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Too early? Not for PFF.
I agree with most of their projections but also agree with the comments/counterpoints that the article's author made, particularly Neimann over Colson & that RG is still in play. Time will tell regarding Chark & QJ.
Center is a continuing concern, as is CB to an extent. Guys are really going to have to step up here, along with IDL. And I hope Henley earns a lot more reps this year.
Without reading the article, this is my current projection of 52 of the final 53 man roster positions:
- Offense (25):
- QB (2): Herbert, Stick
- RB (4): Edwards, Dobbins, Vidal (R), Spiller
- FB (1): Mason
- WR (6): Johnston, McConkey (R), Palmer, Chark, Rice (R), Johnson (R)
- TE (3): Dissly, Hurst, Parham
- OL (9): LT Slater, LG Johnson, C Bozeman, RG Pipkins, RT Alt (R), OL Salyer, IOL Jaimes, IOL McFadden, OL Leatherwood
- Defense (24):
- Edge (4): Bosa, Mack, Tuli, Dupree
- IDL (6): Fox, Ford, Eboigbe (R), ?, ?, ?
- Tough to predict who might get the final 3 spots from among Clark, Ogbonnia, Matlock, Hinton, Okoye
- LB (4): Perryman, Colson (R), Niemann, Dye
- CB (6): Samuel, Fulton, Taylor, Leonard, Hart (R), Still (R)
- S (4): James, Gilman, Woods, Harper (UDFA R)
- Special Teams (3):
- PK (1): Dicker
- P (1): Scott
- LS (1): Harris
I'm one short here. I could see it being a 10th OL (e.g., Barnhart) or 4th TE (Heins) or 7th WR (Davis) or 5th safety (Dent or Phillips).
I remain a bit surprised that the team has not signed a veteran 3rd safety. If that happened, I could see Woods or Harper being the odd man out... more likely Woods.
@tau837 Nice Brian.
I think Willis Patrick (TCU, IOL) is another name to add to the IOL "watch list". It's a crowded room, but I'm interested to see how he performs in the pre-season.
Stone Smartt is a guy I know you don't rate very highly (and fair enough) but throughout OTAs he's made some catches that have featured on Chargers social media. I will be watching his utilization in the pre-season. Maybe he can become a candidate for the FB/TE role > Mason. He's got the frame for it, and adds greater value than Mason does from a receiving perspective.
"Johnston" as the first name in the WR list is what you might expect to read on NFL.com if the writer wasn't a Chargers fan :-p I love your optimism, but I think Palmer is the WR1/"X" unless something very surprising indeed happens to QJ's game in these next three months. I think QJ will be fighting for the "Z" role against McConkey (who can also play Slot) and Rice. Palmer will most likely be WR1, with Chark & Cornelius fighting to get looks at the "X".
On Defense, I think you've nailed it (except I'd have Colson/Henley as the starters, with Perryman the LB3). Another real possibility is Colson/Perryman on early downs, with Henley on 3rd down.
@alisterlloyd See my other post... I mistakenly left Henley out, so there is no room for any of the possible extras I named or that you named here unless someone else gets removed from my list. I knew in my head that there wasn't room for 6 WRs and 4 RBs and a FB and 4 TEs, but I couldn't remember him at the time I posted.
I understand the Johnston conversation. I'm holding out optimism for now. I think snaps for Palmer and McConkey will be pretty steady regardless of what happens with Johnston, so I think the beneficiaries if Johnson's snaps are limited will be Chark and possibly Rice/Johnson.
The reason I listed Perryman and Colson first in the LB group is because of what you wrote here... expecting Perryman to play on early/run downs.
@victorpazjr Henley was a mistake. Yes on Davis, unless they are able to leverage his 2nd team All Pro selection as a punt returner into a trade.
I obviously missed Henley, which means I'm not one short. I was afraid I was missing someone and even realized that I would normally want 5 LBs, but I had some kind of mental block and couldn't remember him when I did this off the top of my head.
And now I have learned that this site apparently limits editing posts to a specific time window like BFTB, since I can't see a way to fix my post.
So I have to amend my previously comment. There is no room for a 10th OL, 4th TE, 7th WR, or 5th safety... or anyone else... without cutting someone on my list.
@tau837 I think Leatherwood might be the odd man out to start the season.
He lasted the whole season on the Practice Squad last year, so he's very low risk to be claimed off waivers. They can likely stash him on the PS and call him up if someone else gets injured.
Rumors are Davis has been given a lot of looks at receiver in camp and has been excellent. I'd honestly be surprised if they let him go at this point. For a team that's much more likely to use crosses and jet sweeps, he's and electric talent with the ball in his hands. I can't see them letting go of him at this point.
Daiyan Henley.
Posted this at BFTB because I don't know how to make a formatted post with pictures here: 2024 Roster Thoughts - Prior to Mandatory Minicamp.
Here is what I wrote about Davis:
The most controversial player on the list is WR Davis. I could see him making the roster, but the challenge with that is that it seems that would bump either Rice or Johnson to the practice squad. Rice might get signed by another team, so probably Johnson. Johnson is a Michigan man who may be as good or better at being a core special teams player than Davis. Davis would obviously be better at punt returns, and possibly kickoff returns, but Johnson could be a good coverage player and could possibly play on more of the units. This is an interesting one to watch. Certainly, if the team intends to use Davis more on offense, that probably means he makes it. It just seems odd to me that the Chargers purposefully drafted Johnson with their last pick when they could have used it on any priority UDFA at any position when they likely already had a full WR room with Davis.
Here is another interesting item to discuss:
This is plenty of cap space to sign (or trade for) some more veteran upgrades. Given that Hortiz and Harbaugh have clearly stated their intent to compete this season, it is surprising they continue to sit on this much cap space. I realize there aren't a lot of great players sitting unsigned today, but there are definitely players available who would help this team. Here is one list at Sharp Football Analysis... I see quite a few players there who would be upgrades. So why wait? Any such players they may ultimately sign are missing valuable preparation time.
Until a defender whispers on his shoelace and he falls down.
(sorry if this reply gets wonky. still learning the new system)
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