{"id":136470,"date":"2022-11-11T12:15:42","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T17:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=136470"},"modified":"2022-11-10T22:38:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T03:38:42","slug":"jerry-tillery-waived-by-los-angeles-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/11\/11\/jerry-tillery-waived-by-los-angeles-chargers\/","title":{"rendered":"Former First-Round Pick Jerry Tillery Waived by Los Angeles Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Midway through the season, the Los Angeles Chargers have waived defensive lineman and former first-round pick Jerry Tillery. Tillery had never really lived up to his draft placement, though the timing of the release is a little odd, as will be discussed. In three and a half seasons with the Chargers, he racked up just over 100 tackles and 10.5 sacks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">we&#39;ve waived Jerry Tillery. <\/p>\n<p>\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kCFlUYK5fN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/kCFlUYK5fN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4R7Y8bRK7W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/4R7Y8bRK7W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chargers\/status\/1590879421682323456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Jerry Tillery Waived by Los Angeles Chargers, Cements Status as Draft Bust<\/h2>\n<h3>A Disappointing Draft Pick<\/h3>\n<p>Jerry Tillery was drafted late in the first round in 2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/03\/05\/jerry-tillery-2019-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">It was assumed<\/a> that he would make the defensive line scarier, but that never panned out \u2013 certainly not because of him, anyway. He wasn\u2019t bad at getting to the quarterback \u2013 in two seasons as a starter, he got 7.5 sacks and had 14 quarterback hits in both 2020 and 2021. However, he struggled in a lot of other aspects of the game. He was prone to missing tackles and taking bad angles \u2013 he was a big part of why the run defense in 2021 struggled so much.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t bode well for him when the Chargers didn\u2019t pick up his fifth-year option during the 2022 off-season. He also lost his starting job, not gaining a single start this season \u2013 as such, it was ultimately clear that, barring a miraculous turnaround, his fate had already been sealed. It was presumably either because of that slight hope of him making a late breakout or because they needed him for depth \u2013 or both. However, the timing of the Chargers cutting him loose is unexpected.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Chargers Defensive Line<\/h3>\n<p>Cutting someone drafted as high as Tillery in the middle of the season out of the blue is a bit unusual. Granted, they\u2019re not the only ones \u2013 the Las Vegas Raiders just cut Jonathan Abram earlier this week as well, who was <i>also <\/i>a 2019 first-round pick. But what is also notable about the timing is that the Chargers just lost one of their defensive line starters, Austin Johnson, for the season. While they promoted fan-favorite Breiden Fehoko to the active roster, that could have potentially opened the door to more playing time for Tillery (for better or for worse). Instead, it seems Christian Covington and Fehoko will get time alongside the other starters Sebastian Joseph-Day and Morgan Fox.<\/p>\n<p>While most fans would likely prefer the likes of Covington and Fehoko over Tillery, it is still a little unexpected and odd that he would get cut mid-season right after losing one of their starters. It almost makes one wonder if he did something stupid that forced the team\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<h3>Moving On<\/h3>\n<p>While some would say this was already clear a while ago, it is now firmly cemented that Jerry Tillery is a draft bust. He\u2019s a rare first-round whiff for Tom Telesco, who \u2013 whatever his flaws might be \u2013 has typically done well in the first round. D.J. Fluker is the lone other exception, and Kenneth Murray <i>could <\/i>become one as well \u2013 but the jury\u2019s still out. (Jason Verrett doesn\u2019t count since his career was undone by injury, not by poor play \u2013 just bad luck.)<\/p>\n<p>Tillery will likely get another shot elsewhere, just like Abram has (he got picked up by the Green Bay Packers). But the chances of a turnaround at this point are quite unlikely. He was given plenty of opportunities with the Chargers \u2013 he simply never lived up to his potential, aside from some ability to get to the quarterback. That might be enough for him to stick around a while longer in the league, but only as a depth\/rotational piece.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"ZKmUAHPvQr9WYVCCd7QxJg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1408759595\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ZKmUAHPvQr9WYVCCd7QxJg',sig:'GKWzBvfcByLTiV0K8_juaE0ig4K5WbvHCsCTlN9WB-I=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1408759595',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former first-round pick Jerry Tillery has been waived by the Los Angeles Chargers, firmly cementing his status as a draft bust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2355,"featured_media":136472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,18],"tags":[7642,7920,7429],"class_list":["post-136470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-chargers","tag-chargers-featured","tag-jerry-tillery","tag-los-angeles-chargers-news"],"modified_by":"Will Noltie, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}