After a handful of acquisitions this offseason, the Chargers’ roster looks to be in great shape ahead of the 2021 regular season.
However, is there a position group that Los Angeles failed to address that might be an issue when the fall comes around?
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox believes so.
When assessing each NFL team’s biggest red flag entering this upcoming season, Knox tabbed the pass rush for L.A.
Here’s a look at his explanation:
Getting to the opposing quarterback, however, could remain a problem for the Chargers. Los Angeles produced only 27 sacks in 2020 and did nothing to improve the pass rush in free agency—it also has yet to re-sign longtime starter Melvin Ingram III.
The Chargers didn’t take a pass-rusher in the draft until the fourth round, where they selected Duke’s Chris Rumph II.
Now, the Chargers do have one elite sack artist in Joey Bosa, who has 47.5 sacks in five pro seasons. On the other hand, they lack depth, as Bosa was the only Chargers defender to reach five sacks last season. It’s worth noting that Bosa and Ingram missed a combined 13 games in 2020, but there was nobody to pick up the slack.
Believe it or not, but the majority of the general population believes that one of the Chargers’ biggest losses this offseason was not re-signing Melvin Ingram. However, not keeping Ingram may end up paying dividends because it will lead to more playing time for Uchenna Nwosu.
Last season, Nwosu proved to be the team’s second best pass rusher behind Joey Bosa while Ingram missed time with an injury. With his defensive snaps being under 40% in 45 career games, Nwosu has still totaled 10 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, 59 quarterback pressures and 44 hurries.
The starting tandem of Bosa and Nwosu should wreak havoc, and they should only benefit from being under Brandon Staley, who has worked with some of the league’s best edge defenders and he puts his players in the best position to win their perspective matchups.
Knox mentions that the edge defender depth is an issue, but the additions of Kyler Fackrell and Chris Rumph II, who will serve as situational pass-rushers, are sneakily good gets.
Fackrell has 20.5 sacks in five seasons, with his most productive season coming in 2018 when he had 10.5 sacks with Green Bay. At Duke, whenever he was on the field, one out five times Rumph was either hurrying, hitting, knocking down or sacking the quarterback.
In addition, the interior presence of Linval Joseph, Jerry Tillery and Justin Jones should be able to generate pressure.
If anything, kicker is arguably one of the biggest red flags heading into the season. The special teams department was a mess last season, and there’s not a bonafide starter at the position.