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Well, after Melvin Gordon was injured, checking in on these rankings every week seemed overly depressing and the 2015-16 Chargers season was already plenty depressing. That said, with the season now in the books, it seemed like a good time to take a look at how the rookie running back class did. It wasn't pretty for San Diego's Melvin Gordon:
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A fair number of us that watched Melvin Gordon play in college didn't expect him to be near the top of this list, but I don't think anyone anywhere was projecting him to finish as the least productive rookie back in the NFL.
Late third-rounder David Johnson could barely get on the field for most of the year, but once he did he made up for lost time and he tops this list rather easily. Undrafted Thomas Rawls couldn't finish the season, but the work he put in before that was certainly impressive. Todd Gurley was the top prospect coming into the season and his production behind a poor offensive line and working without a passing game can't be considered anything other than a success.
This year certainly did nothing to pour water on the assertion that running backs are not worth gambling high draft picks on. There was little to no correlation between draft position and on-field productivity.