Adam Rank’s name will be remembered after he pegged the Chargers to go 3-13 this upcoming season. While Rank’s record prediction might be atrocious, a handful of fans will agree with his projected individual awards he gave out.
In his latest edition of State of the Franchise, Rank looked at where Los Angeles stands going into the new decade. Included in his piece, he predicted who he believes will be the team’s most valuable player along with who he thinks is going to breakout.
Both players that were given the honors are on the defensive line, with the projected MVP award going to none other than defensive end Joey Bosa.
You have to feel for Joey Bosa here. He’s been one of the best football players on the planet, recording 10-plus sacks in three of his four pro seasons thus far — and he’s been usurped on the national stage by his brother Nick Bosa, who helped lead San Francisco to the Super Bowl as a rookie last season. But make no mistake, Joey is the original and just as important to his team as Nick is to the Niners. I watched in awe as Joey took apart a pretty good Packers offensive line last year, sacking Aaron Rodgers twice and haranguing him on seemingly every dropback. The Chargers are going to end up having some fluidity at the quarterback position, but the one player they are not going to be able to do without is Bosa.
Heading into the final year of his contract, Bosa is eager to be one of the highest paid defensive ends. The 24-year old earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl after finishing tied for second in the conference in sacks (11.5) while also tallying up the fifth-most tackles (67) of any at his position in the NFL in 2019.
His quarterback pressures have made life easier on the secondary, and will continue to have a positive impact as they look to bring the heat even more this upcoming season. Another candidate to be the team’s MVP when all is said and done is third-year safety Derwin James after being hampered by a foot injury last season.
Rank’s projected breakout player lies inside of Bosa and Melvin Ingram, with that being defensive tackle Jerry Tillery.
The former first-round pick didn’t do much during his rookie season, recording just two sacks and basically sitting behind Justin Jones and Damion Square (Tillery was on the field for less than half of the team’s defensive snaps). But this is a new year. He’s got the opportunity to make that second-year leap in a defense brimming with studs, including their second first-round pick of 2020.
Tillery, the 2019 first-round pick, didn’t have a great rookie season, but he did show glimpses of potentially becoming the dominant interior pass-rusher he was drafted to be. With an offseason under his belt to get stronger, bigger and work on his technique, we could see a significant jump in production in 2020.