When it comes to offseason and preseason rankings by football analysts in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams have not been getting much love. Outside of the enormous respect that experts have for Aaron Donald, the Rams don’t get the benefit of the doubt – nor should they.

They haven’t posted a winning season since 2003. New England has played in three Super Bowls and won a pair since the last time the Rams even went .500, just to put their truly abysmal decade into perspective. So even if they’d put together a roster full of All-Pros, it’d be hard to bet on them.

That’s why yet again, the Rams find themselves near the bottom of a Pro Football Focus list of rankings – and this time it is their backfield. With very little depth behind Todd Gurley, things are anything but stable on the rushing front, which is why they ranked 26th on PFF’s rankings of all 32 backfields heading into 2017.

Gurley’s concerning drop off in 2016 after his Offensive Rookie of the Year performance has many confused as to which player he really is. While it’s tempting to believe that last season’s showing was a manifestation of the team’s overall dysfunction, we won’t know for sure until Gurley gets back on the field for a fresh start under a new coaching staff.

The next option behind Gurley is Lance Dunbar, who has only seen 94 carries in his five-season NFL career, and when he was used during his time in Dallas, it was most often as a receiver. Then there’s Malcolm Brown, who has shown promise in the offseason but is also an unknown entity in many ways.

Tight end/fullback Cory Harkey and sixth-round draft pick Sam Rogers will compete for the starting FB role, although it remains to be seen how often that position will be used in McVay’s offense.

Some good news is that while the Cardinals were ranked at No. 3, led by the powerhouse David Johnson, the Seahawks were just 17th and the 49ers were ranked even lower than the Rams. So the NFC West isn’t exactly teeming with robust backfields.