Fantasy football Week 5 2017 rankings: Who to start and sit

Start: Melvin Gordon

Like his rookie season, Melvin Gordon has started out 2017 in a very bad way from an efficiency standpoint. This week, he should get back on track as the Chargers face the New York Giants, who are allowing 142.8 yards on the ground on average.

Gordon’s career has been more inefficient than we would’ve hoped for from a first-round draft pick. He only has a 3.7 yards per carry average and has gained most of his fantasy stats through volume and touchdowns. Last year, he was heavily involved, added 419 yards in the receiving game to his 997 on the ground, and had a ton of goal-line carries. The Chargers moved the ball well and relied on Gordon to pound the ball in. This year, it hasn’t been the same.

Gordon only has 168 yards on 54 carries this year (3.1 average) and two touchdowns, but he is likely to be used a lot against New York as they can’t stop the run. They were gashed by Ameer Abdullah for 5.1 yards per carry a few weeks ago, the Eagles put up 193 yards on the ground against them, and even Jacquizz Rodgers had over five yards per carry last week. In this battle of 0-4 teams, it’s Gordon’s turn to take advantage of the weak Giants run defense.