Fantasy Football: Should you start Melvin Gordon in Week 4?
Melvin Gordon will be active for the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 4 but should you start him if he’s on your fantasy football roster?
Melvin Gordon owners in fantasy football, rejoice. On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Chargers announced that they had activated Gordon, meaning that he will play in Week 4 on the road against the Miami Dolphins.
Anyone with Gordon on their fantasy football roster has to be licking their chops. He’s an unquestioned RB1 when on the field but was drafted late due to his holdout. However, that holdout has ended much sooner than was previously expected, which is huge for owners that need value with the Gordon pick in their drafts.
However, having just returned to practice in the middle of this week, it’s almost certain that Melvin Gordon is not in game shape. As such, the question on everyone’s mind is this: If you own Gordon in a fantasy football league, should you start him in Week 4?
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In almost any other matchup, the simple answer would be to sit Gordon on Sunday. He’s going to have rust that he’ll need to shake off. Furthermore, it’s entirely possible that the only reason that he’s being activated right now is that Justin Jackson, who backed up Austin Ekeler in Gordon’s absence, is injured. Thus, Gordon may be relegated to just emergency duty, especially with how well Ekeler has played.
Having said that, the Chargers are playing the Dolphins, a team that has allowed at least 30 points in all three games this season. Miami has the worst defense in the NFL right now and allowed Dallas Cowboys backup running back Tony Pollard to have a career day against them — after Ezekiel Elliott had already rushed for over 100 yards.
Thus, there is 100 percent a chance that Ekeler indeed gets the start and puts in a full day’s work in 2.5 quarters of action. Then, the Chargers put Gordon into the mix so that he can get some carries in and knock off some of that rust garnered during his holdout. And with how bad the Dolphins defense has been, that could result in a nice fantasy day for the returning running back.
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Personally, I would still be sitting Gordon on Sunday in Week 4 and wait until next week to put him in your fantasy football lineup. He’s very much a boom-or-bust play this week and is almost surely not going to see a full workload like he would as the RB1 in the Los Angeles offense. But given the matchup, if you wanted to take the risk on him feasting on the Dolphins late in the game, that’s a worthwhile gamble to make.