LA Chargers Week 17 Overreactions: Justin Herbert the best rookie ever?

Overreaction #3: Tight End is not a need in the offseason (assuming Hunter Henry returns)

The Los Angeles Chargers were set to go into the 2021 offseason with Hunter Henry and Virgil Green becoming free agents, leaving Stephen Anderson and Donald Parham as the only tight ends on the roster.

With Green aging, most Chargers fans were thinking recently as a week ago that the Chargers absolutely needed to bring back Hunter Henry and find another tight end to fill out the depth chart.

While the need to retain Hunter Henry remains, Stephen Anderson and Donald Parham have put in work the past two weeks with both Henry and Green out, demonstrating that there may not be a need at tight end.

Given their recent performance, are the Chargers set at tight end for the 2021 season once they bring back Hunter Henry?

From a receiving standpoint, the duo of Parham and Anderson have the Chargers set at the position.

Stephen Anderson has brought a surprising duo of sure hands and decent yards-after-catch ability that are a fairly difficult combination to find. Donald Parham brings an absolutely elite size advantage to the position, which makes him an excellent red-zone threat, particularly if he can continue to develop his ability to box out defenders in the way that soon-to-be Hall of Famer Antonio Gates once did.

The problem that leaves, however, is Anderson and Parham’s abilities as blockers.

Coming into 2020, neither was known to be a particularly good blocker. Perhaps because of a need to develop into a special teams role, Anderson has improved a bit in this part of his game. Meanwhile, Parham is a bit raw as a blocker, but he has used his massive size to become a decent blocker.

Still, neither is on the level of Virgil Green as a blocker. Both are adequate in this role, but they cannot be consistently relied upon in that role.

While Anderson and Parham both look like decent options at tight end, the Chargers may want to bring in a better blocker if they want one as a specialist in their offensive scheme next year. However, assuming the Chargers choose to rely more on Justin Herbert next year and less of the run game, the trio of Hunter Henry, Stephen Anderson, and Donald Parham should be just fine heading into 2021.

Verdict #3: Not an overreaction (depending on the scheme)