The Eagles Must Sign Melvin Gordon Immediately

The free agent market has been moving quickly, with most of the big-name options already being locked up with new contracts.

One of the top skill-position players still available is Melvin Gordon. He's coming off a disappointing 2019 season, but the Los Angeles Chargers struggled all around, and Gordon's holdout-delayed start to the season didn't do him any favors. The three previous seasons had each seen him tally at least 1,350 yards from scrimmage and 12-plus total touchdowns.

Even with second-year back Miles Sanders coming off an impressive rookie campaign, the Eagles could still benefit in a big way from bringing Gordon into the backfield.

The Eagles clearly showed they wanted to take a committee approach to the backfield in 2019. Jordan Howard started the year as the lead back, but even when he got hurt and Sanders took over, they had plenty of volume to go around.

Starting in Week 11 (the first game after Howard went down) Sanders averaged 14.7 carries plus 5.1 targets per game. In that same stretch Boston Scott was also able to rack up a total of 45 carries and Jay Ajayi even got in on the action with 10.

Gordon wanted to be paid like an elite back when he held out in 2019, but his underwhelming season (especially being outplayed by Austin Ekeler) has likely driven his market value way down, which means he may end up being available on a committee back kind of deal.

There also aren't a ton of teams looking for a workhorse back this offseason, and the 2020 NFL Draft features some exciting running back prospects. This market isn't shaping up to be a favorable one for Gordon.

Lacking offensive firepower but having the 11th-most cap space in the NFL, it would make a ton of sense for the Eagles to go out and land Gordon.

Join FanDuel Sportsbook Today. New users get a risk-free bet up to $500. Join Now.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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.