Los Angeles Chargers: 2018 Midseason awards

After seven games and eight weeks of the regular season for the Los Angeles Chargers, it’s time to hand out some hardware with midseason awards.

The Los Angeles Chargers are 5-2 coming out of their bye week, red-hot after having won four-straight games and looking to make it five in a row on the road this week against the Seattle Seahawks.

However, before we look ahead to that game, let’s reflect on the first half of the season for the Bolts and look at the players that have been at the forefront of fans’ thoughts, both for good and for bad.

In the process, we’ll dole out some midseason awards for 2018 to those that are deserving, for better or worse. We start on the latter end of that.

Most Disappointing

• Joe Barksdale, T
• Jahleel Addae, S
• Casey Hayward, CB
• Trevor Williams, CB
• Uchenna Nwosu, LB

The theme of the “Most Disappointing” award through the first half of the season has been the secondary, which features three players that played good-to-elite in 2017 but have fallen short of expectations thus far. Barksdale is disappointing because he has played just 6.34 percent of the team’s offensive snaps, but many fans were not expecting much from him this season. Nwosu, who flashed in the preseason, has yet to make any impact on the field due to a severely limiting snap count.

This award goes to Jahleel Addae, who has been quite possibly the worst starter on the team through eight weeks. Big plays, whether from speedster Tyreek Hill or George Kittle, have been made at Addae’s expense on a consistent basis. He has been late to almost every play and does not appear to give that necessary “over the top” help to his corners. Expect Addae, who has played the most defensive snaps for the team this season, to have his role reduced.

Biggest Surprise

• Michael Schofield, RG
• Brandon Mebane, NT
• Darius Philon, DL

All expected Schofield to be playing as the starter to open the season, but to stave off the return of future (?) cornerstone at right guard Forrest Lamp is very impressive. Making his transition from last year’s second-string tackle to this year’s opening day right guard, Schofield has helped develop an interior blocking unit for an offense that’s ninth in the NFL in rushing yards per game.

As Pro Football Focus’ (subscription required) 23rd ranked guard overall, he’s done a great job of holding down the line. Whether as a guard or swing tackle, Schofield has a place somewhere on this line even if Lamp took over.

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