Tag: Chargers rookie

Chargers quarter season awards: MVPs, top rookie, most improved and more

The NFL is at the quarter mark, so this is a good time to reflect on the Chargers’ first four games and hand out some awards.

The Chargers were off this week, getting some rest before they endure a 13-game stretch. Players used the time to get much-needed rest and the coaching staff did some evaluating as they identified what they needed to improve on for the remainder of the season.

With that, let’s look back at the first four games of the season and give out some awards.

Chargers rookie safety Mark Webb makes early impression

The former Georgia product is looking to earn some playing time in his rookie season.

The first interception of Chargers training camp goes to…..seventh-round pick Mark Webb.

Webb, the rookie out of Georgia, picked off quarterback Easton Stick during 7-on-7 Thursday.

Webb’s physical mentality and tackling ability make him a special teams ace from Day 1, but like I’ve said, don’t be surprised to see him make an impact on defense early on in his career.

His versatility, high football IQ and traits in coverage and against the run should serve him well in the secondary, whether that be in the deep parts of the fields, as a dimebacker or lined up in the slot.

Based on his showing on just the second day of camp, Webb is trending towards carving up a role this season.

Watch it: Chargers CB Asante Samuel Jr. working out with top rookies ahead of training camp

Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. prepares for his rookie campaign.

The Chargers return to Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa, CA in a little over two weeks for the start of training camp.

While players have some down time before they prepare for the 2021 season as a team, that doesn’t mean the work stops, especially for rookies like cornerback Asante Samuel Jr.

Samuel Jr. was spotted working out with some of the other top first-year players, which included wide receivers Jaylen Waddle and Elijah Moore and cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr.

Here are some of the clips, courtesy of Chargers Pulse.

Drafted in the second round, Samuel Jr. heads into camp looking to lock up the other outside cornerback spot opposite Michael Davis. He will be competing with Brandon Facyson, who impressed in spring practices.

At Florida State, Samuel Jr. stymied top receivers on a weekly basis, posting 97 tackles, 29 passes defensed and four interceptions over 31 games.

Now, Samuel Jr. is eager to carry over his quickness, instincts and ball skills to the pro level in hopes of supplying a dominant force to what could be one of the better secondaries in the league.

Missouri HC talks about what RB Larry Rountree III brings to Chargers

Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz had high praise for Chargers rookie running back, Larry Rountree III.

The Chargers rounded out their backfield with the selection of former Missouri running back Larry Rountree III in the sixth-round of this year’s draft.

Rountree joins Los Angeles after being one of the most productive backs in the SEC the past three seasons, having posted 3,720 yards and 40 touchdowns, which are both school records.

Rountree’s former college head coach, Eliah Drinkwitz, who believes that he is going to be an excellent football player for a long time, talked about what the back brings to L.A.

“He’s going to be a tremendous asset for both that left tackle [Rashawn Slater] and for Justin to take the pressure off of them as far as having to throw the football and protect,” Drinkwitz said.

“He’s a guy that can get the tough yards. It’s not always pretty when you hand him the football as far as the blocking scheme, but he’s going to make sure it’s a positive play.

And he’s just got a great smile and personality, and he’s going to be an excellent person in the locker room for those guys to lean on. He was voted team captain by his peers for us and just a guy that was a joy to be around.”

Rountree enters training camp next month in one of the most compelling position battles alongside Justin Jackson and Joshua Kelley for one of the spots behind Austin Ekeler.

Rountree is an explosive runner who has good feet, contact balance, second-level vision, ball protection awareness, as well as passing game impact, who projects as a short-yardage/goal-line specialist and special teamer.

Should he impress the coaching staff in camp and the preseason slate, Rountree could grow into a decent-sized role sooner than most people anticipate, with the potential to be a well-rounded back that can contribute on multiple downs.

Chargers rookie WR Josh Palmer talks adjustment to NFL

Chargers rookie Josh Palmer talks about what’s different from his college offense to now in Joe Lombardi’s system.

With their one of their two third-round draft picks, the Chargers selected wide receiver Josh Palmer.

During an interview with Go Vols of 247 Sports, Palmer was asked about how the jump from the college level to the NFL has been for him.

A huge thing would definitely be the playbook. Not necessarily the content, because a lot of it was fairly similar to what I experienced at Tennessee, just the verbiage is really different. But it’s a lot more attention-to-details, being attentive to your splits, knowing exactly where you have to be, getting all of your depth, knowing the quarterback’s drops, knowing how much time that you have, everything.

One of the biggest things is just the huddle. I’m not used to a huddle, because I was used to a signal at Tennessee. But the biggest difference between that is the speed of how fast they say the call in the huddle. I think that would be the hardest thing, is just listening very closely to what you have and what the play is, because they only say the play one time, so you better hear it the first time.

As the Volunteers’ leading receiver in 2020, Palmer amassed 33 receptions for 475 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games with four starts. During his collegiate career, he caught 99 passes for 1,514 yards (15.3 yards per catch) with seven touchdowns.

In Year 1, he will be in the mix for snaps. Given the fact that offensive coordinator Joe Lombard goes through a lot of different personnel packages, Palmer will have his fair share of opportunities, with potential to grow into a large role.

With his ability to separate at all levels of the field, especially vertically, Palmer could quickly become one of quarterback Justin Herbert’s favorite targets this upcoming season and beyond.

Highlights from Day 1 of Chargers’ rookie minicamp

The first day of Chargers rookie minicamp was lighter.

