After an absolutely brutal loss, the Chargers decided to clean house. They fired their head coach, general manager, and defensive line coach. This horrifying loss was almost needed in a way, a statement loss to finally show ownership that what we currently have in office is not the answer. Thus, the currently longest-tenured Chargers coach, Giff Smith was hired as interim head coach. Smith has already implemented change since he was promoted, and called for some personnel changes. Thus, who are some Chargers that need more playing time?
Two Chargers That Need More Playing Time After Massive Organizational Changes
Isaiah Spiller
The first name that would come to mind when talking about needing more playing time is Isaiah Spiller. Spiller was drafted in the fourth round in 2022 and has been used extremely sparingly since being drafted. Former head coach Brandon Staley has said that Spiller “needed to earn it more in practice” and was in their long-term plans. Those plans are obviously irrelevant now, and Spiller’s future is finally in his own hands. In Staley’s last game coaching, he made one good decision. Give Isaiah Spiller the damn ball.
During Spillers’s week 15 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, you may see 3.1 yards per carry and only 50 yards on 16 carries. Ignoring the box statistics, the 22-year-old rusher recorded a 75.1 PFF grade, doing so by having excellent vision behind a third-string center and an offensive line unit that has struggled all season long. Spiller forced four missed tackles, recorded 41 of his 50 yards after contact, and created an average of 2.56 yards after contact per attempt.
The Chargers desperately needed a creator in the backfield, as Austin Ekeler clearly does not have that ability as a rusher anymore. Though Kelley has been solid, a fumble in the Raiders game was enough to make the rest of his night quiet, and possibly even quieter down the stretch of the season. Spiller has clearly earned more playing time through his play in the one game he was finally given a fair opportunity. In a dark season, finding the running back of the future might shed some light on what is a bad year for the Chargers organization.
Daiyan Henley
Daiyan Henley has yet to truly earn more playing time with his play on defense, but when you are a day-two selection and have yet to play on a weak defensive unit, there is some room for concern. Either Henley in his first season with the Bolts has not been any good in practice and has completely shown nothing to the Chargers coaching staff, or more likely, Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco are being too patient with another one of his draft selections.
Henley has only played 30 total defensive snaps, though some of the lost time is due to an early season injury, there is no reason for Henley to have multiple game-long stretches not playing on defense. Especially when guys like Kenneth Murray and Eric Kendricks are getting banged up or playing not up to standard. The Chargers chose to put in former sixth-round selection, Nick Neimann at times when the starters were injured. Neimann has played fine but is not the same type of investment as Henley.
That said, Henley has been doing his work on special teams, truly earning “it” the hard way. But that time needs to be up. There is no reason to not get any real live game film on Henley to scout his role in the future, especially considering Murray is a free agent and Kendricks is a very likely cut candidate. In the last three games of the year under Giff Smith, Daiyan Henley needs to get more playing time.
Main Photo Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
