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Is Todd Gurley still worth a first-round pick in 2019?

By Matthew Catalano

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams runs into Kevin King #20 of the Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams runs into Kevin King #20 of the Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 03: Todd Gurley II #30 of the Los Angeles Rams warms up prior the Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 3, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 03: Todd Gurley II #30 of the Los Angeles Rams warms up prior the Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 3, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Is Todd Gurley still worth a first-round pick in 2019?

Ever since it became apparent that he was dealing with an arthritic component in his knee, fantasy managers from all over have been wondering if Todd Gurley is still worth selecting within the first round of drafts this year.

Let’s give a quick background on Todd Gurley’s rise to being a top back in the NFL. In 2015 the Rams selected Gurley as the tenth overall pick. Much hype was swirling around the first round back out of Georgia that offseason as the Rams were looking to reestablish their run-game identity.

During Gurley’s rookie season, he rushed the ball 229 times for just over 1,100 yards (third-most) and 10 touchdowns with the Rams. Gurley averaged roughly about 14.5 fantasy points per game tying him with Adrian Peterson for the fourth-highest amount during 2015.

Then in 2016, Gurley had a down season rushing for 885 yards ranking him 17th among active running backs during that year. Gurley’s average fantasy points per game took a significant drop too as he plummeted from 14.5 in 2015 to just under 10 in 2016. His average points per game were 27th just behind the likes of guys like Jeremy Hill, Isaiah Crowell, and Ryan Mathews.

Many managers were very skeptical about selecting Gurley to be on their rosters heading into the 2017 regular season due to his uninspired performance from the season before.

As we all know, Gurley shocked the football world with an earth-shattering regular season in 2017 rushing for slightly over 1,300 yards (second-most), 13 touchdowns and averaged a little over 12 yards per catch in the air. Sean McVay’s new system revitalized all demoralized Todd Gurley fans, and the hype was back again.

He followed up a fantastic 2017 campaign with an even better 2018 season rushing for over 1,200 yards and scoring 20 total touchdowns giving him a league-leading 22.4 fantasy points per game. However, this is when things started to go wrong.

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