LA Chargers Week 14 Overreactions: Receivers to help Justin Herbert?

Overreaction #2: After getting benched, the Nasir Adderley project is over

After halftime against the Atlanta Falcons, Nasir Adderley found himself on the bench, a location that many fans have wanted him in after the first several weeks in the season.

In his post-game press conference, Anthony Lynn said that his benching was not performance-related but was due to him being “banged up.” However, there may have been a bit more to that considering that Adderley did play some in the second half, just in a far smaller role.

If it had been performance-related, the play of the other safeties in his place would have demonstrated that was a good decision.

Rayshawn Jenkins and Jahleel Addae both had fairly good games in coverage, not letting any deep passes get by them while also playing good run support. Additionally, each had their own high-impact interception, with Addae’s being absolutely critical to the win.

With Nasir Adderley’s benching, is Adderley’s role and place on this team gone?

In part, it certainly should be. If we were talking about any other player who was not a recent second-round draft pick that many thought should have been selected in the first, then Adderley would have lost his role long ago.

Adderley has made major mistakes frequently, taken poor angles, had several of his tackles broken, and has made plays on the ball far too late to be effective. If he was not benched for performance today, then he should be next week.

That is an absolute indictment of his play when the backup free safety is Jahleel Addae, who should never see the light of day outside of the box due to his own poor coverage skills. Yet, that is still where we are with Adderley.

Should the Chargers plan for 2021 assuming that Adderley will not play a role? Absolutely.

But does that mean that all is lost for Adderley? Not quite yet.

Adderley has still yet to experience a full in-person offseason as a healthy professional football player. With his contract, there is still time for him to become a useful player for the Chargers, but the team absolutely cannot consider him to be a starter or even a role player going into next year.

Verdict #2: Not an overreaction