San Diego Chargers: Fully buying into Ladarius Green

There are few players who have been hyped as hard over the past couple of seasons as San Diego Chargers second-string tight end Ladarius Green, who finally has a chance to prove his stuff in this league. After being held down to limited snaps behind Antonio Gates, who is still going strong with no signs of slowing down, he’s been freed for at least the first four games of the 2015 season due to the suspension handed to the future Hall of Fame TE in front of him on the depth chart.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Where Do Gates And Green Rank Among The League’s Best TEs?

Whenever an unknown commodity who has never had more than 19 receptions in a season is hyped up heavily, there is always understandable skepticism about the hype train. Green has impressive athletic tools at 6’6″, 240 pounds with 4.53 speed, but you would be forgiven for raising an eyebrow whenever someone like me decides to add some more coal to the engine room of his hype train.

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But as someone who ranked Odell Beckham Jr. as the No. 1 wide receiver in the league despite the fact that he’s spent just one season in the league, I’m not afraid of boldly praising a young player. I use prospective judgment when evaluating players, especially since there isn’t heavy past data to look at when evaluating Green statistically.

Of course, the limited data that we have on Green from his 296 snaps in 2014 and 450 snaps in 2013, per Pro Football Focus, paint the picture of a standout tight end who can catch passes and block effectively.

For example, last season, as per Advanced Football Analytics, Green caught 76% of everything thrown at him and averaged a solid nine yards per target, good for first on the team in the former category and third on the team in the latter department. Those rate stats will tell you more about Green’s ability as a receiver than the 19 receptions for 226 yards he posted.

And the scary thing is that Green was even more efficient in 2013, because he turned 17 receptions into a whopping 376 yards and three touchdowns, meaning that he averaged 22.1 yards per reception. 17 receptions doesn’t yield much of a sample size, but 22.1 is just a ridiculous average and gives you a glimpse of just how explosive he can be for the Chargers offense. You know, if you weren’t already impressed by his ridiculous low-to-mid 4.5s wheels for a 240-pound TE.

In 2013, the former fourth-round pick out of Louisiana-Lafayette really put himself on the map with an average of 13.0 yards per target. His catch rate was understandably lower due to the fact that 37.9% of his routes came when he was targeted at least 15 yards downfield, per Advanced Football Analytics, but he was targeted more frequently, played more snaps, and was more efficient as a whole.

So the fact that Ladarius Green had one season with monster yards per reception numbers and another season with a huge catch rate is especially promising from my perspective, because it shows that he can function as a chain-moving tight end (this might not count for much, but Rivers hasn’t thrown a pick into Green’s coverage over the past two seasons) or, as his measurables indicate, a more explosive weapon who can stretch the seam better than, perhaps, every other TE in this league. That’s too much to expect, but it’s not every day you find a 6’6″ TE with great ball skills who can run a 4.53 forty.

Among tight ends with at least 20 targets in 2013, only the best tight end in the NFL- Rob Gronkowski, in case you were wondering- averaged more yards per route run, per Pro Football Focus. It’s one thing to have a high amount of yards per target as a part-time player, because that can just be the product of other players on offense taking immense pressure off of you. But it’s another thing for a rarely-used backup to be one of the most efficient players at the position on a per route basis, and that potentially means that Green is excellent at getting open despite legit concerns about his raw route-running.

Green’s high yards per route run in 2013 weren’t just a one-time thing either, because he finished seventh among TEs in that PFF stat last season when dwindling the list of qualifiers down to players with at least 20 targets. These are encouraging numbers, and all of these rate stats how that Green’s hype is built on more than just measurables (which are impressive in their own right, but they obviously barely pass the sniff test).

There’s no doubt that life for Green will be more difficult as a full-time starter for four games with more attention on him, but other factors will make up for this increase in attention.

Sep 8, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Ladarius Green (89) against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Chargers 18-17. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

First of all, Philip Rivers is an excellent quarterback who is among the most accurate in the game, and he’ll have no trouble getting Ladarius Green the ball as a prime intermediate target over the middle of the field.

Secondly, Green will, with all due respect to Malcom Floyd‘s 16.5 yards per reception, be the team’s most dynamic pass-catcher, as he’s averaged 7.6 and 6.3 yards after the catch per reception in each of the past two seasons, respectively.

Green isn’t as safe of a target as more established options like No. 1 receiver Keenan Allen, Danny Woodhead, and Floyd, but he did catch 76% of everything thrown at him last year and has proven to be a dynamic and efficient pass-catcher.

His solid work in the running game over the past two seasons will only serve to increase his standing with the team and snap count over the first four games of the year, so there’s hope that Green could eat into Gates‘s snaps later on if he turns his promising displays as a backup into dominance as a starter.

I like to bet on highly athletic, young playmaking tight ends who have back-to-back seasons among the league leaders in yards per route run (and have top-ten QBs throwing them the ball), so that’s why I have faith in the San Diego Chargers 25-year-old TE.

By my estimation, he’s already a top 20 tight end, and his speed and frame will cause plenty of problems for defenses. He is a monstrous matchup problem, which will also allow him to free up others.

Next: Jason Verrett Is Another Guy To Be High On

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