Todd Gurley contract. Righteous or nuts?

NFL fans certainly know that Todd Gurley, running back for the LA Rams, just got a whopper of a new contract. A four year deal worth $60 million, $45 million of which is guaranteed money. Todd's happy. So are others around the league, particularly running backs, but I'll get back to that.

Few would doubt Gurley, merely 24 years old, is of the "premium" variety. He's fast, shifty, can block (a little) on occasion, can shed would-be tacklers, and has great hands when it comes to receiving. A multiple offensive threat to be sure. It can likely safely be said Gurley is among the top 3-4 running backs in the NFL.

And it would appear he's earned a hefty raise from his rookie contract. Over his three years in the league, he's averaged over 1300 rushing yards a season, seems to keep his nose relatively clean off the field, and has only missed one game due to injury (durable). Plus, he added 6 receiving touchdowns last season. All in all, pretty impressive stuff.

So yeah, this contract could be considered righteous.

That's the up-side.

Now for the down.

Though it's difficult to nail down, the average career of an NFL running back is generally assumed to be somewhere between 3 and 5 years. They get banged around -- a lot. So injuries often happen. True, many have gone on to play for 8, 10, even a dozen or more years.

Gurley has already played three years. Signing him on for guaranteed money for an additional four more years is mighty risky business. As they say, every play could be his last. Ya never know.

In that respect, the Rams could be considered nuts for tying up so much money on one player, which will crimp their salary cap regarding signing other quality players to bolster the team elsewhere.

Alas, it appears the price of doing business these days in the NFL if a team wishes to even contend for the ultimate prize -- the Super Bowl.

Now to the "other" players mentioned above. They're mighty happy too, because Gurley's contract almost assures many of them will get a hefty raise as well.

Add it all up and that cha-ching you hear in the background is the price of tickets going up -- again. The players will get wealthier and the fans will be bled for even more dough to pay for it.

So is this righteous or nuts?

Depends on how one looks at it.