Deion Sanders Was 'Joking' About Todd Gurley Not Wearing No. 21 Falcons Jersey
Apr 12, 2020
MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Deion Sanders of the NLF 100 All-Time Team is honored on the field prior to Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Thank u for your love but it ain’t that deep to me. I was joking with @TG3II I love that youngsta and proud that he will represent it right. I love these kids that play today and wish them all well. “A NUMBER DIDN’T MAKE PRIME PRIME MADE THE NUMBER. #Truth Man they have a DEION https://t.co/nn2ZN4HvYs
Gurley previously indicated Sanders had voiced his objections to seeing the 2015 first-round pick don the number for the 2020 NFL season.
"Prime was hatin' on me," Gurley said on 92.9 The Game. "He told me don't wear it. If I was Prime, I wouldn't want nobody be wearing my number either."
The three-time Pro Bowler wore the No. 30 jersey during his five-year run with the Los Angeles Rams. With his move to Atlanta, he decided to change things up.
The Falcons haven't exactly kept the No. 21 jersey on ice since Sanders' departure following the 1993 season. Seven players have used the number, with cornerback Desmond Truant the most recent occupant.
Todd Gurley Says Deion Sanders Told Him Not to Wear His No. 21 Falcons Jersey
Apr 12, 2020
CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 3: Defensive back Deion Sanders #21 of the Atlanta Falcons in action against the Chicago Bears October 3, 1993 during an NFL football game at Soldiers Field in Chicago, Illinois. Sanders played for the Falcons from 1989-93. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
The running back told 92.9 The Game on Friday that Sanders didn't want him taking the number worn by the cornerback from 1989 to '93 with Atlanta, the first five seasons of his eventual Hall of Fame career.
"Prime was hatin' on me. He told me don't wear it," Gurley said, via ESPN.
He also understood the simple reasoning.
"Cuz it's Prime," he added. "If I was Prime, I wouldn't want nobody wearing my number either."
Sanders wore No. 21 throughout the first 12 years of his career across four organizations, a run that featured two Super Bowl titles, six first-team All-Pro selections and one Defensive Player of the Year award. He briefly wore No. 37 after coming out of retirement with the Baltimore Ravens.
Still, the Falcons don't officially retire numbers, and cornerback Desmond Trufant spent the past seven years wearing the number in Atlanta.
It means Gurley is sticking with 21 after wearing No. 30 during his entire career with the Rams.
Todd Gurley Previews New No. 21 Falcons Jersey in Twitter Picture
Apr 10, 2020
FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 file photo, Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley II carries against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif. The Los Angeles Rams have released running back Todd Gurley, their superstar running back with a massive contract and a troubling injury history. The Rams made the move Thursday, March 19, 2020 several minutes before roughly $10 million in the three-time Pro Bowl selection's contract became fully guaranteed. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)
So long No. 30.
New Atlanta Falcons running back Todd Gurley revealed he will wear No. 21 for the NFC South team during the 2020 season:
Ideally, for the Falcons, new jerseys will help them put two straight 7-9 seasons in the rear-view mirror. Ideally for Gurley, a number change will help him overcome a lackluster 2019 season by his own elevated standards.
The University of Georgia product finished with a career-worst 857 rushing yards on just 3.8 yards per carry after he averaged a career-best 4.9 yards per carry in 2018. He didn't resemble the same playmaker who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year while making three Pro Bowls in his first four seasons.
While he will look like a different player in a Falcons uniform, they are surely hoping he is the same unstoppable runner who overwhelmed opposing defenses early in his career.
ARCHIVO - En imagen de archivo del 29 de diciembre de 2019, el running back Todd Gurley, de los Rams de Los Ángeles, descansa en la banca durante la segunda mitad del partido frente a los Cardinals de Arizona, en Los Ángeles. (AP Foto/Mark J. Terrill, archivo)
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 Howeof 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.
Todd Gurley 'Really Good Fit' in Falcons Offense, HC Dan Quinn Says
Apr 8, 2020
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 08: Head coach Sean McVay and running back Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams celebrate Gurley's touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 08, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
It hardly took 24 hours for running back Todd Gurley to find a new home after the Los Angeles Rams cut him in mid-March.
In many ways, he can thank his former coach, Sean McVay, for that. As the Atlanta Falcons were looking to upgrade their offense, Gurley immediately jumped out as someone worth targeting specifically because of the success he had in McVay's offense early on. It's a scheme Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is already using and made offering a one-year, $6 million deal to Gurley a near no-brainer.
"We thought in this system, the way we want to attack, he would certainly be somebody who fit," Quinn said on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Wednesday. "We felt like, man, we were fortunate that he would have a shot to get down here."
Even the biggest question mark surrounding Gurley—the health of his knee—didn't phase Quinn, who went back and watched game film of the running back at the end of the season.
"From the evaluation side, when you're looking at a player who's in a similar offense, it's a really easy evaluation," Quinn said. "The Rams and our offense have so many concepts that are similar."
From a fan perspective, this should make Gurley's upcoming season one of the more interesting sub-plots in the NFL. The Georgia alum was rather unceremoniously dumped by the Rams days before he would've been due a $10.5 million bonus following a year in which his usage dipped greatly.
