Todd Gurley's knee injury was worse than expected, says C.J. Anderson

Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire

Posted at 19:30 ET 19 February 2019 | Updated 19:34 19 February 2019

The Los Angeles Rams were put in an extremely difficult position at the end of the 2018 season. Todd Gurley was injured in the knee, Malcolm Brown was already on the injured list and John Kelly had not yet made enough evidence for deserve a heavy workload.

While Gurley was unsure for the 16th week, the Rams signed C.J. Anderson after surprisingly cutting Pharoh Cooper. Until the morning of their 16th week match against the Arizona Cardinals, Sean McVay was waiting for Gurley to play, but he was rendered inactive, leaving the reins to Anderson.

Gurley also missed the season finale, perhaps because his knee injury was worse than expected. Anderson discussed various topics on Fox Sports' "Undisputed" Tuesday, including Gurley's knee.

Skip Bayless, "indisputable" host, asked Anderson, "How bad was Todd when he arrived?"

"He was more hurt than we thought," Anderson replied. "The injury was a little more than everyone in the building thought, including himself."

Bayless asked if he would call this a "knee sprain" and, although Anderson stated that Gurley had not told him what the injury was, he then clarified what it was. .

"Yeah, he never really told me, it was difficult, I would say a sprained knee," Anderson said. "Obviously, it's the same knee injury that he's suffered before in his career." Of course, I've had a meniscus surgery and once you have a knee, you still have a knee injury. Knee, so that makes it worse and it was getting hit a lot earlier in the year – obviously as one of the best backs, that was probably the case. "

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McVay and the Rams called it knee inflammation, which can be a persistent problem and result from a heavy workload, which Gurley has had over the past two years. No NFL player has more contacts than him since the beginning of 2017, so he has been beaten in the last two seasons.

The Rams insisted that Gurley was in good health for the playoffs, but he only got 14 races in the conference and Super Bowl combined, which led many to speculate on the plan. from McVay. Anderson shed light on what he knew about the situation, telling Bayless that he was going to take the back seat to Gurley if that was the approach LA wanted to take against the New Orleans Saints.

"When we came in, we knew we would both be used," Anderson said. "Now, I do not think it was a tricky business, because it was rather like it was on the front. I was receptive to say, & ### If Todd wants to leave, he wants to go. "And that did not bother me." Clearly, he has managed 21 touchdowns this year, which he has done in the league since entering the league. was great, it was more like: 'CJ, we will play against you, but if our guy wants the ball and he wants to go there and he wants to do that, then we let's roll with 30, and that was OK with me. "

Anderson seemed willing to help the team, but the Rams needed him, which shows how disinterested he is. But based on his comments, it seems that Gurley was not in perfect health.

According to him, Gurley could have got the majority of the keys if he wanted to, but he might not feel 100% and could not handle his typical workload.

Whatever the case may be, this situation remains a mystery to which we will never be able to get answers.

Follow Cameron DaSilva from Rams Wire on Twitter @camdasilva.

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