2020 Chargers Training Camp and Final 53 Discussion

[like54ninjas]

Bosa working and teaching.....

[JOJAX85]

Remember when Seau laid out Ryan Leaf in TC? I guess Ryan didn't get the message. Not that this has anything to do with Murray.

I think the Seau/Leaf thing had something to do with rookie hazing. Seau put a team dinner on Leaf's tab I think & Ryan got butt hurt about & complained to upper management. So Junior laid his whiney ass out.

[like54ninjas]

If I remember there are a few wrinkles with the PS this year......one of which was keeping more tenured players and even protecting some......yes???

And I am sure it's posted somewhere.........but when are the cut dates??? Are there more than one????

September 5 -- Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, clubs must reduce rosters to a maximum of 53 players on the Active/Inactive List. Simultaneously with the cut-down to 53, clubs that have players in the categories of Active/Physically Unable to Perform or Active/Non-Football Injury or Illness must select one of the following options: place player on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform

[21&500]

Bosa working and teaching.....

hashtag Leadership

[La Costa Boy]

Isn't PS now 16 players with 4 being protected in some way?

[La Costa Boy]

Bosa working and teaching.....

I am loving the fact that Joey can't do a thing with Bulaga. I LOVE that!!!!!

[chargeroo]

I am loving the fact that Joey can't do a thing with Bulaga. I LOVE that!!!!!

I bet he never said that about Tevi :shifty:

[like54ninjas]

Isn't PS now 16 players with 4 being protected in some way?

Yep 16 man PS with some rules of an extra 2 being active. I didn’t find those. I’ll go search again.

Here we go.......

NFL practice squads have already expanded from 10 to 12 players for the 2020 season as part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement and could be increasing even more.

Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the NFL has proposed to the NFLPA an expansion of the practice squad from 12 to 16 players. The practice squad rules would look a bit different than in previous seasons.

• Practice squad jumps from 12 to 16 players, increasing overall roster size from 67 players (55 active roster, 12 practice squad) to 71.
• Up to six members of the practice squad will have no limitation on number of accrued seasons (basically a team can have veterans on the practice squad, no matter how many years they played).
• In the event of an outbreak, the minimum amount of six practice-squad players that can be promoted would be removed. An unlimited amount of players from the practice squad would be eligible for promotion to the active roster, at any point up to 90 minutes before kickoff.

For practice squad players to get promoted immediately, the positive diagnosis of COVID-19 must occur after the 4.p.m. ET roster transaction deadline. Teams can adjust their rosters to compensate for the positive test accordingly.

Here are the current practice squad rules in place, set by the new CBA earlier this year:

• Practice squad eligibility rules include players with less than one accrued NFL season (six games on an active roster), players who have been on an active roster for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued season(s), players who have earned no more than two accrued seasons with any number of games and players with any number of accrued seasons.
• A team may only have a maximum of four players on the practice squad based on the third category and a maximum of two players based on the fourth.

Active rosters were expanded from 53 to 55 this season, with 47 being allowed to dress on game day. That number increases to 48 if a team dresses an eighth offensive lineman. Those rules could be altered in the coming weeks, especially with COVID-19 protocols headlining the NFL season.

[like54ninjas]

[powderblueboy]

Remember when Seau laid out Ryan Leaf in TC? I guess Ryan didn't get the message. Not that this has anything to do with Murray.

No, his rookie year? I do know that Seau and others wanted Leaf to give them his credit card and Leaf told them no: Leaf bucked some weird sort of rookie hazing tradition.

[powderblueboy]

I am loving the fact that Joey can't do a thing with Bulaga. I LOVE that!!!!!

Life without his Tevi drum kit.

[Xenos]

Today's Popper camp report. We've been lucky so far in camp until now. Just frustrating that this had to happen to MW.
https://theathletic.com/2022594/2020...-miss-6-weeks/

Chargers training camp practice report, Day 9: Mike Williams could miss 6 weeks

By Daniel Popper 1h ago
COSTA MESA, Calif. — The Chargers held a light practice Tuesday morning at Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex as they geared up for Thursday’s intrasquad scrimmage at SoFi Stadium.

This is your Day 9 practice report.

Mike Williams timeline
Wide receiver Mike Williams sat out practice Tuesday because of the sprained shoulder he suffered diving for a pass Sunday, and he won’t be returning to the field any time soon.

NFL Network reported Tuesday that Williams is expected to miss two to four weeks, but I’m told that timeline is extremely optimistic. According to a team source, four to six weeks is the more realistic timeline, and the Chargers are preparing for the possibility of playing without Williams for a majority of September.

This is a huge blow. There is no way around that. The Chargers passed on adding wide receiver depth in the earlier rounds of this year’s draft, opting instead to address other positions of needs — quarterback, linebacker and running back. They did draft Joe Reed in the fifth round, but for now, he projects more as a WR/RB hybrid player in the Chargers’ offense, meaning he isn’t really a candidate to replace Williams as the X receiver outside.

The Chargers had plenty of options on Days 1 and 2 of the draft, given the talent and depth in this year’s wide receiver class. Passing on that talent is looking like a mistake. Keenan Allen has to stay healthy now. If he goes down, the Chargers will be in big trouble at receiver.

