Injuries have made this a particularly brutal training camp and preseason. The Philadelphia Eagles were especially hard hit early. Three ACL tears in the first week. Dreadful stuff. Injuries are never good but it was good for the Eagles that their losses were spread out over several positions. That has not been the case for the San Diego Chargers. I've never seen one team have one position so severely hit as the Chargers receivers. Danario Alexander was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Malcolm Floyd went down a week later. The team dodged disaster when his injury was found to be a "strain." He could be out anywhere from two to six weeks. More recently, the Chargers other veteran receiver Eddie Royal suffered a concussion and bruised lung. Less serious was Vincent Brown's hamstring injury.
San Diego is running out of warm bodies to fill out training camp receiving drills. The team recently added some depth when they signed Seyi Ajirotuju. The top of the depth chart is manned by Robert Meachem and third round pick Keenan Allen. I don't care that Allen has been slow to step up to the pro game, he's going to be a dynamic receiver. I'm a bit biased by his Cal days but I've seen enough of Keenan Allen to know that he's a terrific football player. Brian DePalma, Deon Butler, Mike Willie, Luke Tasker, and Richard Goodman fill out the Charger depleted receiver depth chart.
If the receivers don't get healthy and stay healthy, the Chargers might have to depend on the tight ends and running backs more than expected to support the passing game. Fortunately, Antonio Gates is still a beast to cover. Youngster Ladarius Green can spell Gates and form a potentially difficult presence with Gates. Versatile backs like Danny Woodhead and Ronnie Brown will help quarterback Phillip Rivers. All is not lost for the Chargers but they really need that injury bug to swing out of San Diego.
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