If there's one position for concern on the Los Angeles Chargers' roster right now, it's likely the cornerback room.
Of course, the wide receiver room will cause some trouble as well if Ladd McConkey needs to miss any time. The Chargers are already down KeAndre Lambert-Smith for multiple weeks, and there's a real chance that both Gary Jennings and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are on the active roster come Sunday's matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. That's obviously not an ideal scenario.
But beyond their starting trio of Donte Jackson, Cam Hart, and Tarheeb Still, the Chargers don't have much inspiring depth at the cornerback position, and their zone-heavy defensive scheme is dependent upon their ability to rotate corners depending on situations and matchups. The starting room is fine—even with the brief injury scare Hart suffered last week—but it's unclear who's truly ready to step up if one of them needs to miss time.
Depending on how you view things, the situation just got more concerning. Nikko Reed was claimed off the Chargers' practice squad on Thursday afternoon by the cornerback-needy New York Giants, leaving the Chargers only with Rodney Shelley and Kaiir Elam as their options at outside corner beyond their starting trio.
Hopefully it won't become an actual issue before the Chargers can address it.
Nikko Reed's departure costs the Chargers vital depth at the cornerback position
It makes sense why the Giants wanted Reed. Although Reed has his limitations as a pure outside corner, he was productive enough last year to make the Chargers' 53-man roster as a backup nickel behind Derwin James Jr. His placement on the practice squad this year was likely done with the intention of elevating him to the active roster when he was needed.
The Giants currently have four different cornerbacks on their injured reserve, and all three of Paulson Adebo, Greg Newsome II, and Deonte Banks were limited in some form at practice on Thursday.
For the Chargers, though, the move obviously puts a bit of a wrinkle in their plans.
They traded away UDFA Avery Smith on roster cut-down day to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a sixth-round selection in 2027. The move was obviously in anticipation of Smith being claimed on waivers if Los Angeles were to drop him off the 53-man roster, but it also cost them a potential outside corner within their organizational depth chart.
Their signing of Elam was a direct response to this, and although Elam has some upside with the right opportunities, he doesn't have a sustained stretch of success at any point in his NFL career. Shelley, for his part, played just one snap in his NFL debut against the Arizona Cardinals last week. Isas Waxter remains on the practice squad as well, and he might be an option if things get truly dire.
Reed, at the very least, represented a player with NFL experience and a familiarity with the Chargers' defensive scheme. Now that he's gone, it's not necessarily clear who jumps into the rotation if Hart, Jackson, or Still is forced to miss time.
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