COSTA MESA, Calif.
— It had an echo of business as usual when the Los Angeles Chargers placed wide receiver Mike Williams, their first-round http://www.officialchargesshop.com/shop-by-players-customized-jersey-c-1_11.html draft pick, on the physically unable to perform list Saturday (July 29) as the team reported to the Jack Hammett Sports Complex for the beginning of training camp.
In a tale all too familiar for the injury-plagued Chargers, Williams is trying to overcome a herniated disk in his lower back. The former Clemson star is joined on the active/PUP list by cornerback Jason Verrett (knee) and safety Darrell Stuckey.
Players on the PUP list count against the 90-man roster and can be activated at any time before final roster cuts.
Williams was seen as a key new target for quarterback Philip Rivers, who watched his favorite target, Keenan Allen, sidelined by injuries in each of the last two seasons.
The annual proliferation of Chargers injuries relegates news of another
— even involving a first-round pick — to the dog-bites-man category.But quarterbacks are big news on any NFL team, and so the most interesting headlines in the days leading up to training camp were about the travels of a couple of Chargers
’ signal-callers — long-time star Rivers and newcomer Cardale Jones.First, Rivers announced that he will not move his wife and eight children from their home of eight years in Rancho Sante Fe, just north of San Diego. Instead, he will commute in a customized vehicle that will include a chauffeur and a rolling quarterback room, complete with video screens.
“
We just thought it was best for me and my family to go this route — that it was at least worth a try this first season, being that it wasn’t too far,” Rivers said on local radio. “There’s two things I didn’t want to compromise: I didn’t want to compromise my preparation/being a teammate. I love being a teammate, so I didn’t want to compromise that because I’m going back and forth. And I wasn’t going to compromise my time spent away from my family.”Jones, Buffalo
’s fourth-round draftee out of Ohio http://www.authenticcowboyssale.com/shop-by-players-dez-bryant-jersey-c-2_11.html State last year, traveled to southern California Wednesday after the Chargers acquired him in a trade with Bills.
General manager Tom Telesco said the team had a high grade on Jones last year and was trying to get him since this year
’s combine.“
Obviously we’re looking for competition at that spot,” Telesco said. “And with Cardale, he’s a quarterback with some developmental traits that are hard to find.”Jones trained in San Diego before the draft last year with quarterback guru George Whitfield, working alongside Rivers
’ brother, Stephen Rivers.“
He’s big. He’s strong. He’s got a strong arm,” Telesco said of Jones. “He’s a pretty good athlete, played at a high level and played well. But his body of work in college is not as large as you would like, so we know it’s going to take some time. But it’s hard to find a quarterback with those type of skills.”Top summer battle
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OK, it’s a bit of a summer rerun. But the truth is the competition for spots along the offensive line — once again — will be among the most spirited in training camp. The Chargers surrendered on tackle King Dunlap and guards Orlando Franklin and D.J. Fluker in the offseason, eager to embrace change. They brought in left tackle Russell Okung and drafted Dan Feeney and Forrest Lamp and won’t it be fun to see which big body ends up where?Matt Slauson, as usual, is in the middle of anything in the Chargers
’ trenches. He was a stud last year at center. But he’s versatile, and enough of Jeff Heath Youth Jersey a veteran that he
’d able to slide over to guard to make room for someone at center. There’s also Spencer Pulley and Kenny Wiggins sniffing around for snaps. Just maybe what was once a team weakness becomes a strength from fresh faces and agreeable depth. Either way, positions nearly all along the line will be for the taking.
