The 2015 campaign for the San Diego Chargers was absolutely abysmal with their 4-12 record, the third worst in the league. It was a season derailed by untimely injuries to key players as well as bad play all around on both sides of the ball.
2016 is a new year, and the Chargers are looking to bounce back and actually compete with new additions to their roster and returning players getting healthy. However, do they have enough this season to secure a playoff spot in the AFC?
It’s essentially a tale of two cities with this team, the cities being the offense and the defense. On one side there is this potential of putting up juggernaut numbers, while the other is still young and trying to find their identity as a unit.
Offense
If there was one player that wasn’t to be blamed for the team’s last place finish in the AFC West, it’s quarterback Philip Rivers. To this day he still remains as one of the most underrated players in the NFL. His 437 completions and 4,792 passing yards ranked first and second respectively among qualified quarterbacks last year.
And to put it even more in perspective, Rivers did all this with only half a season’s worth of star wideout Keenan Allen, who suffered a kidney injury in Week 8 against the Baltimore Ravens. With him back for a whole season and the signing of WR-KR Travis Benjamin, Rivers will have some nice weapons to throw to that will bolster his numbers even more.
The real question mark with this offense is the running game. Melvin Gordon’s first season in the NFL could not have gone any worse with his 45.8 yards/game and his five total fumbles, the second highest in the league. The Wisconsin All-American will be looking for a restart button in 2016, and with key offensive lineman getting back to full health, like Orlando Franklin and King Dunlap, and the return of offense coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, who helped revive former Charger RB Ryan Mathews not too long ago, Gordon will try to start his sophomore year on the right track.
Defense
There aren’t many good things to say about the Chargers defense last season, as they ranked in the bottom half of the league in total defense. With that being said, there are still a ton of bright spots in this unit to look out for this coming season.
With the third overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, the Chargers selected defensive end Joey Bosa from Ohio State. Bosa’s career accolades in college football speak for themselves (two-time All-American and a national championship in the 2014-15 season). Adding him as the anchor for this line along with Corey Liguet and newly acquired Brandon Mebane, then all of a sudden the Chargers have a solid defensive front to build around for the next few years. And they’ll need this front to especially stop the run game as the Chargers ranked 27th overall last year in rushing yards allowed.
However the one bright spot for the Chargers defense last year was cornerback Jason Verrett. Fresh off a Pro Bowl selection in 2015, Verrett is turning himself into one of the best shutdown corners in this league, and is continuing to get better at his young age.
Losing safety Eric Weddle to free agency will be a tough blow to this unit, but the team will look to newly signed veteran Dwight Lowery to pick up the leadership. Lowery had a strong season in 2015 with the Indianapolis Colts capped with his four interceptions. He will try to turn this secondary, which was fairly average collectively against the pass last year, into an elite one.
It’s no question that the Chargers can only improve from last season in which they lost all their games against teams in their division. And with an elite quarterback at the helm and a defense with some young talent, this team can definitely compete for at least a wild card spot in the AFC.
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