Tag: Joshua Kelley

Titans make multiple roster moves in preparation for Patriots

The Tennessee Titans made a couple roster moves heading into the Week 9 contest against the New England Patriots.

The Tennessee Titans once again made Saturday interesting by making a few roster moves prior to their Week 9 battle with the New England Patriots. 


The Titans started the activity by waiving reserve tight end Thomas Odukoya and placing guard Andrew Rupcich on injured reserve. Rupcich, who was injured against the Detroit Lions, will likely miss the remainder of 2024 with a torn tricep muscle. 

To fill these spots and the other opening on the 53-man roster, the Titans added wide receiver Bryce Oliver, running back Joshua Kelley, and recently signed defensive back Justin Hardee to the active roster. 

Oliver and Kelley could be insurance with starters Tyler Boyd and Tony Pollard battling injuries and questionable for Sunday. Hardee, known for his special teams prowess, should play a more prominent role on the struggling coverage units, which are looking to bounce back from the debacle in Detroit.

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Titans promote DB Tre Avery, sign RB Joshua Kelley

The Tennessee Titans made some roster moves Wednesday as the start preparations to face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The Tennessee Titans have made a couple roster moves as they begin preparations for their Week 7 tilt with the Buffalo Bills. 

After being elevated from the practice squad for the last two games, the team promoted CB Tre Avery to the 53-man roster. In those games, Avery saw time on both defense and special teams, with starting CB Chidobe Awuzie on injured reserve. 

The Titans also added RB Joshua Kelley to the practice squad to add depth to the team, as RB Tyjae Spears is dealing with a hamstring injury. 

Kelley entered the league in 2020 as a fourth-round selection by the Las Angeles Chargers. During his career, the former UCLA Bruin has played with both the Chargers and New York Giants and has rushed for 1,148 yards and six touchdowns. 

The Titans will return to the practice field on Wednesday.  

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Titans work out veteran running backs ahead of Week 4

The Titans work out multiple veterans on Tuesday.

The Tennessee Titans have not gotten off to a good start in 2024.

The team is 0-3 and entrenched at the bottom of the AFC South. As expected, the team started bringing in free agents for workouts this week.

Per KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson, the Titans brought in four running backs for a workout on Tuesday.

The team brought in Elijah Dotson, Joshua Kelley, James Robinson, and Isaiah Spiller.

Dotson, Kelley, and Spiller are all former members of the  Los Angeles Chargers. Kelley spent four seasons in LA, taking 320 carries for 1,148 yards and six touchdowns.

Dotson saw the field sparingly as an undrafted free agent in 2023, and Spiller received just 55 carries over two seasons.

Robinson is easily the most accomplished player of the four brought in. Titans fans will remember Robinson for his tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2020-22.

In 2020, as a UDFA, Robinson took the starting RB job in Jacksonville and finished with 1,070 yards and seven TDs. Robinson then spent time with the New York Jets in 2022 before playing one game with the Green Bay Packers in 2023.

The Titans only have three RBs on the roster right now with Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, and Julius Chestnut. Spears was recently dealing with an injury and Chestnut was responsible for a blocked punt in Week 2.

Jabari Small is on the Titans’ practice squad and could be called upon as well.

Giants sign RB Joshua Kelley, place safety Elijah Riley on IR

The New York Giants have signed running back Joshua Kelley and placed safety Elijah Riley on injured reserve (IR).

The New York Giants have spent the past week relentlessly tinkering with the backend of their 90-man roster, which is a trend that continued on Thursday.

Head coach Brian Daboll revealed that the team has signed running back Joshua Kelley.

The 26-year-old Kelly was a fourth-round selection of the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2020 NFL draft and appeared in 54 games with the team, including four starts.

Over his four-year career, Kelly rushed for 1,148 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 3.6 yards per carry. He also hauled in 50 receptions for 319 yards.

In addition to his offensive prowess, Kelly also filled multiple roles on special teams and returned some kickoffs, but was ineffective in that role.

In a corresponding roster move, the Giants placed safety Elijah Riley on injured reserve (IR). He will miss the season if the two sides do not reach an injury settlement.

The moves were the final in a days-long flurry.

Many of these players are unlikely to make the initial 53-man roster but may be brought back on the practice squad.

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Predicting the fate of all the Chargers’ pending free agents in 2024

Here are predictions for what the Chargers might do with each player in their 2024 free agent class.

As free agency approaches, the Chargers are projected to be $44 million over the salary cap.

General manager Joe Hortiz will have some decisions to make regarding their internal pending free agents.

Ahead of the free agency frenzy, here are my predictions for what Los Angeles might do with each player in their 2024 free agent class.

Chargers 2024 offseason position preview: Running back

Evaluating the Chargers’ running back room entering the offseason.

After a brief offseason contract dispute with the team, Austin Ekeler remained with the team in 2023. His production, unfortunately, was not at the level of what he had produced in previous seasons. After a great performance against Miami in Week 1, Ekeler lost a step following an ankle injury that held him out until mid-October.

After returning against the Cowboys, Ekeler had just a hair over 500 yards on 163 carries for the rest of the season. He averaged 3.13 yards per rushing attempt in that span while simultaneously not having the same type of receiving production from previous seasons. In a contract year where Ekeler effectively bet on himself, it probably wasn’t what he wanted entering free agency.

