He cut, he faked, he exploded to the top of the NFL running back class.

But then Todd Gurley slipped.

Thursday, Gurley fell all the way out of the Rams’ future, cut by the team in a move that was jarring, though hardly shocking.

The 25-year-old who was the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2017 and carried the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018 simply wasn’t pulling his financial weight anymore. The four-year, $57.5 million contract extension he signed before the 2018 season made him, by one measure, the league’s costliest back. Gurley’s 857 yards from scrimmage in 2019 ranked 19th in the league at the position and his 4.2 yards per touch ranked 50th.

By releasing him before 1 p.m. Thursday, the Rams avoided paying $10.5 million in bonus and guaranteed money, and saved nearly $9.5 million against the salary cap across the 2020 and ’21 seasons.

The Rams announced it 16 minutes before the deadline in a tweet saying simply, “We have released Todd Gurley.”

We have released Todd Gurley.

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) March 19, 2020

In another move that would have been in headlines on any other day, the Rams released linebacker Clay Matthews, who was due to receive a $2 million bonus if still on the roster Friday.

Matthews, an Agoura High and USC product who will be 34 before next season, signed with the Rams before last season for two years and $9.25 million. He started the season fast, with seven sacks in his first six games, but broke his jaw in an Oct. 3 loss at Seattle, missed three games and had far less impact after returning to action.

The Rams reportedly had tried to trade Gurley but weren’t able to. That effort was complicated by league travel restrictions, prompted by the novel coronavirus pandemic, that prevented other teams’ doctors from examining Gurley’s left knee. The knee knocked him out of two games near the end of the ’18 season and seemed to be the reason the coaches reduced his workload in ’19 — although they never spelled it out.

After the Rams finished 9-7 and out of the playoffs, Rams general manager Les Snead was asked if Gurley was the same running back he’d been the two previous years.

“This year he wasn’t,” Snead said Dec. 31.

Snead quickly added that he was speaking about statistical production, and said he could envision Gurley bouncing back.

The Rams apparently decided that the chance of Gurley bouncing back wasn’t worth the multimillion-dollar gamble.

Even so, the Rams eat $20.15 million in so-called dead cap money by releasing him before the Thursday deadline. They will be able to spread that dead-money cap charge over the next two seasons instead of feeling it all in 2020.

Combining what they ate and what they saved, the sports payroll tracker spotrac.com said the Rams lost $2.9 million in salary cap space by releasing Gurley but made up for that by clearing $3.75 million of cap space by releasing Matthews.

The most dramatic measure of what the Rams are moving on from is that Gurley’s contract extension, which was to have begun next season, took up a projected 8.1% of their salary cap. That’s the highest figure for any NFL running back.

A team looking to pick up Gurley now that he’s a free agent must decide how much of his decline was caused by physical issues and how much was caused by the Rams’ offensive-line issues and opposing defenses focusing on stopping the run.

Without Gurley, the Rams must either acquire a new running back or, less likely, bank on second-year Darrell Henderson or sixth-year Malcolm Brown to carry the load as the team enters its first season at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

The 5-foot-8, 208-pound Henderson, the Rams’ third-round draft pick last year out of Memphis, showed flashes in 13 games but finished with 147 yards rushing (3.8 a carry) and 37 yards receiving.

Brown, an undrafted free agent, gained a career-high 255 yards (3.7 a carry) in 2019, alternating series with Gurley in some games.

When Gurley was at his best, not that long ago, the Rams’ move Thursday would have been unimaginable.

Drafted 10th overall out of Georgia in 2015 (the only running backs taken in the top 10 since are Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley), Gurley was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year and immediately made the Pro Bowl for the first of three times.

After a down year in 2016, he led the league with 2,093 yards from scrimmage in 2017, his Offensive Player of the Year season, and led in rushing and receiving touchdowns with 19 in ’17 and 21 in ’18.

But between ’18 and ’19, his carries declined (from 18.3 to 14.9 per game), as did his rushing yards (89.4 to 57.1 per game) and yards per attempt (4.9 to 3.8). The Rams fell to 26th in the league in rushing yards (1,499) and 27th in yards per run (3.7) after ranking third in both columns (2,231 and 4.9) in 2018. As the ground game became less threatening, the passing game suffered too, and quarterback Jared Goff slid from eighth in the NFL in passer rating (101.1) in ’18 to 22nd (86.5) in ’19.

