Seahawks @ Chargers Preseason game day thread

[blueman]

Preseason? Clemons?

[Formula 21]

Is it over yet?

Oh what I could do with that opening.

[Fleet]

Seahawks ran their starters for a half and lost their starting LT for the season. I really think we should move to a 2 game preseason. And add another 2 to the regular season. Have a 1 week break between the 2 preseason games.

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

Add another Bye week in there too.

[Formula 21]

Top 5 Grades

Edge Chris McCain, 83.2 overall grade

DI Tenny Palepoi, 80.2 overall grade

S Desmond King, 77.7 overall grade

CB Randall Evans, 76.9 overall grade

S Tre Boston, 76.6 overall grade Performances of Note:

WR Travis Benjamin, 78.6 overall grade

It was a tough night for the Chargers offense as the highest graded player on offense with more than 10 snaps was WR Travis Benjamin with an overall grade of 78.6. Benjamin was targeted twice and caught both for a total of 89 yards. A chunk of those came from a deep ball that was hauled in for a 74-yard touchdown. G Kenny Wiggins, 77.3 overall grade

The Chargers starting offensive line performed well on limited snaps, with guard Kenny Wiggins leading the group with a grade of 77.3 on 13 snaps. Apart from only one quarterback hurry, which came against LG Matt Slauson, the first string unit kept a clean pocket. Edge Chris McCain, 83.2 overall grade

one sack, two hits, and three hurries on 20 snaps rushing the quarterback. LB Korey Toomer, 47.1 overall grade

With LB Denzel Perryman going down with what may be serious ankle injury, Korey Toomer sits as the next man up on the depth chart at middle linebacker. While Toomer had two defensive stops and a quarterback hurry, he also missed a game-high four tackles, making it even more worrisome if Perryman is unavailable long-term.

[Formula 21]

Who is this Randall Evans? He was a top 5 Chargers player in both preseason games.



Evans had the production in college, and he also had the measureables - Evans stands at 6'0, 190 lbs (which is pretty good size for a CB in the NFL), and ran his 40 yard dash at his Pro Day in 4.44 seconds. He might have been overlooked going into college, but NFL teams weren't about to make the same mistake, and Evans was drafted with the 196th pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Unfortunately, Evans' name was on the list of the final preseason cuts, but was quickly signed to the Eagles Practice Squad, and made his way onto the active roster for the final game of the season. That wasn't a sign of things to come, however, as Evans would be cut by the Eagles in the 2016 preseason. He stayed unemployed until December, when the Chargers signed him onto their Practice Squad, before giving Evans a reserves/futures contract in January 2017, which simply meant he'd be given a place on the 90 man roster, with a chance to win a place on the active 53.

I have mixed feelings about Evans' chances to win a permanent spot here. On the one hand, the Chargers CB depth is non-existent after Jason Verrett and Casey Hayward. Craig Mager's time might be up if he fails to show that he's improved from his rookie season. Trovon Reed is probably the number #3 CB right now, but there's no guarantee he'll even make it to the active 53.

My personal feeling is the Chargers will keep 5 CBs if they don't count Desmond King as a CB or 6 if they do, which means there's 3 open spots, realistically. Even if you say that both Reed and Mager are locks for the active roster (which they aren't), there's still one CB spot up for grabs. Michael Lee from BYU has reportedly impressed the coaching staff thus far this year, and Trevor Williams looked reasonable last season, but there's not a CB on the roster who doesn't have a decent chance at still being here in September. If he has a strong camp, he's making the team.

With that said, it's important to be realistic. Evans is already 25, and is heading into his third NFL season - which is about how long the average NFL career lasts. If Evans can't catch on with the Chargers - and my honest feeling right now is that he probably won't - there's a very real chance that it would signal the end of his professional football career.