Chargers: Derek Watt
No one, and I mean absolutely no one, had Derek Watt leading the league in special teams tackles this offseason. If anyone were to do so for the Chargers, it would likely have been Adrian Phillips, who led the league en route to Pro-Bowl and All-Pro honors last year. But injuries have a funny way of thrusting players into roles they never expected to fill.
Congratulations to the fullback are in order, as is a future contract extension.
Chargers: Michael Schofield
Is anyone picking Schofield first when trying to build an offensive line? No, only his mother would. But while he hasn’t been elite, he’s been good this year, and that is deserving of some recognition.
Has Schofield ever shown up on the injury report for anything? There is one player this year who has played 100 percent of the team’s snaps for their side of the ball, and that’s Schofield. In his second year as the Chargers’ right guard, No. 75 has posted the highest pass-blocking grade of his career, allowing just one sack this season and only being penalized once. For him to have gone from five sacks allowed last year to just one (with one game left) this year is admirable.
Chargers: Mike Williams
It is incredibly difficult to stand out in a group that includes Allen, Ekeler, and Hunter Henry catching the football, but Williams has figured out how to do one thing the others aren’t quite as good at: Catching a ball down the field. Way, way down the field.
Williams is the NFL’s leader in yards per catch, for those who have caught 10 or more passes.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1173305226926755840
He’s bailed out Philip Rivers a number of times this season. Williams, despite hobbling once or twice a game due to a knee injury, is now set to break 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his young career.