Four receivers worked behind Allen with the first team during Tuesday’s practice: Jalen Guyton, Darius Jennings, Tyron Johnson and Jason Moore. All of those players are unproven NFL talents, and it would be asking a lot for any combination of them to replace Williams’ production and prowess on deep routes.

For the Chargers, the most frustrating part of Williams’ injury is that coach Anthony Lynn made it a priority to avoid injuries to his top players during camp. Williams suffered his injury after Lynn allowed his players to take off their pads to ease the physical burden. The Chargers’ injury luck is just atrocious.

“At the end of the day, it’s still football,” Lynn said Tuesday before practice. “It’s a physical sport, and guys get hurt, and we understand that. I think for the most part we’ve done a good job of (giving guys rest and avoiding injuries). But it was unfortunate what happened to Mike.”


Insight on the 53-man roster
The Chargers practiced at their slide-and-glide tempo Tuesday, which is effectively a walkthrough. So there wasn’t much to glean from 11-on-11 drills. Defensive linemen weren’t pass-rushing, and the players in coverage were letting receivers catch every pass.

However, the Chargers did do something different with the structure of their practice Tuesday, and it provided a window into how the 53-man roster is shaping up.

The team split onto two fields, the first-teamers on one and the backups and third-stringers on another. In past practices, all players were on one field for 11-on-11 drills.

There were 41 players on the first-team field, including Tyrod Taylor and Easton Stick at quarterback. Justin Herbert got all the QB reps on the second-team field. Here is a breakdown of the those 41 players:

Quarterbacks: Taylor, Stick

Offensive linemen: Sam Tevi, Forrest Lamp, Dan Feeney, Trai Turner, Bryan Bulaga, Ryan Groy, Trey Pipkins, Storm Norton

Running backs: Austin Ekeler, Justin Jackson, Joshua Kelley

Fullback: Bobby Holly

Wide receivers: Allen, Jennings, Guyton, Tyron Johnson, Moore, Williams (who, as previously stated, wasn’t participating and was just watching)

Tight ends: Hunter Henry, Stephen Anderson, Virgil Green (who didn’t have his helmet and was watching, as well)

Defensive linemen: Joey Bosa, Justin Jones, Linval Joseph, Melvin Ingram, Jessie Lemonier, Damion Square, TJ Smith

Linebackers: Kenneth Murray, Drue Tranquill, Kyzir White, Denzel Perryman

Defensive backs: Casey Hayward, Chris Harris Jr., Michael Davis, Derwin James, Rayshawn Jenkins, Desmond King, Brandon Facyson

Offensive linemen Trent Scott, Scott Quessenberry and Cole Toner rotated over to the first-team field for the second period of 11-on-11s.

Murray worked as the middle, or MIKE, linebacker with the first-team defense. Perryman was the odd man out and looked on from the sideline. Tranquill was at weak-side, or WILL, linebacker, and White was at strong-side, or SAM, linebacker.

There were a few players on the second-team field who definitely will make the roster: Herbert, Reed, defensive end Uchenna Nwosu, linebacker Nick Vigil, defensive back Nasir Adderley and safety Alohi Gilman. So, add those six to the 41 and we get 47 players. The Chargers will roster three specialists in long snapper Cole Mazza, kicker Michael Badgley and punter Ty Long. That give us 50 and leaves three vacant spots.

The Chargers almost certainly will keep at least one additional offensive lineman, as only eight were on the first-team field Tuesday. That would be Mike Pouncey, who didn’t practice for the third straight day. Scott, Quessenberry and Toner are in a fight for their Chargers lives. If the Chargers keep 10 linemen, then one of those three would presumably earn the extra roster spot. But that would take a spot away from another position, perhaps tight end, keeping three players at that position instead of four. One of those guys could also make the team over Lamp, who rotated to the second-team field for the second period of 11-on-11s. But I don’t think that is very probable.

The Chargers will also likely keep at least one more defensive linemen, on top of Nwosu, to total nine. I think Cortez Broughton wins one of the spots as a versatile interior piece. Emeke Egbule and Isaac Rochell also are in the mix, and one of those guys could make the roster over Lemonier. Smith also is no lock as an interior defensive lineman. Undrafted rookie Breiden Fehoko has played well and could take that spot.

K.J. Hill also could claim one of the six spots at wide receiver, which should include Williams as he doesn’t have to go on injured reserve.

I assume the final spot will go to a linebacker. Malik Jefferson, Romeo Finley, Cole Christensen and Asmar Bilal, who has been injured for the past three practices, are all competing. Egbule is cross-trained at SAM and LEO/defensive end, so he could factor into the roster at either defensive line or linebacker.

More to come on this next week, when I’ll have my next official 53-man roster projection.


News and notes
• Pouncey was back with the team Sunday after attending his grandmother’s funeral in Florida on Saturday. But he still isn’t practicing for two reasons: The Chargers are giving him time to mourn, and he is also dealing with a minor injury.

• The Chargers intrasquad scrimmage will start at 1 p.m. PT Thursday. Players will be suited up in their game uniforms. They will warm up from noon to 1 p.m. Media will be watching from the press box, so I will get my first look inside SoFi Stadium.

• The team ran sprints after practice as a conditioning measure, and quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton ran alongside his QBs. He was the only coach I saw participating in the sprints.