Todd Gurley would be one of the stars of the NFL Scouting Combine this weekend if he wasn’t recovering from a torn ACL which is recovering well ahead of schedule.
Georgia Bulldogs running back Todd Gurley would be one of the biggest stars of the weekend at the combine as one of, if not the top running back prospect in the 2015 NFL Draft if not for a torn ACL he suffered in the Nov. 15 win against Auburn.
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He likely would have been a mid-first round pick if not for the injury, but even with the injury preventing him from running the 40, which he thinks would have been in the 4.35 range, he still projects as a potential late first round pick if his knee checks out fine.
But the biggest news to come out about Gurley came on Friday when it was reported that he was not allowing doctors to examine his surgically repaired knee because he didn’t want his leg twisted and pulled three months removed from surgery.
Less than 24 hours later that news is being refuted by his surgeon, the world-renowned Dr. James Andrews who called the report misleading.
“I heard some fuss that Gurley wouldn’t let teams examine him and that’s just totally misleading,” said Andrews, via Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com. “The team physicians I have spoken with who are there — and I have spoken to a bunch of them — were all happy about what they saw. I mean, they’re smart enough to know you can’t have 32 teams pulling and tugging on a knee just 3½ months removed from surgery. But the doctors I spoke with said he looked great and I’d say he’s probably six weeks ahead with his recovery.”
When the news circulated on Friday that he wasn’t letting teams examine his knee, I didn’t think it would be a huge detriment to his draft stock because he was going to show up for a medical re-check in the coming weeks anyway. At that time if his recovery was on track and teams were pleased with where he is at health-wise, then he was going to be a first round pick regardless of what happened at the combine.
The six weeks ahead of recovery that Andrews pointed out on Saturday is the best news for Gurley and teams like the Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, among others who could have an interest in the 222-pound workhorse running back.
“Gurley’s quad muscle is way ahead of what you would expect even at this stage and that’s vital to a good recovery, as you know,” said Andrews. … He’s been running on a treadmill, running underwater, he’s never had any swelling and these teams will get to see just how much more progress he will continue to make before the draft.”
His ACL surgery was rather straightforward considering he suffered no other damage to his ligaments and the expectation was he would be able to play nine months removed from the surgery.
That timeline would put him in line to play in the preseason, although I would expect the team that drafts him to be cautious with his work in the preseason, and shouldn’t hurt his draft stock.
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