For the second consecutive year, Melvin Gordon is facing a position battle in Denver Broncos camp. It sounds like the veteran running back learned something important from last year.
Gordon admitted that battling fan favorite Phillip Lindsay for the backfield job in 2020 got in his head too much, and that it bothered him more than it should have that he wasn’t the favorite for the role.
“I got too caught up in that last year with Phil, and it’s not about that,” Gordon said, via Kyle Newman of the Denver Post. “(I felt like) it would be like if I got drafted to the Packers, because (some) people feel like you’re taking away from their guy. So (Lindsay being a CU and Denver South alum) was in my head a little bit, but I got over it, I dealt with what it was and I said, ‘Okay, we’re going to share this thing and we’re going to make some plays.’
“My mindset shifted more towards (winning) than focusing on how people here feel about me trying to take the light from Phil.”
Ultimately, neither Gordon nor Lindsay really seized the job in 2020. Gordon got the most attempts and yards, with 986 rush yards and nine touchdowns. Lindsay only got 118 carries and was not tendered a contract at the end of the year. Gordon and rookie running back Javonte Williams will be competing for the job in 2021.
Gordon is definitely a player who thinks about how he’s perceived. He’s the more experienced and accomplished back this time around, so he may be the favorite, but it looks like it doesn’t matter as much with the lessons he learned in 2020.
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