There's no one thing that's going to fix the Los Angeles Chargers offense. The problems are too numerous—and the scheme too confused and depersonalized—to seriously think that would be the case.
But Mike McDaniel still has his job exiting Los Angeles' Week 7 bye. And that means that neither he nor the Chargers have given up on trying to identify a solution to the way this team has performed through its first six games.
Of course, the returns of pieces like Joe Alt, Kayode Awosika, and Tre' Harris will certainly represent a boon to this unit. But it's more a matter of McDaniel figuring out how to leverage the tools that are available to him, including the combination of Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston along with the team's trio of backfield threats, if the Chargers are going to find a way to become even a middle-of-the-road offense.
What it comes down to, ultimately, is optionality—not to be confused with complexity. The Chargers need to simplify McDaniel's scheme, identifying the easy buttons they can press for Justin Herbert while leaving much of the fluff that's characterized McDaniel's past dynamic offenses off the table. But they also need to identify their true, consistent pass catching options in order to get that job done.
Charlie Kolar likely isn't one. But he clearly presents an additional set of hands in the shorter parts of the field, and continuing to build up his profile both as a pass catcher and an in-line blocker, now that he's back from injury, will be a key to building out this unit over the next few weeks.
Charlie Kolar needs to be the versatile option the Chargers asked for in free in free agency
For many across the league, it came as somewhat of a surprise when Kolar inked his three-year, $24.3 million deal with Los Angeles this offseason. Based on his performance and workload with the Baltimore Ravens, it certainly seemed like a bit of an overpay.
But the Chargers, even independent of the demands of McDaniel's scheme, desperately needed an every-down tight end. As much promise as Oronde Gadsden II showed as a pass catcher during his rookie campaign, the room was simply too shallow to think otherwise.
The idea was that, in addition to consistent run and pass blocking, Kolar could also provide some upside as a pass catcher, operating as TE1 in perfect complement to Gadsden and another tight end—which eventually became David Njoku when he signed a one-year deal later in the offseason. There was reason to believe in an emergence for Kolar in that respect. Although he didn't play much of a role in the air attack with Baltimore, he did post 62 receptions for 756 yards and six touchdowns during his final college campaign with Iowa State.
To an extent, Kolar has filled that role for Los Angeles when he's been healthy. He's been a consistent run blocker across his four appearances this season, and he's managed to post nine receptions for 78 yards even in an anemic Los Angeles offense. He's not going to provide many explosive plays, but he's shown that he can consistently make short, simple catches, especially when he's being used as a checkdown piece in the passing game.
Since his return from injury, the Chargers have started to unleash Kolar more in that manner. Although he's lining up out wide less often (an option Los Angeles should turn to only on rare occasions), he's running more routes and looking more active in his share of the passing game. He's also seeing a share of the run-blocking snaps that more closely matches what was expected prior to this season.
Using Kolar in both roles allows the Chargers to lean into what he does best, but it also gives them consistent personnel looks between their run and pass games that can help keep opposing defenses on their toes.
As the offense continues to struggle to find its footing, the temptation may be there to funnel the ball exclusively to McConkey or to try to lean wholly on the run to prop things up. But as much as Kolar may not be the savior of the Chargers' air attack, keeping him active in that capacity will be a key to keeping the optionality of the scheme open.
That's about as much as we can ask for at this point in the season.
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