LA Chargers: Seven players on the hot seat in 2020

C Mike Pouncey

Mike Pouncey‘s 2019 season took an unfortunate turn after he suffered a neck injury vs. the Broncos in Week 5. He had surgery the same week and was put on injured reserve for the remainder of the year.

Six months after the injury, little is known about the status of Pouncey going forward. Lynn said at the time that he wasn’t sure if the neck injury was going to be career-ending. There’s not much likelihood that we’ll really know the extent of the injury until Pouncey is able to get a physical or start the offseason program. Based on the federal social distancing rules due to COVID-19, no one really knows when that will happen.

In addition to his injury situation, Pouncey finds himself in the last year of his contract. He’ll be 31 going into the 2020 season. The Chargers went big on boosting the offensive line with Bryan Bulaga and Trai Turner. Tom Telesco will likely look to the draft for offensive line help as well. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Chargers look at some interior offensive linemen that could be Pouncey replacements down the line.

Pouncey is great when he plays. He was awesome for the Chargers prior to going down with the injury. Unfortunately, with the injury and the contract situation though, he’ll have to prove he can play.

Even in the hypothetical where he’s cleared to play, the team will need to see that he can play a full season. If he has another injury of the same scale in 2020, the chances of him returning in 2021 would dwindle further.