Report: Melvin Gordon Will be Broncos' Bell-Cow RB, not Phillip Lindsay

Broncos fans have been dying to know how the Melvin Gordon signing will ultimately affect Phillip Lindsay. A new report from a Dove Valley insider sheds light.

On Friday, the Denver Broncos signed free-agent running back Melvin Gordon to a two-year deal worth $16M. The contract comes with $13.5M fully guaranteed. 

The Broncos sent smoke signals up all offseason, telegraphing their intent to add a 'starter type' running back in free agency. Although it came as no shock to see that, indeed, there was fire at the base of all that smoke wafting up from Dove Valley, fans were stunned to see the Broncos pay top-5 RB money to a soon-to-be 27-year-old free agent. 

The question burning on the minds of Broncos Country has been: What does this mean for Phillip Lindsay? 

A report from 9NEWS' Mike Klis confirmed the worst fears of many fans. 

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Based on what team brass are telling Klis, Gordon will be the Broncos' 'bell-cow', with Lindsay serving as second fiddle. It will be interesting to see how Lindsay responds to this notion — and I don't mean on social media. 

The world-sized chip on Lindsay's shoulder is already legendary. Nothing the NFL world has served up by way of an obstacle so far has been enough to keep Lindsay off the field as the guy.

However, the former undrafted free agent has never had to overcome the expectations that come with a front office and coaching staff looking to get a return on a $13.5M (guaranteed) investment when it comes to playing time and snap-share. 

Still, if I'm putting chips down, I'm placing them on Lindsay. It's nothing against Gordon. After all, every Broncos fan should want Gordon to succeed and be another free-agent 'hit' on GM John Elway's resume. 

Perhaps we should ask Austin Ekeler about what it's like to be postured as the clear RB2 behind Gordon. Also a Colorado-born former undrafted rookie, Ekeler eventually leap-frogged Gordon on the Chargers' RB depth chart — and he out-lasted him in Los Angeles to boot. 

Although it's important to note that Gordon appeared in four-less games than Ekeler last year, thanks to his hold-out, Ekeler out-gained him in scrimmage yards by a massive margin — to the tune of 1,550 to 908. 

Lindsay can take encouragement from that fact. 

A PR Cluster

In order for the Gordon acquisition to land correctly, the Broncos had to be careful about how the team postured the RB pecking order in the court of public opinion. Having the team's most famous insider tweet that Gordon will be the new bell-cow and that Lindsay will have to take a backseat, wasn't the best way to balance the PR messaging. 

That's to say nothing of how Lindsay himself has to be taking this news. At worst, it makes the Broncos come off as completely oblivious to the fact that Lindsay has served as the engine that has kept this offense afloat over the last two seasons. And he did so in the face of a who's who of musical chairs at quarterback. 

It can be argued with a completely straight face that Lindsay — not Von Miller, not Bradley Chubb, not Courtland Sutton, not Justin Simmons not Drew Lock — has been the Broncos' most valuable player since arriving as a college free agent in the spring of 2018. He deserves some love from the team brass and some recognition. 

Paying $8M/year to an outside free agent, only to have it leaked that the team views the mercenary addition as the new 'bell-cow', says the opposite. It was Elway who entertained the idea of giving Lindsay an extension this offseason when he held court during his end-of-season presser. 

"Yeah, we’ll look at that," Elway said on December 30. "Again, we’ll get back into when we start planning and budgeting for 2020 and where we are money-wise. Obviously, Phillip has done a tremendous job and being the first college free agent to go over 1,000 yards (in two consecutive years to start his career). As Vic said last night, there are 32 dumb-dumbs that didn’t draft him and I was one of them. Thank God we talked him into coming here.”

Elway doesn't appear to be as grateful for Lindsay as he sounded that day at the podium as nothing has been done about getting him paid. However, the Broncos' front-office czar can make things right be getting that extension, which he breathed life into and kept alive, done with Lindsay sooner than later. 

Let the team's gratitude be spoken by way of the checkbook — which is the love language of the NFL after all. From there, it would simply be a matter of letting Gordon and Lindsay sort out the play-time split on the grid-iron. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.