Official Chargers News - Injury Updates

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Dead cap space means something around here...

Let me guess you have little appreciation for what it would cost to cut Franklin or Dunlap this off season.

[Lightningwill_420]

Dead cap space means something around here...

Let me guess you have little appreciation for what it would cost to cut Franklin or Dunlap this off season.

I do have little appreciation for that, but I'm not saying to cut either of those players. We need a center and a guard. Fluker should be a backup, and Watt should need to show improvement just to make the team.

All these other team's players Telesco has signed may be decent to great players. I have no idea. But none of them will solve our O'line issue, and none of them are much for pass rushing, which should have been priorities #1 and a distant #2.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

I think you build your team long term and at a discount though the draft. The two most important holes to fill long term should not come from free agent signings, but from the draft. Post draft signings are to fill in gaps or provide veteran depth. Free agency should be to address what you can not get in the draft or in post draft free agency.

[Lightningwill_420]

I think you build your team long term and at a discount though the draft. The two most important holes to fill long term should not come from free agent signings, but from the draft. Post draft signings are to fill in gaps or provide veteran depth. Free agency should be to address what you can not get in the draft or in post draft free agency.

Long term? I'm not on that pleasure cruise with you right now. We need quick fixes to the line so Rivers can win a championship this year before the team thinks about leaving again. Counting on rookies ain't the way to go.

[BoltBacker]

I do have little appreciation for that, but I'm not saying to cut either of those players. We need a center and a guard. Fluker should be a backup, and Watt should need to show improvement just to make the team.

All these other team's players Telesco has signed may be decent to great players. I have no idea. But none of them will solve our O'line issue, and none of them are much for pass rushing, which should have been priorities #1 and a distant #2.

Fluker is not a backup, not going to happen. A starting FA center is more realistic and a decent backup left tackle to be ready if King goes down.

[Steve]

What FA OL would we have gone after? This was a horrible FA crop of OL. Wisnewski is a nice idea, but he missed most of the offseason last year struggling with a bad back. For a crowd who is worried about injuries and injury history, it is pretty rich to think he can be an answer. Plus, what kind of contract demands does he have? Usually when guys last as long as he has, they are looking for more money than teams want to pay. There was a reason he signed with Jac, because every knew they had a ton of money they HAD to spend under the CBA. And they still wouldn't give him a huge contract.

The real problem is that we used FA to sign Franklin last year and are now stuck with him, because we can't even get rid of him now (we could but cutting him costs us almost $5 million, which cuts into money we need for rookies and emergency players in the season).

FA is not a fix of any kind. I say it every year, go look at last years FA signings, and then tell me how many of them are FIXES. They eat up salary cap space and give the illusion of filling holes, but then they pull a Franklin on you and you are stuck with some underachieving vet who has a lot of money and not much motivation to keep working/playing hard. Only a small fraction of the players we have picked up in FA (this or any other year) pan out. The draft may not be a sure thing, but it is less risky strategy than FA.

If we want to sign FA and piss money away that we might need in the next couple of years, and get little or nothing in return, it is a wonderful strategy. But we did the same thing when Norv and AJ were desperate, and it didn't pan out so good, to the point we lost some players like Vasquez that we had no cap space to sign.

[Fleet]

I think Manuel Ramirez would be a decent pick up.

[Lightningwill_420]

What FA OL would we have gone after? This was a horrible FA crop of OL. Wisnewski is a nice idea, but he missed most of the offseason last year struggling with a bad back. For a crowd who is worried about injuries and injury history, it is pretty rich to think he can be an answer. Plus, what kind of contract demands does he have? Usually when guys last as long as he has, they are looking for more money than teams want to pay. There was a reason he signed with Jac, because every knew they had a ton of money they HAD to spend under the CBA. And they still wouldn't give him a huge contract.

The real problem is that we used FA to sign Franklin last year and are now stuck with him, because we can't even get rid of him now (we could but cutting him costs us almost $5 million, which cuts into money we need for rookies and emergency players in the season).

FA is not a fix of any kind. I say it every year, go look at last years FA signings, and then tell me how many of them are FIXES. They eat up salary cap space and give the illusion of filling holes, but then they pull a Franklin on you and you are stuck with some underachieving vet who has a lot of money and not much motivation to keep working/playing hard. Only a small fraction of the players we have picked up in FA (this or any other year) pan out. The draft may not be a sure thing, but it is less risky strategy than FA.

