With Verrett hurt again, Trevor Williams has his marching orders
By Travis Wakeman
There is no team over the last handful of seasons that has dealt with more injuries than the Los Angeles Chargers. That’s just not even debatable.
But the team deserves some credit for being able to find ways to continue to compete, and that will be no different in 2018.
Hunter Henry was already lost for the season and on Friday, news broke that cornerback Jason Verrett tore his Achilles and is likely lost for the season. Verrett has missed all or most of the last two seasons, so that is devastating news for the him.
But is it devastating news for the team?
The Chargers have one of the league’s deepest secondaries in the league and though they picked up Verrett’s fifth-year option this offseason, they’ve been prepared to play without him. Last season, Trevor Williams stepped in and filled that role and though he wasn’t selected to the Pro Bowl as Verrett once was, he was awfully good.
He played in all 16 games for the team and had 56 tackles, two interceptions and 13 passes defensed. Not bad for a guy who went undrafted.
Losing Verrett is an unquestioned blow for the Chargers. Will mean that Trevor Williams – who blossomed last season – will once again tag team with Casey Hayward as the top two CBs on the roster. https://t.co/MQvKXv7WkB
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 27, 2018
Coming into this season, Williams was likely hoping he’d get half as many snaps as he did last year. He was likely hoping the coaching staff would allow him to challenge Verrett for a starting role. Now, his role is clear.
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The Chargers built their secondary for this very reason. On one hand, it’s sad to see Verrett go down again. But knowing that there is a full season ahead, on the other hand, it’s nice to know the team has a guy like Williams around.
Now Williams can focus on the remainder of training camp as a starting cornerback and prepare like he will be a starting cornerback for the next several seasons.
This will be a contract year for Williams, so there will be even more reason for him to put his best foot forward. Desmond King should be a reliable hand for the team as well and one they won’t have to figure out how to get on the field now.
Football works in mysterious ways. You never want to see a player suffer a major injury, but it’s something the Chargers can actually rally around and use as fuel for the fire. It happened early enough in the season to where the team can recover from it.
And for Williams, his time is now.