The Los Angeles Chargers aren't showing any signs of "giving up" on this season—whatever that could possibly mean with an 0-8 record.
Joe Hortiz has shown no public indication that he plans to entertain trade suitors at the deadline, and it might be a bit too late for a reversal of course now as the deadline looms on Nov. 10. Nor is there any indication that benching Justin Herbert is an option, unless the hand injury he suffered in Week 9 against the Houston Texans proves to be serious.
Still, though, this season is lost for the Chargers at this point. Even if they can rattle off a couple wins after their schedule becomes (relatively) easier next week against the Baltimore Ravens, it will only serve to worsen their draft position. We're now in a spot where, by and large, any improvements to the offense are meaningless.
So as this season goes on, it's becoming more and more pertinent to keep a close eye on the rookies. After all, their ability to continue developing will be key to the Chargers maintaining depth and flexibility for 2027—when these things will actually start to matter.
Chargers' rookie stock report as the team crawls out of Week 9 with an 0-8 record
Akheem Mesidor, OLB
Although it seems like Khalil Mack is going to be staying with the Chargers through the end of the season, Mesidor's continued development is more important than ever. This may very well be Mack's final season in the NFL, and the Tuli Tuipulotu contract saga remains unresolved through Week 9.
Thankfully, Mesidor is showing more and more promise as a primary pass rusher with each passing week. Chris O'Leary, first and foremost, has steadily figured out how to work him, Mack, and Tuipulotu off of each other to earn relatively consistent pressure compared to what we saw earlier in the season, and Mesidor's five pressures and two QB hits yesterday serve as ample evidence of that fact. He's now up to 17 pressures and four sacks on the season—solid numbers for a rotational rookie.
Verdict: Stock Up
Jake Slaughter, C
The Slaughter pick, conversely, continues to look worse and worse as the weeks pass by. Some variance earlier in the season was more than acceptable given what he went through in training camp, practicing at both left guard and center before being thrust into the starting center spot by the injury to Tyler Biadasz. But now that we're eight games into the season, Slaughter still looks far below average at his natural position, and that's a highly concerning development.
He tied his season-high yesterday by allowing three pressures and one sack against the Texans, and there's been multiple missed assignments and just purely abysmal reps for Slaughter on tape over the past couple of weeks. He's just barely under pace to match the 30 pressures that Bradley Bozeman gave up last season. Yikes.
Verdict: Stock Down
Brenen Thompson, WR
I've been putting a 'hold steady' grade on Thompson for weeks now as he continues to deal with the leg injury that's kept him out since Week 2. But the longer his absence stretches on, the less likely it feels that there's even a role for him in this offense when he returns.
This was a McDaniel pick, and it's worth at least thinking about whether the Chargers carry him over to next season if the OC is out of the building and the receiving corps is justifiably overhauled.
Verdict: Stock Down
Travis Burke, OT
Burke has been solid given what he's been asked to do on both sides of the line since Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater's injury issues first started. He's been great in the run game, and although he's struggled at times to deal with faster pass rushers, he's shown improvement over the past couple of weeks.
The Texans were a rough matchup for Burke, though, with either Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, or Jadeveon Clowney guaranteed to match up with him on a down-to-down basis. The Chargers tried to counter that by having Kolar on an island against Anderson and having Burke help out on the interior, but that gameplan looked like it was abandoned after Kolar got blown by in the first half on a particularly bad rep. Burke ultimately allowed a career-high four pressures on the day, and it seems as though Slater's return may soon send him back to the bench.
Verdict: Stock Down
Genesis Smith, S
Smith has looked, in spurts, like the ball-hawking, high-range deep safety the Chargers wanted when they took a flyer on him in the draft. At others, his issues with tackling, physicality, and understanding his role in O'Leary's scheme have shown up glaringly on the tape.
He had two particularly notable bad moments yesterday—one where he was late to step into coverage on the first touchdown to Xavier Hutchinson and another where he failed to push Boutte out along the sideline, which led to another touchdown for Houston. These are things that can be cleaned up, but Smith has been far more inconsistent than Los Angeles would like to see at this point in the season.
Verdict: Stock Down
Nick Barrett, DT
Barrett saw his snap share go up over the past two weeks, especially in the pass rush, as O'Leary continues to sort out the right combination of interior players to take this defense to the next level. But he saw a total of just 10 snaps in Week 9—his second-lowest mark of the season, just ahead of the eight he saw in Week 1.
This is a week-to-week variance thing, and Barrett has continued to improve as a run defender, so take this only as a temporary setback for the rotational rookie.
Verdict: Hold Steady
Logan Taylor, OG
No one on the Chargers' offensive line looked good yesterday—Justin Herbert got sacked a career-high eight times and left the game with a hand injury in the second half. Kayode Awosika's impending return, moreover, will almost certainly send Taylor back to the bench.
But this was his best performance out of his four starts so far. He allowed just one pressure across 43 pass-blocking snaps against a relatively formidable Texans interior, and he continued to look adequate in the run game. This isn't to say that there should be any thought of Taylor continuing as a starter, but it's important to give credit where it's due.
Verdict: Stock Up
Alex Harkey, OT/G
Harkey didn't look good in the least when he was tasked with taking on tackle duties in Alt and Slater's absence. But he may have been extended a new lifeline yesterday.
After Strange got beat (rather badly) on back-to-back reps by Sheldon Rankins, the Chargers coaching staff pulled him from the game and slotted Harkey in at right guard. Now, he allowed two pressures on just 16 pass-blocking snaps after that switch, so don't get too excited here.
But Harbaugh indicated that the coaching staff will give some real thought to benching Strange, and Harkey is at least an option at the position if they decide to go that route.
Verdict: Stock Up (??)
Add us as a preferred source on Google