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Melvin Gordon drops, Rob Havenstein jumps up in PFF re-draft of 2015 NFL Draft

The Wisconsin Badgers should have had two first-round picks in the 2015 NFL Draft between running back Melvin Gordon and offensive tackle Rob Havenstein.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin Badgers offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (78), and Wisconsin Badgers running back Melvin Gordon (25) hold the Big Ten West Division trophy Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and coach Gary Anderson watch. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 34-24 to advance to Big Ten Championship
Wisconsin Badgers offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (78), and Wisconsin Badgers running back Melvin Gordon (25) hold the Big Ten West Division trophy Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and coach Gary Anderson watch. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 34-24 to advance to Big Ten Championship | Rick Wood / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Melvin Gordon didn't have the type of NFL success he might have wanted after his record-setting collegiate career at Wisconsin.

But even with hindsight, the Badgers' legendary running back still deserved to be a first-round pick in 2015.

The analysts over at PFF agreed, as they went back through and re-drafted the first round from that year.

Gordon was originally drafted 15th overall by the then-San Diego Chargers, but PFF has him falling to 26th and the Baltimore Ravens in the re-draft.

Gordon may not have lived up to the draft hype coming out of Wisconsin—where he rushed for more than 2,500 yards in 2014 and posted a 90.0 rushing grade—but he was still a solid pro. He recorded three seasons (2018, 2020 and 2021) with a single-season rushing grade above 80.0. Though he surpassed 1,000 rushing yards only once, he topped 800 yards in five seasons.
PFF

A young Gordon on the Ravens could have produced something like Derrick Henry does now, especially once he was paired with MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Instead, he played for some underwhelming Chargers teams with Phillip Rivers before signing with the Denver Broncos as a free agent.

Gordon had only one full season in the NFL on a team that won double digit games, although he technically won a Super Bowl ring while on the practice squad of the Kansas City Chiefs.

In that same re-draft, PFF had Badgers right tackle Rob Havenstein jumping up into the Top 10 of the draft, to the same team (St. Louis Rams) that originally drafted him a round later at 57 overall.

Despite never being selected to a Pro Bowl, Havenstein has been one of the NFL’s most consistent performers for a decade. He has earned at least a 69.6 PFF grade in nine of his 10 seasons as the Rams’ right tackle. Havenstein posted a career-best 83.4 PFF grade during Los Angeles’ Super Bowl-winning season in 2021. He was outstanding in that postseason run, allowing just four pressures and no sacks across 154 pass-blocking snaps.
PFF

He has played his entire 10 year career so far with the Rams, although his current contract is set to expire after the 2025 season at the age of 33.

Havenstein's run in the NFL has shown he absolutely deserved to be a first-round pick, despite not getting proper attention when he came out for the draft.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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