ADP Duel: Would You Rather Draft Melvin Gordon or David Johnson as Your RB1 in 2019 Fantasy Football

Melvin Gordon and David Johnson have been consistent fixtures among the top-10 of their position group over the past couple of seasons and 2019 is no different.

Both are projected first-round fantasy football picks with Gordon currently having a razor-thin ADP edge over Johnson (RB6 vs. RB7). As long as both backs stay healthy, they'll be the backbone of fantasy teams in 2019. But the real question is which RB should you select in your upcoming fantasy football draft?

ADP Duel: Melvin Gordon (ADP5) vs David Johnson (ADP6)
Gordon is an incredibly talented running back. But his Achilles heel is his health. If we take his 2018 game averages, he would have finished the year with 1,181 rushing yards, 67 receptions for 640 receiving yards and 18 total touchdowns (13 rushing, five receiving) if he played all 16 games.

As good as Gordon has been, he's only played a full 16-game slate once in his career, giving him a "buyer beware" label in fantasy football. He also told the Chargers to "pay me or trade me," which could alter his fantasy value, if he does ultimately get shipped out of LA. But wherever ends up, Gordon will be an undisputed bell cow back, and you could do a lot worse with your RB1.

Johnson, on the other hand, finished the 2018 fantasy football season with ninth-most points among running backs in PPR leagues, despite being under-utilized for most of the season by the Cardinals' then-head coach Steve Wilks. Now that Kliff Kingsbury is calling the shots in Arizona, you really have to like Johnson's fantasy potential in 2019.

Kingsbury's offensive scheme heavily utilizes his running backs in every aspect of the game, averaging 132 rushing yards per game and 4.8 receptions per game, which could lead to huge production for Johnson this coming NFL season.

Keep in mind that Johnson is a legitimate dual-threat running back that racked up a ridiculous 2,113 yards from scrimmage in 2016, tying the NFL record for most consecutive games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage (15).

Overall, you can't go wrong with drafting either running back, when it's all said and done. Both are in a great position to succeed, but Johnson arguably has the higher upside due to his boom potential in 2019.

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Mike Esposito is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Esposito also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username espo6891. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.