Chargers part ways with head trainer after extreme injury-prone season
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers have made several changes to the coaching staff this offseason. Kellen Moore is now running the offense while the Bolts also parted ways with defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill, who is reuniting with Vic Fangio on the Miami Dolphins staff.
The staff changes extend past the coaching staff as well. On Thursday it was announced that the Chargers are parting ways with head trainer Damon Mitchell, who has been with the organization for over two decades.
Chargers parted ways this week with head trainer Damon Mitchell, who had performed the job for six seasons and been with the organization for 24 years.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 23, 2023
Chargers now will have a new head trainer, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator in 2023.
Chargers were one of the most injury-prone teams in the league in 2022.
A head athletic trainer cannot stop fluke injuries from happening and it is unfair to straight up blame a trainer for an injury. However, when injuries are a trend over multiple seasons, there is probably a common denominator between what the team is doing and why it is suffering so many injuries.
The 2022 season was a headache for the Chargers on the injury front. On offense, the Chargers had both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams miss serious time. Jalen Guyton and Rashawn Slater missed the rest of the season with Week 3 injuries. Corey Linsley missed a handful of games. Trey Pipkins dealt with a recurring MCL injury.
Even Justin Herbert played through two injuries, one of which we knew about at the time (rib injury) and one that we did not know about (torn labrum).
Defensively, the Chargers' D-line took a massive hit with Joey Bosa missing significant time. The interior defensive line was decimated. J.C. Jackson suffered a fluke patellar tendon injury. Derwin James missed key games down the stretch.
Moving on from Mitchell is not going to magically change things and make the Chargers more durable. Injury issues like this that plague a franchise for more than one season can not be boiled down to just one person. It is an organizational problem and they are going to have to change the way things are done if they want to calm the injury bug.
Injuries are always going to happen. Every single team in every single sport deals with injuries. The key is minimizing those injuries, protecting your star players, and ensuring that you do what you can to make sure players are healthy when it matters most.
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Brandon Staley and the Chargers did not do that when they decided to play Mike Williams and the starters in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos. It looks like Mitchell is the one paying for it.