A Running Back to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft
Round 6: Melvin Gordon, San Diego Chargers
ADP: 65th overall (6.04)
The sixth round features several interesting options. There are reasons to think Ameer Abdullah could be in for a bounce-back campaign in his second season, and it looks like Frank Gore pretty much has the Indianapolis Colts backfield to himself.
But the upside of Melvin Gordon is too great to ignore.
Touchdowns are vital for any running back, especially if said running back doesn’t do a ton in the passing game. Well, Danny Woodhead beasted as the Chargers' passing-game back, and Gordon didn’t score a single touchdown. San Diego went pass-heavy in the red zone, which led to Woodhead out-touching Gordon 30 to 13 inside the 20.
It’s safe to say 2015 was something of a nightmare for Gordon as he finished outside of the top 50 backs in standard league -- zero touchdowns will do that to ya -- but he wasn’t as horrendous as you may think.
Injuries along San Diego’s offensive line deserve some of the blame. Tackle Joe Barksdale was the only starting linemen to play all 16 games. Their starters from Week 1 wound up missing a combined 30 games.
While Gordon ranked next to last in Rushing NEP per carry among backs with at least 100 attempts, he was 30th in Rushing Success Rate among that same subset -- not great but not downright awful, either.
It’s also important to remember just how small of a sample size one NFL season is. Gordon is just a year removed from being the 15th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, and his Rotoviz comparables chart -- which features DeAngelo Williams, Matt Forte and Ladainian Tomlinson -- would make any running back blush.
In PPR formats, Gordon loses a little luster because Woodhead, the RB3 in PPR scoring a year ago, is locked into a passing-game role. But Gordon has talent, and the offensive line should be improved.
In addition to getting healthy, San Diego’s line got an infusion of talent in the draft as the Bolts took two offensive lineman -- most notably center Max Tuerk in the third round.
There is an argument to be made for Gore as the safer selection, but Gordon’s ceiling is worth the gamble in Round 6, especially if you already have multiple backs on your roster by this point in the draft. Our models project him as the RB26 and the 66th overall player, pegging him to deliver on his current ADP.
