3 shocking LA Chargers snap counts from Week 12 loss to Denver Broncos
By Jason Reed
3. Joshua Kelley, 16 snaps (23%)
You were probably expecting Senio Kelemete here. Look, he was downright awful in this game and was a big reason why the Chargers lost to begin with. That being said, it is hard to call it shocking considering he has gotten some looks in heavy sets before and Brenden Jaimes has not. Was it bad? Absolutely. Was it all that shocking? Not really.
Joshua Kelley did not play a huge number of snaps in this game for the LA Chargers but he was still out there for about a quarter of the time. The Chargers running back situation this season has been head-scratching and frustrating and this continued that trend.
Kelley got the second-most snaps out of any running back on the LA Chargers in this game. Justin Jackson, who the team has touted to be the no. 2 running back all season, didn't play a single snap despite being active in the game! Larry Rountree was a healthy scratch (stop me if you have seen a rookie running back struggle and be a healthy scratch before) and the Bolts elevated Darius Bradwell to play seven snaps and make one carry.
The running back room is an absolute mess and while Kelley was not really all that bad in this game, the team's handling of the running back room continues to be shocking. They refuse to go out and get help in any way they can and seemingly just pick a card out of a deck to determine which running backs are going to play behind Austin Ekeler.
Will Kelley play this many snaps next week? Probably not. They'll probably have Larry Rountree play 25% of the snaps with Kelley being a healthy scratch and Justin Jackson getting the seven snaps that Bradwell got. That doesn't make sense at all but at this point what does with the running back room?