Tag: Chargers Jerry Tillery

Chargers waive DT Jerry Tillery

Tom Telesco’s 2019 first-round pick is no longer a Charger.

Tom Telesco’s 2019 first-round pick is no longer a Charger.

The team announced Thursday that it had waived defensive lineman Jerry Tillery. The move comes after Tillery did not practice this week due to a personal matter, per the injury report. The former Notre Dame standout was also nursing a back injury suffered during a bye-week lifting session.

It’s the end of a disappointing tenure for Tillery, who never found his footing as a full-time starter after being selected with the No. 28 pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

Many fans criticized him for his shortcomings as a run defender when asked to play all three downs. Still, this season especially, Tillery was one of the few defensive linemen able to generate pressure on quarterbacks from the interior.

The move leaves L.A. with Sebastian Joseph-Day, Morgan Fox, Otito Ogbonnia, Christian Covington, and Breiden Fehoko as its healthy defensive linemen. Austin Johnson was placed on injured reserve earlier this week with the knee injury he suffered against the Falcons.

Jerry Tillery relishing new role with Chargers

The Chargers have put Jerry Tillery in a role that plays to his strengths.

Jerry Tillery, the 2019 first-round pick, struggled to live up to his draft billing and was being written off.

While he flashed as a pass-rusher, Tillery was a liability as a run defender. Tillery failed to push the pocket and take on double teams, which turned into gaping holes, as evident from the league’s worst run defenses last season.

That led to head coach Brandon Staley bringing the proper personnel to the defensive line room to aid the run game, signing Sebastian Joseph-Day, Austin Johnson and Morgan Fox, and drafting Otito Ogbonnia.

The additions led to Tillery being relegated to a rotational role that plays to his strengths – getting after the quarterback. And since then, it’s been a night and day difference.

Looking like a revamped player, Tillery is winning at the line of scrimmage with strength, his length, and more technically sound counters to discard blockers.

As a result, Tillery has ten pressures, eight of which came in the last three games.

The team has utilized his versatility. He has aligned primarily as a three-technique (outside shoulder of the guard), but he has seen snaps as a 4i-technique (over the tackle) and on the edge.

Playing in the final year of his rookie deal after the team elected not to pick up his fifth-year option, Tillery is auditioning for a new deal.

Even though he might not be as well-rounded as others at his position, interior defenders that can rush the quarterback well don’t come around often. For that reason, Tillery might be an appealing option on the market if he continues to perform.

Chargers top 5 breakout season players in 2021: DT Jerry Tillery

Chargers defensive tackle Jerry Tillery is in a great position to take a big jump in Year 3.

Every season, there are players who break out onto the scene who may not have been dominant the season before, whether they had limited snaps, dealt with an injury or just improved as a player in the offseason.

This is the first story in a five-part series counting down the top Chargers players who I believe are most likely to have a breakout season in 2021.

Part 1: WR Tyron Johnson

Jerry Tillery, Los Angeles first-round pick of the 2019 NFL draft, was selected with the hopes of giving the interior part of the defensive line a boost in the pass rushing department.

Tillery did not do much upon arriving, with the exception of late in the season where he finally started to show some flashes.

He missed all of the spring practices since he spent the majority of it rehabbing his torn labrum that he suffered during his senior season at Notre Dame.

This past season, Tillery made some strides. His ascend came when he was experimented as a defensive end when Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram dealt with injuries.

Tillery saw his tackles (17 to 30), sacks (two to three), quarterback hits (three to 14), pressures (nine to 22) and forced fumbles (zero to two) all uptick in his sophomore season.

Looking ahead to Year 3, Tillery is in a prime position to take a step even further, as he will be in a scheme that favors his skillset and play for Brandon Staley, the defensive guru that has a history of elevating front-seven players.

Tillery’s versatility will serve him well and his traits profile more optimally to a 3-4 defense, given his length, strength and power.

“I am a really big fan of Jerry Tillery’s game,” Staley said. “I think this guy is a versatile inside player….This guy’s got real size, speed.

Anthony Lynn gives praise to Chargers DT Jerry Tillery

Coach Anthony Lynn likes what rookie Jerry Tillery has been doing on the field in his first season.

There aren’t that many players in the league that are under more pressure to meet expectations than first-round selections.

That’s how it’s been for rookie defensive tackle Jerry Tillery.

Taken with the No. 28 overall selection of the 2019 NFL draft, Tillery was brought in to add juice to a defensive line that needed to get after the quarterback from the inside to take stress away from defensive ends Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram.

At first glimpse, Tillery’s numbers wouldn’t suggest a defender that’s doing that as he’s only posted 11 total tackles and 1.5 sacks through 12 games.

But for coach Anthony Lynn, he doesn’t let the stat sheet depict how he feels about the former Notre Dame product.

“I think Jerry has done some good things. He’s long, he’s athletic, he hustles. I love his effort. He might not have the production with sacks, but pressures. He has applied some pressures, which I think are more important than sacks,” Lynn said.

When going further in depth with how Tillery has been performing through the bye week, it’s clear that he’s getting pressure. It might be on every play, but the flashes are there.

There are a few reasons why Tillery hasn’t been effective and one of them is because he hasn’t been used in obvious passing downs, as the team has resorted to defensive end Isaac Rochell in that role.

The other reason is more from a technical standpoint. We pointed out that with how tall he is, he struggles with leverage. Also, he hasn’t been able to counter through double teams.

The bottomline is while Tillery isn’t dominating on a weekly basis, it doesn’t mean he’s a bust. It is never okay to label a first-round pick, let alone any player that in their first season.

Tillery is young and with an offseason to develop, there’s hope he can combine that with his natural physical traits and become a better player in his second year and beyond.