Royal Mistake
By BoogaP
November 18, 2012; Denver, CO, USA; San Diego Chargers wide receiver Eddie Royal (11) during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Being that we are now entering the 14th week of the 2012 season, most of the preseason question marks have been provided answers. Or in some cases, the question at hand has transformed into, “What in the heck was I thinking when I strongly supported that decision?”
I could spend weeks, maybe even months, breaking down each and every failure that has forced it’s way to the forefront. I refuse to bore you all by writing an even longer piece than my last one.
In this article I will take a moment to diagnose the addition of Eddie Royal.
The move to pick up Royal was done in an effort to compensate for the subtraction of Vincent Jackson. Although he was not expected to pick up all of the slack due to Jackson being allowed to test free agency, he was definitely hoped to have a major impact in the absence of number 83. There was a school of thought that believed this would lead to a rebirth, of sorts, for Royal.
Along with fellow bust free agent Robert Meachem, many people within the organization, and a certain BoltBeat.com writer, were very pleased by the snagging of Royal.
There was an announcement prior to his signing with San Diego that he was going to reunite with Mike Shanahan. Shanahan had previously coached him as a Denver Bronco but, as we all know, he now is the head coach of the Washington Redskins.
Royal, under the guidance of Shanahan, had a phenomenal rookie year with Jay Cutler slinging him the rock. The Chargers managed to swoop in and steal Royal right out from underneath the Redskins and “The weasel.” We all know how the story goes from there.
Royal, who has had numerous injuries throughout his short career, has only proven that he is still incapable of staying healthy. When healthy during the 2012 season, he has not made even the slightest positive impact on the team. It is worth mentioning that he has shown up negatively in the boxscore with a few dropped passes.
In Royal’s defense, he has had some really good punt returns called back due to penalties. In addition to alleviating some of the pain in losing VJax as a wideout, the expectations were that Royal would have a huge impact in the return game. Unfortuantely that has not been the case minus the aforementioned returns that were negated by flags.
Eddie Royal has seriously disappointed the organization and the fans. All the talk out of San Diego in the offseason was that Royal was on the verge of having an enormous first year with the Bolts. Yeah, not so much.
There is nothing that says he won’t rebound and have a great second year with the team. But I refuse to think that we will not see more of the same 2012-like production from the injury prone Royal in 2013.
I truly hope that he proves me wrong and shows that adding him to the Chargers was not a royal mistake.
Thanks a lot for reading.
BoltUp!!!
BoogaP