The Biggest Disappointments of the 2015 NFL Season so Far

We're pretty much right at the midpoint of the 2015 NFL regular season, and while not every team has played its first eight games, we've seen enough from most clubs to start drawing some definitive conclusions.

In many cases, our early assumptions were correct. The New England Patriots still look like Super Bowl contenders, and St. Louis Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley is playing like a Rookie of the Year candidate.

Other players and teams, however, have fallen far short of expectations. The Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens, for example, were viewed by many as trendy Super Bowl picks. Both have been complete disasters. Disaster would also be an apt way to describe perennial MVP candidate Peyton Manning's performances in most weeks this season—but has he been bad enough to make our list? Read on to find out.

These are our picks for the biggest disappointments of the 2015 NFL season through Week 8. 

Melvin Gordon

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The San Diego Chargers used the 15th overall pick to select former Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon, expecting that the former college star could give them a potent rushing attack. 

After all, Gordon was coming off a 2,587-yard season in which he averaged 7.5 yards per carry and scored 32 total touchdowns. With opposing defenses having to worry about quarterback Philip Rivers and the Chargers passing attack, San Diego seemed like a perfect place for Gordon to flourish.

"You pair [Gordon] with [Danny] Woodhead, and you've got a perfect scenario," NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock said during the draft, per Mike Huguenin of NFL.com. "He changes the whole balance of their offense now. Philip Rivers was everything. He takes the pressure off that. They run the football more efficiently, and Philip Rivers will get better."

Unfortunately, Gordon hasn't been the type of game-changing back the Chargers had hoped he could be. He is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry, has only five runs of 15 yards or more and has yet to find the end zone. 

What might be even more troubling is that 121 of Gordon's 382 rushing yards came on those five 15-plus-yard runs. That means that his other 98 carries this season have netted a mere 261 yards—that's just over 2.6 yards per carry.

This tells us that Gordon hasn't been breaking big runs often, and when he doesn't, he's adding very little to the San Diego ground game. 

The Chargers win total sits at two games, and the team is ranked just 29th in rushing. Considering Gordon was supposed to help improve both categories, it's safe to say his rookie season has been a disappointment. 

Joe Haden

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Do you remember when Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden was actually good? Heck, at one point, he was considered an elite shutdown corner akin to the likes of Richard Sherman and Darrelle Revis. 

Just last year, he was voted to the Pro Bowl and helped the Browns field a defense that was rated first overall in pass coverage by Pro Football Focus. That Browns defense was expected to be even better in 2015, but, well, it's been terrible.

Cleveland is ranked 30th in overall defense (405.4 yards per game allowed) and 26th in scoring defense (27.0 points per game allowed). Haden has been a large part of the problem. The two-time Pro Bowler has dealt with a hand injury and a pair of concussions this season, but even when healthy, he has been a liability in the secondary.

According to Pro Football Focus, Haden has been targeted 31 times this season, allowed 24 receptions for 387 yards and four touchdowns. Opposing quarterbacks have a cumulative passer rating of 158.2 when throwing at him.

For the record, a perfect passer rating is 158.3.

Only five cornerbacks are rated lower by Pro Football Focus this season. For a guy who's supposed to be one of the best defenders in the game, that's a massive drop-off and monumentally disappointing. 

The Detroit Lions

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The Detroit Lions looked like one of the league's hottest rising teams in 2014. The offense was thriving behind Matthew Stafford, Golden Tate and Calvin Johnson, while the defense was shutting opponents down with regularity. 

The Lions finished 2014 with an 11-5 record and a playoff berth and nearly defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the postseason. Unfortunately, the team lost defensive stalwarts such as Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley in the offseason and has seen the offense fall to earth since the start of the regular season.

Detroit sits at 1-7 and is coming off an embarrassing 45-10 loss to the Kansas City Chief in London.

The problems in Detroit seem to be twofold right now. The defense is ranked dead-last in the league, allowing 30.6 points per game, and the offense can't seem to find any semblance of a real rhythm.

The team recently fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi in an effort to fix the latter problem, but after watching Detroit against the Chiefs, it's fair to say that the move didn't address the issue.

Lions fans are probably used to disappointment, but after last year's highly promising campaign, this 2015 stretch has been particularly difficult to swallow. 

Colin Kaepernick

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Last offseason, the San Francisco 49ers were coming off three straight appearances in the NFC Championship Game, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick was signing his name to a new six-year, $114 million contract.

Both parties have fallen to earth since, but the trip for Kaepernick has been especially bumpy. 

The 49ers dropped to 8-8 a season ago, which prompted the replacement of Jim Harbaugh by Jim Tomsula at the head coach position. The 49ers are now sitting at 2-6, and Kaepernick is about to take his seat on the bench.

According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, San Francisco plans to start backup Blaine Gabbert next week against the Atlanta Falcons.

For 49ers fans, perhaps the thought of starting Gabbert is the real disappointment. 

The truth is, though, Kaepernick just hasn't looked like the same quarterback under Tomsula. His mechanics seems to have regressed, and worse yet, the confidence that made him such a bright, rising star seems to have gone.

His performance hasn't been pretty either. Kaepernick is completing less than 60 percent of his passes, has thrown just six touchdowns to go with six turnovers and has a disappointing passer rating of just 78.8.

Perhaps some time on the bench, hopefully without those headphones, will help Kaepernick figure things out. Otherwise, he could well be trying to turn it around for a different franchise in 2016.