What was then one of the main talking points about the Rams offense will now become a question of just how much they misused him. Or it could provide some vindication for McVay and Co. Assuming Gurley returns to his All-Pro form, McVay will have to answer a lot more questions than he'd like about why Gurley is able to succeed in such a similar offense. For a coach who spent his first two years in Los Angeles as the toast of the league, overcoming that scenario will prove one of his tougher challenges.
If Gurley falters, however, it'll be even easier to point to McVay and the Rams as seeing the declining value of the workhorse tailback ahead of the rest of the NFL.
The Falcons are assuming it'll be the former playing out.
"It seems like a really good fit for both sides," Quinn said.
Falcons Legend Deion Sanders: 'I Absolutely Love' Atlanta's New Uniforms
Apr 8, 2020
MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Deion Sanders of the NLF 100 All-Time Team is honored on the field prior to Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback/returner Deion Sanders, who played for the Atlanta Falcons from 1989 to 1993, told Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network that he "absolutely loves" his old team's new uniforms.
The Falcons dropped images and video of their new look Wednesday:
The Falcons have featured a few different uniform sets since the team's 1966 NFL debut, with their most recent wholesale change occurring early on in the Michael Vick era prior to the 2003 season.
Sanders saw the Falcons also go through a uniform change in 1990, when the team ditched its old-school red uniforms and helmets in favor of a nearly all-black look for the remainder of the decade.
Falcons Unveil New Uniforms for 2020 Season in Hype Video with Matt Ryan, More
Apr 8, 2020
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) works against the New Orleans Saints during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)
The Atlanta Falcons unveiled their new uniforms for the 2020 season on Wednesday with a hype video featuring several of the team's stars:
The Falcons also tweeted a photo of the four uniforms being donned by quarterback Matt Ryan, linebacker Deion Jones, defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and wide receiver Calvin Ridley:
Unchanged are the black, red and white color scheme, as well as the helmet logo. Also, the throwback uniform is a carryover from last season.
The biggest differences related to the regular uniforms are the number font, the side striping and the large "ATL" that appears above the numbers on the front of the jersey.
In addition to a basic white away jersey and basic black home jersey, the Falcons got daring with a third jersey that is red on top that fades into black on the bottom. That jersey is also paired with black pants.
Atlanta finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive campaign last season, but they ended the year on a four-game winning streak and won six of their last eight, including a victory over the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.
With a new look and a returning cast of characters on offense in Ryan, Ridley and superstar wide receiver Julio Jones, the Falcons have a legitimate chance to return to prominence in 2020.
Doing so won't be easy, though, as the New Orleans Saints figure to be tough again, and the Bucs should be far more competitive thanks to the addition of future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady.
Falcons' Arthur Blank Creates $1M Relief Fund for Stadium Workers Amid COVID-19
Apr 7, 2020
Atlanta Falcons football team owner and chairman Arthur Blank speaks to members of the media at the NFL Fall league meeting, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC owner Arthur Blank has created a $1 million emergency relief fund for Mercedes-Benz Stadium employees who have taken a financial hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund was announced Tuesday, per Eric Jackson of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, and will benefit associates and game-day workers by providing "assistance for the venue's event-based associates, including ones that work for third-party companies in Levy Restaurants and SAFE Management."
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is home to the Falcons and Atlanta United FC, so employees were affected when the Major League Soccer season was suspended March 12.
The Athletic's Jason Butt reported March 13 that Blank was going to continue paying hourly employees at each of his businesses:
"Speaking with The Athletic on Friday afternoon, Falcons team president Rich McKay said the decision to ensure hourly employees were not affected negatively during the pandemic was an easy one to make. McKay mentioned there are numerous hourly employees who work for Atlanta United and the Falcons and also at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the remaining companies that are a part of The Blank Family of Businesses, which is managed by the AMB Group."
On March 20, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced a $5.4 million commitment to "critical support throughout Georgia and Montana":
Falcons owner Arthur Blank and the @BlankFoundation will be donating over 5 million dollars in funding for COVID-19 relief efforts in Atlanta and Montana. https://t.co/h0jfvFUPrq
Elderly seniors in our community need our help and you can make an impact from home. I encourage you to donate to Meals on Wheels virtual can drive today online at https://t.co/JoKym38M9Xpic.twitter.com/Eqts1f2SPr
Thanks to Atlanta United FC goalkeeper @akann90 for the encouraging shoutout! We are grateful for the support of @ATLUTD and all of our partners as we pivot to meet critical community needs during these challenging times. #stickwiththeYpic.twitter.com/xRHWXR8NJe
— YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta (@atlantaymca) April 6, 2020
Our elderly neighbors need our help. You can show your support by donating what you are able to Meals on Wheels Atlanta and make an impact right from your own home! Visit https://t.co/ZxVmeIXm1K for ways to donate. pic.twitter.com/fB6MXwCZjh
Per CNN, there are 398,185 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that have resulted in 12,844 deaths.
