Melvin Gordon appears to regret his holdout

Melvin Gordon’s past several months have gone pretty terribly.

Not only did his holdout not produce the contract extension and money he was seeking from the Los Angeles Chargers, but Gordon has also played poorly since his return. He has averaged just 2.3 yards per carry this season and essentially cost the Chargers the game with a fumble at the goal line in a Week 7 loss to Tennessee.

Gordon seems to recognize how adversely his holdout affected him and says he won’t hold out again.

“I know I won’t miss another training camp again, I can tell you that,” Gordon said via the Los Angeles Times. “But if I was to go back, I can’t say. Just with the running back thing and all that, we want to get paid, you know. I don’t know. That’s tough.”

There’s a big movement among athletes towards player empowerment, but one critical component to that is recognizing whether you actually have leverage. In this case, Gordon did not have it, and he has paid the price so far with poor play, likely as a result of missing training camp and the beginning of the season.