Todd Gurley to be Ready on Time For St. Louis Rams
May 1, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams first round draft pick Todd Gurley poses for a photo after a press conference at Rams Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
I predicted an Adrian Peterson type of comeback for running back Todd Gurley, the Rams No. 10 overall. And from the looks of things these days, I just might get one from the St.Louis Rams’ new star. His rehab from an ACL tear is progressing to the point where he is looking to return to the field in time for training camp next month.
“That is definitely a goal that I’m shooting for,” Gurley told NFL Media’s Tiffany Blackmon from the NFL Rookie Symposium Wednesday night. “Just to be able to get out there and do at least some individual stuff. It’s looking pretty realistic. This month I’ll be in St. Louis rehabbing, so hopefully I can aim for [training camp].”
Gurley, who’s similarly talented to Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, sustained the injury almost eight months ago . So by the time camp starts, it will be nine months, the same amount of time it took Peterson. No, I don’t expect Gurley to rush for over 2,000 yards like Peterson did but Peterson didn’t do that as a healthy rookie either.
While most of his offseason work has consisted of mental reps, the rookie running back said he’s been picking up the offense. He’s been mainly doing rehab work, but did in get some light walkthroughs in near the end of OTAs. Gurley said of the process, “It’s been going pretty good,” “When we first came in with the rookies for minicamp, you get the install those three days and then OTAs came around, it kind of slows [the offense] down a little bit because you get to have more practices and a lot more meetings. So it’s been coming a long pretty good so far.”
The Rams won’t rush things but if he’s healthy at the start of September they will lean on Gurley. They want to run the ball and play defense just like the Seattle Seahawks do to take their place as NFC West Champions. The brought in quarterback Nick Foles to throw the ball deep off play action so we’ll see how this works.
Either way, it looks like Gurley’s going to be back for training camp.
And that’s a good sign for the Rams!