The Chargers have 13 unrestricted free agents that they will have to make a decision on as free agency is nearly over a week away. But among the list of things to do this offseason is decide whether or not to extend running back Melvin Gordon.
Gordon is scheduled to make $5.6 million in 2019 after the team picked up his final-year option last offseason.
General Manager Tom Telesco said an extension is something they’ll consider, but that there isn’t a timetable to get it done by at his media availability at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday.
“I thought he had a great year and was highly productive for us this year. He’s a three-down back and puts a lot of balls in the end zone for us, a lot of touchdowns. He’s a great player. We’ve got him and a number of other guys that will look at extending at some point.
I don’t have a timetable on those guys, but we’ve gotten to the point if we’re going to say our philosophy is to draft, develop and re-sign, we want to extend those guys we’d like to have back long-term. But I don’t have a timetable on anything like that,” Telesco said.
Telesco also mentioned that he doesn’t have too many concerns regarding Gordon’s durability, even though he’s suffered injuries the past few seasons, causing him to miss games when they’ve been crucial on their positioning.
Gordon seems to be fine with waiting at least a few weeks to open discussions with the Los Angeles.
He said during Super Bowl weekend that he is sitting back waiting to see what happens with Le’Veon Bell before pondering his own contractual future, but eventually came out and took back what he said.
With the new league year opening on March 13, it shouldn’t be too long before hearing Bell’s deal. The concern then becomes if the Chargers feel like he’s worth the money and decide to throw it at him, instead of being patient and waiting to see if he can stay healthy in 2019.
