Less than a month after agreeing to a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons, former Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. was released on Monday, thus putting the 28-year-old back on the open market.
Brought to Atlanta as a depth move based on a suggestion from former Bolts backup quarterback Easton Stick, who signed on to be the team's third-stringer behind Michael Penix Jr. and Kirk Cousins back in April, Chark logged just one catch for 11 yards in the Falcons' first two preseason games and will now look to find a new home for the fifth time in the last four years.
A second-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018, the LSU alum earned a trip to the Pro Bowl in just his second season after catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns during the 2019 campaign, thus becoming just the fifth pass-catcher in franchise history to reach the 1,000-yard mark.
DJ Chark's Chargers tenure will be a footnote in a career that may soon be ending
But it's been all downhill from there.
After two more seasons with the Jags, the last of which saw him appear in just four games due to a fractured ankle, Chark spent the 2022 campaign with the Detroit Lions and the 2023 season with the Carolina Panthers.
As the Chargers said goodbye to both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams ahead of the 2024 season, Chark was brought in by Jim Harbaugh to add a veteran presence to the Bolts' young receiver room. But things obviously didn't work out.
Chark began the regular season on injured reserve with a hip injury, didn't take his first snap until Week 10, and didn't get his first target until Week 14, making one grab for nine yards in the Chargers' 19-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
When asked about Chark's lack of playing time ahead of that matchup with the Chiefs, Harbaugh was as blunt as can be, saying that the best players would play and that Chark simply wasn't one of them.
Chark ultimately ended what turned out to be his lone campaign in Los Angeles with just four regular-season receptions for 31 yards with one touchdown in seven appearances, tacking on one additional grab for 10 yards in the Chargers' postseason loss to the Houston Texans.