Quarterback Philip Rivers enters the 2018 campaign surrounded by arguably the best crop of offensive playmakers in his career. Given the amount of talent on this unit, where do they rank amongst each other?
Never has Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers been gifted with such a loaded group of surrounding talent in his career. From the running back position to the receiving corps, the Alabama-born signal caller will have a weapons corps that’s both top-heavy and deep. If it weren’t for tight end Hunter Henry suffering a torn ACL in OTA’s, the Chargers could undoubtedly have the NFL’s premier faction of offensive playmakers.
Even without the 23-year old tight end, the Bolts offense remains one of the league’s most explosive units on paper, and it is no hyperbole.
The receiving corps is spearheaded by wideout Keenan Allen, who finished the 2017 season with production likening some of the NFL’s elite pass-catchers. Behind Allen is the trio of Tyrell Williams, Travis Benjamin and Mike Williams. The first two have either flirted with or broken through the 1,000-yards receiving barrier in their careers. Third in the trio was the Chargers’ first round pick from 2017, so clearly talent is not absent from his skillset.
On the ground, running back Melvin Gordon enters this season after recording over 1,500 total yards and 12 total touchdowns in 2017. The University of Wisconsin alum inserted himself into the top-10 amongst NFL running backs, and climbing higher in those unofficial rankings is a justifiable possibility.
Gordon is backed by five-foot-ten tailback Austin Ekeler, who displayed sufficient levels of production in a limited workload last season as a rookie.
With this abundance of talent sprinkled across the Chargers’ offense, it is only fair to ponder where they rank amongst each other with regular-season action nearing its launch. The list below answers those exact inquiries.