Debate the Chargers’ offseason needs in the The Football Fan Forum
2010 Preview:
The Chargers have a cakewalk of a schedule this year. The Chargers play a total of 4 playoff teams from last year, one of whom, Arizona, lost their quarterback in the off season. The Chargers always start slow, but I can’t see that happening this year. Look at their first 6 games, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Seattle, Arizona, Oakland, and St. Louis. This is still a very talented team. They won 13 games last year without being able to run the football at all. With the addition of Ryan Matthews, they should be able to run a lot better this year. If anything they won’t be worse on the ground because, well, they can’t be worse on the ground. It’s not possible.
However, once again it doesn’t really matter what they do in the regular season. They win 11, 12, 13, 14 games every year seemingly. That won’t change this year. They have to show up in the playoffs this year and until they do that, I won’t predict them to do that. They just choke in the playoffs way too often.
Projection: 13-3 1st in AFC West
Power Ranking: 3
Last season: 13-3
Draft:
#12 RB Ryan Matthews (Fresno State)
I don’t see the need to trade up all the way to 12 to get Matthews. The highest that Matthews could have gone was 20 to Houston and even that was a stretch. Plus, I don’t see the need to draft Matthews, a one hit wonder, in the first round. This is a deep running back class. Guys like Montario Hardesty and Ben Tate and even Deji Karim are future starting caliber backs available in rounds 2-4. The Chargers have too many needs (given that like half of their starters are free agents in 2011) to be trading up to get running backs they didn’t need or didn’t need to trade up for. The Chargers gave up a lot of picks and a veteran to get this deal done. Finally, Knowshon Moreno was drafted 12th by the Broncos last year and he is much better than Matthews. Matthews was not deserving of this spot.
Grade: D-
#79 MLB Donald Butler (Washington)
Butler was a bit of a reach, but fills a need and fits the scheme. Tim Dobbins was traded in the deal to get Matthews and he could have been upgraded anyway. Butler has decent upside and if he pans out, he could be a starter for this team, but they could have done a little bit more with this pick. Butler is the classic late riser meaning that he raised his stock significantly after the season so you have to be wary.
Grade: C+
#110 S Darrell Stuckey (Kansas)
Stuckey is great value and could have been a late 2nd early 3rd round if the safety class wasn’t so strong and/or teams that drafted safeties in the 2nd or 3rd round knew what they were doing. Stuckey looks like a future starter for this team and in the 4th round, that’s pretty good.
Grade: A
#146 NT Cam Thomas (North Carolina)
For the second straight round, the Chargers have drafted a guy who looks like a future starter. That’s hard enough to do in the first 2 rounds, let alone the 4th and 5th rounds. Thomas is a major steal here who could have gone in the 2nd, so, even though they needed to keep picks to take much needed depth, I love their decision to move up for him.
Grade: A
#168 QB Jonathan Crompton (Tennessee)
As I said before, pretty much half of the Chargers’ starters are free agents in 2011. They need depth. However, Phillip Rivers is under contract for another 5 years so a backup quarterback was not the kind of depth I was referring to.
Grade: C-
#235 TE Derrick Epps (Miami)
They needed other types of depth, but a blocking tight end was needed to replace Brandon Manumaeluena, so this isn’t a bad pick.
Grade: B+
Overall:
They did some things I didn’t like, but I think it’s safe to say they got 3 future starters, if not four, out of this draft and with 6 picks, that’s not bad. However, they had a bunch more picks before they decided to trade them away to move up for some guy who didn’t need and didn’t need to move up for, at least that far. This draft helps them alright in the short term, but not so much in the long term.
Grade: C+
Key undrafted free agents:
WR Jeremy Williams (Tulane)
MLB Kion Wilson (South Florida)
RLB Brandon Lang (Troy)
RB Shawnbrey McNeal (SMU)
WR Seji Ajirotutu (Fresno State)
FB Cory Jackson (Maryland)
CB Traye Simmons (Minnesota)
Positions of need:
Running Back:
LT is gone and Darren Sproles is a restricted free agent. Sproles is not an every down back anyway so the Chargers will look for a running back early in the NFL Draft. They like complete players, who can pass catch and pass block, in addition to run the football very well. A guy like Ryan Matthews or Jonathan Dwyer could be targeted in the 2nd round or first even if they really like one of them and want to secure him.
