LA Rams hope to run ball by committee without Todd Gurley

Los Angeles Rams' unceremonious release of Todd Gurley left an ermous hole in middle of ir offense.

Coach Sean McVay and general manr Les Sne don't believe y can fill it with just one running back.

Rams intend to rely less on a single ball-carrier and more on a talented group of running backs in upcoming season, McVay and Sne said Monday in ir first public comments on ir biggest offseason move.

“What we want to be is a team that utilizes more than just one workhorse running ball, have a different genre of skill sets and a complimentary- running game,” Sne said. “We have this big-picture vision, Darrell (Henderson) being a part of it, but we do expect or pieces to be a big part of it as well.”

Henderson, who barely played as a rookie third-round pick last season, is top in-house candidate to replace Gurley, one of NFL's most productive running backs of last half-dece. Longtime backup Malcolm Brown also returns, and Sne indicated Rams will be looking hard at running backs in draft.

Running ball by committee will be a major change for Rams, who h Gurley at center of everything for past five years.

“We certainly don’t replace production, way that he’s influenced and affected game,” McVay said. “But what we can continue to do is try to just and apt.”

Gurley, AP's 2017 Offensive Player of Year, les NFL with 58 rushing touchdowns since joining league in 2015. His 5,404 yards rushing in that stretch are 1 yard behind Ezekiel Elliott for league le.

That's an awful lot of production to replace, even after Gurley's numbers declined last season amid concerns about his left knee. Rams were compelled by payroll constraints and Gurley's waning production to release him March 19 before he even got to first season of his four-year, $60 million contract extension — largest in NFL history for a running back when he agreed to it in 2018.

That deal, which included $45 million in guarantees, will loom as one of biggest tactical mistakes of Sne's eight-year tenure. But GM still feels he did right thing overall in paying his highly productive star.

“From a regret standpoint, re’s way you can ever regret yards he gained, touchdowns he scored for us,” Sne said. “ championships, wher it’s two division titles or () conference championship. Super Bowl appearance. That will be tough to regret. What I can say is, obviously I think we all wish partnership could have lasted longer. But from a standpoint of Todd earning that contract, , he did earn that. I think that showed up in production and how he helped us win.”

Atlanta Falcons scooped up Gurley with a one-year, $6 million deal officially anunced Monday.

Gurley h his two best NFL seasons during McVay's first two years in charge. He rushed for a combined 2,556 yards in 2017 and 2018 while ranking among league leers in touches for his young he coach.

McVay said he never could have imagined being without Gurley at this point in ir careers even a year ago. coach faces a new challenge in upcoming season without Gurley to rely upon — although in retrospect, that transition alrey began last year.

When Gurley's touches and production declined last season, McVay stefastly claimed Gurley was healthy and capable of doing whatever Rams needed, even after Los Angeles finished with NFL's 26th-ranked rushing offense behind an injury-riddled offensive line.

On Monday, McVay also expressed disappointment at way Gurley's tenure ended in LA.

“re’s a lot of things that went into it, but at end of day, this guy has been instrumental in helping create a lot of good things that are going on in our building,” McVay said. “Think he’ll do a good job for Falcons, but in a lot of ways, it is a reflection on confidence that that we have in those guys that are in place with Darrell Henderson, with Malcolm Brown.”

Sne ackwledged Gurley's departure is a boost to Rams' plans to re-sign cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who arrived last season in a tre that sent Rams' next two first-round picks to Jacksonville. Ramsey, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, is heing into final year of his rookie contract.

“Anytime you eliminate a large salary, it does help you onboard ar large salary,” Sne said. “We’re a team that’s going through it: Usually teams that have success have players with relatively large salaries. You can’t pay everyone large salaries, even though you would like to be able to. But this isn’t college football where maybe you can just continue out-recruiting ors. Sometimes you lose players."

“With Jalen, we’ve communicated with his reps, and we’ll keep those things internal. But we definitely like Jalen, as we said. That would be obvious.”