Melvin Gordon hadn’t been expected to end his holdout with the Los Angeles Chargers until closer to the halfway point of the season approximately. However, he showed up Thursday before their game against the Miami Dolphins. Due to Justin Jackson being out, he was active for that game as an emergency option but did not see any carries. However, it looks like he will be making his season debut against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. While it’s unclear as to whether he’ll be receiving his full workload yet or not, the point remains that Gordon will be making his return after four games missed.
Melvin Gordon Expected to Return Versus the Denver Broncos
The Impact of the Return
I’ve talked before on here about how Melvin Gordon’s absence would be (and was) ultimately irrelevant. The running game prospered without him between Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson. And then against the Dolphins, even when Jackson was out, Troymaine Pope came in and got a touchdown of his own. The success of the running game without Gordon only serves to further suggest that running backs aren’t as valuable as they once were.
But despite all that, Gordon’s return certainly doesn’t hurt. He’s still a good runner who’s gotten better over the years. What’s nice about the situation is that they can use both Gordon and Ekeler in their future schemes this season. Ekeler is too effective as a pass-catcher / runner to not be used, even though Gordon’s obviously the main starter. And that may be especially necessary against the Broncos because of the injuries at other positions…
Fortunate Timing
Gordon returned at kind of a fortunate time. If you’ve ever seen one of those cartoons where most of the sports lineup is injured, that’s pretty much what the wide receiver and tight end rooms actually look like right now. Keenan Allen is the only totally healthy starter right now. It’s possible that Mike Williams and Travis Benjamin could play, but they’ve both been limited and missed the game against the Dolphins. Dontrelle Inman is on injured reserve now. And on the tight ends side of things: Hunter Henry is still out, Sean Culkin got sent to the injured reserve as well, and Virgil Green is in the same boat as Williams and Benjamin.
So essentially, all the starters besides Allen are either out or questionable. This gives the Chargers all the more reason to use both Gordon and Ekeler. Both are receiving threats. They could either have both runners in the backfield, or put Ekeler in the slot. And even if the non-IR starters do all manage to play, both players have a skill set that the team should want to utilize in some form or fashion moving forward.
Anyway, Gordon may potentially not be back to his full workload quite yet this coming week. But when he does, this season we should hopefully see more of what we saw in 2018 from him. That year, he averaged 5.1 yards a carry and got 14 touchdowns in 12 games. Gordon has been one of the main scorers the past few years for the team. That can reasonably be expected to continue. The scheme of getting running backs in the end zone didn’t even really change with Gordon gone; he scored six touchdowns in four games. Ekeler did pretty well for a guy who was known more for his receiving abilities than his running.
Last Word on Melvin Gordon
The Chargers are 2-2 going into their game against the Broncos who are 0-4, followed by their first primetime game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gordon is more likely to play a big role in the latter game. He’ll eventually return to his leading role with the team; however, it sounds like he may end up leaving in free agency after the 2019 season.
It’s unfortunate that things will likely end that way. However, the advantage to this is that the Chargers can prepare for this well ahead of time. They can choose whether to stick with Ekeler and Jackson or sign a free agent or draft a new running back. Whatever the result, fans shouldn’t be too worried about the likely impending loss of Gordon next year. The success of the running game without Gordon should’ve alleviated such concerns. And it probably helps that head coach Anthony Lynn is a former running backs coach himself; so whatever course of action the Chargers take, fans ultimately shouldn’t have to worry too much about the future of the Chargers running game.
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