LA Chargers countdown to 2020: Best number 84 in team history

We are 84 days away from seeing the LA Chargers back in action in the 2020 NFL season.

Counting today, there are officially 84 days until the LA Chargers kickoff the 2020 season in Week 1 against first overall pick Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

To count down the 2020 season, we have been naming the best player in franchise history to wear each number that coincides with the number of days remaining until the 2020 season. Thus far, not a single current player has taken home the honor of the best player to wear his number.

That trend will continue with the number 84 as the current number 84 on the LA Chargers roster is K.J. Hill.

Hill was one of the best sleeper picks of the entire 2020 NFL Draft and absolutely has the skillset to become the best number 84 in team history if he stays in LA long enough and is productive. The best number 84 in team history would not be all that hard to beat.

The best number 84 in LA Chargers’ history: Paul Maguire

Paul Maguire played for the Chargers a long, long time ago. In fact, he was on the team during its lone season in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego in 1961.

Macguire spent four seasons on the LA Chargers from 1960 to 1963 and has one Pro Bowl honor in those four years, albeit it was not considered the Pro Bowl back then. Out of any player to wear the number 84 in team history, Maguire leads in Approximate Value and it is not even close.

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Maguire accumulated 30 total AV with the Chargers in his four seasons and the next best number 84, Bob Klein, only had 13. For whatever reason, the number is not a popular one as no player as worn it for more than four years on the Chargers.

Maguire was unique in that he represents a different era of football where he was both the linebacker and the punter. That would never happen in 2020 but back then it did and Maguire was one of the best punters in the league, sadly because the Chargers punted a lot.

Maguire led the AFL in punts and punt yards in 1962 and yards per punt in 1960. He averaged 40.7 yards per punt during his tenure with the Chargers.

He seemed to be an asset on the defensive side of the ball as well. While tackles were not yet recorded, Maguire did have a combined nine interceptions in his four seasons, as well as an interception in the AFL Championship Game in 1963.

The first player to wear the number 84 in LA Chargers’ history is still the best player to ever wear the number.