We have another Le’Veon Bell situation on our hands.
Melvin Gordon is holding out of Los Angeles Chargers camp after both sides have reportedly given their contract extension offers. The star running back wants a new deal, but as of Friday, it looks like he’s not anywhere close to coming in. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the holdout “is expected to be prolonged and threatens to last into the season.”
Let’s look at it from a fantasy perspective, because drafting Bell last year turned out to be the worst pick in fantasy football history. Owners are surely not going to want to be burned like that again (although, let’s point out that this is a little more certain than last year’s “oh yeah, Bell won’t hold out into the regular season … right?” drama).
Of course, we could wake up tomorrow and the Chargers will give him a deal and this will all be for naught.
But what if it turns into a Bell situation and you’re left at your draft not knowing if or when Gordon will come back? Suddenly, a surefire first-round pick seems far from a guarantee. And you don’t want to get cute in the first few rounds of your draft.
So here’s what I’d do: Wait.
Either some owner is going to pull the trigger in the second round and do a lot of praying that the Chargers give in to Gordon, or the running back will sit around with owners daring each other to take him in a game of chicken. You can just hear it now: “HEY REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO LE’VEON BELL!”
I’ve looked at the early average draft positions via Fantasy Pros and I’ve found the spot I’m comfortable taking him at: It’s somewhere in the 40-50 range.
That’s where I see names like Phillip Lindsay, Melvin Ingram and the Rams’ receiving duo of Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks. Kenny Golladay is in there too. In other words, it’s a spot where there are some Flex or WR2 names popping up, and because wideout is SO deep (you can get names like Chris Godwin, Tyler Lockett and Calvin Ridley later!), this is where the risk becomes enough to stomach with Gordon.
Now, as I said: You could be reading this in about a month and it’ll be moot. But if it’s not? That’s my advice. I may be less risk averse than you are, and that’s up to you if you want to fill an RB2 spot with a player who may take a while to come back, may not come back at all, and who if he DOES come back, could take a while to get up to speed. That may pay off in the end!
But watching those of you who chose Bell agonize for a full fantasy season made me firmly believe you shouldn’t take that same risk again.
