As NFL teams continue to make moves in the 2022 free agency period, rumors are swirling around RB Melvin Gordon. What are the latest reports and NFL rumors saying about where Gordon could play in 2022 and beyond?
Melvin Gordon Rumors
After spending his first five seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, Gordon signed with the Denver Broncos before the 2020 season. Putting pen to paper on a two-year, $16 million deal, Gordon was highly productive in his first year in orange and blue. Gordon recorded 1,144 yards and 10 total touchdowns on 247 combined carries. He had the backfield to himself and thrived. 2021, however, was a different story.
During the 2021 NFL Draft, the Broncos used their second-round pick on a wrecking ball out of North Carolina in Javonte Williams. Gordon was forced into a committee, and it could not have been more 50/50. Both Gordon and Williams carried the ball 203 times each. However, Gordon outrushed him by a whopping 15 yards (918) and doubled his touchdowns 8 to 4.
Williams edged out his teammate through the air, catching 43 of 53 targets for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns compared to Gordon’s 28 catches (38 targets), 213 yards, and 2 touchdowns. It was the first time in Gordon’s career he had fewer than 40 targets or 30 receptions.
Now a free agent, Gordon is one of the top-ranked running backs available. According to Spotrac, the soon-to-be 29-year-old RB has an estimated market value of $5.2 million on a one-year deal. It all depends on whether or not Gordon still wants to be a featured back. According to recent rumors and reports surrounding Gordon, that might be the case.
“It’s a job unfinished” in Denver for Melvin Gordon
“I have been wanting to come back. I would love to win a championship in Denver. I made a lot of great relationships with the guys. I feel like we have a really good team. To leave a talented team and go somewhere else would suck,” Gordon told Troy Renck of Denver7 on March 7.
“It’s a job unfinished, and we need to finish the job. I would love to stay. I talked with [general manager] George [Paton]. We spoke on it. He told me he thinks highly of me. I really like the way he runs things and does things.”
That sounds pretty cut and dry, right? Well, not quite. Gordon knows where the Broncos want the future of the backfield to go. And it might not mesh with the role he wants.
“I know eventually they want him [Williams] to be the guy and to take over,” Gordon said during an interview with Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports. “And the thing is, I’m still fairly young, and I still want to compete at a high level. I just don’t wanna take a backseat.”
Gordon went on to add that it is something he worries about if he stays with the Broncos but feels GM George Paton wants to use both of them.
Should Gordon re-sign with the Broncos as rumors suggest, it would also be a Wisconsin reunion with former Badger and current Bronco QB Russell Wilson. Wilson was the QB of the Badgers in 2011 during Gordon’s freshman year.
Could Gordon play with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers?
Tampa Bay has been relatively quiet this offense. Aside from Russell Gage, the only “addition” they have made was Tom Brady deciding retirement was not ready for him just yet.
This instantly changed the Buccaneers’ offseason plans. Now they’ll try to keep their roster in a win-now window in what appears to be a three-team race in the NFC with Green Bay and Los Angeles.
After becoming salary cap compliant, it’s time to make moves, and one of those is at RB. Leonard Fournette, having changed from playoff to Lombardi Lenny, is a free agent, as are Giovani Bernard and Ronald Jones. If Gordon wants to have a backfield all to his own, he can find that in Tampa.
Moreover, it’s one of the few teams needing an RB that is also a contender, which is a critical factor for a player later in their career. Watch for rumors to swirl in the “second wave” of free agency with Gordon and possibly the Buccaneers linked together.