looked set to rack up the Pro Bowls in Sean McVay's offense in Los Angeles. Just a year later, however, Gurley's long-term NFL future is a lot cloudier.

It is being reported that Gurley's days as a 25-carry-per-game bell cow back are over given the arthritis in his knee that hampered him severely in the playoffs. But instead of letting him play out his rookie deal, the Rams locked him up on an extension early and now owe him $40 million over three years. That's a whole lot to commit to a guy who couldn't stay healthy when it truly counted.

While Gurley is coming off an All-Pro season and is still a star running back, the cash-strapped Rams paying him this type of money is going to hurt, especially considering the value a team like the Steelers proved they could get out of James Conner, who generated about 70% of Gurley's production for a tiny fraction of his cap hit.

Despite Jared Goff's offensive fireworks and the perception around the league of an aerial circus, the Rams offense lives off of Gurley running inside zone up the middle. That key cog of their offense being limited could be a serious issue for McVay and the Rams.

The Rams have planned for this, as they used a third-round pick on electric Memphis running back Darrell Henderson. While the Henderson/Gurley combo could be something potentially deadly, the thought that Gurley's All-Pro days could be coming to a close sooner rather than later is tough to swallow.