When the NFL Players Association published its survey results on players’ thoughts about their teams’ accommodations, the Chargers did not come off well. Among other issues, the Chargers got a grade of F in the category of food/cafeteria.
But Chargers outside linebacker Joey Bosa wasn’t happy about that. Bosa says he employs a private chef to make sure his own nutrition is always on point, but that when he eats at the team facility, he has nothing but gratitude for the Chargers staffers who keep the players fed.
“I’ll eat here sometimes,” Bosa told Sarah Barshop of ESPN. “It may not be the best setup, but they’ll prepare you food that’s plenty good. . . . They work harder than literally anybody in the entire facility. So they may not have the best means back there, but they freaking work their butts off, and that survey is not cool, man.”
The Chargers are moving into a new facility with an overhauled catering program this month, so that F grade could be turned around next year. But Bosa wants the team’s staff to know the F wasn’t a reflection on them.
The Chargers haven’t won as much as they would have liked since drafting quarterback Justin Herbert and the plan to change that this year started with a new coaching staff.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh hired Greg Roman as the team’s offensive coordinator and the team spent the offseason program working on the new offensive scheme. It’s a system that center Bradley Bozeman knows from his time with Roman in Baltimore and it is one of the reasons he was drawn to signing with the Chargers as a free agent this offseason.
Bozeman’s prior knowledge of what Roman wants to do helps make him a good judge of how much Herbert is taking to the offense and he gave a positive review of where his new teammate is heading into training camp.
“He acts like he’s been in the system for 10 years,” Bozeman said, via the team’s website. “He dives so deep into the system and knew it so well before anyone else could even grasp it. It’s been impressive to see him put people in the right positions and just elevate people around him.”
The Chargers have also made big changes at wide receiver and running back since the end of last season, so Herbert will be familiarizing himself with a lot of new things over the coming months. The quicker it all comes together, the better for the Chargers’ chances of a winning season.
With veteran receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams departing the Chargers this offseason, there’s opportunity within the franchise for younger players to emerge as top targets.
One candidate to do so is rookie Ladd McConkey. Selected in the second round out of Georgia, McConkey impressed his new quarterback during the offseason program.
“He’s just picked up the offense so easily. It’s like he’s been a four- or five-year vet,” Justin Herbert said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN. “He understands the game.”
McConkey, 22, was a key piece of the Georgia offense over the last three seasons, helping the program win the CFP national championship in 2021 and 2022. He finished his collegiate career with 119 catches for 1,687 yards and 14 touchdowns.
When Austin Ekeler entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Chargers in 2017, Anthony Lynn was his head coach and one of the reasons Ekeler made Los Angeles’ roster.
Ekeler’s role on the offense continued to grow with Lynn at the helm until Lynn was fired following the 2020 season.
But now the two men have been reunited with the Commanders, as head coach Dan Quinn brought in Lynn to be the club’s run game coordinator/running backs coach and Washington signed Ekeler to a two-year deal in March.
In an interview with the Rich Eisen Show this week, Ekeler said he got the sense that Lynn was pounding the proverbial table for the Commanders to sign the running back.
"[I]t’s been great catching up with him,” Ekeler said. “He knows how I work, he knows my philosophies. And I’m very appreciative of him because he’s one of the reasons I even got my start. The reason I’m talking to you here is because he utilized me — after I made it through special teams anyway — he utilized me on the offensive side of the ball in ways that fit my strengths. And I know he’s looking to do the same thing over here, especially with [offensive coordinator] Kilff Kingsbury as well.”
Ekeler had one of his best seasons under Lynn in 2019, accounting for 1,550 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns.
In 14 games last year, Ekeler rushed for 628 yards with five touchdowns and caught 51 passes for 436 yards with a TD.
This offseason, the Chargers elected to move on from two veteran receivers in Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
Fellow receiver Joshua Palmer has been with Los Angeles since 2021 and was close to both Allen and Williams. He said in a recent interview with Eric Smith of the team’s website that it was a clear change for the locker room without the two wideouts.
“Definitely different when you’re used to having your two best friends out there and now they are not,” Palmer said. “But they’re nothing but a phone call away and I’m ready to move forward.”
Palmer added that he “was a little sad” when L.A. moved on from the pair “because they were my good friends and I looked up to Keenan and Mike. From a football standpoint, it’s a business.”
As a 2021 draft pick, Palmer is now one of the older players in Los Angeles’ receivers room along with free-agent signee DJ Chark. Palmer noted he doesn’t necessarily see himself as a leader, though he feels the group is coming together and taking shape.
“We have a lot of different personalities and a lot of different guys,” Palmer said. “Only a couple guys are back from last season so everyone is fairly new and we’re all learning each other.”
