The LA Chargers have been one of the busier teams in football this offseason in terms of organization-changing moves. There's been quite a few splashes the Bolts have made, but the under-the-radar ones are what Charger fans should be keeping a close eye on.
Here are four underrated moves of the Chargers' 2024 offseason.
1. Drafting Junior Colson
There aren't many rookies who get the opportunity to come into the NFL with their college coaches and playbooks at hand, but former Michigan linebacker Junior Colson certainly will.
Not only will Colson join the Chargers this upcoming season with his college head coach Jim Harbaugh beside him, but he will also be accompanied by his college defensive coordinator in Jesse Minter as well as his college strength and conditioning coach in Ben Herbert.
At the University of Michigan, Colson tallied 257 tackles (114 of them being solo) and 8.5 tackles for loss in 39 games... some of those being with a broken hand in his final season as a Wolverine. This is one of the toughest players in football already, college or pro, and now his transition to the NFL is primed to be one of the smoothest of his entire rookie class.
Most importantly, he gets to step into an NFL locker room with a playbook he already knows, and potentially be the leader of the defense from day one. Very few rookies get that experience. Picking someone like that up in the third round is a major steal for the Chargers. Colson could someday find himself in Defensive Rookie of the Year discussions if all goes well as he is set up to thrive.
The Chargers placed Colson on the NFI list on Wednesday. Exact details are unclear but he still can make it back for the start of the regular season.
2. Revamping the running back room
It's no question how bad the run game has been for the Chargers the last couple of seasons. They averaged just 96.6 rushing yards per game in 2023 to rank them in the bottom third. In 2022, it was even worse at 89.6; that was the third-worst mark in the NFL.
There have been quite a few reasons why the Bolts haven't been able to win consistently, but the lack of a reliable run game has been close to the top of that list. Failure to sustain drives with the run game has stunted this team's ability to hold leads and win games. Charger fans should be ecstatic that the running back room has been revamped this offseason through the addition of three very exciting running backs.
First, the free agent signing of the former Raven Gus Edwards. The Gus Bus had a very effective 2023 season rushing for 810 yards and crossing the goal line 13 times. Edwards has become a shorter yardage battering ram that the Chargers finally get to reap the benefits of.
With presumably a stronger offensive line in place, there's no reason Edwards can't be just as effective as he was in Baltimore at picking up first downs in short-yard situations.
Second, another former Raven free agent in the form of JK Dobbins. The Ohio State Buckeye standout burst onto the scene in 2020 rushing for 805 yards with nine rushing touchdowns on an average of SIX yards per attempt as a rookie.
Leg injuries have unfortunately marred his growth as an NFL star, but his addition to this Chargers running back room is very much welcomed. Mixing him in with Edwards is going to contribute to (hopefully) keeping him healthy and perhaps even back to form.
Finally, the drafting of Kimani Vidal out of Troy University. Vidal played four seasons for the Trojans and rushed for over 4,000 yards at a 5.1 YPA. He also put up 34 total touchdowns in his career there and even won the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year in 2023. This is a player with the potential to become the Chargers' lead back by the end of 2024.
3. Drafting Joe Alt
The further away day one of the NFL Draft gets, the more clear it becomes that Joe Alt was a fantastic first pick by the Chargers. It might've upset people at first with so many quality pass-catchers still on the board, but the most important thing Justin Herbert is going to need in 2024 is time. That has become abundantly clear in the last several months.
The wide receiver room is an aspect of this team that will turn a lot of NFL analysts off; the ones so many football fans still listen to for some reason. But as everybody knows, the more time a receiver has to get open, the better off they will be regardless of skill level; just like how time has a similar effect on quarterbacks.
Joe Alt was widely considered the best offensive lineman in this year's draft class. Some would even argue he's the best all-around player. Drafting him, like drafting every other offensive lineman, was not necessarily a "big splash" to get a fanbase energized. However, what he will bring is certainly going to get Charger fans hyped.
Again, the most important thing Justin Herbert is going to need this season is time to throw. Joe Alt will help make that happen.
4. Keeping Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa over Keenan Allen and Mike Williams
It was unexpected. The Chargers opted to keep their two main outside pass rushers and gutted the receiving core by not re-signing Mike Williams and trading Keenan Allen. Surely, a lot of Charger fans thought Keenan Allen would've been the last one remaining of those four.
As much as it hurts to no longer see Keenan Allen in a Chargers uniform, his departure says a lot about how the new Chargers regime feels about Justin Herbert and his ability to elevate receivers.
Perhaps the most important thing, in the eyes of Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh, was to keep the defensive personnel together, especially if money was something that had to be straightened out. Perhaps if cuts had to be made, then they'd be better off making those cuts on the offensive side of the ball on account of how highly they thought of Herbert's ability to win games.
It says a lot about what an organization thinks of its quarterback when they strip pieces away from him, as strange as that may sound. The Chiefs took Tyreek Hill away from Patrick Mahomes. The Bills just took Stefon Diggs away from Josh Allen.
It's the best of the best quarterbacks who are trusted to elevate their rosters more than their rosters elevate them, and now it's abundantly clear to all that Justin Herbert is a firm member of the former category.