If healthy Gurley is the best player in the draft

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SpeedR@m said:
My point is when you have won 20 games over 3 years you don't draft players that may not have an immediate impact especially at 10.
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Then you can't draft at all, because there are no guarantees at all you get a player like that, anywhere.
 
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Akrasian said:
Quite possibly. And I'm not totally against the gamble. But the fact is - he's not healthy, and the Rams' last season showed a deplorable lack of foresight/horrendous bad luck in dealing with two ACL rehabs. Have they learned their lesson? Or are they going with the best case scenario, and rushing Gurley back?
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Whatever occurred with Bradford & Long is totally irrelevant for Gurley. There simply is nothing to learn about other players from that experience. Each case has to be treated separately.
 
LoyalRam said:
What I remember, and haven't really seen since Faulk...and maybe Eric Dickerson...was the ability to pound the ball late in games...To totally rip the heart out of the opponent by pounding the ball...I remember when we could tell the opposing defense "We're gonna run the ball every down, and theres nothing you can do about it, but take it.." Now we need some Olinemen now...I thinkin signing Barksdale is a must now...
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While I agree that running at will has been a problem over the years, I don't think that the problem has been the RBs. It's been an inability to control the LOS when required.
 
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SpeedR@m said:
You really can't argue that he doesn't appear to be special. For me it's Fisher. I no longer believe in him and his judgement. But some of those highlights of Gurley are spectacular. I don't see great vision though. More just raw athletic ability, power and speed
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He seems to be moving too fast to see much of anything. .. he who runs to color 2.0
 
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FrankenRam said:
Whatever occurred with Bradford & Long is totally irrelevant for Gurley. There simply is nothing to learn about other players from that experience. Each case has to be treated separately.
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That's just not true. While it is true we should be careful not to read too much into other players' injuries, the fact that two players recovering from ACLs retore them shows that there IS a risk, especially if players get rushed. Since RB is a position where dangerous contact is routine, that means the Rams at least should keep Gurley out a bit longer than they might have otherwise.

What good is experience, if you can't learn from it?
 
Living in SEC country, I've seen plenty of Gurley over the past few years. He's always amazed me with his ability to get something out of seemingly nothing! I always thought he'd be a hell of a pro.

Also, let's don't forget the fact he's a great kick off returner!
 
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FrankenRam said:
Huh? Can you say GRob @ #2? I guess he's already a bust?

Sorry, but I'm suffering a little lack of trust.
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I don't get you guys. Grob was a huge disappointment as a rookie. He couldn't get on the field until Long who was also struggling and bad himself got hurt. When he played he hardly played at a level that anyone expected for the best OT in the draft taken at #2 on the 1st round. Also no one said he is a bust and no one is saying Gurley will be either. What is clearly being said and this is the last time I will do it because no one is acknowledging what I am actually saying (but arguing something else altogether) is the Rams drafted another RB. They have RBs and good ones. They are up to their hips in RBs. This particular RB is coming off an acl at that. He appears to be a special talent ....he better be because Fisher is running out of time. The issue for the third time is not Gurley. It's Fishers draft strategy.

When you draft at 2 and 10 and 14 and 1 you need to get big time players out of those drafts and players who can make a immediate and significant impact. That's just basic.
 
LoyalRam said:
What I remember, and haven't really seen since Faulk...and maybe Eric Dickerson...was the ability to pound the ball late in games...To totally rip the heart out of the opponent by pounding the ball...I remember when we could tell the opposing defense "We're gonna run the ball every down, and theres nothing you can do about it, but take it.." Now we need some Olinemen now...I thinkin signing Barksdale is a must now...
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My concern is that while Faulk and Dickerson were both outstanding athletes, Hall of Famers for sure, they also had great offensive lines in front of them. After Dickerson left Charles White stepped in and led the league in rushing, and after he left Greg Bell stepped in and rushed for over 1000 yards, and led the league in rushing TDs. Clearly they weren't elite talents, and benefited from an outstanding offensive line. Similarly, for all the praise that Faulk deservedly gets, the GSOT o-line is still criminally underrated in my opinion. That was a very good line as well.