The rest of the running back room didn’t carry their weight. Joshua Kelley had just 100 yards on 36 carries in the season’s last ten games. Isaiah Spiller had several healthy scratches and finished his second NFL season, averaging 2.6 yards per attempt.

Now, of course, the Chargers’ run scheme didn’t fail entirely because of the running backs themselves. The offensive line was pretty subpar at blocking, and Kellen Moore, unfortunately, couldn’t integrate his rushing attack like he did in Dallas. But Ekeler is approaching free agency as he will enter his age 29 season. And unlike when Melvin Gordon departed, the Chargers don’t have a solid answer or replacement on the roster.

In continuing our offseason position preview series, let’s turn to the running back room entering the offseason.

Joshua Kelly’s ‘fired up’ take on DeShaun Foster hire

Joshua Kelly, former UCLA and current Chargers RB, spoke highly of DeShaun Foster.

Former UCLA and current Los Angeles Chargers running back Joshua Kelley was one of a handful of alumni at DeShaun Foster’s introductory press conference on Tuesday. 

Foster replaced Chip Kelly, who left for the Ohio State OC job, and Foster’s hire was met with satisfaction by many people.

Kelley was coached by Foster during his UCLA playing days, and the Chargers RB spoke very highly of Foster as the new head coach, per Joseph Crosby of The Daily Bruin:

“It’s fired me up because I feel like as a UCLA alum, they got it right. They got a coach who went here, who played in the league, who has the ultimate credibility. You see that’s the trend across the coaching landscape now. So I feel like they got it right, man. He knows LA, he knows his market, he knows how to recruit. That’s going to be big.”

Foster played running back at UCLA, coached the running back group for the past seven years, and has experience playing in the NFL, so there is a lot to like about him being the next head coach.

But, Joshua Kelley, an NFL running back, speaking highly of Foster is a massive vote of confidence for the first-time head coach.

Final stat leaders for the Chargers in 2023

Taking a look at the Chargers’ final stat leaders from the 2023 regular season.

All attention has been shifted to what the offseason, but it’s still appropriate to reflect on this past season for the Chargers.

Here are the final stat leaders from the 2023 regular season.

It’s time for the Chargers to pivot towards 2024

It’s time for the Chargers to figure out what they want to do with the bed they’ve made.

The Chargers’ postseason hopes took brutal hits on Sunday with a loss to the Broncos and what appeared to be a season-ending finger injury for Justin Herbert. It’s been time to wave the white flag on the 2023 campaign for a while, but Sunday’s events clarified that.

From a personnel standpoint, the Chargers must see which pieces they can count on going forward. In a world where the results of the games don’t matter from a win-loss standpoint, it’s time to see what the younger players on the roster can do.

Pivot to Joshua Kelley and Isaiah Spiller carries. Build on Quentin Johnston’s first 90+ yard game for next year. There’s more than just those, but it would be a start. Given their contractual situations, Eric Kendricks and Kenneth Murray appear rather unlikely to be back with the Chargers next year. At this point, give Daiyan Henley or Nick Niemann snaps.

On a macro level, the Chargers have to start constructing their plan for 2024. Given the media reporting, it seems pretty sure that the macro decision on retaining Brandon Staley has already been made. Without a playoff birth this year, he will not be back. But what is to be made of GM Tom Telesco, a much less publicly forward-facing figure? Will he get to hire a fourth head coach? Or do the Chargers truly clean house?

For the rest of the season, keeping the Chargers’ coaching staff in place makes sense. Now that Easton Stick is likely the starter for the remaining four games, you may as well save some semblance of structure around him. Keep in mind that the Chargers will play against Las Vegas on Thursday Night Football this week. Short-week firings seem rather unlikely.

Another team-building aspect that LA will have to decide soon is which restructured vets return. It’s hard to remember sometimes how terribly the year has gone, but the Chargers did go all in for 2023 with four max restructures. Keenan Allen is probably a pretty safe candidate to return. But what will the Bolts do after Joey Bosa and Mike Williams suffered what amounted to season-ending injuries this year? Will Khalil Mack want to return after contemplating retirement after the 2022 season?

There’s a month left of the regular season and the Chargers should use it wisely to determine their future. While LA is not formally eliminated from playoff contention, it’s time to pull the plug. Frankly, it’s been time. This roster has looked uninspired, beat down, and pushed around all year. There’s no reason to force Herbert and other key players back out there.

I would say pivoting toward tanking for a premium draft pick should be an objective, but it doesn’t seem like the Chargers will need help doing that. Stick will start three divisional matchups and have to face Josh Allen’s Bills. They were losing with Herbert, and I’m sure they’ll find ways to lose without him. It probably will be easier.

It’s time to stick a fork in the 2023 Chargers. Frankly, it’s time to stick a fork in the “All In” contending era under Telesco and Staley. This team is all but out of everything. In a wide-open AFC, LA’s organizational incompetence and hubris dug them a hole too big to climb out of. Now it’s time to figure out what they want to do with the bed they’ve made.

Everything to know about Chargers’ primetime victory over Jets

To recap the Chargers’ win over the Jets, here is everything you need to know.

The Chargers are leaving East Rutherford, NJ with a win after defeating the Jets on Monday night.

To recap Los Angeles’ 27-6 victory, here is everything to know.