Carolina Panthers: The Melvin Gordon hypothetical
Whether you watched every Carolina Panthers game this past season or only one, you probably noticed a major flaw…the offensive line.
Thanks to poor salary cap management in past offseasons and the untimely retirement of Jordan Gross, general manager, David Gettleman, had his hands tied last summer in free agency. As a result, he was unable to surround an already banged up Cam Newton with adequate protection.
Save for former Pro Bowl center, Ryan Kalil, I’m not sure even the most well-informed NFL fan could name a guy that lined up for the Panthers at guard or tackle this season. This pieced-together group was outmatched seemingly every game, no matter who the opponent was.
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A major flaw of this line was its inexperience. Of the group of two guards, two tackles, and center that started the most for Carolina this season, they had 193 combined career starts – third fewest behind the Jaguars and Chargers. It gets even worse when you consider that over half of those starts (100 of them, to be exact) belong to Ryan Kalil.
The Panthers drafted guard, Trai Turner out of LSU last season, and he looks as though he could be a decent option. That being said, he still has a lot of developing to do before he can be relied upon on a week-to-week basis.
Knowing all of this, it should be a no-brainer that the Carolina Panthers would select the highest-rated lineman when their 25th pick rolls around, right? Not so fast, according to some.
A few recent mock drafts have not only had former Wisconsin running back, Melvin Gordon, slide to the Panthers’ pick, but have had the Cats draft him as well. Sure, mock drafts are nothing but pure speculation, but it raises an interesting question.
If Melvin Gordon is available at the 25th pick, should Carolina snatch him up?
He has all the potential in the world to be the next best running back in the NFL – he’s even already being dubbed a bigger Jamaal Charles.
If you need an example of Gordon’s abilities, look no further than Wisconsin’s game against Nebraska when he ran for 408 yards and four touchdowns en rout to an FBS single-game rushing record. Unfortunately for him, his record was broken only one week later when Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine totaled 427 yards and five touchdowns.
He finished his final season at Wisconsin with an eye-popping 2,587 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns.
Melvin Gordon has a tremendous amount of ability, there’s no denying that, but are running backs worth a first round pick in today’s NFL? The numbers from the 2014 season say no.
During this past season, 13 running backs topped 1,000 yards. Of those 13, only one was a first-round draft pick – Marshawn Lynch. In fact, of the top 25 running backs this season, only five were first round picks (Lynch, Mark Ingram, Jonathan Stewart, Steven Jackson, and Chris Johnson). Excluding Mark Ingram, the remaining four first-round running backs were taken in the 2008 draft or earlier.
This observation suggests that first-round running backs just aren’t worth the price anymore.
The NFL is a passing league now, where quarterbacks are king and running backs are found in groups. More and more teams are switching to the “hot hand” approach when it comes to rushing, causing the number of true feature backs to dwindle.
So, back to our question. If Melvin Gordon is available when the Carolina Panthers are on the clock, should they select him?
It’s simple. No.
I’m of the belief that when the Panthers are up to make their first-round pick, they need to select the highest-rated offensive lineman available. While it may be a pick that many consider to be boring, just look at how it’s worked out for the Dallas Cowboys.
If you don’t agree, ask yourself this question – how would you feel watching your team’s first round pick split carries with their seventh round pick on a game-to-game basis, knowing all the great talent they missed out on?