The Los Angeles Chargers will resume their season Sunday when they face the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.
The bye in Week 5 offered a needed respite for an injured roster. It also provided the Chargers’ coaches — from Jim Harbaugh to offensive coordinator Greg Roman to defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — time to assess their team at the quarter mark of this inaugural season.
“Never thought I would appreciate a bye week this early in the season,” Roman said Thursday. “As it turns out, it’s a gift from the football gods.”
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What I’m seeing from the Los Angeles Chargers: Ladd McConkey emerging as WR1
As the Chargers emerge from their bye at 2-2, let’s take stock by taking your questions.
You ask. I answer.
It’s the mailbag.
Do you expect any trades before the deadline? — @kcaj_backwards
We are now less than a month away from this season’s trade deadline at 1 p.m. PT on Nov. 5.
I think the chances of the Chargers making a trade at the deadline are higher under this new regime than they were under previous general manager Tom Telesco. Over 11 seasons, Telesco never traded for a player at the deadline. He traded draft capital for a player just three times. New GM Joe Hortiz has been in his role for eight months. He has already acquired two players in exchange for draft capital — safety Elijah Molden and backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
Hortiz just comes from a different philosophical approach. His belief in constant roster churn makes a deadline trade a more realistic possibility.
How realistic? And what would be the options?
The Chargers, as an organization, pushed their cash spending in 2022 and 2023. Cash and cap are two separate things. The cap can be manipulated. Cash is the amount of actual money the team is spending, and every team is operating on a different cash budget. In 2022, the Chargers were seventh in the league in salary cash spending, according to Spotrac. In 2023, they were 16th in salary cash spending. This year, they are 27th in salary cash spending. That is by design. They also paid top of market for their head coach. This season, the organization is not going to be spending cash the way they did in 2022 and 2023. There are business realities. And so the base salary of any trade target must be considered — for cash and cap reasons.
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Additionally, with Hortiz, there will always be some motivation tied to compensatory picks. A free agent counts toward the comp pick formula only if he completes his contract. The trade deadline does provide an opportunity to target players in the final year of their contracts. For instance, the Chargers could bring in a player on a rental. Then if that player leaves in free agency after the 2024 season and signs a contract of significant value elsewhere, the Chargers could be in line for a comp pick, depending on their other offseason moves.
So two criteria: cheap base salary and expiring contract. And, of course, the player would have to fit some sort of need for the roster.
Cleveland Browns receiver Amari Cooper checks all three boxes. The Chargers need to add to their receiver room. The Browns restructured Cooper’s contract in July, moving signing bonus into future void years. His base salary in 2024 is $1.21 million, according to Over the Cap. The Chargers would only be taking on a fraction of that for part of the season. And, finally, Cooper is in the final year of his deal and is slated to become a free agent in the spring.
Just one option. If you are looking for trade candidates, I would start by using those three criteria.
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How Jesse Minter has led Chargers to a defensive transformation through 4 weeks
How much is the lack of a true vertical speed threat hurting the offense and Herbert’s production right now? — @lethalfooty
The Chargers signed receiver DJ Chark in free agency to fill a specific role within their offense. Chark has the size and speed to attack down the field, and last season with the Carolina Panthers, he was at his best when attacking 50-50 balls outside the numbers. Chark injured his hip while trying to make a catch along the sideline in an August training camp practice. He then was placed on injured reserve ahead of the season opener. He has not played this season.
I think the Chargers have missed his presence quite significantly. They do not have another player on the roster who can threaten defenses the way Chark does. As we have seen this season, Quentin Johnston is a much more dynamic player when he is running slants and crossers. He has been running more of those routes this season than in his rookie year in 2023. Still, with Chark out, Johnston is the Chargers’ best option to attack deep because of his size and speed. The Chargers have other fast players in the room, like Derius Davis and Ladd McConkey. But neither player has the size to match up consistently on the outside.
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How the Chargers’ plan for Quentin Johnston is getting the most out of the 2023 top pick
Johnston, on a rate basis, is running fewer gos and posts this season than he did as a rookie. Still, he leads the Chargers with 25 such routes through four weeks, according to TruMedia. No other receiver is in double digits.
So I think the benefit of Chark coming back is two-pronged. First, Chark is better at attacking on these routes than Johnston. Two, Chark running these routes will allow Johnston’s role to be even more tailored to his skill set than it is now.
