Tag: Chargers edge defender

Chargers training camp: Uchenna Nwosu vs. Kyler Fackrell an underrated battle

As the Chargers are set to throw on the pads, this will be one of the more monitored position battles.

Heading into Chargers training camp, Uchenna Nwosu was the presumed starting edge defender opposite Joey Bosa. However, the job is not guaranteed for him.

Instead, Nwosu is in the midst of a battle for the spot with Kyler Fackrell, who has been playing with the first-team defense up to this point.

Nwosu has still been rotating in with the 1s, but the coaching staff believes that Fackrell is just as capable to man an expanded role.

Signed this offseason, Fackrell has primarily served as a rotational player in his career, but he has made the most of his opportunities.

Fackrell has 20.5 sacks in five seasons, with his most productive season coming in 2018 when he had 10.5 sacks during his time with the Packers.

Fackrell is long, flexible, savvy with his hands, rangy, and competitive, with the proven skillset as a run defender, pass-rusher and coverage backer.

“I saw a guy in Green Bay who was a sack monster. Then, you turn back and go to New York, and now you have a guy playing in coverage and picking the ball off,” defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill said.

His experience and versatility are coveted by the coaches, and they believe he’s going to be a good piece for the defense.

Nwosu, on the other hand, is in the final year of his contract with his eyes set on breaking out after being misused and given limited snaps in former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s system.

Despite his snaps being under 40% in 45 career games, Nwosu has still totaled 10 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, 59 quarterback pressures and 44 hurries, showing the upside to be a solid starter.

As the Bolts are set to practice in pads for the first time starting on Monday, this will be one of the more monitored position battles the rest of the way out.

“We’re gonna let those guys go and fight it out,” Hill said.

Hill added that no matter who comes out with the starting job, both players are expected to still play often during the season because of the many different packages.

Chargers GM Tom Telesco talks edge, cornerback positions ahead of NFL draft

Chargers general manager Tom Telesco implied that the team will address the positions in the draft.

Aside from left tackle, the other position the Chargers need to address in this year’s draft is cornerback.

The past few seasons under former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, the corners were primarily deployed in zone coverage.

With head coach Brandon Staley calling the shots now, his defensive backs are going to be versatile, and will be asked to do more than just playing off the line of scrimmage.

At Friday’s media availability general manager Tom Telesco said that the team is looking for corners who can perform at a high level no matter what coverages they’re in.

“We’re looking for corners who can play a variety of coverages,” Telesco said. We don’t want a corner who can only play zone-coverage, and we don’t want a corner who can only play man-coverage. That gives us some versatility to play a little bit of man and zone and keep people on their heels.”

In the first-round, South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn is seen as an ideal corner for Staley’s scheme.

But if the team was to take a tackle in Round 1, they could still benefit from a corner like Georgia’s Tyson Campbell or Eric Stokes, Syracuse’s Ifeatu Melifonwu, Michigan’s Ambry Thomas, Stanford’s Paulson Adebo, among others in Rounds 2 or 3.

Telesco was also asked about the state of the team’s edge defenders.

“As we sit here today, it looks pretty good. Obviously, I’m not going to talk about Joey. That one’s pretty much self-explanatory. And I think you guys pretty much know how we feel about Chenna.

I think Chenna can be a high-level player in this league. We love how he plays. And it was great to add Kyler to the group, both as a pass rusher, play the run, play special teams, proven production in this league. So pretty happy there.”

Uchenna Nwosu enters the season as a starting edge defender. Joey Bosa will play on the “edge” of the defense, but will move around a lot. Kyler Fackrell along with Emeke Egbule will come on the field as rotational pass-rushers.

To round out the group, Staley should be able to find one of his “guys”, one who’s lengthy and explosive with the ability to set the edge versus tight ends and dominate the edge in the run game.

If the position is addressed in the early rounds, Washington’s Joe Tryon, Texas’ Joseph Ossai, Penn State’s Jayson Oweh and Houston’s Payton Turner make sense.

In the middle rounds, Tulane’s Cameron Sample, Northern Iowa’s Elerson Smith, Florida State’s Joshua Kaindoh, Janarius Robinson and Iowa’s  Chauncey Golston could also be targets.

“You can never have enough pass-rushers and corners,” Telesco added.