2024 Chargers Official News | Acquisitions | Transactions | Injuries

[21&500]

And remember...DOT is still on the roster...

I figure he's the RB without a chair.
with the TE depth and cross responsibilities with FB, I'm not so certain Ben Mason even makes it despite being one of Hortiz's first FA signings.

[Chargers8491]

Are we all still confident Spiller isn't making the team?

I maintain he's a shoe-in with his size, youth and potential.
And most of all, Dobbins' injury history and now Gus getting nicked up in June....

Rooting for Spiller.

Spiller, Matlock, and Henley were done a huge disservice last year especially after Staley was fired. There was no reason why they shouldn't have been on the field more getting reps. The coaches last year were a complete shit show.

Matlack was an animal at Boise State. I'm most baffled as to why he didn't see the field more. He was healthy all season. I'm glad he was singled out by the coaches as a leader. I think he will have a monster year.

[Velo]

Are we all still confident Spiller isn't making the team?

I maintain he's a shoe-in with his size, youth and potential.
And most of all, Dobbins' injury history and now Gus getting nicked up in June....

Rooting for Spiller.

I'll maintain he's a shoe-in not to be on the roster. I don't mean to bag on Spiller. But he's had his opportunities and he's fallen flat. He doesn't belong on an NFL roster, period. I realize the coaching was dysfunctional in his two seasons, but that excuse only goes so far. He's shown absolutely nothing when he's been given touches, no flashes, no spark of any potential. IMO, they will carry 4 RBs - Gus Bus, Dobbins, Vidal and Mason as a FB. They won't have room for more RBs because they'll want to keep six WR. If they want/need to add an RB, they will sign a veteran FA. It won't be Spiller. That's my take on Spiller and the RB room.

Dotson has no chance of making the roster either. Harbaugh and Roman aren't going to fool around with RBs who have no NFL talent. I don't know about Jaret Patterson, but I highly doubt it. Practice squad only.

[21&500]

I'll maintain he's a shoe-in not to be on the roster. I don't mean to bag on Spiller. But he's had his opportunities and he's fallen flat. He doesn't belong on an NFL roster, period. I realize the coaching was dysfunctional in his two seasons, but that excuse only goes so far. He's shown absolutely nothing when he's been given touches, no flashes, no spark of any potential. IMO, they will carry 4 RBs - Gus Bus, Dobbins, Vidal and Mason as a FB. They won't have room for more RBs because they'll want to keep six WR. If they want/need to add an RB, they will sign a veteran FA. It won't be Spiller. That's my take on Spiller and the RB room.

Dotson has no chance of making the roster either. Harbaugh and Roman aren't going to fool around with RBs who have no NFL talent. I don't know about Jaret Patterson, but I highly doubt it. Practice squad only.

The bold is key. How far indeed.
Jim recruited him before he ultimately chose A&M
I can see a scenario where they bring in a vet, like you say, over Spiller, but outside of that scenario, I suspect Jim will not hold his lack of production against him.
I'm still trying to figure out the numbers game myself but I'm leaning towards 4 pure running backs not including Mason because I don't think we're expecting Dobbins to last 17+ games.
We'll see.

[Caslon]

I'll maintain he's a shoe-in not to be on the roster. I don't mean to bag on Spiller. But he's had his opportunities and he's fallen flat. He doesn't belong on an NFL roster, period.

It seems every spring, Spiller is given kudos in practices but just doesn’t pan out during the regular season. He was a reach.

[sonorajim]

I don't know about our RB depth. They didn't get much time with the ball, had poor blocking, coaching and game plan.Based on that you had to be LT to look average. LT's team helped a lot.

[sonorajim]

It seems every spring, Spiller is given kudos in practices but just doesn’t pan out during the regular season. He was a reach.

We'll find out this year. He has pro NFL blocking and coaches. Last year Ekeler led the #25 rushing O. .

[21&500]

Now that we officially signed Tony Jefferson, here's my stab at the 2024 53:

2 QB: Herbert, Stick
9 OL: Slater, Johnson, Bozeman, Pipkins, Alt, Salyer, Jaimes, Leatherwood, McFadden
6 WR: Palmer, McConkey, Chark, QJ, Rice, Davis
3 TE: Hurst, Dissly, Heins
5 RB: JKD, Edwards, Spiller, Vidal, Mason

8 DL: Ford, Fox, Ogbonnia, Eboigbe, Hinton, Clark, Matlock, Okoye
4 EG: Bosa, Mack, Tuli, Dupree
4 LB: Colston, Henley, Perryman, Dye
4 S: James, Alohi, Jefferson, Harper
5 CB: ASJ, Fulton, Still, Hart, Taylor

3 ST: Dicker, Harris, Scott

I have 2 UDFAs making it over vets:
I have Heins (6'7" 260lbs) making it as the 3rd TE over Parham because of his size/blocking and upside as a pass catcher over Parham
who has had a major injury won't be needed as a target as much with 6 WRs and Hurst.
I also have Harper (Notre Dame) making it as the 4th S over Woods who despite some buss in OTAs, I don't believe will be a sure-enough tackler for Minter
Harper is a GREAT tackler with great speed and has the Notre Dame connection with coaching staff.
I have Ben Mason as the 5th RB/TE and only 3 TEs with McFadden seeing a few snaps as a TE (reportedly).

