POLL: What should the Bolts do with Gordon?

[dmac_bolt]

This is just the wrong time to be talking about this. The front office screwed this one. If the two sides are that far apart, how do you not know earlier?

I voted to trade him but that's tough to do at this point. Should have been done in the spring, before rosters are set and you can work current year draft picks into trades.

I thought MG had signaled to the world that he would play, up until about a month ago - long after most FA activity and well the draft? Maybe i missed it.

[blueman]

I thought MG had signaled to the world that he would play, up until about a month ago - long after most FA activity and well the draft? Maybe i missed it.

Nope, I remember this clearly. Holding out on his current contract was something he was not gonna do.

[Sgt. Pepper]

This is just the wrong time to be talking about this. The front office screwed this one. If the two sides are that far apart, how do you not know earlier?

I voted to trade him but that's tough to do at this point. Should have been done in the spring, before rosters are set and you can work current year draft picks into trades.

I don't know. There are 31 other teams and one of them is bound to lose a starting running back to injury in training camp or the preseason. It's entirely possible a team becomes desperate for a running back of Gordon's caliber and is willing to give up pretty good haul of players and or draft picks to get him.

[Topcat]

This was the wrong season to trade for a RB, no matter when it was. Leveon Bell last year, Freeman and Gurley with injury issues. David Johnson not being very productive. There was never going to be a chance to convince another NFL team that they should trade a draft pick and then have to spend a ton of their cap on a RB when NFL salaries for RB are just not there. At some point the players need to realize that the teams are not going to pay for it, and if there is no demand the price drops. These 4 RB (Gurley, Bell, Johnson and Freeman) are throwing the market out of balance, and I think NFL teams are going to wait for it to come back down.

How much interest was there in Leveon Bell as a FA? The only offer he really got (from what I understand) was from the Jets, and there are now rumblings that it was the GM doing it on his own, and the HC doesn't want him. Not only did it not save the GM job, but now there is all kinds of bad blood, because NY sportswriters can use Over the cap and Sportstrac just like we can. The Jets will use Bell but mostly because there is no way out. The cao ramifications are big and they are stuck with him for a while (June cuts for next season at the earliest). If Bell, who has had better production than MG is not wanted, what are the chances that any team will give up anything juicy to us?

The long and the short of it is the best thing to do is wait a bit, and trade him by the trade deadline if any offer comes in. We are only going to get a late-round pick. Teams rarely pay valuable picks for guys they have street value for. MG3 would have bring his offer down to be at street value, so we only get enough to save face. And the only team that will give up even a late pick will be someone who has a RB injury, or has a draft pick coming along way too slow. The only good thing we have going for us, you can get decent RB as UDFA and late round draft picks, so even a late round pick helps to replace Gordon, although it is not essential.

Actually, there IS another kind of good thing we have going for us...if we are unable to peddle Gordon for a decent draft pick, (like a 2nd or 3rd rounder), and if he signs with another team, we will likely get about a 3rd round comp pick out of this...I'd rather have a 3rd round comp than a 6th rounder...

[Blue Thunder]

Yeah, since we would probably get a 3rd round comp pick next year if we let Gordon walk after the season, it doesn't make sense to trade him for less than a 3rd this year now. Unless it is worth it to the team to put this whole negative slant behind them or if a player is included in a trade that we really like. Of course, the whole 3rd round comp thing would be predicated upon us not signing any big FA players next year (to upset the FA in/out balance), which I don't think we'll need to do and we usually don't do. So that's good, I guess. :dunno:

It looks we may not have a trade partner at this point that is willing to to give up at least a 3rd AND pay Gordon close to what he wants. With the whole RB market devaluing seemingly overnight, it looks like Gordon will be sitting for at least a large portion of the year, if not the entire year. I don't see anyway that he is on the Chargers in 2020 unless Gordon has a sudden change of heart and accepts the Chargers previous offer that offended him in the first place. Not likely, imo.

None of us knows whats happening behind closed doors, so it's all a big guessing game at this point anyway.

[AK47]

Yeah, since we would probably get a 3rd round comp pick next year if we let Gordon walk after the season, it doesn't make sense to trade him for less than a 3rd this year now.

Getting a 3rd for Gordon would be a win.

[Sgt. Pepper]

Yeah, since we would probably get a 3rd round comp pick next year if we let Gordon walk after the season, it doesn't make sense to trade him for less than a 3rd this year now. Unless it is worth it to the team to put this whole negative slant behind them or if a player is included in a trade that we really like. Of course, the whole 3rd round comp thing would be predicated upon us not signing any big FA players next year (to upset the FA in/out balance), which I don't think we'll need to do and we usually don't do. So that's good, I guess. :dunno:

It looks we may not have a trade partner at this point that is willing to to give up at least a 3rd AND pay Gordon close to what he wants. With the whole RB market devaluing seemingly overnight, it looks like Gordon will be sitting for at least a large portion of the year, if not the entire year. I don't see anyway that he is on the Chargers in 2020 unless Gordon has a sudden change of heart and accepts the Chargers previous offer that offended him in the first place. Not likely, imo.

None of us knows whats happening behind closed doors, so it's all a big guessing game at this point anyway.

I hate to wish bad on anybody, but injuries happen in this league and if one of the other 31 teams loses their top running back in training camp or preseason Gordon could suddenly become a hot commodity. I could see a desperate team giving up a second round pick. Of course, they would have to come to an agreement with Gordon on a new contract.

[Blue Thunder]

I hate to wish bad on anybody, but injuries happen in this league and if one of the other 31 teams loses their top running back in training camp or preseason Gordon could suddenly become a hot commodity. I could see a desperate team giving up a second round pick. Of course, they would have to come to an agreement with Gordon on a new contract.

That's going to be the hardest part to accomplish, imo. I think that compensation from the other team to the Chargers in the form of draft pick(s) or a player can be agreed upon relatively easier.

If there is a trade, I would expect there to be conditions attached to both the draft pick and the contract given to Gordon (performance escalators, etc.)

[Topcat]

That's going to be the hardest part to accomplish, imo. I think that compensation from the other team to the Chargers in the form of draft pick(s) or a player can be agreed upon relatively easier.

If there is a trade, I would expect there to be conditions attached to both the draft pick and the contract given to Gordon (performance escalators, etc.)

I would expect that one of those conditions would be, due to Gordon's injury history, an OUT after 2 years. Gordon's dual agents will probably try to push that out to after 3 or 4 years, which would make little sense for the signing team. This could well get bogged down in fine print. After what just happened with Gurley signing that monster deal, then his lingering injury, a lot of teams may get scared off from signing an RB who is potentially damaged goods...

[dmac_bolt]

I would be surprised if anyone gave up more than a 4th to get him.

[blueman]

I could see a team thinks they are a playoff contender, their starting RB goes on IR, giving more.

Every season, I stress about injuries. Weird to think one on another team could help us with one of our players.

[Lyth]

I could see a team thinks they are a playoff contender, their starting RB goes on IR, giving more.

Every season, I stress about injuries. Weird to think one on another team could help us with one of our players.

This is the only happy ending I see for us unless Gordon is willing to take a "prove it" year and see if he can play 16 games.