COSTA MESA — Not all Los Angeles running backs look alike.

Todd Gurley, the Rams’ backfield star, is listed at 6-foot-1, 224 pounds. Melvin Gordon, the Chargers’ workhorse, is listed at 6-1, 215 pounds. Both have shoulder-length dreads. But remove the helmets and, well, the facial similarities just aren’t there.

And yet, Gordon often gets mistaken for Gurley – as well as Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, another long-haired runner.

“It is what it is,” he said Tuesday after the Chargers wrapped up practice at Jack Hammett Sports Complex.

Making matters worse? The confusion doesn’t go both ways. Asked Monday if he ever gets mistaken for Gordon, Gurley said, “Nah, never.”

In many ways, one has overshadowed the other ever since they entered the league. The Rams selected Gurley at No. 10 overall in 2015, making him the highest-drafted running back in three years. Five picks later, the Chargers took Gordon.

Gurley became the league’s top offensive rookie, while Gordon debuted with just 641 rushing yards. The next year, Gordon flipped the script by doubling his counterpart’s touchdown total – only to see Gurley vault into another stratosphere in 2017. Under new head coach Sean McVay, Gurley erupted for 19 touchdowns and 2,093 yards from scrimmage last season to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

Last month, the Rams rewarded him with a four-year extension with $45 million guaranteed, the largest deal ever for an NFL running back.

Gordon said he congratulated Gurley on the eye-popping contract; the two are friendly with each other, even though the former referred to the latter as his “archrival” earlier this year. But the news also had him thinking about some big numbers of his own.

“He definitely changed the market for us,” Gordon said at the start of training camp. “But right now, the season’s starting. The focus can’t be on that. It’s obviously in the back of your mind, but you can’t let that be the center focus. It is what it is at this moment. When that time comes for us backs to get paid, I’m sure it’ll be around the same number.”

The 25-year-old still has work to do to earn that level of compensation. Although Gordon set a career high last season with 1,105 yards on the ground – plus another 476 through the air – he has yet to average 4.0 yards per carry in a full season. That’s a threshold that more than 25 running backs reached last year, including a dozen with at least 200 carries.

There are reasons to expect better efficiency out of Gordon in his fourth season. For one, the Chargers upgraded their run blocking this offseason, signing center Mike Pouncey and tight end Virgil Green, both of whom should open more lanes for the former Wisconsin star.

Last season also marked the first time Gordon had played a full 16-game season. Although he dealt with knee pain through parts of the fall, he also took more care to maintain his lower body, building strength with single-leg exercises.

It’s a regimen he intends to keep up.

“You go eight weeks, nine weeks or 10 weeks in the season, you get a little tired,” Gordon said. “Everything becomes repetitive. You get a little tired – ‘Oh, maybe I won’t do this today.’ … You’ve just got to stay focused.”

CAMP NOTES

The Chargers held out linebackers Uchenna Nwosu and Kyzir White on Tuesday, but Lynn said the two rookies were just resting their sore knees before taking on a heavy workload this Saturday at StubHub Center. White led the team with 39 defensive snaps in the preseason opener, while Nwosu wasn’t far behind with 26. … Seventh-round running back Justin Jackson (hamstring) practiced for the first time in more than a week. … The Chargers signed linebacker Kyle Coleman and waived undrafted rookie defensive end Albert Havili. This is the second stint in Los Angeles for Coleman, who returned an interception for a touchdown in the Chargers’ 2017 preseason finale.