ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Melvin Gordon III used body language and social media to send not-so-subtle messages he wanted the Denver Broncos to trade him.
That was Monday night when Gordon was benched for essentially the final 3 ½ quarters of a 5-quarter, 19-16 loss to the Chargers. On Tuesday morning, after the team plane arrived back from Los Angeles, his frustration was still raw.
By a little after noon Wednesday, Gordon was not only not traded or released, he was pronounced the starting running back for the game Sunday against the New York Jets by head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
Did Gordon wonder if he would be cut or traded this week after all the drama surrounding him played out Monday?
“I knew there was going to be a conversation,’’ Gordon said. “You never know until something happens but I knew there was going to be a conversation before anything happened.”
Indeed there was a conversation as Gordon was called into the head coach’s office.
“We hashed some things out,’’ Gordon said.
Hackett said he would keep the conversation with his frustrated veteran running back private. But the result was Gordon was once again the Broncos’ starting running back for a third consecutive game. Not that Gordon finds solace in a starting assignment alone.
“I started last week,’’ Gordon said. “How’d that go for me?”
He started against the Chargers, received three early carries for 8 yards and then no more after the Broncos’ three-out series in their first possession of the second quarter. While on the sidelines, Gordon was spotted by national broadcast cameras first with his helmet off while the Broncos had the ball and Latavius Murray or Mike Boone were in a tailback – a no-no for backup running backs as they have to be ready to go in at a moment’s notice – and also displaying through his body language that he was unhappy with his benching.
Gordon indicated he would have acted differently if he knew the cameras were on him.
PHOTOS | Broncos at Chargers
“I thought they’d be pointed at the game,’’ he said. “I didn’t think they would be on me. I didn’t know it was to that degree until I got done and my family was hitting me saying, ‘sorry for what’s going on,’ and all that. That’s when I heard it, all my friends and stuff were texting me saying they were making a big deal out of it. Which I hate.’’
In the locker room afterward, Gordon chose his words carefully when approached by 9NEWS.
"It's too bad we lost,’’ Gordon said. “Latavius had a great game for only being here a week or so. Unfortunately, we lost the game and I couldn't get out there to help my team and that just sucks, man."
But when not interviewed, Gordon from near his locker was ranting his displeasure loud enough for all to hear. On his social media account, Gordon hit the “like” button to several tweets that suggested he should either request a trade, or be swapped for another running back on the outs with his team, the Rams’ Cam Akers.
“I didn’t know you guys you could keep track of that stuff,’’ Gordon said, referring to a tweeter’s “like” preferences.
Broncos management, though, is not in the business of making emotional decisions. With a 2-4 record, lord knows the bosses don't always make good decisions. But pushing aside Gordon's conduct, there was this: The team had already lost its No. 1 running back, Javonte Williams, to a season-ending knee injury in game 4 against the Las Vegas Raiders. And now it's supposed to surrender its No. 2 back in Gordon?
Such a move would severely chance of resurrecting the Broncos' already disappointing running game (19th in the league with 110 yards per game).
Yes, Murray is still a good downhill runner. But he's also 32 and hasn't been a full-time starter since 2017. Murray was an unemployed free agent this year until September when he caught on with the New Orleans Saints. He handled 15 carries (for 66 yards) against the Chargers, but NFL logic says there figure to be only so many carries in him this year.
Mike Boone is a solid change-of-pace No. 3 running back whose good for 5 carries a game.
And so the thinking is the Broncos can't afford to give up on Gordon. After he fumbled three times in two games – with one returned 68 yards for a touchdown in a loss to Las Vegas on Oct. 2 – and with lead back Javonte Williams suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the Raiders’ game, Broncos general manager George Paton signed the veteran Murray off the Saints’ practice squad. Murray took two weeks to get somewhat familiar with the playbook and replaced Gordon in the second quarter of the game Monday against the Chargers.
It’s almost as if Gordon’s situation this year was set up for bouts of unhappiness. He had been a No. 1 running back through the first seven seasons of his NFL career. He is a proud guy who wears his emotions for all to see. To bring Gordon back as the No. 2 running back behind Williams this year at a significant pay reduction – from an $8 million average the previous two seasons to $2.5 million on a one-year deal in 2022 – was asking for a strained relationship. It just didn’t figure to tense up so early into the season.
“This chapter in my life is big adversity,’’ Gordon said. “I hate that. I’m in the media for the wrong reasons. … Because I don’t want people to look at me and say, ‘It’s always something.’ Rather than, ‘this guy’s out here killing it.’ The narrative that’s out there has changed and I don’t like it all but it’s adversity. It’s a chapter in my life. I’m being tested as a man, mentally, and I’ve got to overcome it.”
The 2-4 Broncos, one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments through the first six weeks of the 2022 season, play again Sunday against the much-improved, 4-2 New York Jets, one of the league’s most pleasant surprises, at Empower Field at Mile High.
What happens if come the second quarter, Murray or Boone become the hot back again and Gordon again falls to the No. 2 or 3 running back?
“I don’t even know, man,’’ Gordon said. “I’m not going to put my mind frame there right now. Because I’m going to get mad.”
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