The Chargers have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with free agent cornerback Donald Strickland. Strickland started two of the 11 games in which he played for the New York Jets last season, but was plagued by injuries. He dealt with a lingering quadriceps injury, a concussion and a broken pinkie during the season, and suffered a groin injury in the AFC championship game at Indianapolis.

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The commotion from the start of free agency is in full bloom, and, as expected, the Chargers are in full retreat.

Maybe that’s a bit of a stretch but know this: the Chargers seldom make a big splash in the free-agency pool.

“We are always players in the free agency market,” Chargers general manager A. J Smith said. “We’re just not big players for the big-money guys.”

There was a time not that long ago the Chargers would chase and acquire the likes of defensive end Marcus Wiley and wide receiver David Boston. But since Smith has come aboard—he is entering his seventh season as the general manager—the emphasis has been building through the draft.

Although after the first wave of free agents sign, Smith has been known to enter the market on his terms.

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Despite only adding one player thus far (waiver wire running back Marcus Mason), the San Diego Chargers have had a very busy offseason so far.  Whether it be tendering restricted free agents, making trades, or releasing expensive veterans, San Diego has been very active.

Looking at the initial moves in San Diego’s offseason can be broken down into two obvious sections: players retained and players let go.  For this first part, we will look at those retained, or more specifically, the restricted free agents San Diego chose to tender.

 

Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd, and Marcus McNeil Given Highest Tenders

These are lumped into one because they constitute a no-brainer.  Philip Rivers helmed one of the league’s best passing attacks in 2009.  He suffered very few sacks considering his poor mobility and frequent downfield throws.

In summing up the team’s passing attack in that manner, it becomes a no-brainer to ensure that you retain your two starting wide receivers and left tackle, all of whom are under 29.

It may occur to some to give Floyd a first-round tender, saving some money if no team is willing to give that up.  The problem with this is that none of the top receiving talents are as well suited to, or familiar with the offense San Diego runs. 

The highest rated big wideout (6’3’’ or better) is upper third round, and very raw talented, Carlton Mitchell.  The only receiver that looks ready to start, who would likely still be available when San Diego picks would be 5’11’’, 195-pound Golden Tate.

San Diego may be able to find an acceptable alternative to Floyd, but will almost assuredly be unable to find a real upgrade at the position.

 

Merriman Given Highest Tender

I understand the logic of this move.  For a discount price, you get one more year to see if Merriman can return to his old form before going about real contract negotiations.

That said, the move could come back to haunt them in the long-term.  If he posts a solid 2010 campaign, the team will be forced to negotiate a contract with him while he holds much more bargaining power.

Merriman already expressed some dissatisfaction with being tendered and could consider the roughly $3 million contract a slight, signing elsewhere because of it.  Even if he doesn’t, he would command a much higher contract with a return to form and unrestricted status, something the team may not want to compete with.

If he has a poor 2010, he will undoubtedly be allowed to walk when his contract expired, netting the team nothing.

What they could have done: Give Merriman either a first-only, or even a second-round tender.  Do this with the hope that you can find some team to bite and sign him away for that price, netting a draft pick out of the move. 

Even if he’s retained and has a good 2010, but is upset over his salary, he can be franchised and traded away.  If taking a “must-trade” discount, they should still net respectable dividends if his 2010 season is solid enough to set up this scenario.

Giving Merriman the top tender in the offseason could be a solid move for the upcoming year, but might ultimately be a long-term mistake if his either value drops to nonexistent by having another poor year, or leaves the team to net a big payday next offseason.

 

Darren Sproles Given Highest Tender

The move is puzzling.  Yes, San Diego grew worried when they couldn’t come to a quick accord with Sproles, who was drawing considerable league interest.  It doesn’t mean they should have taken such reactionary steps.

Giving him a first-only or second-round tender was a non-option.  Both would have given Sproles the same $7 million salary that the highest tender put in play (thanks to his franchise tag last offseason). 

However, the team could have given him the lowest tender, which would not have triggered that excessive salary level.  The fear is that it would only cost a fourth-round draft pick to pry Sproles away, but that only tells half the story.

San Diego would still hold the right to match any offer sheet given to Sproles.  The odds of any offer sheet San Diego would have to compete with reaching the $7 million mark is virtually nil. 

The power is now all in Darren Sproles hands.  It would make little sense to come to a long-term deal with San Diego at present.

Given his assumed market value, he can collect two-and-a-half years worth of salary in one season, and then test the open market afterwards.

