NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport: “The days of Todd Gurley just being the straight-up, everydown bell cow are probably over”

The days of Todd Gurley just being the straight-up, every-down bell cow are probably over, just based on his knee, his age, the position, the amount of carries he’s had. It’s probably not going to be like that, which by the way is maybe why the Rams drafted a running back in the third round, someone they really like a lot. This is a team that is clearly ready to spread the ball around.

Of course, Gurley’s knee, the wear and tear on that knee, the surgically repaired knee, is something that everyone knows has been concerning to the team for some time. All they really want is for Gurley to come back when the season begins when it’s really time to go to be 100 percent. What they don’t want is to have all those questions they had leading up the Super Bowl repeat before Week 1.

That was NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on NFL Total Access on Monday.

With RapSheet, anything he’s reporting is always going to be based on sources from the Rams’ coaching staff, the roster and the front office. So this isn’t the kind of speculation that is based on warrantless conjecture. This is Rapoport gauging the situation based on what he’s hearing.

And it’s nothing we shouldn’t be prepared for given everything we’ve seen since the end of the regular season.

Every bit of evidence since Gurley missed the final two games of the regular season along with reporting from Rapoport’s NFL Media colleague Steve Wyche and the famous “arthritis” tag from the Athletic’s Jeff Howe suggests two things: that Gurley is dealing with a degenerative knee condition and that it’s going to limit his availability either because of his physical readiness or the team’s plan for him.