Not a lot of eyes have been watching the Chargers the past few weeks – because after Justin Herbert went down and Brandon Staley got fired, there wasn’t much to watch for non-fans. Having a game be exclusively on Peacock didn’t help matters – nor did the historic blowout the week before that got Staley fired. In essence, the Chargers have been in tank mode – at best, they have been trying to ascertain what players are going to be part of the roster in the future and which ones are not. And this time has helped shed some light on a few things.
Winners and Losers on the Chargers Roster Following Final Three Games
Easton Stick’s First Opportunity: Mixed
Easton Stick, after riding the bench for five years, finally got his first opportunity to start with Herbert out of the mix. Ultimately, he did a little better than expected considering that he did not have Keenan Allen for any of those games – and only had Josh Palmer in a couple of them. Ultimately, he was unremarkable, but a serviceable backup – in the sense that he wasn’t giving the game away. He only had one interception in his four starts, and that was in the Raiders blowout loss.
The only game in the final stretch that Stick looked genuinely good in was against the Buffalo Bills – and the Buffalo defense has been struggling as of late. However, he has shown that he’s at least decent enough as a backup that he should be kept around at least to compete for the QB2 spot again, if not keep it permanently. Keep in mind that if Herbert is down, no one can really replace him – so just having someone competent who won’t throw three interceptions a game is sometimes enough.
Quentin Johnston Stock: Plummeting
Johnston has had a rough rookie year, with a few flashes here and there. With Allen missing for the final three games and Palmer missing one of them, this should have been a good opportunity for Johnston to show what he was capable of – especially since Stick seemed a little more willing to look his way than Herbert did at times. The results were… not good.
Johnston had only seven catches in the final three games and dropped a critical pass on the final play of the season finale. He was outplayed by not only Palmer but also Alex Erickson and even – in one game – Keelan Doss of all people. It’s probably too early to write him off completely, but unless he has a strong Year 2, chances are that will be his last one with the Chargers. And barring improvement in the off-season, expect him to stay towards the bottom of the depth chart in 2024. He may have to stick around for the short term, but he will have to fight to stay on the Chargers roster long-term.
Alohi Gilman Is the Real Deal
Aside from obvious names like Khalil Mack, Alohi Gilman was the biggest standout of the younger defensive players on the Chargers roster with a non-guaranteed future. He was in the final year of his rookie contract, so regardless of whether the Chargers brought him back or not, he was looking to make a good impression. And he did, pulling in two interceptions in the final three games, one of them being in the season finale. He had easily his best season so far in 2023, having career highs in virtually every category.
Gilman isn’t a world-beater, but he has proven himself as a starting safety in the league, and the Chargers should absolutely try to bring him back if the price isn’t too high. There are still a number of questions about the secondary overall, so locking up a good player like Gilman would be a big move. There is much that can be said about Staley putting too much faith in the wrong defensive players at times, but Gilman was one favorite of his that did work out in the end.
Questions Remain at Running Back
You would think with three games to go and not much to play for and Austin Ekeler likely to walk in free agency, that some of the other guys would get more opportunities. After all, such things happened at other positions. However, Joshua Kelley and Isaiah Spiller both barely got opportunities at all in the final three games, each getting only one or two carries a game. This is especially odd considering Spiller did get 16 carries – more than Ekeler – in the Raiders blowout loss. Again, you would think that the Chargers would want to evaluate those two more before the end of the season – unless they already decided that neither of them were a future RB1.
As for Ekeler, his massively underwhelming 2023 ended in the same way. He had 10 carries for only 11 yards in the season finale, and averaged 3.7 yards per carry overall on the season – easily the worst of his career. He simply never looked like himself again after Week 1 and the injury that followed. Considering his less good play and the contract squabble they had this past off-season, he’s unlikely to come back.
That leaves the question: who is going to be the Chargers RB1 next year? Will they draft somebody new (again) or sign a free agent? That’s a discussion for another article, but we can at least reasonably ascertain at that the 2024 Chargers starting running back is not currently on the team.
Main Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
