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{"source_url": "https://www.presstelegram.com", "url": "https://www.presstelegram.com/2019/12/31/for-rams-gm-les-snead-todd-gurleys-decline-is-biggest-problem-to-tackle/", "title": "For Rams GM Les Snead, Todd Gurley\u2019s decline is biggest problem to tackle", "top_image": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cardinals-Rams-Footb-16x9-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=579", "meta_img": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cardinals-Rams-Footb-16x9-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=579", "images": ["https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cardinals-Rams-Footb-16x9-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=579", "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/long_beach_press-telegram_black-392x40.svg", "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/jetpack/modules/sharedaddy/images/loading.gif"], "movies": [], "text": "THOUSAND OAKS \u2014 Rams general manager Les Snead\u2019s offseason challenges begin with the question of what to do about Todd Gurley and a ground game that went from one of the NFL\u2019s best to one of its worst in just a year.\n\nIt\u2019s a challenge that Snead did little to minimize Tuesday, in an hour-long talk with Rams beat writers, after he was asked if Gurley is the same running back he was when he was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2017 and helped L.A. reach the Super Bowl in 2018.\n\n\u201cThis year he wasn\u2019t,\u201d Snead said.\n\nHe quickly tried to walk back the blunt assessment, saying he was talking about Gurley\u2019s statistics and that his production decline might be partly the fault of changes and injuries in the Rams\u2019 offensive line and opposing defenses making a priority of stopping the run. Snead said it wouldn\u2019t be unusual to see a bounce-back year in 2020 from a player who will be 26 when the Rams open SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Snead even said he saw flashes of the old Gurley in 2019.\n\n\u201cThere was some runs when he scored touchdowns when I think we all felt the physics that Todd brings to the game,\u201d Snead said.\n\nBut the subject is more math than physics.\n\nGurley\u2019s season-to-season declines in carries (18.3 to 14.9 per game), rushing yards (89.4 to 57.1 per game) and yards per attempt (4.9 to 3.8) fueled speculation that his late-2018 knee problems still hamper him.\n\nWith Gurley taking some series off while Malcolm Brown and rookie Darrell Henderson carried the ball, the Rams fell to 26th in the league in rushing yards (1,499) and 27th in yards per run (3.7) after ranking third in both columns (2,231 and 4.9) in 2018.\n\nThe four-year, $60 million contract extension that Gurley signed in July 2018 starts with the 2020 season, when he will cost the Rams $17.25 million against the NFL salary cap, third on the team behind quarterback Jared Goff ($36 million) and defensive tackle Aaron Donald ($25 million) and just ahead of wide receiver Brandin Cooks ($16.8 million), according to the sports payroll tracker spotrac.com.\n\nThe big extensions signed by those players leave the Rams with only an estimated $25 million to spend before reaching the salary cap, projected to be $200 million next season.\n\nThat dollar squeeze, and the Rams\u2019 lack of first-round draft choices in 2020 and 2021 after trading the picks for cornerback Jalen Ramsey in October, leave Snead with fewer clear options than usual as he tries to improve a team that went 9-7 and missed the playoffs.\n\nSnead wouldn\u2019t address the question of whether Gurley \u2013 or any other Rams player \u2013 is untouchable for a trade. But the GM did say trades are one way he could unload payroll or acquire draft picks.\n\nIn his first on-the-record chat with reporters since October, Snead pushed back at the perception his hands are tied, calling that a \u201cshallow\u201d way to look at what he instead called a \u201ccomplicated\u201d task. He said he has never regretted negotiating the big extensions, topped by Goff\u2019s four-year deal signed in September for $134 million, including a league-high $110 million guaranteed.\n\nIn his view, the extensions locked in a core of players in their 20s to build around, and the front office\u2019s job now is to \u201csupplement\u201d them.\n\n\u201cI would rather be where we\u2019re at now than trying to get here,\u201d Snead said.\n\nAfter an up-and-down season, Snead, Coach Sean McVay and their staffs began a period of evaluations. This will include hard choices about the offensive line, where nine different players started at five positions this season. And about six regulars entering unrestricted free agency: linebackers Cory Littleton and Dante Fowler, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, offensive linemen Andrew Whitworth and Austin Blythe, and kicker Greg Zuerlein.\n\nThe Rams said Tuesday that Brockers\u2019 left ankle, injured in Sunday\u2019s 31-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, is sprained and not broken.\n\nSnead said Fowler (who made $12 million on a one-year contract) and Littleton ($3 million) \u201cearned raises.\u201d\n\nRelated Articles After Rams fall short of playoffs, it\u2019s the season for sharing disappointment, blame\n\nEric Weddle says Rams\u2019 future is \u2018bright\u2019 but probably doesn\u2019t include him\n\nRams bid farewell to Coliseum with narrow victory over Arizona Cardinals\n\nGame Center: Rams exit Coliseum with victory over Arizona Cardinals\n\nSeveral Rams may be moving on after Sunday\u2019s final game as free agency looms \u201cWe have to make a decision on each of those players,\u201d he said.\n\nZuerlein went from making 87.1% of his field-goal attempts (11th in the league) in 2018 to 72.7 (28th) in 2019.\n\n\u201cWe want to get more consistent in the kicking game,\u201d Snead said.\n\nSnead didn\u2019t sound encouraging, either, about re-signing Whitworth, 38, who made $10.25 million this season.\n\nThe offensive line issues are entwined with the ground-game problems and the inconsistency of the passing game, which at its best in McVay\u2019s first two years benefited from play-action and the threat of Gurley.\n\n\u201cWe definitely want to get back to being more efficient running the football,\u201d Snead said.\n\nHe faces no bigger question than how to do that.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["Todd Gurley"], "authors": ["Kevin Modesti", "Kevin Modesti Is A Reporter For The Los Angeles Daily News", "The Southern California News Group", "Covering Rams Football", "Other Sports. An L.A. Native", "He Has Been A Sports Writer", "Columnist", "Editor", "An Editorial Board Member", "Writer"], "publish_date": "Tue Dec 31 00:00:00 2019", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/long-beach-press-telegram-icon.png?w=32", "meta_data": {"application-name": "presstelegram", "viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1", "msvalidate.01": "4B535F7EB2971D1FCBA5D1D3E3E292C3", "generator": "WordPress 5.3.2", "wp-parsely_version": "1.14", "fb": {"pages": 45134780748}, "og": {"type": "article", "title": "For Rams GM Les Snead, Todd Gurley\u2019s decline is biggest problem to tackle", "url": "http://www.ocregister.com/for-rams-gm-les-snead-todd-gurleys-decline-is-biggest-problem-to-tackle", "description": "Snead says Gurley wasn\u2019t the same running back in 2019. Improving the ground game is one of the challenges of the offseason \u201ccomplicated\u201d by a salary-cap squeeze and lack of first\u2026", "site_name": "Press Telegram", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cardinals-Rams-Footb-16x9-1-1.jpg?w=1024&h=579", "width": 1024, "height": 579}, "locale": "en_US"}, "article": {"published_time": "2020-01-01T02:35:02+00:00", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T02:36:05+00:00"}, "twitter": {"text": {"title": "For Rams GM Les Snead, Todd Gurley\u2019s decline is biggest problem to tackle"}, "image": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cardinals-Rams-Footb-16x9-1-1.jpg?w=640", "card": "summary_large_image"}, "msapplication-TileImage": "https://www.presstelegram.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/long-beach-press-telegram-icon.png?w=37"}, "canonical_link": "http://www.ocregister.com/for-rams-gm-les-snead-todd-gurleys-decline-is-biggest-problem-to-tackle"} |