DJ Chark hasn’t played this season after injuring his hip during training camp. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Has Kristian Fulton earned a second contract? — @bolts10213
It is way too early to make any such proclamation definitively. But I will say this: Fulton is certainly playing well enough to put himself in that position if he can keep it up for the whole season. Fulton has shown flashes of this level of play at times in his career. The issue has been injuries. And so I think he has to stay healthy and maintain this production for a longer period to earn a second contract.
Nonetheless, the early returns are really positive for Fulton and the Chargers. He looks very comfortable in Jesse Minter’s scheme. I think Minter is putting Fulton in a lot of good positions to maximize his skill set — namely, allowing Fulton to play from depth and use his instincts to break downhill. Fulton did allow a long touchdown to Xavier Worthy in a Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. But that was his only glaring mistake in coverage this season.
I will add one note here on the comp pick facet of this discussion. Fulton is on a one-year deal and would factor into the comp pick formula if he signs elsewhere after this season.
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What do you make of the IOL struggles? — @lu87346
The Chargers’ blocking over the past two weeks has not been good enough across the board. Part of that is injuries.
Left tackle Rashawn Slater (pec) was knocked out halfway through the Week 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and missed the Chiefs loss. Right tackle Joe Alt (knee) missed the Chiefs loss, as well. That led to considerable reconfiguring throughout the line, including on the interior. Right guard Trey Pipkins III played left tackle in the second half against the Steelers. He played right tackle against the Chiefs. Jamaree Salyer played right guard against the Steelers and left tackle against the Chiefs. Practice squad lineman Sam Mustipher started at right guard against the Chiefs. A lot of moving pieces, and a drop-off in talent.
Part of it, too, is the Chargers faced some of the best interior defensive linemen in football over the past two weeks. The Chiefs’ Chris Jones leads all qualified interior defensive linemen in pass rush win percentage, according to Pro Football Focus. The Steelers’ Cameron Heyward is third. The Chiefs’ Tershawn Wharton is fourth. The Steelers’ Keeanu Benton is 11th. Throw in T.J. Watt on the edge for Pittsburgh and George Karlaftis on the edge for Kansas City. Two excellent fronts against an offensive line missing its two best players. Not a great recipe for success.
The two players who did not miss time or move positions in the past two games are center Bradley Bozeman and left guard Zion Johnson. I think both have performed well at times as run blockers, though the running game as a whole struggled in the past two games. The Chargers signed Bozeman as a stop-gap option at center. He is a good run blocker and has limitations as a pass protector. That is who he is as a player. That is what the Chargers expected when they signed him. I think Bozeman has played exactly as the Chargers expected.
Johnson has all the physical tools in the world. He was a first-round pick for a reason. It has not fully come together for him in pass protection on a consistent basis. I think he can lean a little to often, and that causes him to lose his balance. I also think he struggled at times with identifications on blitzes and stunts.
Slater and Alt are both back in practice. Alt was a full participant Thursday. Slater was limited. When both those players return, I think it will elevate the play of the interior. To me, Johnson, Bozeman and Pipkins provide enough for this group to be above average as the Chargers get deeper into the season.
thursday’s #LACvsDEN injury report pic.twitter.com/k5Lne3Pzej
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) October 10, 2024
How do you expect the offense to shift in the coming weeks? — @BrickCheese10
The Chargers offense has not been good through four games. I went into detail on that heading into the bye earlier this month. After Week 5, the Chargers ranked 31st in offensive success rate, according to TruMedia.
Adjustments need to be made. I would expect to see the Chargers lean into Justin Herbert’s right arm a little more in the coming weeks. Opposing defenses are devoting resources to the line of scrimmage. They know who Roman is as a play caller. They know who Harbaugh is as a head coach. As a result, defenses are loading the box to defend the run.
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Could Justin Herbert throwing more solve Chargers’ offensive problems?
Over Herbert’s first four seasons in the league, he faced seven or more defenders in the box on 36.8 percent of his offensive snaps, according to TruMedia. This season, that rate has jumped to 48.8 percent.
More defenders in the box means fewer in the deeper parts of the field. There should be opportunities for Herbert to attack in the passing game, if Roman gives him the chance. The protection also has to hold up, but I think it will once Slater and Alt return.
“I love it when Justin Herbert’s back there and is able to throw the football,” Roman said this week. “We all do. It’s a thing of beauty. But we’re trying to build something here that’s sustainable, that can win in a lot of different conditions, under different circumstances. So I think we want to have that balance. But there’s definitely going to be some days where we’re able to let Justin go to work throwing the football. Those days are coming.”
(Top photo of Amari Cooper: Ian Maule / Getty Images)
