Free agent Melvin Gordon is still looking for a job in a dry running back market, and he's pointing his finger at Los Angeles Rams' head coach Sean McVay. Gordon blames McVay for starting the trend that favors cheap young running backs over elite veteran ones on expensive contracts.
So why don't NFL teams like to pay running backs long-term contracts? Unfortunately, running backs are usually a shell of their prime self by the end of a second contract. And that's exactly what happened with Sean McVay, Todd Gurley and the Rams.
Gurley was great in two of his first three seasons. In the 2017 season, he led the entire NFL in scrimmage yards and touchdowns. Then he signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Rams. At the time, that made Gurley the highest paid running back in the NFL.
His 2018 performance was still solid, but the injuries started setting in and he was basically a non-factor in a playoff run that ended with a loss in the Super Bowl.
In 2019, Gurley's production completely fell off, and the Rams released him after the season. Gurley played one more season in Atlanta in 2020 and hasn't played in the NFL since. The craziest part is Gurley is still only 28.
McVay decided he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He said he'd never pay a running back again. Funny thing is, the Rams won a Super Bowl just a couple years later.
That brings us to Melvin Gordon's bitterness towards McVay.
“I think after Todd got paid and then Sean McVay came out and said that, it was like everybody just followed suit, I think,” Gordon said. “I kind of think that's where everything just started going downhill.
The reality of the running back market in the NFL is tough to swallow. It's the least valuable position in the sport, and many great running backs don't even make it to a second contract. The physical toll of playing the position is brutal — it's a short, injury filled career and most backs lose their burst really fast.
As of right now, Gordon, 30, isn't the only veteran back looking for a job. Three other former Pro Bowlers are drawing very little interest in free agency: Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook, and Kareem Hunt. All three of them are just 27 years old.
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