Todd Gurley Wasn't Concerned About Passing Falcons Physical Despite Knee Injury

While concerns about the status of his knee overshadowed the latter portion of Todd Gurley's time with the Los Angeles Rams, the new Atlanta Falcons running back wasn't worried about passing his physical with the NFC South team.

"No sir," he said when asked if he was worried, per D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I played in 15 out of 16 games. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have signed me if they were concerned."

Gurley was a dominant force for the Rams early in his career, making the Pro Bowl in three of his first four seasons while winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year awards.

He was a major reason the team reached the Super Bowl in the 2018 campaign, but Los Angeles appeared to shift away from him when he saw a combined 14 carries in the NFC Championship Game win over the New Orleans Saints and the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.

Jeff Howe of The Athletic reported in March 2019 that Gurley was limited in those playoffs because of arthritis in his knee.

It was fair to worry about the knee after the University of Georgia product finished with a career-worst 857 rushing yards on 3.8 yards per carry last year. For context, he averaged 4.9 yards per carry on his way to 1,251 rushing yards in 2018.

The silver lining was the fact he appeared in 15 games, and as he said, the Falcons likely wouldn't have signed him—albeit to a one-year, $3.5 million contract—if the knee was going to severely limit what he can do on the field.

Gurley will now have the chance to reset his career for a team that is looking to bounce back from back-to-back 7-9 campaigns. If he does so, a return to the playoffs as part of an offense that will also feature Julio Jones on the outside is well within reason.