{"id":195001,"date":"2024-10-17T14:30:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T18:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=195001"},"modified":"2024-10-17T01:06:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T05:06:57","slug":"what-to-expect-from-chargers-dj-chark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/17\/what-to-expect-from-chargers-dj-chark\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Expect From Chargers New Playmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Chargers are coming off a very strong victory against the Denver Broncos. This game finally gave Chargers fans hope that the offense can truly function at a high level, especially in the passing game. The passing game should continue to improve as health improves for the offense; <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/12\/injury-report-leads-to-two-chargers-rookies-likely-to-start\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Not so much for the defense<\/a>. One of these offensive additions due to health is this year&#8217;s late-stage off-season signing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CharDJ00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DJ Chark<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">The team expects to open Chark&#8217;s 21-day practice window. The final boost to this Chargers offense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Chargers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Chargers<\/a> HC Jim Harbaugh said the team expects to open WR DJ Chark\u2019s 21-day practice window today.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Smith (@Eric_L_Smith) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Eric_L_Smith\/status\/1846630077578252629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>DJ Chark: Before the Chargers<\/h2>\n<p>As a second-round selection in 2018, Chark was expected to become a strong part of an offense. More specifically, the then <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/12\/27\/blake-bortles-starts-for-the-jacksonville-jaguars-final-game-of-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Blake Bortles led<\/a> Jacksonville Jaguars. Chark battled with injury, and missing time in his first season, showing next to nothing.<\/p>\n<p>In his second year, he played 15 games with Gardner Minshew as his quarterback and had a career-high 1008 yards with eight touchdowns.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is an insane catch by DJ Chark.<\/p>\n<p>Won&#39;t get much attention because it didn&#39;t gain a lot of yards but look where the ball was when he finally got his head around.<\/p>\n<p>Cat-like reflexes or Jaguar-like <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sLGfX54cZy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/sLGfX54cZy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FB_FilmAnalysis\/status\/1174163042143096833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>After two more seasons in Jacksonville, one of which yielded 706 yards and five touchdowns in only 13 games (2020), and the next season (2021) had Chark on IR for all but four games. Even after showing promise, especially in that 2019 season, the Jaguars were fed up with the injury woes of Chark and decided to let him go.<\/p>\n<p>Chark went to Detroit and had a strong season with 502 yards, in only 11 games&#8230; once again due to injury.\u00a0This leads us to last season where Chark had 525 yards and five touchdowns with the Carolina Panthers and their horrid passing game.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DJ chark gonna be a demon <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DD17Ttp9A2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/DD17Ttp9A2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jt \u2070\uf8ff (@HunchoJt__) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HunchoJt__\/status\/1846645955317391631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Chargers saw that Chark put up solid numbers in a horrid passing offense saw their need at receiver, and gave him a call. He was later signed to the team, and is now ready to play his first game in the Powder Blues; once he is fully activated from his 21-day window.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DJ Chark is indeed practicing today. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ClOp3paWKO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ClOp3paWKO<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/T4UvqSkWQF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/T4UvqSkWQF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Smith (@Eric_L_Smith) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Eric_L_Smith\/status\/1846639634471964991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>What is Chark&#8217;s Role for the Rest of the Season<\/h3>\n<p>Once DJ Chark is fully activated from his 21-day window, he will find himself in a crowded, yet, average Chargers receiver room. The Chargers currently boast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/table\/passing\/sort\/netPassingYardsPerGame\/dir\/desc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the 29th-ranked passing offense<\/a> and are looking for a boost from their receivers.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Palmer has not played up to expectation, seemingly being a nonfactor for the majority of the season thus far. Quentin Johnston is now on the injury report but has <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/09\/17\/chargers-receiver-once-named-a-bust-breaks-out-can-he-do-it-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">shown more flashes than he did all of his rookie season<\/a>. Ladd McConkey has been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/07\/31\/3-studs-from-the-first-week-of-chargers-training-camp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">very good since his drafting<\/a>, but a rookie receiver should not be carrying a receiver room this early in the season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ladd McConkey <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/POtwJIKk3n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/POtwJIKk3n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jagibbs_23\/status\/1845881668147552457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As for the tight ends, Hayden Hurst is expected to miss time, and outside of him, there are not many pass-catching threats in the room. This is where Chark comes into effect. His health will allow the Chargers injury report to matter less in regards to the passing offense.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/07\/04\/who-is-the-chargers-starting-x-receiver-in-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Chark will bring size, speed, and reliability<\/a> to the young receiving corps. Exactly what Justin Herbert needs. Somebody to reliably throw verts too. He will bring another element to the offense that is blatantly missing.\u00a0 So as that vertical threat, expect Chark to be the Charger&#8217;s &#8220;X&#8221; receiver for the rest of 2024.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Kirby Lee &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The passing game should continue to improve as health improves. One of these additions is this year&#8217;s late off-season signing, DJ Chark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4709,"featured_media":195026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[18,54],"tags":[7642,3953,9503,5579,32330,7429,9758],"class_list":["post-195001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chargers","category-editorials","tag-chargers-featured","tag-dj-chark","tag-joshua-palmer","tag-justin-herbert","tag-ladd-mcconkey","tag-los-angeles-chargers-news","tag-quentin-johnston"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195001","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\/4709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}