The Chargers are adding veteran tackle David Sharpe after Rashawn Slater’s injury. A 2017 fourth-rounder out of Florida, Sharpe has bounced among the Raiders, Washington, and Houston, and spent 2021–22 with the Baltimore Ravens—overlapping with Joe Hortiz in the front office and Greg Roman on staff. That familiarity makes him a natural depth add as L.A. steadies the O-line.
That said, I’m hoping he’s just a camp body, because Sharpe has only taken one regular season snap over the past two years and shouldn’t be counted on for regular playing time. If the Chargers opt not to sign another lineman when multiple starting-caliber guards are still available in free agency, it would be a missed opportunity to improve the team.
Better be looking at the guards that are left too. This continued absence is concerning.
https://www.lafbnetwork.com/nfl/la-chargers/la-chargers-news/chargers-mekhi-becton-nothing-concrete/
Kyle, you’ve been on it of late. Is your daughter taking care of herself already?
Sharpe doesn’t really change the OL dynamic. I think the top 8 spots are already set: Alt, Zion, Bozeman, Becton, Pipkins, Salyer, James, and rookie Taylor. That leaves one or two spots for anyone else on the 53. Sharpe is probably not one of those guys.
As much as I like how Hortiz continues to churn the bottom of the roster, the OL now needs help (and perhaps already needed help) at the top. Bozeman, Pipkins, and Zion are all average or below average at their positions. And Becton is “working through” some vague injury. James and Salyer are fine situationally, and who knows with Taylor. Josh Kaltenberger had a nice sizzle reel on YouTube after the Lions game, but that was all from the second half.
All said, this team is more than a depth piece away from having a stout OL. I hope Herbert is ready to run for his life… again.
Thanks brother – not quite, but now that I’m not focused on the site redesign I’ve had a little more time to write and hope to get some momentum for the site cruising now that we won’t (hopefully) have the forum formatting issues. Still toying with ways to make the layout better and the site experience as good as possible for everyone, but thanks for the kind works man!
And I absolutely agree. I posted this is the Doppler section to encourage people to look at this section and test out the “Start a Storm” button themselves eventually 🙂
They need to add some help on the OL so bad. I’m going to be so disappointed if we have 4/5 of the same offensive lineman starters – three of which were our starting IOL that performed terribly last year – as our unit.