Chip Kelly's New Toys

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Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly has never come across as much of a conformist. However, his approach to the 2015 offseason seemed even more unconventional than his uptempo and matchup-heavy offense.

Kelly traded away starting quarterback Nick Foles and a second-round pick in order to acquire Sam Bradford from the St. Louis Rams. He also traded away running back LeSean McCoy and signed NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray to a five-year, $40 million contract. He also used a first-round pick on slot receiver Nelson Agholor. 

Plenty of people were skeptical of Kelly's offseason moves, but then again, perhaps he is just smarter than the rest of us when it comes to football.

Then again, maybe not.

Kelly got the pieces he wanted, but they haven't brought along much team success. The Eagles sit at 3-4 and have actually struggled more on offense (ranked 17th with 22.9 points per game) than on defense (ranked 11th, allowing 19.6 points per game).

Part of the problem seems to be that the three additions mentioned here have failed to live up to expectations. Bradford (passer rating of 76.4) has been solid at times, but he really hasn't looked like a clear upgrade over Foles. Murray is averaging a substandard 3.5 yards per carry, and Agholor has barely even been a significant part of the offense.

The former USC standout has just eight receptions for 105 yards on the season, though he has been sidelined since Week 5.

The Eagles still have nine games to turn things around, and the team is definitely still in it in a weak NFC East. However, Kelly's handpicked additions seem to have the Eagles spinning in neutral more than racing toward a Super Bowl title. 

Andrew Luck

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The Indianapolis Colts are 3-5. For a team that reached the AFC title game less than a year ago, this has been a disappointing start to the season. However, if we're being perfectly honest, the Colts were never an incredibly talented team last season.

The running game was lackluster, and the defense, rated just 20th overall by Pro Football Focus in 2014, was a liability. 

The big difference between 2014 and this season has been the performance of quarterback Andrew Luck. Last year, he was good enough to take an otherwise mediocre team and make it look like a true contender. This year, he's taken an otherwise mediocre team and made it look downright bad.

Perhaps the recent firing of offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton will help Luck change his fortunes. However, to this point, we have watched a quarterback who seems broken. He has been continuously locking onto his first read, has looked uncomfortable in the pocket and has continued to develop a penchant for turnovers.

This season he has committed 13 turnovers to go with his 13 touchdown passes. His passer rating sits at a dismal 71.6, and he has been sacked 14 times. He has also taken repeated hits that at one point led to his missing a pair of games with a shoulder injury. 

Perhaps the most telling stat is this: The Colts went 2-0 with Luck on the sidelines and have a 1-5 record with him under center. This simply isn't what anyone was expecting out of the Stanford product who is always hyped as the next great thing. 

C.J. Anderson

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OK, so we're not actually going to put Peyton Manning on our list. He's locked in an arm-wrestling match with Father Time, he's in a drastically foreign offense, and it's not like he looked a whole lot better at the end of the 2014 season or in the playoffs.

However, we are going to mention one disappointing Denver Broncos player. We're talking about running back C.J. Anderson, who ended last season on the type of tear that made him a media and fantasy darling.

During the offseason, Alex Gelhar of NFL.com wrote:

"

Anderson is 100 percent a top-10 fantasy back for 2015. He enters the season as the presumptive starter and potential bell-cow for Gary Kubiak's zone-running scheme. Last season Anderson led the NFL with 648 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns after taking over the starting job in Week 12. On tape, he was far and away the most impressive rusher in the Denver backfield, and it would take several revelatory performances from Ronnie Hillman or Montee Ball for them to leapfrog Anderson in the pecking order. 

"

We know that the Broncos don't care in the least about your fantasy team, but they do care about the efficiency of their rushing attack. This is why they demoted Anderson in favor of Ronnie Hillman this past week against the Green Bay Packers. 

Anderson responded to the demotion with the best game of his season by far, a 101-yard, one-touchdown outing. 

For the year, though, he has been a colossal disappointment. Even including his big Week 8 game, he has just 281 yards rushing and is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry. 

The Baltimore Ravens

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Oh, Baltimore Ravens. Since you transformed yourselves out of the Browns, we have grown used to you being one of the most physical and competitive franchises in the AFC. We've also become used to you being a perennial playoff contender. 

Your two Super Bowl rings make you champions, and many felt that you could be on your way to a third in 2015. Sadly, it seems the season had drastically different plans for you. 

We should be a little honest with ourselves here. The Ravens play in a tough division and have realistically been playing around their talent level for the past couple of years. If the Pittsburgh Steelers have a healthy Le'Veon Bell, there's probably a good chance the Ravens don't beat them in the 2014 playoffs. The close game Baltimore played against the New England Patriots now looks like a distant mirage.

However, the Ravens were a trendy Super Bowl pick coming into this season. Peter King of theMMQB.com picked Baltimore to lose a close one to the Green Bay Packers. 

However, the Ravens are 2-6 and in last place in the AFC North. That's right, even the Browns are better than the Ravens right now. They've also lost star wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. for the season with a torn Achilles. 

This isn't going to help the team's chances of turning the season around. Realistically, though, it's too late for that anyway. 

This year's disappointment isn't going to spark any sort of drastic rebuild. The pairing of head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Joe Flacco should be around for many years. In fact, it's more probable than not that Baltimore will be back and competing for a playoff spot as soon as 2016.

For a Ravens team with super-high expectations, however, this season has been a super letdown.