Aside from Palmer and Chark, the Chargers will likely rely on last year’s first-round pick Quentin Johnston and rookie second-round pick Ladd McConkey as primary pass-catchers for quarterback Justin Herbert in 2024.
The Chargers have announced their training camp schedule, which will be at a new location for 2024.
Los Angeles will host 12 open training camp practices at its new training facility in El Segundo, Calif. — The Bolt. The Chargers had previously held training camp further South in Costa Mesa.
The first camp practice will be held on Wednesday, July 24. The Chargers will hold four practices a week through Thursday, Aug. 8.
All sessions are free to attend but fans will need to register for tickets through the Chargers’ website, as attendance is limited to 1,500 fans per practice. Los Angeles will have three waves of registration — one for each week — that begin on July 15, July 22, and July 29.
The Chargers will host a joint practice with the Rams on Sunday, Aug. 4 that is open exclusively to season ticket members.
For the 2024 Olympics, the U.S. swimming trials happened where the Colts play. For the 2028 Olympics in L.A., the swimming competition will happen where the Rams and Chargers play.
Via Kevin Draper and Jenny Vrentas of the New York Times, the swimming events at the next Olympics will be held at SoFi Stadium.
The venue will hold up to 35,000 fans for the swimming events. The process of preparing the competition pool and the warmup pool will flip the order of the games, with track and field in the first week and swimming moving to the second. (The pools will be in place when the games begin, but more time will be needed to get them ready for competition after the opening ceremonies at SoFi.)
“I have no doubt that it will be the biggest attended swim meet in this country’s history, and maybe the most spectacular swim meet ever,” Casey Wasserman, chairman of the L.A. organizing committee told Draper and Vrentas.
A record 22,209 fans attended Wednesday’s trials. That broke the record set earlier this week in Indianapolis.
Austin Ekeler’s discontent with his prior contract made it seem inevitable that he’d be leaving the Chargers in 2024. As he tells it, there was another reason.
Ekeler says the Chargers wanted a workhorse, which is something he isn’t.
“They wanted a guy they can hand the ball off to 300 times a year, and, look, I haven’t had the capacity to do that,” Ekeler said Monday on FanDuel TV’s Up & Adams, via USA Today. “That’s not my game. That’s not how Austin Ekeler is going to be the best on the field. So there was a misalignment there, which, no harm no foul. I’ll go somewhere else where Austin can be the best version of myself out there.”
Of course, the Chargers don’t have a likely 300-carry tailback. They signed former Ravens J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. to presumably share the load. Dobbins, who is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, signed a one-year, $1.6 million deal. Edwards has a two-year, $6.5 million contract.
Ekeler, in contrast, signed a two-year, $8.43 million deal with the Commanders. He’ll likely work in concert with Brian Robinson, Jr.
Despite being a fantasy-football darling, Ekeler’s touches have only crossed 300 once. In 2018, he had 106 carries and 39 receptions. In 2019, it was 132 and 92. In 2020, 116 and 54. In 2021, 206 and 70.
The 2022 season was the closest he ever came to the “workhorse” category, with 204 rushing attempts and 107 receptions. That sparked his failed effort to get more from the Chargers or a trade to a new team.
Last year, Ekeler had 179 carries and 51 catches.
It will be interesting to compare what Ekeler does in D.C. and what Dobbins and Edwards do for the Chargers, who seem to be very committed to running the ball more than they have — in the hopes of getting even more out of the passing game.
The Chargers have signed second-round receiver Ladd McConkey to his four-year rookie deal.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that McConkey will receive the most guaranteed money in NFL history for the 34th overall pick.
The Chargers now have signed their entire nine-player 2024 draft class.
McConkey was the final second-round NFL pick to sign his rookie deal. Only seven first-rounders and two third-rounders remain unsigned.
Los Angeles, in need of receivers after parting ways with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen this offseason, traded up from No. 37 and also sent No. 110 to the Patriots in exchange for Nos. 34 and 137.
McConkey played 39 games with 21 starts at Georgia. He was a freshman All-SEC honoree in 2021 when he caught 31 passes for 447 yards with five touchdowns. He then caught 58 passes for 762 yards with seven touchdowns in 2022.
Dealing with multiple injuries in 2023, he had 30 receptions for 478 yards with two touchdowns.
Tony Jefferson is back in the NFL.
The Chargers have announced that Jefferson signed today, bringing the 32-year-old safety back into the league after he sat out the 2023 season.
Jefferson originally signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma in 2013. He played four seasons in Arizona before signing with the Ravens in free agency in 2017. He spent three seasons in Baltimore, then sat out the 2020 season, had a brief stint in San Francisco, another brief stint in Baltimore, and then played for the Giants in 2022.
After initially indicating he was retiring and planning to go into scouting, Jefferson decided he still thinks he has something left as a player. He’ll have to compete to make the Chargers’ roster, but they’re going to give him that chance in training camp.