Despite having a poor season, the Chargers didn’t blow things up. Mike McCoy and GM Tom Telesco are back. And that could be a good thing for Melvin Gordon. He had a disappointing rookie season, but nobody is giving up on him just yet – and it’s not a new staff running things who never selected him in the first place.
Gordon wasn’t explosive or decisive enough. He didn’t score a touchdown all year (thought he did have a nice somersault-style touchdown in the first game that was overturned on a replay). He also had problems hanging onto the ball, with 6 fumbles.
But the fumbles are likely a problem that will be corrected. Fumbles are pretty common for young backs, and the tendency is for those to go away with additional coaching and experience.
Of the 55 running backs with at least 100 touches last year, for example, four of the six worst fumblers were rookies (with Matt Jones, Ameer Abdullah and David Johnson joining Gordon). Karlos Williams fumbled twice in only 104 touches.
This isn’t the case for every back. T.J. Yeldon and Jeremy Langford didn’t fumble at all last year, which was really impressive.
But we don’t see fumbles as a big concern for Gordon or Matt Jones. Abdullah is a little bit different, in that he has small hands and was plagued by fumbles at Nebraska.
| RUNNING BACK FUMBLES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tm | Player | Touches | Fum | Pct |
| JAC | T.J. Yeldon | 218 | 0 | .00% |
| WAS | Alfred Morris | 212 | 0 | .00% |
| CLE | Isaiah Crowell | 204 | 0 | .00% |
| BAL | Justin Forsett | 182 | 0 | .00% |
| SD | Danny Woodhead | 178 | 0 | .00% |
| CHI | Jeremy Langford | 170 | 0 | .00% |
| PIT | LeVeon Bell | 137 | 0 | .00% |
| SEA | Marshawn Lynch | 124 | 0 | .00% |
| HOU | Chris Polk | 115 | 0 | .00% |
| NO | Tim Hightower | 108 | 0 | .00% |
| MIA | Lamar Miller | 241 | 1 | .41% |
| CIN | Giovani Bernard | 204 | 1 | .49% |
| KC | Charcandrick West | 180 | 1 | .56% |
| PHI | Darren Sproles | 177 | 1 | .56% |
| NE | LeGarrette Blount | 171 | 1 | .58% |
| CLE | Duke Johnson | 167 | 1 | .60% |
| TEN | Antonio Andrews | 165 | 1 | .61% |
| SEA | Thomas Rawls | 156 | 1 | .64% |
| NYG | Shane Vereen | 134 | 1 | .75% |
| CHI | Matt Forte | 262 | 2 | .76% |
| SF | Carlos Hyde | 126 | 1 | .79% |
| DET | Theo Riddick | 123 | 1 | .81% |
| PHI | DeMarco Murray | 237 | 2 | .84% |
| BUF | LeSean McCoy | 235 | 2 | .85% |
| DET | Joique Bell | 113 | 1 | .88% |
| ATL | Devonta Freeman | 338 | 3 | .89% |
| NYG | Rashad Jennings | 224 | 2 | .89% |
| CLE-SF | Shaun Draughn | 110 | 1 | .91% |
| NO | Mark Ingram | 216 | 2 | .93% |
| ARI | Chris Johnson | 202 | 2 | .99% |
| HOU | Alfred Blue | 198 | 2 | 1.01% |
| DAL | Darren McFadden | 280 | 3 | 1.07% |
| BAL | Javorius Allen | 182 | 2 | 1.10% |
| DEN | C.J. Anderson | 177 | 2 | 1.13% |
| CAR | Jonathan Stewart | 258 | 3 | 1.16% |
| STL | Todd Gurley | 250 | 3 | 1.20% |
| CIN | Jeremy Hill | 238 | 3 | 1.26% |
| TAM | Charles Sims | 158 | 2 | 1.27% |
| DEN | Ronnie Hillman | 231 | 3 | 1.30% |
| OAK | Latavius Murray | 307 | 4 | 1.30% |
| IND | Frank Gore | 294 | 4 | 1.36% |
| NYJ | Chris Ivory | 277 | 4 | 1.44% |
| TAM | Doug Martin | 321 | 5 | 1.56% |
| TEN | Dexter McCluster | 123 | 2 | 1.63% |
| PIT | DeAngelo Williams | 240 | 4 | 1.67% |
| NYJ | Bilal Powell | 118 | 2 | 1.69% |
| BUF | Karlos Williams | 104 | 2 | 1.92% |
| GB | Eddie Lacy | 207 | 4 | 1.93% |
| MIN | Adrian Peterson | 357 | 7 | 1.96% |
| ARI | David Johnson | 183 | 4 | 2.19% |
| PHI | Ryan Mathews | 127 | 3 | 2.36% |
| DET | Ameer Abdullah | 205 | 5 | 2.44% |
| GB | James Starks | 191 | 5 | 2.62% |
| SD | Melvin Gordon | 217 | 6 | 2.76% |
| WAS | Matt Jones | 163 | 5 | 3.07% |
—Ian Allan