Happy 1st Day of June! Happy LGBTQ+ Pride Month! Especially our very own, Lord. Let’s celebrate by reviewing the offseason for his beloved 2nd favorite NFL team, the Los Angeles Chargers.
Free Agents Lost:
EDGE Uchenna Nwosu, DL Justin Jones, LB Kyzir White, LB/EDGE Kyler Fackrell, OT Bryan Bulaga, DL Linval Joseph, CB Chris Harris Jr, OG Oday Aboushi and a couple other less notables.
Free Agents Retained:
QB Chase Daniel, DL Christian Covington and a couple other less notables.
Free Agents Signed:
CB JC Jackson, DL Sebasatian Joseph-Day, DL Austin Johnson, LC Kyle Van Noy, TE Gerald Everett, CB Bryce Callahan and a couple other less notables.
Traded For:
EDGE Khalil Mack
Draft Selections Added:
G Zion Johnson, S JT Woods, RB Isaiah Spiller, DT Otito Ogbonnia, OL Jamaree Salyer, DB Ja’Sir Taylor, DB Deane Leonard, RB Zander Horvath
Notable Undrafted Free Agents Added:
RB Kevin Marks Jr, EDGE Ty Shelby, TE Erik Kroemmenhoek
There was quite a bit of turnover on the roster for the Chargers, which isn’t out of the ordinary for teams in year 2 of a new coaching regime. Staley seems determined to rid the team of any remaining “Anthony Lynn” players that he believes may be holding them back. The biggest takeaway from all of the moves is that GM Tom Telesco and HC Brandon Staley know that they are in “win now” mode. I mean, most teams are in this mode in some capacity, but I believe everyone is aware of the urgency of trying to capitalize on championship aspirations while one of the game’s top franchise QB’s is still playing on his rookie contract.
So the Chargers made a few notable moves in particular this offseason. They traded for an aging, yet still effective and at times dominant defensive end in Khalil Mack. They paired that move with adding arguably the best cornerback available in JC Jackson, though one can only wonder why New England was so willing to let him walk. They also know giving Herbert time to throw is a priority, so they added OL Zion Johnson in round 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft.
They addressed a weak interior defensive front 7 by replacing Linval Joseph and Justin Jones, with Joseph-Day and Johnson. They added one of the better TE’s on the market to a weak TE room, and a couple depth players in the secondary.
The Chargers’ 2022 Draft Class features a number of guys with pretty significant upside (Johnson, Woods, Spiller, Salyer, Ogbonnia), but plenty of reason to be cautiously optimistic due to the circumstances they were taken in. #17 overall is a bit rich for an OG, and overall the only picks they had in the top 150 were used on G, S, and RB. For a team that is devoid of talent and depth in a few areas, drafting positions that I would consider to be less positional value than others seems like a luxury the Chargers weren’t really in a position to afford.
Overall, the Chargers did a solid job getting younger and faster at a few positions. They added a couple potential game-changing players to the defensive side of the ball and bolstered the run defense which was badly needed.
They will be in the mix in the AFC West, but it’ll be hard to predict a division championship is in the cards given the competition.
Fuck the Chargers.