All season, Gurley avoided being drawn into either endorsing or complaining about his declining carries.

In December, coach Sean McVay was asked why Gurley was getting the ball a little more than earlier in the season. McVay replied: “Me not being an idiot?”

Gurley, asked for comment, replied with a laugh: “He said it, I didn’t.”

Gurley reacted to his release with a tweet Thursday saying: “Damn I got fired on my day off #QuaratineAndChill”

Damn I got fired on my day off😂 #QuaratineAndChill

— Todd Gurley II (@TG3II) March 19, 2020

Gurley later added, more seriously: “All Business Nothing Personal.”

🗣🗣All Business Nothing Personal. https://t.co/rryxzZE0oP

— Todd Gurley II (@TG3II) March 19, 2020

The Rams’ official Twitter account paid tribute by posting a Gurley highlight video and saying, “Forever a part of our history. Thank you, @TG3II”

Forever a part of our history.

Thank you, @TG3II. pic.twitter.com/XFBlFLNE0q

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) March 19, 2020

Among Rams players reacting, punter Johnny Hekker said on Twitter that Gurley “was a hell of a teammate and overcame a ton to contribute however he could. … Our franchise has banners because of that man. Nothing but love.”

I’ll always be a Gurley Man. @TG3II was a hell of a teammate and overcame a ton to contribute however he could. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward. Our franchise has banners because of that man. Nothing but love.

— Johnny Hekker (@JHekker) March 19, 2020

The Rams’ front office declined to discuss the thinking behind the move. Snead and coach Sean McVay issued statements lauding the contributions of Gurley, who is tied for the franchise lead in rushing touchdowns (58) with Marshall Faulk and sixth in Rams history in rushing yards (5,404) behind Steven Jackson, Eric Dickerson, Faulk, Lawrence McCutcheon and Dick Bass.

“He has meant a lot to my growth as a coach and leader, and he will always be remembered as one of the all-time great Rams,” McVay said.

“When we drafted Todd in 2015, we knew he was going to be a one-of-a-kind talent that would create special moments on the football field for us,” Snead said. “Todd did this by becoming one of the greatest competitors in this league. But more than that, he served as a great teammate to his fellow players and ambassador for our organization, and those traits speak volumes to who he is as a human being.”

Gurley’s contract and the four-year, $134 million extension Goff signed last summer were among several that ate up a lot of the Rams’ $205 salary cap for next season. Goff’s $21 million roster bonus for 2020 vested Thursday.

The other big Rams contract drawing scrutiny is wide receiver Brandin Cooks’ five-year, $81 million deal signed in 2018. The Rams were reported to be listening to trade offers for Cooks this week but not eager to release him because his speed helps the offense in ways not reflected in his numbers.

In part because he missed two games with a concussion, Cooks’ 583 receiving yards last season ranked 57th among wide receivers, down from 1,204 (12th) the year before. Notably, he didn’t break a tackle all season.

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Thursday was the second day that NFL teams could make free-agent signings official, after the negotiating period opened Monday.

So far, the Rams have lost Dante Fowler to the Atlanta Falcons, linebacker Cory Littleton to the Las Vegas Raiders and defensive lineman Michael Brockers to the Baltimore Ravens; acquired edge rusher Leonard Floyd, who was cut by the Chicago Bears, and defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson, formerly of the Detroit Lions; and re-signed left tackle Andrew Whitworth and guard-center Austin Blythe. The also opted not to exercise their option on slot cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman’s contract.

The Rams’ remaining prominent free agent is kicker Greg Zuerlein.

At least one of those ex-Rams was already trying to lure Gurley to his new team.

“@TG3II UMMM BIG BROTHER!? ##DirtyBirdGang,” Fowler tweeted.

@TG3II UMMM 🤔 BIG BROTHER⁉️❤️🖤#DirtyBirdGang

— Dante fowler (@dantefowler) March 19, 2020

“Worth a try,” Fowler tweeted five minutes later.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES: TODD GURLEY