Signed Marcus Mason, Drafted Ryan Matthews (#12)
Offensive Tackle:
You can’t blame LT alone on his decline last year. None of the Chargers running backs ran well and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Their offensive line, especially the right side, didn’t open up a lot of blocks. If they can get a true run blocking right tackle in the NFL Draft, they’ll pull the trigger. Ciron Black is one of the best pure right tackles in the draft class and he could still be available when they pick in the 3rd.
Signed Tra Thomas
Wide Receiver:
Both Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd are free agents, albeit restricted. They don’t have much depth behind either anyway and Floyd could be upgraded because he’s borderline at best.
Offensive Guard:
The Chargers inability to run block wasn’t all the fault of their right tackles. Their interior blockers weren’t very good either. They need at least one upgrade at guard this year, even if not two.
Middle Linebacker:
Both of their middle linebackers were fairly mediocre last year, as they have been for years. There also isn’t a ton of depth behind either. They could take a middle linebacker if one they view as a value falls to them in the early to mid rounds.
Drafted Donald Butler (#79)
3-4 Defensive End:
Igor Olshansky was not replaced after he left as a free agent last year. It’s not a very important position but, if one falls to them, they could take one in the middle rounds.
Safety:
There safeties overall are pretty mediocre, especially at strong safety after Clinton Hart was cut, but they have other needs so this one might get ignored again.
Drafted Darrell Stuckey (#110)
Nose Tackle:
Jamal Williams will be 34 next season and he’s coming off of a major ACL injury. Nose tackles are extremely valuable and the Chargers don’t have a true one on their roster at the moment. If Terrence Cody is there at 28, it wouldn’t surprise me if they took him. The Chargers have a history of doing what people don’t expect them to. They happen to be one of the toughest teams to predict in terms of mock drafts.
Drafted Cam Thomas (#146)
Free agents:
QB Charlie Whitehurst (restricted)- tendered (3rd)
RB LaDainian Tomlinson- signed with Jets 2 years 5 million
RB Darren Sproles (restricted)- resigned 1 year 7.2 million
RB Michael Bennett- signed with Raiders
FB Mike Tolbert (exclusive rights)- resigned
WR Vincent Jackson (restricted)- tendered (1st, 3rd)
WR Malcom Floyd (restricted)- tendered (1st, 3rd)
WR Kassim Osgood- signed with Jaguars 3 years 6.6 million
WR Demetrius Byrd
TE Brandon Manumaleuna- signed with Bears 5 years
TE Kris Wilson- resigned for 2 years
OT Marcus McNeil (restricted)- tendered (1st, 3rd)
OT Jeromey Clary (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.6 million
C Eric Ghiaciuc (restricted)- signed with Patriots
NT Jamal Williams- signed with Broncos 3 years 16 million
NT Ian Scott
3-4 DE Antonio Garay (restricted)- resigned 2 years
RLB Shawne Merriman (restricted)- tendered (1st, 3rd)
RLB Antawn Applegate (restricted)- resigned
RLB Marques Harris (restricted)
MLB Tim Dobbins (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.1 million
S Kevin Ellison- signed with Seahawks
Offseason moves:
Chargers cut S Kevin Ellison
Chargers cut NT Ian Scott
Chargers sign WR Josh Reed
Chargers sign OT Tra Thomas
Chargers re-sign WR Malcom Floyd
Chargers sign TE Randy McMichael
Chargers trade MLB Tim Dobbins to Dolphins in 1st-round swap
Chargers re-sign RLB Antwan Applewhite
Chargers re-sign MLB Tim Dobbins
Chargers re-sign OT Jeromey Clary
Chargers re-sign RB Darren Sproles
Chargers re-sign FB Mike Tolbert
Chargers sign CB Nathan Vasher
Chargers waive WR Demetrius Byrd
Chargers sign CB Donald Strickland
Chargers claim RB Marcus Mason
Chargers Trade CB Antonio Cromartie to Jets for conditional 2011 third-round pick
Chargers re-sign TE Kris Wilson
Chargers cut NT Jamal Williams
Chargers tender RB Darren Sproles
Chargers tender QB Charlie Whitehurst
Chargers tender WR Vincent Jackson
Chargers tender RLB Shawne Merriman
Chargers tender OT Marcus McNeill
Chargers tender WR Malcom Floyd
Chargers tender OT Jeromey Clary
Chargers tender MLB Tim Dobbins
Chargers tender RLB Antwan Applewhite
Chargers tender FB Mike Tolbert
Chargers re-sign 3-4 DE Antonio Garay
Chargers cut RB Michael Bennett
Chargers cut RB LaDainian Tomlinson
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