Friday marked the first day of the Chargers rookie minicamp. The event will run through the next two days and come to an end on May 16.

This feature will include a collection tweets from team beat reporters from the session.

Read on to see a collection of the highlights and top tweets from the Bolts reporters in attendance.

Chargers QB Justin Herbert named Offensive Rookie of the Month

After a historic month, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has earned the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Month award for October.

After a historic month, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has earned the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Month award for October.

Los Angeles turned to Herbert in Week 2 after Tyrod Taylor suffered a punctured lung, and there was no turning back after he displayed a string of strong performances, eventually being named the permanent starter.

After being handed the keys, Herbert was 67-of-102 passing for 901 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception over the team’s last three games.

Herbert picked up his first professional win last Sunday against the Jaguars. In that matchup, he threw for a season-high 347 yards and 66 rushing yards.

The former Oregon product has shredded defenses with eye-popping throws to all parts of the field and his legs, all while being composed in any given situation.

The first-round pick is currently the slight favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year over Bengals QB Joe Burrow, per Odds Shark.

Chargers LB Drue Tranquill named to PFF’s 2019 All-Rookie Team

Drue Tranquill was by far the most dominant from the Los Angeles Chargers’ 2019 draft class.

Chargers linebacker Drue Tranquill was lights out in his first professional season.

For his efforts, Tranquill was named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Rookie team as a special teamer.

Tranquill, the fourth-round selection of the 2019 NFL draft, made an impact as early as last summer in camp, showing his high football IQ to quickly get adapted to the new playbook.

That translated to the field, where he was seen making plays on a consistent basis, whether that was at the linebacker position or on special teams. As the season went on he grew into an integral part of the defense.

In the 15 games played, three of which he started, Tranquill racked up 64 tackles (50 solo), four tackles for loss and one pass defended. On top of that, he finished with the most special teams tackles by any rookie (11).

With durability concerns continuing to loom around Denzel Perryman, Tranquill could very well be in contention to earn the permanent starting middle linebacker role in 2020.

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.

Checking in on Chargers rookie DT Jerry Tillery

Chargers Wire’s Gavino Borquez breaks down the first 11 games of defensive tackle Jerry Tillery’s professional career.

In need of shoring up the interior part of the defensive line, Chargers general manager took former Notre Dame product Jerry Tillery with the team’s first-round selection of the 2019 NFL draft.

The pick had many fans ecstatic when his name was announced and the hype continued to build up entering this season after a phenomenal summer. But since then, Tillery hasn’t been as hot, thus having those wondering what’s going on with the No. 28 overall selection.

Let’s start off with his stat line through 11 games of his rookie campaign.

11 combined tackles and 1.5 sacks

Tillery’s usage is floating slightly above 40% of the defensive snaps, so he’s certainly up there with other notable players at the position — Damion Square (46.8%), Justin Jones (42.8%), Brandon Mebane (37.4%).

Los Angeles drafted Tillery to serve as a key interior pass rusher, so that way he could take some of the pressure off defensive ends Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram. So, why doesn’t his stat sheet suggest that?

The first thing is that the Chargers have primarily played Tillery on first and second down and have resorted to taking him off the field during obvious passing downs. Instead, defensive end Isaac Rochell has been used in that role.

On the field, there has there have been evident growing pains, but Tillery has shown flashes that may go unnoticed. Coming out of college, he beat defenders with speed, strength and pure athleticism.

We see that here as Tillery creates immediate movement with his initial surge and forward lean into the blocker. With him being so lengthy, his pad level has been an issue. But we see when he stays low, he will win the battle.

Tillery has seen a hefty amount of double teams, and one issue that he had since coming out of college is struggling when blockers get to his hip which has still been clear. A part of that has to do with him tending to play high, but also the lack of countering.

But he does a nice job controlling the point of attack when square with blockers, and we have seen glimpses of solid countering when he is locked up with a blocker.

Here, Tillery goes with an arm over on the guard and spins off the center to create pressure on quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Here, Tillery gets locked up with the guard at first, but he throws a club and dips to disengage and shows great effort to pressure quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Speaking of effort, that also shows in the run game, too. Tillery works down the line of scrimmage and stops running back Derrick Henry in his tracks for a little gain.

Here, he generates good power on this play and he displays great balance, body control and a strong rip move to slither his way through his blocker.

Many think that Tillery is underperforming for a first round selection, but the truth is, even though he’s not as superior statistically, the other defensive tackles that were taken before him aren’t that spectacular in Year 1, either.

New York Jets DT Quinnen Williams (No. 3 overall)

20 combined tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss

Buffalo Bills DT Ed Oliver (No. 9 overall)

23 combined tackles 2.0 sacks, 1 tackle for loss

Miami Dolphins DT Christian Wilkins (No. 13 overall)

36 combined tackles, 1.0 sack, 2 tackles for loss

New York Giants DT Dexter Lawrence (No. 17 overall)

26 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss

The bottom line is that while it would have been nice for Tillery to play like his draft slot immediately, but there’s no reason to label him as a first-year ‘bust’. He hasn’t been primarily played in the role the Chargers drafted him for as a pass-rusher and there are signs of technical deficiencies that could easily be fixed.

I expect Tillery to continue to blossom into a key part of the defensive line by Year 2 or 3, where he’s racking up four or more sacks per season. The offseason will be essential to his growth. And keep in mind, Tillery will have a fresh slate as he spent a good chunk of this past offseason rehabbing his torn labrum.

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