Chargers fans can learn a lot about what the team is going to look like in 2025 based on how Jim Harbaugh is reacting during offseason programs. For example, fans know that their nightmare is going to return in 2025 with Zion Johnson and Bradley Bozeman starting next to each other in some capacity on the offensive line.
Harbaugh isn't the only Chargers coach who is revealing. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman recently chatted with the team's podcast, Chargers Weekly, and spoke a lot about the Bolts' wide receiver room heading into the 2025 season.
In his comments, Roman specifically named several wideouts in the room in a positive fashion. It's not the receivers he named that is telling, though, it's the receiver he chose to leave out.
"Really excited about our two draft picks. I think those guys are affording themselves well," Roman said. "Ladd's (McConkey) going to get better and better. Q (Quentin Johnston) is having a great spring so far, so I see him taking another step this year. And then Jalen Reagor, J.J. (Jaylen Johnson), Dez (Fitzpatrick), and obviously Mike (Williams), all these guys are going to factor in."
Brenden Rice may be on thin ice with the Chargers
Roman did not mention 2024 seventh-round pick Brenden Rice. The former USC wideout, and son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, was viewed as one of the biggest steals of the entire draft by Chargers fans when he fell into the seventh round.
Injuries primarily kept Rice off the field in his rookie season. Despite the Chargers' wideout room being so thin in 2024, Rice played a grand total of three offensive snaps across three games.
The only other wideout of note that Roman didn't specifically mention is Derius Davis, but his spot on the roster is secure. Davis is the team's primary return man, and quite frankly, doesn't factor much into the offense anyway. It's not absurd for the offensive coordinator to leave out a player whose primary impact is on special teams.
However, the fact that Roman mentioned several fringe roster wideouts instead of Rice is telling about his status on the Chargers. Even if unintentional, Roman revealed that Rice isn't doing anything to make himself stand out. That will have to change in training camp if he wants to stick around on the practice squad, let alone have a chance of making the 53-man roster.
If Rice does get the eventual boot from the Chargers it will be a good lesson to fans that just because someone was mocked higher than the seventh round does not mean they will be a home-run success as a seventh-round pick.
The team also drafted Michigan WR Cornelius Johnson in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He didn't even make it to the start of the 2024 season with the Chargers.
Seventh-round picks are seventh-round picks for a reason. And while there are exceptions to the rule, all signs are pointing to Rice being another forgotten-about draft "steal".