Todd Gurley put up MVP numbers in 2017, leading the Rams in rushing whilst putting up 2093 total yards from scrimmage in a stellar campaign that secured him Offensive Player of the Year honours. The fourth-year Pro will enter the new season as undoubtedly one of the of the most feared rushers in all of football, and will be hoping to build on his success in year two of Sean McVay's offense. With his status as a household name, Gurley's influence amongst his peers is on the rise, and he's looking to exercise that influence with an eye to the future. The Rams star is at the forefront of a huge new push by NFL players to get a significant change made to the structures of their contracts when the new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated in 2021. After Vikings QB Kirk Cousins signed the league's first ever fully guaranteed contract earlier this offseason, a three-year $84 million deal, there is an increasingly strong movement around the league that wants all contracts to mirror the guaranteed money aspect of Cousins' deal. Chargers offensive lineman Russell Okung made the first public plea for the league-wide restructure Tuesday in a fiery Twitter rant, and now Gurley is putting his two pence in too. 

The way Gurley sees it, a lockout in 2021 when the CBA can be renegotiated is the best option the players have if they are to secure fully guaranteed deals across the NFL. 

"Lockout in a couple years." Gurley told TMZ Sports when asked how he envisioned widespread change coming into effect. 

That's a sentiment shared by NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, who said last year that a lockout or player strike in 2021 was a 'virtual certainty' per SI.com.

In today's climate of increasing awareness surrounding the dangers of the game to players short and long term health, it's easy to see why the shift is so greatly desired. 

And, although many of the league's best players have contracts that guarantee to pay out a large proportion of the maximum money they can earn on their deals, it's all too common to see players released without receiving large sums of money for any number of reasons. 

For someone like Gurley, who is a bonafide star but also has a glaring injury history, the benefit of a fully guaranteed deal is obvious. 

It provides players with financial security and stability based on their past and present production, and removes the worry of a career ending injury leaving them with a hazy financial future. 

For Owners and franchises, it's obvious why that may cause them some strife, particularly in a situation where a star player signs a huge deal and is unable to fulfil his contract due to injury. 

But, they will likely have no choice but to budge if the players choose to strike.

The utter chaos that would ensue and the money that teams would lose due to the absence of games would be astronomical and the financial sufferings wouldn't be worth the hassle of engaging in an extremely expensive standoff with a stubborn set of players.