Los Angeles is built to contend in 2022, and one of their new acquisitions said Tuesday that the team reminds him of the championship-caliber one that shares a stadium with the Chargers.
Linebacker Troy Reeder, a free agent signee from the 2021 Super Bowl-winning Rams squad, told the media:
“I was blessed to be around a group that did do it the right way every day [last season]. I see so many similarities in that here. I think this team has what it takes. We just have to put it all together.”
It’s a glowing review from one of the few players with championship experience on the current Chargers roster. Only Reeder, linebacker Kyle Van Noy, and cornerback JC Jackson have a Super Bowl ring to their names (Van Noy has 2). All three are, of course, new to the Chargers this season, the end result of Brandon Staley’s emphasis on finding players who have summited the mountaintop before:
“Those guys know about the journey to get there, what it takes on a day-to-day basis, and that mindset that you need to have every single day.”
Of course, every team thinks they’re capable of winning a championship in August before any preseason games have even been played. For the Chargers, it may even seem premature to outside onlookers that players and fans are talking about a Super Bowl run.
After all, neither Staley nor quarterback Justin Herbert has even been to the playoffs, while the other teams in a highly competitive AFC have reloaded. Making the big stage in Glendale will require surviving a quarterback gauntlet of at least Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow, with Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson having solid cases.
The 2021 Rams knew this all too well. After beating Kyler Murray and the Cardinals as the four seed on the opening weekend of the playoffs, Los Angeles had to hang on versus Tom Brady’s supercharged Buccaneers squad while narrowly avoiding a duel with Aaron Rodgers. Toppling the 49ers in the NFC championship was no easy feat, even if Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t the same caliber of signal caller.
So what makes the Bolts more likely than other teams to make that leap?
According to Reeder, it comes down to leadership across all three phases. On offense, Herbert leads the charge as a quarterback who can “put up any number of points in any given game.” Defensively, Derwin James, Joey Bosa, and Khalil Mack lead a unit that “can potentially shut out any team.” On special teams, long snapper Josh Harris is an All-Pro caliber player with ten years of NFL experience.
“The pieces are there,” said Reeder. But whether or not the Chargers are in a position to hoist the Lombardi in February will come down to “doing it week in and week out…staying healthy and peaking at the right time.”