Our 2022 NFL Preview heads westward to the City of Angels for the first leg of a double-header, with the Chargers facing raised expectations to not only return to the postseason for the first time since 2018, but to also contend within a loaded AFC. After narrowly missing the playoffs last Fall, (Head Coach) Brandon Staley’s troops appear to have seriously leveled up in the offseason, bolstering a porous Defense with a pair of All-Pro talents, namely (Edge-Rusher) Khalil Mack and (Cornerback) J.C. Jackson. Will (Pro-Bowl Quarterback) Justin Herbert continue his meteoric rise in year three? Will the D develop into one of the league’s elite? Can they avoid the mistakes that hurt them down the stretch? Let’s pass through Bolts’ Camp, shall we?
Infinity & Beyond
By far and away the biggest takeaway from the Chargers last season was the dramatic improvement made by their second-year Quarterback, Justin Herbert (pictured), who absolutely balled out as a sophomore. The former sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft impressed mightily as a rookie, completing 66.6% of his attempts for an average of 289.1 yards on 6.57 net yards per attempt, with thirty-one touchdowns and just ten interceptions all the while posting a QBR of 62.6 within a scheme that wasn’t necessarily suited to his skills en route to claiming Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. With the incoming of the aforementioned Staley and (Offensive Coordinator) Joe Lombardi, the 24-year-old was even better, ranking third in the NFL in touchdown passes (38), second in passing yards (5,018), and third in QBR (65.6). The coaching staff did a much better job of utilizing his plethora of tools, particularly his mobility to great effect. As a rookie, Herbert passed the football just twenty times out of RPOs (Run-Pass Option) for 115 yards, though saw that figure balloon to forty-six passing attempts for 484 yards in 2021. Furthermore, play-action was far more prevalent in year two, going from 127 passes for 1,140 yards to 166 attempts for 1,515 yards as a sophomore. Standing a sturdy 6′-6″ and 237 lbs., possessing a rocket for an arm and impressive athleticism for a man his size, the sky is indeed the limit for Herbert, who will be expected to make yet another leap this Fall. Los Angeles has done a solid job of surrounding him with talent, having bolstered their Offensive Line with the likes of (Center) Corey Linsley and (Rookie Tackle) Rashawn Slater last year, and resigning one of his favored targets, (Receiver) Mike Williams, to a new three-year, $60 million contract in the offseason. The 27-year-old shattered career-highs in both receptions (76) and receiving yards (1,146), with his 6′-4″, 218-lb frame making him a nightmare on jump balls deep downfield. Staley and (General Manager) Tom Telesco continued to add to his support in last Spring’s NFL Draft, selecting (versatile Guard) Zion Johnson and (Tailback) Isaiah Spiller in the first and fourth rounds respectively. The Bolts don’t have much depth behind (Pro-Bowler) Austin Ekeler, who broke out as an all-purpose machine with 1,558 yards and a league-best twenty touchdowns, and the feeling is that the Texas A&M product will in all likelihood serve as his chief alternative in the Backfield. Add it all up, and the playoffs is where the bar is set for the Chargers, who also improved significantly on the opposite side of the football…
Getting Defensive
One of the most advantageous things about having a great young Quarterback playing on a rookie deal is that you can allocate the rest of the salary cap to other positions of need. Of course, we all know that QBs are typically the most expensive players on the roster, and when you have a talent such as the aforementioned Herbert making less than $10 million a year until 2024, loading up around him can lead to seriously positive results. And it’s with that said that Staley and Telesco set about this offseason to improve upon a disappointing Defense that ultimately proved to be the Chargers’ fatal flaw; the Bolts relinquished 27.0 points per game (29th Overall) on 360.1 total yards (23rd Overall), including a miserable 138.9 yards against the run (30th Overall) on 4.6 yards per carry (28th Overall), while shipping an NFL-worst 49.5% success rate on third down (32nd Overall), and forcing twenty-one turnovers (17th Overall). Needless to say, there was really nowhere else to go but up. So, prior to the onset of free agency, they engineered a trade with the Bears for former Defensive Player of the Year, Khalil Mack (pictured), in exchange for a second-round pick in last Spring’s NFL Draft and sixth later next year. A Few days later and they would make even more waves in inking (All-Pro Cornerback) J.C. Jackson to a five-year, $82.5 million deal with $40 million in total guarantees. Simply put, this is some serious firepower being injected into the D, for despite missing all but seven games last season with an ankle injury, Mack is a six-time Pro-Bowler equally adept at defending the run as he is rushing the passer, registering 76.5 sacks in 117 career games, with the added bonus of playing for Staley, who was his Defensive Coordinator from 2018 to 2019 in Chicago. Lining up opposite (Pro-Bowler) Joey Bosa should give the Chargers arguably the most feared pass-rushing front in the league. As for Jackson, the unheralded Defensive Back has logged more interceptions than anyone since being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Patriots back in 2018. Oh, and there is also a potential return to form from (Safety) Derwin James, who has been relegated to just five games over the last two seasons due to a variety of injuries. The versatile Defensive Back can line up all over the gridiron, and his presence has been sorely missed. By our count, that’s quite a bit of premium talent on one side of the football, which should propel this defense out of the basement and into the NFL’s upper stratosphere.
The Young Master
When the Chargers hired Brandon Staley (pictured) eighteen months ago, they were lauded by many around the league for their foresight in acquiring the services of one of the NFL’s premier up and comers. Sharp, detail-oriented, and forward-thinking, the 39-year-old rose the coaching ranks rather quickly, breaking into the professional level with the Bears as Outside Linebackers Coach under the venerable Vic Fangio in 2017, whom he followed to Denver two years later. It wasn’t long before Sean McVay came calling to lure him to Los Angeles to be his Defensive Coordinator, which put him on the map as the Rams led the NFL in points allowed and total defense. Clearly, that was enough to convince Telesco and the Spanos Family, who couldn’t wait to move on from the previous regime, and as we detailed earlier, his team has transformed under his watch. First, it was the Offense, which under the play calling of the aforementioned Lombardi became one of the most prolific in the league, and now the Defense looks set for a rise after this offseason’s revolution. Simply put, Staley didn’t have the personnel to run the defenses that he has throughout his young career, and now that he’s added a familiar face in the form of Mack, along with a ballhawk like Jackson, he can be expected to run more mixed fronts and exotic coverages which could in turn lead to putting the football back in the capable hands of Herbert. With that said, there more than a few occasions during his first season with the franchise in which his youth got the best of him, which was certainly the case in the season finale; in win-and-they’re-in matchup with (bitter division rival) Las Vegas, Staley made a number of questionable decisions down the stretch including calling an unnecessary timeout on a third down late in the fourth quarter, which in turn allowed the Raiders to get a first down and set up a closer walk off field goal to reach the playoffs. Granted, that type of in-game management can only be earned through experience, and it will be up to the young maestro to prove that he has indeed learned from his mistakes.
Projected Finish: 10-7
Given that they were a field goal away from returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2018, it’s not going to take much more improvement from the Chargers break that proverbial egg. An impressive revolution on the defensive side of the football in the Spring has thus seen them bolster their ranks considerably, perhaps more so than the rest of the teams within the loaded AFC West. If Herbert continues to grow and the Defense plays to its potential, then there is every reason to buy into the hype revolving around the Bolts, though they’ll have to refrain sabotaging themselves along the way, which has been a longstanding problem with the franchise.
