San Diego Chargers--Monitoring Team Needs--Free Agency to the 2009 Draft
Keeping track of a team’s dynamic roster gain/loss throughout the offseason is one of the keys to understanding their draft day moves and choices. Enter Monitoring Team Needs, an at-a-glance way of checking up on your team’s latest roster flux, as we count down through Free Agency, and into the days before the 2009 Draft.
Below is a table that breaks down this roster flux, showing who has come and gone, as well as updating the neediest areas of the team and some of the top names that have a good chance of being available when they pick in the Draft. Draft prospects are linked to their Mocking the Draft Profiles and any names or positions highlighted in bold should be considered either to be positions of particular need and emphasis, or players of particular relevance and interest to the team’s situation. Below the chart we will discuss some of the names and situations described, and as always, you can join in on the discussion in the comments.
See you below the fold!
| SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 2008 Record and Rank: 8-8 1st place | Team Needs | Likely DraftTargets (rd) |
| RT, RB, SS, ILB, WR, DT,DE | RB, Knowshon Moreno, Georgia(1st) OT, Andre Smith, Alabama (1st) | |
| Free Agents Acquired | Current Free Agents | Free Agents/Players Lost |
| RB Eldra Buckley(res/fut) WR Gary Banks(res/fut) OL Brandyn Dombrowski(res/fut) DL Andre Coleman(res/fut) CB DeJuan Tribble(res/fut) DL Ogemdi Nwagbuo(res/fut) CB Grant Mason(res/fut) LB Erik Bakhtiari(res/fut) OG Kynan Forney (resigned) | RB Darren Sproles UFA*(Franchised) WR Malcom Floyd RFA WR Cletis Gordon RFA OG Mike Goff UFA DE Igor Olashansky UFA LB Marques Harris UFA C Jeremy Newberry
| LB Anthony Waters (cut) RB Eldra Buckley (cut) |
- With the franchising of Darren Sproles which puts his salary at approximately $6 and a half million, the big story in San diego is the handling of LaDainian Tomlinson. If there is no restructuring imminent, all this sound and fury won’t be for nothing, and LDT may very well be released. And the longer theis draws on, one school of thought holds, the worse the situation gets between the two parties. The situation already appears to have been mishandled initially by GM AJ Smith, and if Tomlinson feels like he is being manipulated unfairly, after being a shining example as a player and communtiy member, and then publicly stating that he is open to restructuring to help the team, things could get ugly. LDT will always have value on the open market, but fair compensation on a prime market become less and less realistic the further into free agency these talks go. A very likely scenario, could be that no agreement can be reached and that the result will be a dispute that ferments ont he roster and in the locker room all through 2009. that is never a good thing.
- The Chargers may be in trouble on the offensive line in the near future, so efforts in free agency and the draft should be a priority for them. At #16 slipping prospects OT Michael Oher, Mississippi, and OT Andre Smith, Alabama, could very well be available, and would be much needed youth injections. Right Guard could use some attention as well, though early signs point towards more of a bandaid approach, with the team resigning G Kynan Forney to battle for the spot in training camp.
- One scenario that has to be imagined for the Chargers, is how sweetly they are positioned to acquire one of the more intriguing prospects in the draft, RB Knowshon Moreno, Georgia. It would be an interesting development to see the prospect sometimes touted as “the next Tomlinson,” actually step in and try to replace Tomlinson. Depending on Tomlinson’s continued contract discussions, this scenario is one that could gain momentum, becoming almost a sure thing, or it could completely whither and fall off the vine, as the most unlikely option. But with long term doubt inherent in the current RB roster, San Diego should definitely be looking to spend at least one pick at the position, on the likes of Donald Brown, Connetticut, or Jeremiah Johnson, Oregon. Johnson has reportedly been in contact with the Chargers, so there is certainly some merit to the discussion.
- Securing the secondary with a top safety might be something the Chargers pull off free agency, rather than waiting for a weak safety crop, but an alternative strategy, could be to look at the best cornerback deal that they cna drum up, in free agency or the draft. In that scenario, CB Antoine Cason would move to FS, not an impossible move, but definitely not the preferred course of action.
- Indications are that OG Mike Goff, DE Igor Olashansky, LB Marques Harris, and C Jeremy Newberry will not be resigned by the team.
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