Running back Melvin Gordon returned to the Chargers on Thursday and will practice with the team for the first time since starting his holdout earlier this year.
Head coach Anthony Lynn said at a press conference that the team will gauge where Gordon’s at over the next couple of days and come up with a plan to get him ready to play after the extended layoff. He didn’t rule out the possibility of Gordon playing against the Dolphins this weekend, but said it wasn’t the likeliest path for the team to follow.
Once Gordon is deemed ready to go, Lynn said that “we’ll use him just like we used him before” and that includes resinstalling him as the No. 1 back.
“No doubt, no doubt. He’s our starter. He was our starter for a reason,” Lynn said.
Lynn added that Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson will still have roles on the offense and that they’ve done well enough that the team doesn’t feel a need to rush Gordon into action, but his overall comments pointed to the return of the backfield status quo sooner rather than later.