Now can Gurley come in and perform with an average or maybe even mediocre line, as Stephen Jackson did? Can the line itself be improved into good, perhaps even great, range, and thus REALLY exploit Gurley's talents? That remains to be seen I guess.
 
SpeedR@m said:
I don't get you guys. Grob was a huge disappointment as a rookie. He couldn't get on the field until Long who was also struggling and bad himself got hurt. When he played he hardly played at a level that anyone expected for the best OT in the draft taken at #2 on the 1st round. Also no one said he is a bust and no one is saying Gurley will be either. What is clearly being said and this is the last time I will do it because no one is acknowledging what I am actually saying (but arguing something else altogether) is the Rams drafted another RB. They have RBs and good ones. They are up to their hips in RBs. This particular RB is coming off an acl at that. He appears to be a special talent ....he better be because Fisher is running out of time. The issue for the third time is not Gurley. It's Fishers draft strategy.

When you draft at 2 and 10 and 14 and 1 you need to get big time players out of those drafts and players who can make a immediate and significant impact. That's just basic.
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I don't think having good players at the RB position should stop you from drafting a guy you feel is an electric talent, and clearly the Rams feel that way about Gurley. For example, having a solid DT tandem in Langford/Brockers doesn't stop you from taking a generational talent like Donald. Or having a solid DE rotation doesn't stop you from taking a generational talent in Quinn. Keep in mind Quinn had health concerns and was suspended just like Gurley

As far as his injury history, all you and I know is that he tore his ACL, I'm sure the Rams did their due dillegence to medically clear the kid before drafting him. They have way more info than you or I and that info made them comfortable. If numerous doctors clear him who are we to really disagree based on nothing?

I don't really get your last point about immediate impact, Quinn took a few years to get going and I still love that pick, we weren't a good team than either. Donald took a few weeks to crack the rotation and I still love that pick. We have a guy in tre mason to hold down the fort until Gurley is ready. Clearly our FO thinks Gurley is a Quinn/Donald type talent or they wouldn't have drafted him top 10 with more pressing needs out there...if it takes him to the end of this year or beginning of next year to become that type of talent would you still not feel it was the right pick bc it wasn't from day one?
 
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Akrasian said:
That's just not true. While it is true we should be careful not to read too much into other players' injuries, the fact that two players recovering from ACLs retore them shows that there IS a risk, especially if players get rushed. Since RB is a position where dangerous contact is routine, that means the Rams at least should keep Gurley out a bit longer than they might have otherwise.

What good is experience, if you can't learn from it?
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I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that only 2% of football players tear an ACL a second time. It's much higher, 29%, for typical athletes in all sports.

Experience is great but it can also mislead you if your experience is a statistical outlier.
 
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According to the average schedule for return by the leading expert in NFL ACL recovery, Gurley should be ready for on the field training July 1st. If he is a superior athlete, he could be playing game one and back to full form in 5-6 games.
 
RamzFanz said:
I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that only 2% of football players tear an ACL a second time.

Experience is great but it can also mislead you if your experience is a statistical outlier.
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It was posted here, but it was a basketball doc, not about football players, and how fast the rehab should be was not discussed.

The Rams seem to have rushed two players back last year recovering from ACL tears. In the presser Fisher seemed to acknowledge that they would take their time with Gurley, and be conservative. What that likely means is that Gurley will start the season on IR with the ability to return - their one slot for that. He'll have to wait I think 6 weeks into the season then to start practicing at least which means that at the very least he will miss half the season. He might be worth it, but that means that 1/8 of his first contract will already have been used - plus figure he won't be a starter initially for at least a few weeks. So most of his rookie year is shot.

He may ultimately be worth it - before the injury he was a special talent - but that's a lot to give up, for a player at a position where the Rams have good non-elite depth while having holes elsewhere.

So yes, I'm concerned. I like Snisher, but at times they do like to act like they're smarter than everybody else in the room, so to speak, and gamble on raw players or health risks. Mitigating that with this pick is that it's a draft without a lot of exceptional prospects so they are giving up less opportunity cost than in most drafts, and that while it's a gamble that we won't be able to fully judge until 2016 (at least) IF it works out the Rams may have gotten the best player in the draft.
 
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