Chargers make shocking signing to reunite with an old face
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers head into their bye week with a lot of issues that need to be addressed. While the team has a 4-3 record, they certainly have not played like a 4-3 team and if things are not fixed, the end result is not going to be pretty this season.
The bye week comes at a perfect time as the Chargers can utilize the November 1 trade deadline and have full focus on making additions instead of game-planning for an opponent. Then, when the deadline passes, the focus can turn to the Atlanta Hawks.
Tom Telesco and Brandon Staley made the first addition on Wednesday to help supplement some of the losses that the roster has faced because of injury. Former Charger Jeremiah Attaochu is re-joining the team after Chris Rumph suffered an MCL sprain.
This is a name that Chargers fans have not heard for quite some time so it definitely came as a surprise. It probably should not be considered a particularly good surprise, either.
The Chargers signing Jeremiah Attaochu is a bit disappointing.
The Bolts were not going to get some massively impactful player to replace Rumph off the free-agent market but the team could have gotten a bit splashy and made a trade. That obviously did not happen and the hope is that they make a trade to improve another position. If not, the fans are justified in being upset.
Attaochu was ultimately signed because of his familiarity with the organization and the coaching staff. On top of being a former Charger, Attaochu also played under Brandon Staley when he was on the Denver Broncos. That connection is undoubtedly what led to this signing.
While some may point towards his numbers in Denver in 2019 and 2020 as reason to be optimistic about this signing, the fact of the matter is that Attaochu is not going to do much for this team. Sure, he had solid numbers in 2020 but that was also two years ago and those numbers were solid for him being a depth edge rusher. He is going to have to play a bigger role in LA (for now) out of necessity.
More importantly, Attaochu really has not been in the league much since that 2020 season. He played just 129 snaps in five games with the Chicago Bears last season as he mostly spent time on the practice squad. Attaochu has been a practice squad player again this year as he has been active for one game, playing eight snaps for the Baltimore Ravens.
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There is a reason why he hasn't really been in the league and has not gotten a chance elsewhere over the last two years. We simply cannot overlook that and look at old numbers as proof that he will surpass expectations in LA.