If we want to sign FA and piss money away that we might need in the next couple of years, and get little or nothing in return, it is a wonderful strategy. But we did the same thing when Norv and AJ were desperate, and it didn't pan out so good, to the point we lost some players like Vasquez that we had no cap space to sign.

And then he played all 16 games. He hasn't missed a game since 2013. Maybe Telesco should try a nice idea. If not Wisniewski, find somebody - make a trade if need be. We absolutely cannot start the season with the line we've got.

[QSmokey]

And then he played all 16 games. He hasn't missed a game since 2013. Maybe Telesco should try a nice idea. If not Wisniewski, find somebody - make a trade if need be. We absolutely cannot start the season with the line we've got.

We won't. We'll add a 5th-round pick, two undrafted free agents, and 1-2 castoffs into the mix. Problem solved!

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

GM Tom Telesco says Chris Watt is Chargers starting center -- for now

"I don't look at him any different than I did last year," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said of Chris Watt, "except that I'm really hoping that he can stay healthy because he's a really good football player." Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports
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6:45 PM ET
Eric D. Williams
ESPN Staff Writer
BOCA RATON, FL. -- Drafted in the third round of the 2014 draft as the San Diego Chargers' answer to replace longtime center Nick Hardwick once he retired, Chris Watt has played in just 17 of 32 games through two seasons.

Watt has dealt with a series of nagging injuries. He finished the 2015 season on the injured reserve with a shoulder issue that required surgery once the season was over. Watt also dealt with concussion issues and an ankle injury that required surgery after his rookie season in 2014.

Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said on Monday that for now he still views Watt as the team's starting center.

Telesco could make a move in the draft or free agency to improve the depth at the center position.

"We view him as a player no differently this year as we did last year at the same time," Telesco said. "But we also know that he's got to prove it, too. He's got to show it on the field. That's just where we are with that.

"I don't look at him any different than I did last year, except that I'm really hoping that he can stay healthy because he's a really good football player."

Backup center Trevor Robinson made 13 starts at center with Watt out last season. And while Robinson has a comfort level with quarterback Philip Rivers, the Chargers still need to find the long-term answer at the center position.

According to ESPN's Roster Management System, the Chargers have about $13.9 million in cap space as of Saturday. That's still enough to do business during the second wave of free agency, perhaps signing a mid-level prospect.

Players like centers Stefen Wisniewski or Manuel Ramirez remain a possibility for San Diego to add. The price tag for those players will go down significantly after the draft at the end of April.

The Chargers are No. 19 in the NFL in terms of available salary cap space, so it will be hard to compete against teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who lead the league with over $58 million in cap space.

A more likely scenario for the Chargers is to focus more of their attention towards the draft and the evaluation of college prospects.

The Chargers also have to eventually sign contract extensions with core players currently on the roster like receiver Keenan Allen and outside linebacker Melvin Ingram.

Both enter the final year of their rookie deals in 2016.

Telesco said back in February at the scouting combine that the Chargers have a limited amount to spend after accounting for several other expenses, including restricted and exclusive rights free-agent tenders, budgeting for draft picks and undrafted rookies, paying for in-season injury replacements, signing the team's own unrestricted free agents, and saving some room for potential extensions for core young players.

"Nothing we've done in free agency would preclude from taking someone in the draft," Telesco said. "And that was kind of the goal. Do we want to sign more guys before the draft? I don't want to, but we could.

"Obviously, the pool of players is much smaller now than it was two weeks ago. So if the right fit is there, we certainly could. So we're still monitoring it. I think last year we signed some guys as we got closer to the draft. So we'll see."

[Lightningwill_420]

GM Tom Telesco says Chris Watt is Chargers starting center -- for now

"I don't look at him any different than I did last year," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said of Chris Watt, "except that I'm really hoping that he can stay healthy because he's a really good football player." Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

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Telesco is either not telling the truth, or he didn't watch Watt play last year. Watt shouldn't be a starting center - not yet anyway.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Watt is the sharting center for now grill butts!