We’ve just released Episode 152 of the Thunder Down Under Chargers Podcast.
Our synopsis is below:
#BoltUp! Join us today as we break down the Chargers’ barely competitive Week 2 Preseason loss over the San Francisco 49ers!
What we cover today:
🚑 Injury Strikes! How the season-ending loss of Center Tyler Biadasz impacts the Chargers’ season prospects?
⚡ Preseason Wk 2 Recap: Standouts & Takeaways from the Chargers’ loss vs. 49ers.
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Alister (@TDU_Alister)
Long time team fan, podcaster (with Thunder Down Under Chargers Podcast), husband to a beautiful wife, friend to all fellow Chargers fanatics, and father-to-be!
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Hi Everyone. One question I have that I’d like some feedback on. It appears this team is really deep at a number of positions. As a consequence everyone has their own roster hacks, but how about keeping only two tailbacks. You then sign two to the practice squad and promote one on gameday. This could buy you some time and allow you to keep a high upside player you would otherwise have to cut. Thoughts guys?
Always love some lateral thinking, Ennea!
I think these decisions always turn on how good you think the players in question are v the next best alternative.
At running back, we know McDaniel wants to call runs at one of the highest rates in the NFL, Hampton got injured twice in his rookie season, Keaton Mitchell has had an injury plagued career, and Vidal has multiple NFL starts with 100+ rushing.
if you choose to enter the season carrying only Hampton and Keaton, I think you can assume that Vidal won’t clear waivers. There is also a chance now that one of Desrosiers or Amar Johnson don’t clear waivers.
So the question becomes how comfortable would McDaniel be sitting here on Tuesday having his RB3 be an unknown quantity at this time. I expect he would want the certainty of Vidal over the unknown dice roll scenario.
IMO there is no chance they subject Vidal to waivers, especially because Mitchell hasn’t been practicing, and McDaniel recently said he had a setback with whatever his issue is.
I think the more interesting question is whether they keep a RB4, whether that would be Desrosiers or Johnson. If Keaton is not going to be 100% right out of the gate, they might feel like they have to.
Yeah I’d argue RB4 is more absurd that rolling with 2 tailbacks on the 53 with current PS rules
I will respectfully agree to disagree as long as we do not know Mitchell to be 100%.
Cool. I hope Mitchell is good. Who do you have off/on the roster that might raise some eyebrows?
How many teams in history only put 2 RBs on the roster? PS rules are such that you can only activate a player so many times before they have to stay so while I understand the game theory aspect to your original question, that’s a statement that lacks any kind of perspective as to be serious.
It’s also antithetical to the Harbaugh and McDaniel style of Offense and I’m not quite sure what “time” you’re trying to buy and for whom? If that is about Keaton Mitchell and health then keeping Desrosiers is pretty important or else you can PUP someone for a few weeks (probably Branson Taylor).
Frankly the vision shown by GD and the importance of running the ball means I’m not sacrificing someone who looks to be one of those “promising” players so I can keep QB3 or CB7 or OL10.
Chargers 2027 starting OL hot-take: Alt-Slater-Slaughter-Biadasz-Burke
No doubt the Biadasz injury as the prize FA signing sucks but the Slaughter pick (and Burke) again show the scheme reliance on T-C-T over G-C-G. Let’s also remember in hindsight that everyone felt that this past draft was not a particularly deep class, but one position group that did have talent to it was at Center. Slaughter will be a step-down from Biadasz as a run blocker, but the surprise of Burke at Tackle really opens things up for the team going forward, as evidenced by my hot-take above which may become a mild-take as we see how Burke plays.
Regarding the OL/DL battle in this game, I’m kind of not as worried as most people have reacted to that game. As you noted, if Kolar holds that block for a half second more that’s a 5+ run followed by the 8 yard completion and the first down means everyone unclenches as a result of the conversion. I also put the pre-snap penalties for illegal formation on the QBs. That’s a rule that goes to High School about 8 on the LOS and who is eligible so if Lance or DJ can’t look at the formation and know the play and where they’re supposed to be, they shouldn’t be snapping the ball.
I also think it should be said that the Niners know the blocking schemes we run because they run the same scheme whereas our Defense is clearly still adjusting to their new changes. A team overplaying things they recognize doesn’t bother me as much in a preseason game but the lack of emotion/will shown does stand out as something I would have liked to have seen more of. I don’t care if Scott doesn’t try and wrap up, but to not even lay hands on him was to me the kind of effort where I’m signing a guy to come in the last week as a message.
The more I think about the LBs, the more I think Troy Dye may be the one who is cut in order to keep Wax and Colson. Dye can get signed to the Practice Squad similar to how the team may cut Tony Jefferson only to resign him. The reason I like Wax over Colson is because of his run stopping when I think we’re going to see more heavy formations this year, which may also be why the team is changing its run defense alignments. (The blitz rate however may just be a pre-season thing in order to try things out, especially with Mack, Tuli and Messidor not on the field to create pressure with 4)
Excellent commentary, Duck.
Tau raised the idea of Hortiz shopping Perryman which I’d prefer over cutting/trying to stash Dye.
Both are ways to get Wax/Colson onto the 53 but I think Dye is a versatile player who’s shown he can contribute on an NFL defense while staying healthy.
Wax is definitely a downhill/run defense specialist, and Colson is balanced, so I think Perryman becomes surplus to needs if you keep them.
i don’t expect Hortiz to do either of these things by the way. I think one of Wax or Colson will be cut.
More on Perryman.
He is not a long term player for the Chargers. He is only under contract for 2026, and he is turning 34 in December.
He costs just $500K in dead cap money if released or traded.
