The 2019 NFL Draft is less than a week away and it appears as if the Los Angeles Rams might be gearing up to select a running back at some point in the draft.
The Los Angeles Rams have the best running back in football in Todd Gurley, although his future is unclear after being practically unused in the postseason. It appears as if Gurley as arthritis in his knee and he was even seen limping around LA this offseason.
This is just the first significant injury for Gurley, so there should be hope that with the right rest and personal training that he can get back to 100 percent sooner rather than later.
However, it still is a bummer for the Rams, who just signed Gurley to an extension and are now realizing why teams usually never do such a thing.
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Regardless, Gurley is young and has plenty of time to be healthy. While it is OK to worry, panicking should be reserved, for now.
The Rams, trying to get ahead of the curve, could use the 2019 NFL Draft to prepare for Gurley potentially being unavailable. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network noted that the Rams have been doing extensive homework on running backs in the draft and it appears as if the team might be interested in picking up a ‘specialty back‘.
While the logic makes sense, especially with Gurley’s future unclear, it does not change the fact that if the Rams do go this route then it would be a massive waste of one of the team’s few draft picks.
The Rams already don’t have a pick in the second round and will not pick again until the compensatory picks in the third round. In other years this was doable but this year, the Rams have noticeable holes to fill on both the defensive and offensive line as well as middle linebacker.
A running back just is not a big enough need to waste one of few selections that the Rams actually have. Even if Gurley is out, the Rams already have help at running back.
Malcolm Brown is a talented enough back to fill the void while he is gone and one person that everyone seems to be overlooking is John Kelly.
Sure, Kelly did not get a lot of playing time in his rookie season, but if you watched him at Tennessee and in the preseason then you would realize he has the skills to be a productive NFL back.
Quite frankly, I am so high on Kelly that I think he would be a better option than Brown to get the most snaps for the Rams.
Selecting a gimmick running back when the team can add depth elsewhere just doesn’t seem smart. That role did not work out for Tavon Austin and you would think that the Los Angeles Rams would realize that.