[Boltnut]

I'm not a big fan of TT. BUT he did draft Slater, Zion in round 1, brought in an Pro Bowler center and Pip was a 3rd rounder. So to insinuate that he didn't invest in the O line is not exactly
correct.

As of right now, Slater was the only investment he hit on.
His real problem was relying on projects like Pipkins and Tevi @OT.
We had years and years of ineptitude @ OT before Slater. That just won't work in the NFL.
I knew from his first pick (Fluker) that he didn't know what he was doing along the OL.
He had 2 good FA signings (Linsley and Aboushi)... the rest were crap and/or breaking down.
Go cheap @OL and your team will perpetually be bad and waste any talent you do have elsewhere.
I'm glad we have a GM that finally knows what he's doing.

[Fouts2herbert]

It seems the Chargers never have never taken the backup QB position seriously. Geno Smith was maybe the last legit backup, but never did much but scramble in his time as backup. Some other good teams have former starters as their backups. The Chargers have mostly had late rounders lately. They’ve never taken the backup QB that seriously. They’ll wait until Herbert is out for a period of time, then go hunting around. Other teams ensure they have a legit plan B on their roster. I’ve always been unsatisfied with the Chargers backup QB approach.

Not just QB, it's been across the board shit backups since the early to mid AJ Smith era, and he did most of that thru the draft and then got some divine intervention on some UDFA talent as well...good backups are more expensive at every position but especially at QB, it's why I've been saying for years that it wasn't all TT's fault as some of his mid to late picks that he actually hit on had to go elsewhere for second contracts, outside of his first round hits the rest of the guys had to find money somewhere else, just look at some of the guys that went elsewhere in the last 5 years, and some of those guys could be solid backups here, granted TT was hopeless when it came to drafting O-line...

I'm 100% sure Harbaugh discussed at length with ownership before he agreed to take the job, Dean must've reassured him that things were going to be different going forward...at the very least for as long Jim's tenure lasts and it hasn't just been growing the depth, it's everything, equipment, trainers, everything...signing Chark and Dupree are examples of the new approach, under TT coaches were stuck with whatever was on the roster, whatever got drafted, and holding on to bad draft picks for depth positions rather than filling in with good veterans...TT just wasn't good enough to draft consistently well in the way that the owners wanted to run the team, I'm not sure any GM can consistently refill the cupboard in the era of free agency with just the draft alone...also you need the right infrastructure like coaches and trainers to get guys into starting or depth roles quickly before their rookie deals expire...

Might sound counterintuitive but writing more mid tier checks every offseason is still the more expensive approach from a cash perspective for the owner...the difference between writing a big splash check every couple of years to keep up appearances OR parting with a multitude of medium tier to low medium tier checks on a yearly basis and still having to extend guys like Herbert or Slater every couple of years...

[powderblueboy]

Spiller, Matlock, and Henley were done a huge disservice last year especially after Staley was fired. There was no reason why they shouldn't have been on the field more getting reps. The coaches last year were a complete shit show.

Matlack was an animal at Boise State. I'm most baffled as to why he didn't see the field more. He was healthy all season. I'm glad he was singled out by the coaches as a leader. I think he will have a monster year.

Moving up from the Mountain west to the NFL is a huge leap,
and college DTs rarely hit the ground running in the NFL.

Look at the DT Brown on Carolina ... drafted right after Herbert.

He wasn't much his first 2 - 3 seasons, and then finally took off.

That's why you can't just draft one DT every 4 years, as was Telesco's habit.

[powderblueboy]

I'll maintain he's a shoe-in not to be on the roster. I don't mean to bag on Spiller. But he's had his opportunities and he's fallen flat. He doesn't belong on an NFL roster, period. I realize the coaching was dysfunctional in his two seasons, but that excuse only goes so far. He's shown absolutely nothing when he's been given touches, no flashes, no spark of any potential. IMO, they will carry 4 RBs - Gus Bus, Dobbins, Vidal and Mason as a FB. They won't have room for more RBs because they'll want to keep six WR. If they want/need to add an RB, they will sign a veteran FA. It won't be Spiller. That's my take on Spiller and the RB room.

Dotson has no chance of making the roster either. Harbaugh and Roman aren't going to fool around with RBs who have no NFL talent. I don't know about Jaret Patterson, but I highly doubt it. Practice squad only.

A few touches in a few games in his NFL career is not an opportunity.

I think you misunderstand the type of RB he is velo? No, he's not an explosive back,

and he evidently did not exel in pass protection.