Five bold predictions for the AFC West in 2019

2. Melvin Gordon will get a new deal, but only after missing games

Melvin Gordon has been sitting out of training camp this offseason looking to get an extension from the Chargers. He has expressed interest to stay in L.A., but has made it very clear he is willing to sit out during the regular season until he gets his deal.

Gordon ran for 885 yards and caught passes for another 490 yards receiving during the 2018 season even having missed 4 games. He is a staple of the offense, and is going to be extremely necessary. Philip Rivers is 37 and is going to need a consistent running game and great check down option like Gordon to help keep the great pass rushers in his division off of him.

This situation reminds of Emmitt Smith‘s infamous 1993 holdout. Smith refused to play a down of football or even practice until the Dallas Cowboys made him the highest paid back of his era. This holdout lasted until after Week 2, when the team was 0-2 and gotten so frustrated that Charles Haley reportedly threw a helmet into a locker room wall, begging him to get the deal done.

Sadly, the Chargers camp is much farther away from Gordon’s number than the Cowboys were with Smith, so it’s not gonna be Week 2 for this deal. But after games against the Colts and Justin Houston, the Texans and Jadeveon Clowney (barring him not getting traded), the Broncos and Von Miller, and with a game against the Bears and Khalil Mack on the horizon, Rivers will be begging team management to bring Gordon back.

The deal will get done Week 7 after the Chargers start 3-3, which is a terrible start to a team that wants to win the division.