With Barksdale gone, it’s time for Forrest Lamp to step up
By Travis Wakeman
The Los Angeles Chargers are in the midst of a great season, but there may still be concerns along the offensive line.
The team decided to release veteran tackle Joe Barksdale on Monday, a player who has been a healthy scratch in recent weeks and missed Sunday’s game due to personal reasons. That leaves Sam Tevi as the starting right tackle.
Tevi hasn’t been terrible, but the Chargers have turned to him because they have to.
It’s time for last year’s second-round pick, Forrest Lamp, to step up. The playoffs are quickly approaching and the Chargers are going to want to put their best 53 players on the field.
Lamp missed all of last season after tearing an ACL during a practice in the first week of training camp. Despite that huge blow, there were high hopes for him in year two. In May, he had a routine knee surgery to clean up some debris and was expected to be ready for the opener.
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Here we are in December and while the Chargers have played 12 games this season, Lamp has appeared in one. He’s been listed as a gameday inactive nearly every week. As the Chargers make a push for an AFC West crown over this last month of the regular season, it’s time for Lamp to step up.
Tevi, despite his ability to avoid blatant false start penalties, is not likely the team’s best option at right tackle. If they could get Lamp on the field, they could use a combination of he and Michael Schofield on the right side of the line, perhaps even putting Schofield at right tackle. He has experience playing that position and Lamp may be best at guard, at least to start with.
Barksdale, who leaves the Chargers after four seasons with the team, appeared in 42 games. To fill his roster spot, the Bolts brought back this year’s sixth-round pick, Dylan Cantrell.