Melvin it is. So, despite all the noise and chatter leading up to the 2015 NFL Draft about the possibility of the San Diego Chargers trading star quarterback Philip Rivers, the team decided to go after an immediate hole to plug in for their high-octane offense.
The Chargers have been pretty busy in the offseason with one acquisition after another to address the needs of the squad. Thursday, with the 15th pick in this year’s draft, the Chargers said no to a future signal-caller, and said yes to running back Melvin Gordon, the record-breaking runner from Wisconsin.
“We’re really excited to get him,” said Chargers coach Mike McCoy. “He’s an impact player we had very high on our board; a guy that we really wanted to get and improve our football team. Explosive player … had a very productive college career. Being close with his head coach, Gary Andersen; having a good conversation with him about what type of player Melvin is, the fit he would be, not only as a player, but as a person in our locker room. Just a great fit for our team.”
After the Ryan Mathews experiment went up in smoke, the Chargers knew they had to fill that void right away, especially with Rivers in the last year of his current contract. Due to a constant rash of injuries, Mathews, who was drafted by the Chargers with the 12th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, never reached his full potential. In five seasons as the team’s designated starting running back, Mathews rushed for 4, 061 yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground.
He only rushed for a 1,000 yards and more in three of those seasons. In eight games, Mathews rushed for 330 yards and three scores. The Chargers ranked 30th out of 32 team in rushing the football in 2014. With the running game so anemic, the burden fell on Rivers and the passing game to make things happen last season.
The Chargers wound up missing the postseason, thus the need for the team to turn the page from the ballcarrier-by-committee dilemma and look for an upgrade at the running back position.
The Chargers actually had to move up from the 17th spot to No. 15 in order to get Gordon, who rushed for 4,9 15 yards and 45 touchdowns during his college career. The 6-foot-1, 215 pound Gordon, honored as the best running back in the country as the Doak Walker Award recipient, had a monstrous senior campaign, rushing for 2, 587 yards and 29 touchdowns.
The Chargers weren’t comfortable being at the 17th spot, so they sent their fourth round pick in this year’s draft, and their fifth round selection in next year’s draft class to San Francisco in order to snag Gordon at No. 15.
““You get to a certain point where you look at who’s behind you, who’s left on our board and the importance of getting an impact player, like Melvin (Gordon) on our football team,” McCoy said. “We thought it was the best thing to do to move forward and get him and not let anyone take him.”
Chargers general manager Tom Telesco is blunt on his assessment on what Gordon brings to the team.
“He brings that big play capability,” Telesco said. “We talk about on offense that we want to get faster, more explosive and he will bring all of that to us. He’s a big time playmaker. Like I said, he’s a threat every time he touches the ball, but he’s also great in pass protection and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. Usually when you talk about a red zone threat, it’s a receiver or a tight end, but he’s a red zone threat as a running back. He’s got a nose for the endzone, a great burst for the endzone, a short area burst. We like people who score touchdowns. He’s going to fit in just fine.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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