With Sam Tevi having locked up the LA Chargers’ starting left tackle position, it’s time to have a talk about Trey Pipkins.
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that I am a defender of the LA Chargers and their selection of Trey Pipkins in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. I fully recognize that the offensive line was a problem for the Chargers last season, but I thought that the Pipkins had actually played very well in the three games he appeared in.
Sam Tevi, much to our dismay, has all but locked up the starting left tackle role. It’s been weeks since Pipkins has gotten any reps with the first-team offense.
Unfortunately, that is not the only thing working against the second-year tackle. In Monday’s press conference, head coach Anthony Lynn was asked about former XFL standout Storm Norton.
Lynn highlighted that Norton has been very impressive so far in training camp. He also said, “it’s always important to have a swing tackle that can play on the left and the right sides.” If we read between the lines a little here we can assume that this means that Norton, not Pipkins, would be the first tackle off the bench should anything happen to Tevi or first-year Charger Bryan Bulaga.
Essentially, he is the fourth tackle on the depth chart. That is a less than ideal outcome for the former Sioux Falls standout. Up until the start of training camp, I truly believed that he would be the better option at left tackle over Tevi. Now, it seems that Pipkins could not only not beat out Tevi, but he also couldn’t beat Norton for the team’s swing tackle spot either.
There’s still a chance that Pipkins could still return value to the team. Unfortunately, it now seems that the best-case scenario here could be that he stays with the team as a backup.
So was drafting him a waste of a pick? What does this mean for the future? Keep reading to find out.