It took less than 24 hours for the Atlanta Falcons to sign RB Todd Gurley as he was released from the Los Angeles Rams late on this past Thursday. I was driving in my truck to work early that Friday morning when the news broke that the Falcons had signed Gurley to a one year, $6 million dollar contract with incentives. He will ultimately make $11 million this year because the Rams will still owe him $5 million.
Gurley comes back home where he went to college just 70 miles east of Atlanta in Athens at the University of Georgia. Gurley tore his left ACL his senior year at Georgia, but was still picked #10 overall in the 2015 draft by the then St. Louis Rams, now Los Angeles Rams. Gurley was a star in St. Louis/Los Angeles before his left knee started feeling the affects of arthritis two years ago. But Gurley still put up 1251 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in 2018 and 857 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 2019. He has been elected to the Pro Bowl in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Before the news broke I heard here in Atlanta that this would be a bad move just because of his knee, but now that he is signed everyone I hear on the radio say it’s a good signing if his knee is healthy. I agree that this signing is a good signing if his knee stays healthy. In today’s NFL there is not a workhorse that takes all the carries. Usually it is a two back backfield where the carries are split. In order for Gurley to be productive in Atlanta, I believe his carries need to be limited and shared with another back. The other must for Gurley to be productive is for Atlanta to shore up their offensive line. Over the past two years that has been a need, but it really hasn’t produced as much as Atlanta has brought in and drafted new players. These holes need to be opened for Gurley to be productive. This is one of the main reasons former Atlanta RB Devonta Freeman had so many injures and his production went down these past two years, resulting in his release last week.
In the end, Gurley’s signing is a move in the right direction and it gets the fans pumped up because they know what he did as a UGA Bulldog. It will be great to see Gurley in an Atlanta Falcons uniform.
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