The Eagles Reportedly Made a (Not Very Serious) Trade Offer for Melvin Gordon
Via Albert Breer:
Did a little digging around on the Melvin Gordon trade market. To give you an idea of where it is, only offer I came across was from Philly.
In that deal, Jordan Howard would go to LA, the teams would swap mid-round picks, and the Chargers would eat salary. LA obviously said no.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 4, 2019
Not much of an offer from the Eagles, though if true, if would tell you that they’re not too high on Howard, who was acquired from the Bears for a 2020 6th round pick despite rushing for 3,300 yards in his first three NFL seasons.
But it’s worth a try, I guess. The Chargers don’t have a ton of leverage since Gordon is holding out and his future seems totally uncertain out there in California.
Both Gordon and Howard are set to become free agents at the end of the season, with Howard earning $2 million this year and Gordon earning about $5.6 million. The Eagles are paying their entire running back group ~$5 million total when you factor in the rookie deals of Corey Clement and Miles Sanders and Darren Sproles’ one-year, veteran minimum salary.
Again, Gordon is looking for top running back money, which the Chargers don’t want to give him. If you trade for him, you’re getting a one-year rental before he inevitably walks, unless you want to fork over the cash, which the Eagles won’t. A Gordon trade would make more sense for a mid-season contender that wants to throw LA a pick or a player to make a playoff run this year, similar to what the Eagles did with Jay Ajayi in 2017, only much, much more expensive (assuming Gordon will play without a new deal). The Birds have plenty of cap room and would be able to easily fit in Gordon this season, but they historically do not pay big dollars for running backs and I can’t see them changing that for Melvin Gordon when they seem to be high on Sanders anyway.