Troy Reeder, replacing Kenneth Murray
After letting Kyzir White walk for $3 million, the LA Chargers signed Troy Reeder to be a special teams and depth option for $1 million. While it was frustrating seeing the Chargers letting White walk for such a cheap price, signing Reeder was still smart for what he would offer on paper.
Reeder has been pretty good on a reinvented special teams under coordinator Ryan Ficken. He has gotten some chances on the defense but for the most part, his contributions have been limited to special teams.
That changed in Week 11 as Kenneth Murray suffered a stinger to his neck, opening the door for Reeder to play alongside Murray. While he played a limited number of snaps, Reeder might have been the best player on the Chargers' defense all night as he was great in the coverage opportunities he was given.
Murray has been extremely disappointing over the last two years and it is really hard to look at what Reeder did against the Chiefs and go back to Murray. While his injury does not appear to be serious, the Chargers would probably get more out of Murray if he was a rotational player that came in on heavy packages where the team wants to load the box.
Maybe it doesn't work out with Reeder and he struggles but that is when the team can go back to Murray. They will never know if they don't give Reeder the chance, though, and after Week 11 he definitely deserves it.