Justin Forsett turned out to be something akin to found money for the Baltimore Ravens at running back last season.
Despite having never eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in five previous NFL seasons and three previous NFL destinations, Forsett posted 1,266 yards rushing on 235 carries and eight touchdowns. He added 44 receptions for 263 yards, leaving him with the best statistical season of his career.
Unfortunately for Forsett, he's inching ever-closer to age 30 - that seemingly magical mark at which NFL ballcarriers suddenly forget how to avoid major hits from looming linebackers and turn the corner like a Ferrari with the pedal stuck to the floor. With the Ravens depth chart already worse off than it was entering the offseason after presumed back-up, Bernard Pierce, was arrested for a DUI and subsequently released, a further backfield addition or two seems likely.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated revealed in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback offering that Melvin Gordon, the electrifying back out of Wisconsin slated to become a likely early pick in the coming 2015 NFL Draft, won't make it past the Ravens at No. 26 in the first-round should he indeed fall that far.
Gordon, 6-foot-1, 215-pounds, finished the 2014 collegiate season with the second-most rushing yards in a year in FBS History with 2,587, behind only the venerable Barry Sanders.
He won the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the nation, was selected first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten and finished second in Heisman voting.
"Angular, talented open-field runner who combines outstanding burst with a long stride to gain separation and hit the home run," reads NFL.com's Lance Zierlein's draft profile of the former Badger. "He won't be able to outrun NFL defenders like he did in college and must develop more feel between the tackles. Gordon shines when his track runs over tackle or around the end and can put a defense to sleep around the corner. Not trustworthy enough to be a three-down back, but his pass-catching improved enough to utilize him out of backfield as a receiver."
Since Ray Rice's indefinite suspension by the NFL and release by Baltimore, the Ravens have been missing a truly game-changing talent at the running back position.
While Forsett supplied quality work last season and earned himself a new three-year, $9 million contract in the process, his diminutive stature and advancing age mean it's likely ill-advised for Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and GM Ozzie Newsome to move forward with him as the bell cow back beyond next season.
The potential addition of Gordon would make the already formidable Baltimore offense, even stronger by taking pressure off quarterback Joe Flacco and would ostensibly help the team keep pace with the likes of the Steelers and the Patriots in the AFC.
