Getty Rams RB Todd Gurley
Los Angeles Rams‘ Todd Gurley put up his best fantasy performance of the season a week ago. The former offensive player of the year racked up 26 fantasy points on his way to the eighth-best fantasy performance by a running back for Week 4.
While Gurley’s point output helped win many fantasy owners their matchups last week, his usage rate is still a major concern moving forward for the one-time RB1 lock.
How should you handle Gurley in your Week 5 lineups vs. the Seahawks? We discuss.
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Todd Gurley Fantasy Outlook vs. Seattle Seahawks
Prior to last week’s game, Rams head coach Sean McVay came out and stated that the “the hope” was to get Todd Gurley 25 touches vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If you checked out our start/sit article for Gurley in Week 4 you know we weren’t buying into the abundant uptick in usage for the running back. However, we did believe that the “coaching staff would make a conscious effort to get him touches, even if it’s not more touches, but rather more rewarding touches, ie: goalline touches.” Which is exactly what happened last Sunday.
Gurley touched the ball just five times on the ground, yet scored two rushing touchdowns vs. the Bucs. Tampa got out to a quick lead, causing LA to play keep-up all game which played a major role in the team ditching the run game. Although, one worrisome statistic is that Malcolm Brown, Gurley’s back up, carried the ball the same amount of times as he did last week. This is the second time in four games that Brown has been three carries or less from Gurley’s rushing attempts in the same game.
The brightest spot in Gurley’s performance vs. the Buccaneers was his inclusion in the passing game, something that we had not seen in weeks prior. The running back saw 11 of his 17 targets this year in Week 4 alone. Gurley rewarded PPR owners with seven receptions for 54 yards through the air.
This is a huge plus for Gurley owners going into Week 5’s matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. For starters, Seattle isn’t all too great at defending opposing running backs this season. They rank middle of the pack in terms of points surrendered to RBs on a per-game basis. However, possibly the most important statistic is the fact that over Seattle’s past two games they’ve allowed starting RBs to average 8.5 receptions per game. In return, those two backs finished with a combined total of 25.4 fantasy points against the defense formerly known as the Legion of Boom.
Should You Start or Sit Todd Gurley in Week 5?
The Rams have to make a statement this week coming off of a performance where they were embarrassed by a team that they should have easily manhandled. Los Angeles will come out and make a statement. There’s no better way to announce your dominance to the football world than by showcasing your all-pro running back. Don’t expect this to become a regular occurrence throughout the season, but for one week, expect Gurley to be featured in both the run and pass game.
Gurley may not be the RB1 lock he once was, but he’s a solid RB2 with upside vs. the Seahawks.
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