LA Chargers: Glass-half-full and half-empty outlook of the offensive line
By Jason Reed
Glass-half-empty outlook on the LA Chargers’ offensive line:
Left tackle: Trey Pipkins’ growing pains continue into year two and despite having solid film at times last season, the lack of a traditional offseason leads to him still not being ready for tangible snaps at left tackle in his sophomore season.
The team is either forced to play an underperforming Pipkins or Sam Tevi, as Forrest Lamp’s potential move to left tackle is canned for performance as it is obvious he is better at left guard.
Left guard: Despite being better at left guard in the NFL, Lamp shows that he still is not as good as the Chargers had hoped. Instead of the battle for the position making Feeney and Lamp better, the Chargers get more of the same, which is not good enough.
Quessenberry is unable to move to left guard because the team needs him for depth at center.
Center: Mike Pouncey’s neck injury is more serious than we thought and age catches up to him. While he is healthy, he does not play up to the level that he once was, forcing the Chargers to either trust the underperforming veteran or make Quessenberry the starter.
Right guard: Pro Football FocusTrai Turner does not turn out to be the saving grace of the interior offensive line that we expected him to be. After posting the worst pass-protection grade of his career last season (as well as allowing six sacks, the second-most for qualified guards) Turner fails to rebound back into a Pro Bowl-caliber guard.
Turner still starts, he simply does not have as large of a positive impact as expected.
Right tackle:
Bryan Bulaga takes a small step back in 2020. Again, it is a bit unreasonable to expect him to be much worse in 2020, but his age does start to catch up to him and we see the slow signs of regression that come with father time.
Next. Reasonable expectations for offensive rookies
Where will the LA Chargers end up? Probably somewhere in the middle. But as you can see, the offensive line could be viewed as really good or really bad, all depending on how you view it.