Daily Charge: Two new Bolts join roster through waiver wire
By Travis Wakeman
There’s a reason a team’s initial 53-man roster has that key word, initial, in it.
That’s because these rosters can change, even if just by a player or two, after each team has a chance to scour the list of players that other teams have discarded. It’s called the waiver wire prcocess, and probably isn’t much different than the one you use in your fantasy football league.
The Los Angeles Chargers did just that over the weekend, bringing two players straight onto the 53-man roster.
When the team brought Antonio Gates back, it was Justin Jackson, not Cardale Jones, that the team waived. However, Jones’ time was coming.
The team claimed T.Y. McGill off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs while also signing Emmanuel Ellerbe, a part of the cuts made by the Atlanta Falcons. To make room, Jones and inside linebacker Hayes Pullard III were released.
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Jones was later re-signed and placed on the team’s practice squad.
Ellerbe was undrafted out of Rice this year where he posted a terrific college career that included nearly 300 total tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. He has spent this entire offseason in Atlanta, a team coached by Dan Quinn. What’s the significance there? He and Gus Bradley spent a couple of seasons together with the Seattle Seahawks.
Bradley likely saw Ellerbe as a better fit for his defense than Pullard as Ellerbe is quicker and much more athletic than Pullard. That’s saying something as Bradley was a big proponent of Pullard’s.
T.Y. McGill started his career in Seattle after being an undrafted rookie from North Carolina State. He has also spent time with the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs. Multiple teams put in claims for him, but the Chargers had priority.
He has five career sacks and will give the team a little more depth at defensive tackle while Corey Liuget serves his league-mandated suspension.