Todd Gurley can only help Rams so much

It remains to be seen whether Rams No. 10 overall pick Todd Gurley, who tore his ACL last November, will be available for the team’s season opener, but there’s a bigger question to be asked: Just how much can the rookie running back help this offense, even if he does play from Day 1.

The concerns start on the offensive line. The Rams will entrust 2013 fourth-rounder Barrett Jones to replace PFFs lowest-graded center from last season, Scott Wells. One could argue that there’s nowhere to go but up, but Jones is an unproven commodity himself. They also need to see big improvement from left tackle Greg Robinson in his second season, and for 2015 second- and third-round picks Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown have an impact at right tackle and right guard, respectively.

That’s a lot of question marks on the offensive line for a new QB in Nick Foles who is coming off a subpar season for the Eagles. He was our No. 25-graded QB, coming off of his breakout 2013 campaign that saw him post a 27-to-2 TD-to-INT ratio and rank 17^th among QBs in our grading system.

There’s no question that Gurley is a talented back, and he fared well in our numbers last season (although not quite as well as Georgia teammate Nick Chubb), but he will only be able to help this offense so much if the offensive line and quarterback play aren’t a lot better than they currently project to be.