Sunday, May 17, 2015

1.02 Indianapolis Hoosier Daddy's - RB Melvin Gordon III

In the real world: Gordon, who has been compared to the Kansas City Chiefs' Jamaal Charles, has arguably the best job situation of any rookie RB this year as the result of landing in San Diego. The Chargers lost their lead RB of the previous five seasons, Ryan Mathews, in free agency (Eagles), and traded up in Round 1 of the NFL Draft to get Gordon. If there's one knock on Gordon, it's that he fumbled 7 times in 343 carries last year (1.8 percent), but Charles also had a fumbling problem coming out college and he was able to fix that.
In the TUFF world: Indy's fall from grace last season has one thing in common with its 2004 collapse: The team's fortunes changed with one of their best RBs making one rash decision (in 2004, it was Ricky Williams and his unexpected retirement; in 2014, it was Ray Rice knocking out his fiancee in a hotel elevator). On top of that, Toby Gerhart (who replaced Rice in Indy's starting lineup in September) turned out to be a free agent bust. Factor in Ryan Mathews' new crappy job situation (DeMarco Murray's backup) and Frank Gore's age (he turned 32 just three days after the TUFF Draft started), and Indy had a serious need at RB. Gordon fills that need and should start for them in Week 1 (and hopefully for several more years).

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