On Wednesday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted that Gordon had informed the Chargers that "unless he receives a new contract, he will not report to training camp and will demand a trade." What does that mean for Gordon's fantasy value? What if you are drafting right now?
Let's take a look
Gordon and his agent might feel disrespected by the long term offer they got from the Chargers, but the team was under no obligation to make him an offer. Like LeVeon Bell he might be dismayed that the team he gave much more over the value of the first four years of his rookie contract isn't willing to give him what he thinks is market value for his services now. Gordon can attempt to play the same game Bell did and offer no more of his blood to a team that he feels does not appreciate him and hope for a trade, but there are few if any teams with the positional need, cap room, and willingness to pay a running back top market value long term. Gordon could hold out into the season to test the Chargers mettle, but this is a notoriously cheap organization that has put winning the transaction over winning games as recently as the Joey Bosa holdout in 2016.
The best case scenario for Gordon's FF prospects is that he either accepts his situation and shows up early in camp or the Chargers make some sort of token gesture via incentives/escalators to get him on the field for this year. The chances of a long term deal that Gordon would find acceptable is almost zero. If Gordon waits until Week 2 or 3 to show up to see if the Chargers will budge, he will lose FF value not only for those games but also could be eased back into the lineup. Even if he shows up late in camp/preseason to avoid missing game checks, he'll be at higher risk of early-season injury since he may not in the same condition he would have been if he had shown up at the open of camp
The team is likely to employ an Austin Ekeler/Justin Jackson committee if Gordon misses time. Ekeler is a little more valuable, but the values are close enough that both should be moving up boards on this news. Gordon should be out of the first round until he reports, and maybe even low in the second round or into the third round. His risk factor is nebulous -- a la Todd Gurley -- and that's about where he should be going now. He has missed the fantasy playoffs two of the last three years, which was already a shadow over his value. Now, that risk could also be higher early in the season. If in doubt in a draft while this situation looms, pass on Gordon.