He has a lengthy history of injuries. He has missed 53 games over his 11 year career, including 23 over the past 4 seasons. Maybe 1-2 of those were for rest, not injuries, but most were injuries, and it is a long list of different injuries. There is zero reason to expect he could play every game in 2026. It is much more likely he will miss 4+ games.
A reason to prefer Wax and possibly Colson is that they can provide the good parts of Perryman’s game. Maybe not quite to the same level, but close enough. And they may both offer more well rounded play than Perryman, who is limited to primarily base/run situations.
It really doesn’t make sense to keep him over any of the other 5 contending for the final roster.
If the Chargers had to lose one of their top 3 OL, I think Biadasz was preferable to lose over Slater or Alt, given that Hortiz used the 2nd round pick on Slaughter. It seemed like the team’s plan was to have Slaughter split camp and preseason reps between C and LG, expecting he would win the starting LG job while also serving as the backup C. I never liked that plan, which led me to see him as being overdrafted. Now at least he can exclusively focus on the C position and may deliver short term value on that draft capital.
To your reference to my Hortiz comment last week, it turns out it is good that the Chargers seemingly overdrafted him, but I can’t give Hortiz full credit here. He didn’t draft him to start at center in 2026, he drafted him to start at LG, which IMO was a very questionable choice at his draft position. As you pointed out on the show, it may be true that the center position is now Slaughter’s indefinitely, and maybe Biadasz won’t be back. So it might work out okay, we just need to see the season play out to see what caliber play he delivers.
With regard to LB, I agree with you that the Chargers should keep only 5 LBs. Henley is obviously a lock. It would be a surprise if Dye is not also a lock. Both Wax and Phillips should be core special teamers, so IMO both should be roster locks if healthy. Plus, Wax looks like a starting caliber LB on defense. I don’t think Wax makes it through waivers if he is waived. Not worth the risk IMO. I have posted before that I did not think the team should have brought back Perryman so as to leave an actual 5th LB position open for competition for Colson to try to earn. So my opinion if Colson warrants keeping is to trade or release Perryman.
Why is Davis not returning punts? I assume you are right, he is viewed by the coaches as a roster lock. You know I disagree with it.
If I had to lose one of my heart, liver or kidney, I think kidney would be preferable….
Agree with all of this. The 49ers rolled out their starters on Defense (Osa + Alfred Collins) which was a good test for our IOL to start the game. The 49ers will have come away claiming victory from these reps, so maybe my bar for Slaughter is too low. He was pushed back into Lance’s lap a couple times and Osa crossed his face with elite athleticism to blow up one of Keaton Mitchell’s run plays. Valuable snaps for the rookie ahead of a long campaign that will test him. I am expecting similar results to Bozeman from Wks 1-4. My hope is that by middle of the year, Slaughter can hit 65.0+ PFF Grading.
FWIW, Ryan posted this excellent tweet breaking down the O’Leary run defense: https://x.com/RyanWatkins20/status/2091597305669369987
He thinks Wax is executing his role on strong side runs well but is still a work in progress on the back side of zone concepts.
He thinks Colson is showcasing some reading/reacting skills, coverage ability and blitzing skill that is heartening. Perhaps he can deliver on his draft pedigree after all. I still think it would be a shame to cut him just as he appears to be turning the corner. I’m not sosure that Wax wouldn’t clear waivers. Are we overvaluing our own? But maybe you’re right.
Good comment about Perryman’s roster spot. A “progress stopper” to quote Parcells.
And at this point, so do I! Late to the party but better late than never.
Yeah, I think you pretty much have to go with kidney there… 🙂
With regard to Wax and Phillips, consider the following:
Phillips:
Last season, Phillips led the Chargers with 371 special teams snaps in a “core four” special teams role. He also led the Chargers in PFF special teams grade (82.2) and was 3rd in the NFL with 18 special teams tackles (plus 4 assists).
That is why they signed him to a 2 year, $7.5M contract with $4M guaranteed. To waive him means taking a dead money charge for that $4M. Sadly, they can afford that, since Hortiz has not used so much cap space, but that is not smart cap space management. Also, from Phillips’ standpoint, if they waive him, he gets the $4M but has no contract for 2026 or 2027.
If he makes it through waivers, which I doubt, he would presumably sign a practice squad contract with the Chargers, but he would be primed to get poached off the Chargers practice squad and actually get an NFL level contract from another team.
Wax:
Last season, Wax was 2nd on the Chargers with 341 special teams snaps in a “core four” special teams role. He was also 2nd on the Chargers in PFF special teams grade (80.7) and tied for 20th in the NFL with 13 special teams tackles (plus 3 assists).
In addition, in his one game on defense last season, he earned a 69.1 PFF grade on defense. It was only 39 snaps, but it is worth pointing out that the next highest graded Chargers LB on the season was Dye at 59.7.
On top of that, Wax has the 2nd highest PFF defense grade (92.1) among all LBs to play this preseason To hear that Ryan is seeing positive growth from him on defense is also encouraging and seems to at least somewhat validate that PFF positivity.
Summary:
I just don’t see why the team would take a chance with either of these guys. Furthermore, I don’t know why Davis would be seen as a “Ficken lock for the roster” so he can return ~20 punts but these two guys wouldn’t get the exact same status to play 300+ snaps each.
(To clarify, those special teams PFF grade ranks exclude PK and P.)
Not looking to pile on to Hortiz nor say that Slaughter won’t be a good center, but I’m certainly not going to jump on the “Hortiz is a genius!” bandwagon that I’ve seen some fans/pundits espousing. It remains a headscratcher pick that, due to an unfortunate and unforeseen injury, may be fortuitous. Like you, Tau, I still question the choice without the addition of the Biadasz injury .
Hopefully Slaughter becomes a stud at the position quickly and is the long term answer we’ve needed there. But it hasn’t been a clear-cut or particularly savvy process IMO.