The fantasy world, it seems, is desperate to find out where Melvin Gordon is going to sign. The latest has him talking with the Baltimore Ravens about a contract, a signing that would simultaneously buoy the value of Javonte Williams and crush that of J.K. Dobbins. Just sign already, Melvin!
It's been an interesting fantasy ride with Gordon over his career. First he was a star with the Chargers. Then there was a contract squabble that saw him pushed aside and overshadowed, and then the committee in Denver. Through it all, Gordon has put up big numbers.
Since his breakout second, Pro Bowl season with the Chargers (2016), Gordon has put up more total yards than all but two running backs: Ezekiel Elliott, and Derrick Henry. Only four running backs have scored more touchdowns (and just 1-2 more in each case). I'm not sure anyone has ever considered Gordon an elite running back, but he's been an elite producer.
Table shows running backs by total yards from scrimmage over the past six seasons. Data from pro-football-reference.com was used in compiling this table.
RUNNING BACK YARDS FROM SCRIMMAGE, 2016-2021 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Total | Run | Rec | Ru/G | Rec/G | Tot/G | TD |
Ezekiel Elliott | 88 | 9630 | 7386 | 2244 | 83.9 | 25.5 | 109.4 | 68 |
Derrick Henry | 86 | 7643 | 6797 | 846 | 79.0 | 9.8 | 88.8 | 68 |
Melvin Gordon | 84 | 7555 | 5503 | 2052 | 65.5 | 24.4 | 89.9 | 67 |
Alvin Kamara | 73 | 7501 | 4238 | 3263 | 58.1 | 44.7 | 102.8 | 68 |
Todd Gurley | 75 | 7042 | 4976 | 2066 | 66.3 | 27.5 | 93.8 | 69 |
Christian McCaffrey | 58 | 6602 | 3587 | 3015 | 61.8 | 52.0 | 113.8 | 47 |
Dalvin Cook | 56 | 6319 | 4820 | 1499 | 86.1 | 26.8 | 112.9 | 42 |
Mark Ingram | 84 | 6047 | 4683 | 1364 | 55.8 | 16.2 | 72.0 | 48 |
Joe Mixon | 66 | 5886 | 4564 | 1322 | 69.2 | 20.0 | 89.2 | 41 |
David Johnson | 71 | 5767 | 3466 | 2301 | 48.8 | 32.4 | 81.2 | 45 |
Le'Veon Bell | 61 | 5677 | 3777 | 1900 | 61.9 | 31.1 | 93.0 | 29 |
Aaron Jones | 69 | 5611 | 4163 | 1448 | 60.3 | 21.0 | 81.3 | 53 |
Nick Chubb | 58 | 5567 | 4816 | 751 | 83.0 | 12.9 | 95.9 | 39 |
Austin Ekeler | 72 | 5538 | 2812 | 2726 | 39.1 | 37.9 | 77.0 | 45 |
Leonard Fournette | 63 | 5506 | 3810 | 1696 | 60.5 | 26.9 | 87.4 | 35 |
Kareem Hunt | 59 | 5153 | 3557 | 1596 | 60.3 | 27.1 | 87.4 | 44 |
Jordan Howard | 71 | 5014 | 4361 | 653 | 61.4 | 9.2 | 70.6 | 39 |
Latavius Murray | 91 | 4996 | 4002 | 994 | 44.0 | 10.9 | 54.9 | 43 |
Carlos Hyde | 81 | 4922 | 4176 | 746 | 51.6 | 9.2 | 60.8 | 33 |
Kenyan Drake | 89 | 4919 | 3384 | 1535 | 38.0 | 17.2 | 55.2 | 37 |
Devonta Freeman | 67 | 4876 | 3416 | 1460 | 51.0 | 21.8 | 72.8 | 34 |
Frank Gore | 77 | 4795 | 3960 | 835 | 51.4 | 10.8 | 62.2 | 17 |
LeSean McCoy | 68 | 4739 | 3415 | 1324 | 50.2 | 19.5 | 69.7 | 30 |
Saquon Barkley | 44 | 4419 | 2937 | 1482 | 66.8 | 33.7 | 100.5 | 27 |
James Conner | 65 | 4392 | 3054 | 1338 | 47.0 | 20.6 | 67.6 | 44 |
Chris Carson | 49 | 4306 | 3502 | 804 | 71.5 | 16.4 | 87.9 | 31 |
Tevin Coleman | 77 | 4160 | 2901 | 1259 | 37.7 | 16.4 | 54.1 | 35 |
Josh Jacobs | 43 | 3839 | 3087 | 752 | 71.8 | 17.5 | 89.3 | 28 |
Adrian Peterson | 64 | 3780 | 3243 | 537 | 50.7 | 8.4 | 59.1 | 24 |
David Montgomery | 44 | 3732 | 2808 | 924 | 63.8 | 21.0 | 84.8 | 24 |
Jamaal Williams | 73 | 3704 | 2586 | 1118 | 35.4 | 15.3 | 50.7 | 21 |
Jonathan Taylor | 32 | 3639 | 2980 | 659 | 93.1 | 20.6 | 113.7 | 32 |
Lamar Miller | 45 | 3618 | 2934 | 684 | 65.2 | 15.2 | 80.4 | 18 |
Devontae Booker | 93 | 3343 | 2119 | 1224 | 22.8 | 13.2 | 36.0 | 13 |
Phillip Lindsay | 56 | 3309 | 2799 | 510 | 50.0 | 9.1 | 59.1 | 20 |
Miles Sanders | 40 | 3303 | 2439 | 864 | 61.0 | 21.6 | 82.6 | 12 |
Isaiah Crowell | 45 | 3143 | 2490 | 653 | 55.3 | 14.5 | 69.8 | 15 |
Devin Singletary | 45 | 3023 | 2332 | 691 | 51.8 | 15.4 | 67.2 | 14 |
Dion Lewis | 71 | 3019 | 2020 | 999 | 28.5 | 14.1 | 42.6 | 16 |
Matt Breida | 64 | 3010 | 2281 | 729 | 35.6 | 11.4 | 47.0 | 13 |
Bilal Powell | 51 | 2767 | 2066 | 701 | 40.5 | 13.7 | 54.2 | 11 |
Ronald Jones | 55 | 2745 | 2174 | 571 | 39.5 | 10.4 | 49.9 | 19 |
Gordon turns 29 years old next week, which seems like one foot in the grave in running back terms. But last year he put up over 1,100 total yards, 10 TDs, and averaged 4.5 yards per attempt while in a committee and on a team without much of a passing game. If he signs with Baltimore, he'll look like a lot more than an insurance policy for Dobbins and Gus Edwards, both coming off ACL injuries. If he returns to Denver, it's probably reasonable to assign him 30-40 percent of the backfield, at a minimum. With any luck, it will happen in the next few days and we'll know which running back to prop up in the rankings, and which one to downgrade.
--Andy Richardson