Day 3 Training Camp Impressions

Jul 26, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (17) talks with offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt during training camp at Chargers Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

I am nowhere near a computer, but I got more notes from Arnie from training camp today and had to share it out with you.

Here it is:

Day three First impressions; Time for the pads to go on…

I tried to be more mindful today, to pay attention to the DB, ILB and linemen. To me at this point, the offense is a non-issue, with regards to depth. I ‘ll get them out of the way first.

The rookie Keenan Allen, stepped it up today, he got open, often, and made some spectacular catches. Royal, continued his play to earn his money. DX, Floyd… great. Don’t sleep on Goodman, at this point I put him ahead of Meachem, which by the way had a good day, Just not a $24 million worth of a day. Now it wasn’t all roses today, there were some dropped balls, but it’s starting to become clearer on who will not make the roster. And who is going to make it hard for the coaches to cut. I’ll follow that up later in another post.

Gates however was amazing, he looked like a WR coming off the line. The TE race gets murky after Antonio. John Phillips is starting to emerge as a solid number two, but Green doesn’t want to go quietly in the 3rd spot. He made a spectacular catch in double coverage towards the sideline, from CBJ. Walker refuses to go away, and the rookies Cotton and Rolf have stepped it up, by making an impact in protection and ST.

DB; Cox Struggled early, to get his footing as he was sliding all over the turf but recovered from the set backs and backed it up by knocking down some passes intended for DX. Wright was proving he can hold his own on the other side. He didn’t make it easy to get any completions, more than once. I do not miss Jammer or Cason with these two at CB. Gilchrist, yeah Taylor needs to get healthy, quick. He was a mad man coming down to make tackles, defending passes. Weddle looked completely bored with all the help. So much so, he went to the sideline to let the new guys play, because when he was out there he seemed to be right where the ball was being thrown. Other standouts today, Darrell Stuckey, Jahleel Addae, Josh Johnson, and Marcus Cromartie. And yes he is related to the former 1st rounder Antonio Cromartie.

ILB/OLB; Just wow. just when you thought we were thin in the middle, wow. Bront Bird, and Gachkar stepped it up big time today, those guys were just a pain to deal with. Donald Butler keeps proving he’s the man in the middle. getting after the QB, getting into the back filed to stuff the run, he was on fire. Manti was no slouch either, he had his man covered over the middle. They had to move him off his spot just to make something happen. So the ILB spot could be all but wrapped up, stay tuned. Also Tourek Williams got a lot of reps with the one’s today, at OLB and ILB. He was no joke at making Rinehart, Dunlap, and Starks day difficult. Speaking of difficult ,Thomas Keiser, the FA LB from the Panthers got into the backfield quite a bit. He just refused to be stopped. Deven Walker the rookie from Southeastern Louisiana, made an impression today at OLB, to chase CBJ out of the pocket. Larry English, stepped up to become “opaque”, it became clear the Chargers have some players to fill in those “HOLES”.

Linemen; I talked about Liuget, Reyes, and Cam… still awesome. Cam got stood up with a double team, and then stopped. He did not move. It was a running play, that got stopped at the line by the LB. For a minute he reminded me of Jamal “the wall” Williams. The rookies Jerideau, and Geathers looked really good. Byron being the smallest of the NT, showed he stills needs some work, but as far as getting the job done, moving him out of the way was no easy task. Geathers showed he can be relied upon in the rotation for Cam or even start in a pinch. Also Jarius Wynn and Logan Harrell made there bids to make the roster for DE. They might make it, but the slots are closing up, fast.
Now some of the outsiders, it looks like Troutman(LG) and Harris(RT) are making a push for spots. Rinehart doesn’t have it locked up yet, he struggled a bit today. and those struggles could open the door for Troutman. Clary while much better, still managed to get stood up a few times. It’s been his achilles heel, not staying low and keeping leverage. I can’t really recall any other standouts, other than starters, because at this point they got pushed around.

Now the bad news. the players in jammies…
Brandon Taylor S, LeRon McClain, FB, Kenny Okoro CB, Melvin Ingram OLB, Vincent Brown WR, Dwight Freeney OLB, Jarret Johnson OLB, and Jonas Mouton ILB.

Whew…. Hey if you hand any questions about specific player or overall the goings on I’ll be here all day, to answer as much as i can…