Falcons 'Very Comfortable' with Todd Gurley's Knee After Injury, Says GM
Apr 7, 2020
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 29: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams looks on prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 29, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Atlanta Falcons aren't concerned about the health of Todd Gurley II amid longstanding concerns over his left knee.
"He really takes care of his body well," Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said Tuesday, per Falcons beat writer Kelsey Conway. "We feel very comfortable with it. He's a hard-charging runner and we're counting on him being an excellent player for us."
Gurleytore his ACLin November 2014 during his junior year at Georgia.
The Los Angeles Rams selected him 10th overall in the 2015 draft, a move that paid off through his first four seasons. He ran for 4,547 yards and 46 touchdowns while catching 187 passes for 1,883 yards and 10 scores. The 25-year-old was a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro.
However, Gurley's usage toward the end of the Rams' Super Bowl LIII run was puzzling. He carried the ball just 14 times in the NFC title game and Super Bowl.
Then Gurley's trainerconfirmedin June 2019 he had an "arthritic component" to his surgically repaired knee, which raised an obvious red flag.
His 2019 performance did little to assuage any fears. He carried the ball 223 times for 857 yards and 12 touchdowns, and his 1,064 yards from scrimmage were a career low.Football Outsidersranked him 21st in DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) among 45 running backs with at least 100 carries.
Two years after signing him to afour-year, $60 millionextension, the Rams released Gurley, a sign of how quickly his stock has fallen.
The Athletic'sJeff Schultzspoke to a source who emphasized how difficult it will be to project the impact of Gurley: "Once a player has an arthritic condition, you don't know what's going to happen. It's different for every person. You're sort of playing Russian roulette because you never know how fast it will accelerate."
Terrell Davis, whose Hall of Fame career was derailed by knee injuries,expressed doubtabout whether Gurley can remain an elite runner.
The Falcons only signed him to aone-year, $6 millioncontract, so they can easily move on in 2021 if his career continues trending downward.
But there's an obvious level of risk Atlanta assumed when it brought him in to replace Devonta Freeman.
Report: Todd Gurley Hasn't Taken Physical Despite Agreeing to Falcons Contract
Apr 6, 2020
ARCHIVO - En imagen de archivo del 29 de diciembre de 2019, el running back Todd Gurley, de los Rams de Los Ángeles, descansa en la banca durante la segunda mitad del partido frente a los Cardinals de Arizona, en Los Ángeles. (AP Foto/Mark J. Terrill, archivo)
However, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Gurley has not taken his necessary physical.
A sign of the times: Two weeks after agreeing to a deal with Atlanta, RB Todd Gurley still hasn’t taken his physical because he can’t take his physical because he’s quarantined in LA. So Gurley’s wait for a physical continues, as it does for other players.
The former Los Angeles Rams running back was first reported to be heading to Atlanta on a one-year deal on March 20, one day after the Rams released their 2015 10th overall pick.
No deal can be finalized until Gurley passes a physical, which is especially notable given the 25-year-old's injury history.
Gurley's knee has been a cause for concern dating back to his days at the University of Georgia, where he suffered atorn ACLin November 2014. Those concerns were amplified when his personal trainer, Travelle Gaines, told CBS Sports'Dave Richardlast June that Gurley had a lingering "arthritic component" in his knee.
Gaines' comments came after Gurley missed the last two regular-season games of the 2018 season and only saw 14 carries in the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LIII combined.
Even so, Gurley finished the 2018 regular season with 1,251 rushing yards and a league-leading 17 rushing touchdowns.
Last season, Gurley posted his lowest rushing yardage (857) on his fewest carries (223) since entering the league. The 2017 AP Offensive Player of the Year still found the end zone 12 times on the ground, though.
The Rams released Gurley, at least partially, for financial reasons after failing to trade him:
Rams are releasing RB Todd Gurley, per source. Cutting him today spares the Rams from having to pay him an additional $10.5 million due today. Rams spent weeks exploring a trade for him. Now Gurley will be free to sign with any team.
The Rams announce the release of Todd Gurley. He's owed a $7.55 million roster bonus (there are offsets) for 2020, and the team has an additional $12.6 million in dead cap money to be accounted for.
The Rams have released Todd Gurley amidst salary cap struggles and a situation that never seemed to find a resolve last season. https://t.co/vh5peCs3F8
Crazy to think, Todd Gurley won't be playing in the new SoFi Stadium as a member of the L.A. Rams. Was less than two years ago he was the happiest guy on earth after setting a new record with his four-year, $60 million extension.
However, ESPN'sLindsey Thiryoutlined other reasons for the divorce: "It had grown increasingly apparent by the end of last season, however, that the relationship between the Rams and Gurley had soured. Gurley's usage last season was down from 2018, when he rushed for 1,251 yards and scored a league-high 21 touchdowns. Questions about the health of his left knee persist."
And so, the Falcons decided to take a low-risk chance on a Georgia star. Atlanta needed to address its backfield afterreleasingDevonta Freeman in mid-March.
At worst, Gurley can serve as a $5 million bridge for one season before the Falcons find their new running back of the future. At best, he has a career resurgence alongside quarterback Matt Ryan and receivers Julia Jones and Calvin Ridley.
