The St. Louis (now Los Angeles) Rams took a big risk in the 2015 draft in selecting Todd Gurley, an RB out of Georgia at the 10th overall selection. He had just torn his ACL five months prior. Advances in technology and medicine have made this less of the death sentence that it used to be, but it's still no joke. Numerous players have come back without the same explosion and speed after an injury like this. Running backs had been dropping in value in recent years. Teams just aren't passing like they used to, and with numerous talented RBs coming in the later rounds, weren't sure they needed to spend premium picks on runners. Gurley was the first RB taken in the top 10 since 2012. In fact, he was the first RB taken in the first round since 2012. The Rams chose to ignore this, calling the Georgia athlete "special".
That risk paid off.
In 2015, Todd Gurley finished third in the National Football League with 1,106 rushing yards, second in the league with 10 rushing touchdowns, second with 11 runs of 20+ yards, sixth among RBs with 4.8 yards per carry, and he achieved all of this in only 12 games. In fact, in his first four starts, he ran for 566 yards, an NFL record. He also managed to be one of 3 Rams rookies to rush for 1000+ yards. The other two? Eric Dickerson and Jerome Bettis. Talk about good company.
What makes him so good besides the stats? Gurley is a complete back who can beat you in every way possible. In Adrian Peterson's words, "He reminds me of a younger version of myself". He has the speed and breakaway ability of backs thirty pounds lighter. A punishing runner as well, Gurley uses his 6'1" 230 pound frame to consistently break tackles and [get extra yards after contact](Vikings run). His Tinder bio has to include hurdling as one of his hobbies, because you'll see that over and over again on the football field. Sometimes, you could even swear he was flying. He can cut on a dime and get up field in a hurry. Some backs specialize in certain skills. Todd Gurley does it all at a high level.
The Rams look to involve Gurley even more in 2016 for rookie quarterback Jared Goff to lean on, and for good reason. He's well on his way to becoming a devastating force, and maybe the next great Rams RB.