In his third season in the league, Los Angeles Rams star running back Todd Gurley finally broke through with an MVP-caliber campaign in 2017. It helped earn him the recognition as one of the game’s best players at his position.
It has also put him among the top young players in the league heading into the 2018 NFL season. According to CBS Sports’ Sean Wagner-McGough, Gurley was ranked as the being the top player in the league that is currently under the age of 25:
“Gurley is the best player under the age of 25. After finally being freed from the constraints of a Jeff Fisher “middle-school offense,” Gurley ran wild in Sean McVay’s system. In a 15-game season, he rushed for 1,305 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 4.7 yards per carry, and caught 64 passes for 788 yards and six touchdowns. His 2,093 yards and 19 touchdowns from scrimmage led the league. He was, quite simply, the best playmaker in football last season.”
Gurley is coming off easily the most productive year of his brief NFL career that saw him earn the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award after leading the NFL with 2,093 scrimmage yards and 19 total touchdowns. He is only the third player in league history to have at least 2,000 scrimmage yards, 10 rushing touchdowns, and more than five touchdowns receptions in a single season joining Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and O.J. Simpson.
In total, he finished with 1,305 rushing yards, an NFL-high 13 rushing touchdowns along with 64 catches, 788 receiving yards, and six receiving touchdowns. Gurley also tallied 100 or more rushing yards six times, which was topped by a season-high 152 rushing yards and four total touchdowns in a blowout 42-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks helped the Rams earn the NFC West division title.
The other Rams players on the list for the top players under 25 years old were wide receiver Brandin Cooks at the 11th overall spot, and Pro Bowl quarterback Jared Goff at the 20th overall spot in the list that consisted of the top 25 players that fit that mark.
