{"id":70388,"date":"2019-08-11T22:33:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T02:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=70388"},"modified":"2019-08-12T06:12:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T10:12:13","slug":"melvin-gordon-holdout-fantasy-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/08\/11\/melvin-gordon-holdout-fantasy-football\/","title":{"rendered":"The Melvin Gordon Holdout in Fantasy Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prior to training camp, Melvin Gordon<\/a> <\/strong>was a consensus top-six running back in fantasy football. The Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> stud had control of the backfield in a high-powered offense with a proven track record of success. All signs pointed towards him being an RB1 with the potential to finish atop the running back rankings.<\/p>\n

However, that all changed in the weeks leading up to training camp. Gordon publicly announced he was holding out of training camp and demanded a trade if he couldn\u2019t reach terms with the Chargers. Both sides appear to be far away in talks, and there\u2019s a growing sense that Gordon\u2019s holdout will continue<\/a> into the regular season. Gordon\u2019s a borderline top-five running back when playing, but how does the holdout affect his fantasy stock and where you should take him in your draft?<\/p>\n

Fantasy Football Draft Headquarters<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Possible Trade Scenarios<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve already analyzed<\/a> how good Gordon can be when he\u2019s on the field, so let\u2019s not waste too much time marveling over his ideal combination of talent and opportunity. Instead, let\u2019s focus on when Gordon can get back on the field and how that affects his value.<\/p>\n

Right now, there doesn\u2019t appear to be a likely landing spot for Melvin Gordon. The Chargers already said that they won\u2019t give him away for free, so they\u2019ll need to get something of value in return. Unfortunately for everyone involved, running backs simply don\u2019t matter in today\u2019s NFL. Gordon\u2019s a talented player, so it\u2019s possible that a team would give up a decent draft pick or a big contract for his services. However, it\u2019s incredibly unlikely that a team give up both.<\/p>\n

Even if the cost wasn\u2019t an issue, not too many teams are in need of a running back right now. The Houston Texans filled their running back need<\/a> by acquiring Duke Johnson<\/a><\/strong>, leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the only team with a glaring hole at the running back position. Only having one legitimate suitor is bad enough, but head coach Bruce Arians<\/strong> basically came out and said that he doesn\u2019t place great value<\/a> on the position. Barring something completely unforeseen, Melvin Gordon isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

When Will Melvin Gordon Report?<\/h3>\n

The Los Angeles Chargers will probably own Gordon\u2019s contract rights in 2019, but that doesn\u2019t mean Gordon will show up once the season begins. Memories of Le\u2019Veon Bell<\/strong><\/a> are still fresh in everyone\u2019s head, so some fantasy owners could take Gordon entirely off their boards for fear of a similar situation.<\/p>\n

However, there are differences between Bell and Gordon. Gordon is still under his rookie contract, whereas Bell would have spent 2018 under the franchise tag. Bell had the option to simply sit out the season and hit unrestricted free agency in 2019. That\u2019s not the case for Gordon, as he\u2019ll need to accrue an additional season before escaping the terms of his rookie deal.<\/p>\n

I am not a contract expert, nor have I ever read the fine print of Gordon\u2019s contract. However, according to all available information<\/a>, it sounds like Gordon needs to report to the team by November 29th<\/sup>. Assuming he plays every game upon his return, Gordon would start the final five games of the season. Five starts is bad for fantasy football, but there are reasons to believe he\u2019ll return earlier than that.<\/p>\n

Why Gordon Could Return Earlier<\/h3>\n

With Gordon off the field, Austin Ekeler<\/a><\/strong> and Justin Jackson<\/a><\/strong> will see the majority of the work. The Chargers are in win-now mode with an aging Philip Rivers<\/a><\/strong>, and they\u2019ll bite the bullet and pay up if Ekeler and Jackson aren\u2019t capable of carrying the load. If that happens, you\u2019ll probably get about 12-13 games of a happy Melvin Gordon.<\/p>\n

Recent analytic studies suggest that Ekeler and Jackson are more than capable of handling Gordon\u2019s job, simply because running backs don\u2019t have that much to do with actual rushing success. If that\u2019s the case, Gordon may actually be hurting his value by sitting out. James Conner<\/a> <\/strong>filled in seamlessly for Le\u2019Veon Bell, and that\u2019s part of the reason Bell didn\u2019t receive as much money as he wanted. Ekeler and Jackson are good backs, so Gordon\u2019s best way to a paycheck could be by returning to the field and reminding everyone just how good he is.<\/p>\n

As of this posting, Fantasy Football Calculator has Gordon going off the board with the 23rd<\/sup> pick in standard-scoring formats. This is probably a little too early considering the risk, but it has the chance to be a fantastic value. At this point, it\u2019s more likely than not that Gordon is going to miss a couple of games. However, he\u2019ll be back for a minimum of five and could easily play 12-13. Taking him in the second over a player with RB1 upside like Kerryon Johnson<\/a><\/strong> is risky, but if he\u2019s there in the mid- to late-third, you\u2019ve got to grab him. The upside is worth the risk.<\/p>\n

Fantasy Football Draft Headquarters<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Melvin Gordon holdout doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon, so how does Gordon’s uncertain status affet his fantasy football stock?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":68565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,59,2,18],"tags":[3135,294,61,2364,3957,98,609,40,362],"class_list":["post-70388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-fantasy","category-featured","category-chargers","tag-austin-ekeler","tag-fantasy-football","tag-football","tag-james-conner","tag-justin-jackson","tag-leveon-bell","tag-melvin-gordon","tag-nfl","tag-philip-rivers"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}