3 reasons why NFL teams haven't signed Todd Gurley yet

Shockingly, running back Todd Gurley is still a free agent.

With teams like the San Franciso 49ers in need of a running back — they even entertained the idea of bringing Frank Gore back due to the lack of players at the position — it is undoubtedly a mystery why Gurley is still a free agent.

There are certainly reasons why Gurley is still watching the NFL on TV rather than from where he is used to watching it: the pitch.

3 reasons why Todd Gurley is still a free agent

#1 Yards per carry

Playing for the Los Angeles Rams in 2018, Gurley had his career-best yards per carry (4.8). Since then, the running back has seen this stat go downhill.

The following year, still with the Rams, Gurley had 3.8 yards per carry. A decrease of more than one yard per carry. In 2020, playing for the Atlanta Falcons, the running back had even worse numbers: 3.5.

Teams may look at this and think that Gurley has started his downfall as an NFL productive running back.

#2 Arthritic left knee

"Everybody knew when Todd [Gurley] came out of Georgia [Bulldogs] that there would be some kind of arthritic component to his knee, which is part of every surgery whether it's a shoulder, a knee, [or] an ankle. He's now at the year-five mark. All we're doing is managing that. If we can pound him less in the offseason while keeping his weight down, working on his strength, working on his agility in short areas, that's going to give him a better chance to be healthy Weeks 14 through 17 when they really count."

This is from an interview performance coach Travelle Gaines gave to CBS Sports in June 2019.

With two more seasons after the interview, with his average per carry dropping, and with the life-span of a running back in the NFL getting shorter and shorter, teams may have come to fear that Gurley's knee will never allow him to be as healthy and productive as he once was.

#3 Age

Gurley is 27 years old and has played for six seasons (from 2015 to 2020). Even though he is still younger than the NFL average for running backs (28.4 years), he has already surpassed the average years a running back plays in the league (2.57 years).

Gurley's body is older than his age as he has served as a workload running back while playing for the Rams.

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