Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon is not necessarily making friends and influencing people lately. In fact, it has been quite the opposite.
Melvin Gordon has had an up-and-down tenure with the Broncos but the 2022 season has not been kind to him. He has developed a major fumbling problem and those lost fumbles have factored into some Broncos losses in a huge way.
Beyond that, Gordon was benched in the team’s most recent game, a loss on Monday night to the Los Angeles Chargers, while the team turned to Mike Boone and Latavius Murray in a critical game. Cameras showed him seemingly sulking on the sideline.
It is fine for a player to be upset about being taken out of a game, but he should be anything but surprised.
If we are honest, even at his best in Denver, Gordon has never been that good. Add in the fumbles and he becomes a complete liability on the field. But earlier this week, the almost laughable news that Gordon would be the starting running back this Sunday against the New York Jets came through.
For Nathaniel Hackett, a coach who many feel is in the center of the coaching hot seat right now, that is a curious decision to make.
This comes on the heels of Gordon liking tweets on Twitter suggesting that the Broncos should trade him. By the way, the Broncos should absolutely trade him.
Broncos fans have a right to be upset with Melvin Gordon
There has been some sentiment out there that perhaps Broncos fans are being too harsh on Gordon. He’s just a guy trying to keep his job and is looking to go out and prove it. That is all fine and well, but he doesn’t seem to have that team-first attitude.
Murray, who is 32 years old, seems to be a better option for the Broncos anyway. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry last week against the Chargers while Gordon has averaged 3.7 yards per carry on 55 attempts this season.
Two years ago, in his first season with the team, he was arrested on suspicion of DUI. He basically got out of that on a technicality, something that would have led to much more severe consequences had it stuck.
Gordon and Hackett had a meeting following the loss to the Chargers and Gordon came out of that meeting with his starting job back. That was a horrible look, no matter how you try and spin it.
In Hackett’s system, Gordon was eating into Javonte Williams’ workload but is benched for the rest of the game in favor of a debuting Murray. That makes absolutely no sense, so maybe more of this is on Hacket than it is on Gordon.
At absolute best, Hackett is starting Gordon in this game in hopes of increasing his potential trade value. But in all honesty, what value could a 29-year-old running back averaging less than four yards per carry with a fumbling issue possibly have? Handing him his starting job back is not going to change that.
The jury is still out on Hackett and whether he was the right choice for the job in Denver (though that decision has already been made for many) but there is little doubt at this point that Gordon is doing nothing but dragging his team down.