Melvin Gordon’s magic number Sunday is 107.

That’s exactly how many rushing yards the Broncos running back will need against the Raiders in the last game of the season to hit 1,000 yards for the second time in his career. Denver’s leading rusher is having arguably the second-best season in his career, totaling 893 yards on 189 attempts with nine total touchdowns. He’s rushed for 100 yards twice this season. 

“I think it’d be great if he got to 1,000 yards and that was a part of a victory for us,” coach Vic Fangio said. “We like Melvin, he’s a good running back, he was a good running back before we got him and he’s still a good running back. He runs hard. He’s a very good back in this league. He was before and he still is.”

Gordon, in his sixth NFL season and first with the Broncos, isn’t too concerned with reaching the 1,000-yard mark. 

“As far as the 1,000 yards, it’s always an accomplishment to get 1,000 yards, but honestly I feel like my play is better than just 1,000 yards,” said Gordon, who also hit the mark in 2017 at 1,105 with the Chargers. “It’s not really the season I wanted. It’s not the season I wanted individually or team-wise, but definitely looking forward to changing that next year. We have the young team — everybody knew that — it’s not an excuse. Coming here, them getting to know me, knowing how I run, what I like to run and everything.

“Being close to 1,000 — I haven’t got 1,000 yet. I’ve got to 997 before and missed it, so excuse me if I’m not as amped as I should be, but I feel like I’m way better than that.”

Gordon’s first year with the Broncos has been relatively successful, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. He’s made the case to be Denver’s featured back, splitting time with Denver-native Phillip Lindsay, who rushed for a career-low 502 yards and one touchdown and is out on injured reserve. 

Gordon said he came to Denver with something to prove, signing a two-year, $16 million contract this past offseason. 

“I’m a competitor,” said Gordon, who spent his first five seasons with the Chargers. “I’m going to go out there and compete. So, this is what I expected. I expect to go out there and put on some type of performance.”

This season has been a bit rocky off the field for Gordon, after he got a DUI and was arrested Oct. 13 in downtown Denver. His court case was pushed to Jan. 14, 2021, which allowed him to finish this season without suspension, but possibly moving it to the first few games of next season. When asked about his ensuing court date and possible suspension, Gordon said he didn’t want to talk about it now and that he’ll “kind of bring that up when it comes up.”

If there is a suspension, it could allow the Broncos to void his contract, which would mean Gordon possibly not playing for the Broncos next season. But as far as next season goes and beyond that, Gordon wants Broncos Country to know he wants to stay in Denver long term — even if he had little control over that. 

“As far as the contract and all that stuff, I let my agent handle all that — the void and all that stuff. Hopefully I did enough for them to want to keep me here,” Gordon said. “I do feel like they have something special here growing and I definitely want to be a part of it. Especially after this year, it just wasn’t the year we wanted and I feel like we have a lot more proof to show. Being a part of this Broncos family, honestly I just really don’t think I got the full experience of Denver as a whole just with the COVID rules and everything. 

“So, we’ll see, hopefully it works out, and hopefully they like me enough to kind of put all that stuff to the side. I guess in a couple months or so we’ll see what’s up.”