For all your questions and topics surrounding the Los Angeles Chargers, here’s a weekly mailbag that covers it all: June 9th edition.
Whether you’re returning from last week or just finding this for the first time today, welcome to the Los Angeles Chargers NFL Spin Zone Mailbag!
This weekly installment covers all things Chargers, from questions submitted by YOU!
If you’d like to be a part of the mailbag (you should), go ahead and send your submissions to any one of these three:
- Post in the comments section
- On Twitter to @tjscooter30
- By email (for longer submissions or multiple questions) at lacbag18@gmail.com
If you sent something in last week and do not see it answered down below, do not worry! It will be in the following mailbag OR will be turned into its own article. As for this article, let’s take a look…
Question 1: My question this week is what is your opinion on this years Bolts special teams squad? It has really hurt us in the past. The obvious one is the field goal kicking. But we also have had some poor years in the return game too. So overall how does the special team department from coaches to talent stack up so far this year? As always thanks for your time and insight. -Chuck
Before I begin, take a look at the new rules for kickoffs, in case you are not familiar with them. They include changes such as no running start prior to kickoff, no wedge blocks, and alterations in spatial arrangements of players:
Following today’s vote at the @NFL Spring League Meetings, here’s everything you need to know about the new kickoff rules for the upcoming 2018 season. The rule will be reevaluated next offseason. pic.twitter.com/YubLyMBR4g
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) May 22, 2018
Whether or not that betters the performance of the Chargers’ special teams remains to be seen. Other than a Travis Benjamin punt return for a touchdown against the Broncos in Week 7 of the 2017 season, the Chargers have not had a return for a touchdown on either punt or kickoff returns since Tom Telesco took over as general manager.
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I will say this: it’s hard to improve on kickoff returns when there aren’t a whole lot of them to return in the first place. When your defense only allows an average of 17 points per game (third best in the league) in 2017, there’s not a lot of opportunity to practice.
Still, the Chargers need to figure out how to spark their special teams. When Benjamin returned that punt for a touchdown, it completely flipped the game for the Bolts. The Chargers play the Broncos best with a lead, not trying to compete with their defense. Giving the team any kind of field position would be a boon for this squad.
Here are the guys who are currently looking to do it this season:
- Desmond King, CB: 20.8 yard kickoff return average
- Austin Ekeler, RB: 17.0 yard kickoff return average
- Travis Benjamin, WR: 9.5 yard punt return average (surprisingly, a top-10 average)
With the entire kickoff returning unit averaging the third-worst amount of yards per attempt in 2017, there has to be some kind of open competition during camp, right? A couple of names to also keep in mind are rookies running back Justin Jackson and cornerback Tony Brown. Brown, an UDFA, can run a blazing 4.35-second 40-yard dash and would be a thrill to see return kicks.
Many of you may already be aware of this, but the Chargers had a fantastic coverage unit that boasts three players in the top-10 of special teams tackles:
- Nick Dzubnar, LB, 21 tackles (most in the NFL)
- Austin Ekeler, RB, 17 tackles (second-most in the NFL)
- Michael Davis, CB, 13 tackles (tenth-most in the NFL)
Those three led a pretty solid coverage unit, and will be important role players going forward. As for the kicking game…hope and pray? Caleb Sturgis is going to be the guy, and I think he’ll do just fine. I hope he makes the first field goal of the first game of the season, because I’m not entirely sure fans (myself included) will be so patient to see if he’ll make any more.
Drew Kaser is really starting to come into his own, and is good for a 48.1 gross punting yards average. Personally, I think the Bolts will be fine and the kicking and returning game will be good enough to be average and not be the Achilles heel of the team. Thanks for the question!
Question 2: Listen, I just read about Former Chargers DE Chris McCain’s alleged incident. When his player option was rescinded, I was upset because he’s a talented pass rusher. After this report, seems like Tom Telesco was right in moving on from the guy. Hope all is well Tyler. Have a good afternoon. -Edgar
I am very curious as to how this plays out, but I imagine we as fans won’t get many of the details for a long time. Currently, former Chargers defensive end Chris McCain is being charged on two counts of battery. I implore you to read up on the reports yourself, but try and remain neutral until more facts surface.
But even in a case like this, I can’t immediately assume McCain is guilty and we have to remember the importance of “presumed innocent until proved guilty”.
Here’s one of the more interesting tidbits from the ESPN article:
"The Chargers would not divulge if an incident led them to rescind the tender offer. However, the team did say it had learned of an incident involving McCain before making its decision.“We were aware of an alleged incident and alerted the league office at the time,” a Chargers spokesperson said."
I have no evidence supporting that these are the same incidents, but it could give some insight as to why his tender was rescinded for no real reason. Much of the speculation assumed it was to create cap space or to find a better player in the draft (Uchenna Nwosu in the second round), and that could still be the case. Let’s take this one report at a time, week by week, and see how this plays out. For now, let’s just be happy that (as far as we know) Tom Telesco only keeps clean-cut and role model-type players on the team.
Next: NFL QB Power Rankings 2018: Pre-training camp
That’s it for this week! I think the special teams will be fine this season, but I will have a hard time controlling myself if Sturgis goes out and shanks the first field goal. As for McCain, I’ll continue to read up on the situation but likely won’t continue to write about it since he is no longer with the team. Be sure to get your questions in for next week’s mailbag, with all the ways to do so listed at the top of the article. Enjoy your weekend, and as always, go Bolts!