Danny Woodhead is an irreplaceable player. Woodhead as a talent is exceptional because of his ability to be a mismatch in the passing game while still offering enough quality to force the defense to respect him as a ball carrier. He was a safety blanket who could break off big plays for Philip Rivers. Woodhead's season ended prematurely in Week 2 when he tore his ACL. The second ACL tear in successive weeks for the Chargers after Keenan Allen suffered the same fate. Stevie Johnson had his own knee injury that cost him his season before it even began.
A depleted receiving corps won't derail Philip Rivers season. He still has Antonio Gates, Travis Benjamin and Hunter Henry with some lesser-known receivers in place to possibly emerge.
From a fantasy perspective, the big question is if Melvin Gordon can take advantage. Woodhead is an irreplaceable piece for the Chargers not only because he is better than Gordon as an all-around player, but also because he's polar opposite in terms of style. Woodhead is a receiver before a runner whereas Gordon's value should primarily come running the ball. You likely don't need to be told that Gordon endured a horrific rookie season. He didn't score a single touchdown, carried the ball fewer than 200 times and fumbled six times. Nothing about Gordon's production or performance suggested that he had been selected in the first round of that year's draft.
Offseason microfracture surgery followed, quenching any lingering optimism that had survived his rookie year.
Now Gordon is in position to take on a greater workload. The signing of Dexter McCluster will give the Chargers a back who is familliar with offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and it gives them a back who can easily fit into Woodhead's role. However, McCluster isn't the same talent as Woodhead and Gordon is a back the front office and coaching staff have invested heavily in. That should tilt some of the workload in his favor. It's easier for them to justify that move because of how Gordon has performed so far this year.
So far this year Gordon is averaging 4.2 yards per carry on 38 rushing attempts. He is on track for 304 carries and 1,277 yards. Gordon has also run for three touchdowns and caught three passes. Two of Gordon's touchdowns came in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Gordon averaged 4.1 yards per carry on 13 attempts in that game, but most notably he never ran the ball from a shotgun formation. Whisenhunt put Gordon behind his quarterback on every snap, opening up a more diverse range of run plays and letting Gordon play faster.
Gordon is a power back. Someone who is at his best when moving at speed when he gets the ball so he can make one cut and attack a running lane. He is not a subtle back who will manipulate defenders with his movement behind the line of scrimmage and set up his blockers so they gain better leverage. He did run from shotgun formations in Week 2 and was (surprisingly) successful.
The Jacksonville Jaguars don't exactly offer up much resistence when teams try to run against them, but even accounting for the quality of the opponent, this was still an impressive display from Gordon. His first shotgun run came on the opening drive in a Third-and-2 situation. The defensive line is well blocked in front of Gordon as the Chargers offensive line gets some push and doesn't leave anyone uncovered. Gordon presses the hole in front of him immediately, he isn't hesitant and he stays light on his feet even as he pauses for a moment to read the second-level defender.
Gordon's movement before the line of scrimmage forces the second-level defender to choose a lane. Once he does, Gordon plants his foot and accelerates through the other one for a first down and seven yards. He finishes the play running hard, delivering a blow at the point of contact.
During his rookie season, more than 70 of Gordon's 184 carries came from shotgun formations. He regularly looked sluggish and even confused once he took the ball from Rivers. This play may not have been one of a high degree of difficulty but Gordon's decisiveness and awareness is still an improvement over how he ran last year. With Woodhead out, these are the types of plays he is going to have to consistently make if he wants to take on the majority of the workload.
For his touchdown run against the Jaguars, Gordon lined up alongside Rivers in the shotgun at the goal line. The defense respected the run by keeping eight defenders in position to play the immediate action with just six blockers in position for the Chargers. This play is well blocked again from a Chargers offensive line that is atypically healthy. However, even though it is well blocked it doesn't mean it's a simple run for Gordon. He has to pick his way through a relatively small running lane by working his feet before ploughing his head down and into the endzone.
As a rookie, Gordon wasted a lot of movement. He would routinely plant his feet behind the line of scrimmage, bringing his whole body to a standstill and making it easy for the defense to close around him. As the first two plays here show, he is now gliding more than he is planting.
Gordon's footwork isn't on Todd Gurley or Le'Veon Bell's level in these gifs, but you can see that his heels aren't sticking in the ground and his frame isn't upright. He's controlling his momentum and pushing off of his feet so that he doesn't put himself in a position to be hit or where he needs time to re-accelerate. You don't get that time in the NFL at the best of times but you very rarely get it when running from shotgun.
Philip Rivers makes everyone on the field better. He elevates his receivers by throwing them open and elevates his offensive linemen by prossessing information quicker than anyone else on the field. Rivers' intelligence is the primary reason that he's a great quarterback. It's that intelligence that will help him put Gordon in positions to succeed with the right play calls. In the above gif, he carries out a full-blown audible when he recognizes the wide alignment of the defensive line and the depth of the linebackers. Gordon gets to the second level with ease.
On the second level Gordon does a good job of evading a defender who was trying to fend off a block by shuffling his feet before recognizing that he had nowhere to go. By recognizing that he had nowhere to go he could focus fully on powering his legs through the contact that came.
The return of Ken Whisenhunt was expected to diversify the Chargers running game. During Gordon's rookie season, he rarely ran plays where the Chargers used a tight formation and pulled two blockers. The Power runner wasn't getting Power play designs. For one of Gordon's longest rusn against the Jaguars, you got a combination of Whisenhunt and Rivers impacting his play.
This play initially saw the Chargers come out in a shotgun formation where Gordon was to the left of Rivers. Rivers gestured and communicated with his teammates in another audible. Gordon moved so he was behind Rivers in the pistol alignment before he took the ball and followed two blockers off left tackle. Gordon perfectly executed his responsibilities on this play. He gives his blockers time to get out in front and locate their defenders and plants to cut outside at the perfect time. This was the type of play he made consistently at Nebraska.
Running behind perfectly blocked plays is encouraging but it's not a sign of great quality. Gordon's best run in this game was coincidentally his longest. Not so coincidentally, it didn't come from a shotgun formation.
While this is a designed counter run, Telvin Smith Sr is very quick in shooting the backside gap. That means that Smith is in Gordon's face as he receives the ball. Gordon doesn't panic. He doesn't stop his feet. He doesn't lower his head to try and run through the denfeder or force it wide to go completely against the design of the play. He adjusts to the unexpected obstacle with quick feet and a well-timed cut to maintain the integrity of his blocking.
Big plays are going to be important for Gordon because even though he appears to be improving as an all-around runner, he is still best suited to be a one-cut back.
Moving forward, Gordon projects to have a very favorable schedule. The Indianapolis Colts are the Chargers' next opponent in Week 3. The Colts have given up 125 yards per game so far this year, fourth most in the NFL. The Colts played the Denver Broncos in Week 2, a team that projects to be a good running offense over the course of the season, but they also allowed the Detroit Lions to run for 109 yards and two touchdowns with their running backs. After the Colts, the Chargers get to face the always disastrous New Orleans Saints defense before the Raiders struggling defense welcomes them to Oakland.
Gordon will be a matchup-specific starter and not someone who will be guaranteed his place on stronger fantasy rosters, but with Woodhead's departure and his performances to this point there is very little reason to be skeptical of him moving forward.