 

Charlie Whitehurst Given Lowest Tender

For Whitehurst, this would be a third-round tender (based on when he was originally drafted).  This is a great move for San Diego for a variety of reasons.

If they retain him, he would come quite cheap, which is necessary for a third-string quarterback.  Better than that is the fact that they may entice a team like Seattle or Arizona to bite, landing them a solid pick for a player not figuring to see the field as a Charger.

 

Travis Johnson Given Lowest Tender

An underrated move.  As a former first-round draft pick, the move assures no competition and gives San Diego a fairly inexpensive defensive lineman that may not be big enough to play the nose full-time, but can perform spot duty at any position along the line.

He did well in limited time when he wasn’t injured, and could be a valuable depth guy, given extra time to learn the Chargers system.

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2006 third-round draft pick Charlie Whitehurst has found himself mired at the bottom of San Diego’s depth chart. 

The team has its long term answer at quarterback in Philip Rivers, one of four players to earn MVP votes in 2009.  Behind him they are also extremely well served with Billy Volek entrenched in the backup role.

The duo has given the team tremendous strength and depth at the position, but it has also wedged Charlie Whitehurst out of any chance at taking snaps in a San Diego uniform.

He has shown all the tools to be a starting quarterback.  At 6’4’’ and 220 pounds, he has the athleticism and fluidity to build on.  Were San Diego to lose Volek, Whitehurst has shown enough that they would probably be comfortable inserting him into the number two role. 

Whitehurst went into this offseason a restricted free agent.  San Diego assigned him the lowest tender, which means a team would have to part with a pick from the same round in which Whitehurst was drafted if they were to sign him away.

The team’s low tender may also signal a willingness to talk if a team wants to negotiate, allowing for a package slightly below a third-round choice in overall value.

It would all be moot were no team interested, but that does not appear to be the case.

Overt talks have not begun anywhere, but at least two teams have shown up in the ever-popular rumor mill regarding Whitehurst.

Arizona has only one quarterback on its roster in the so-far unimpressive Matt Leinart.  The team has expressed its faith in the young signal caller but at the very least needs to find depth at the position.

Whitehurst would give them a depth-player that is still relatively cheap to acquire and young enough to remain with the team awhile.  He could give subtle competition for a starting role without presenting an overt threat to Leinart (as a savvy vet might provide).

Kurt Warner’s retirement left Arizona in a lurch and the team is unlikely to grab a quarterback early in this year’s draft.  Picking up an inexpensive young player with some upside and a career spent in one of the league’s better passing offenses the past few years could be a great low-risk move for the team.

Seattle has also appeared in the conversation for Whitehurst.  The Seahawks traded away longtime backup Seneca Wallace and at the very least someone behind Matt Hasselbeck in the short term, and a new franchise face in the long-term.

The Seahawks lack a third-round choice, having traded it away to draft Deion Butler last season, but could work out an alternative trade arrangement with the San Diego.  Their fourth-round choice would not be far from Arizona’s third—Arizona holds the 88th pick in the draft’s third round to Seattle’s 101st pick in the fourth.

Seattle is well stocked at the top of the draft, and doesn’t have the win-now pressure other teams could be facing.  Head coach Pete Carroll made a career of churning out NFL quarterbacks at USC—four of which are NFL starters at this point (Leinart, Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez, and Matt Cassel).

Both Seattle and Arizona have already brought Whitehurst in for visits.  The Cardinals would appear to have the more pressing need for a quarterback, but Seattle represents a situation well suited to landing Whitehurst.

Either way, the true benefactor could be San Diego.  The team already has the short and long term answers as well as depth all taken care of at the position.  Losing Whitehurst would represent a nonexistent subtraction to the team’s lineup while possibly adding a draft pick as high as the third round. 

Given that San Diego has a host of smaller needs to go with the pressing ones at nose tackle, running back, and corner, allowing Charlie Whitehurst to sign an offer sheet elsewhere could be one of the team’s best moves of the offseason.

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Denver Broncos continued beefing up their defensive line, signing unrestricted free agents Jamal Williams and Jarvis Green on Tuesday.

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BALTIMORE – Inside the banquet hall, a humbled but defiant Michael Vick was honoured Tuesday night as one of 32 NFL players to receive the Ed Block Courage Award.

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While the order may be in question, it is at least the general consensus that the team has three primary needs this offseason—cornerback, running back, and nose tackle.  Having lost a starter at each of the three positions this offseason, San Diego needs to focus its efforts on those three ahead of all others.

Assuming that translates to a player drafted to each position in the first three rounds, that leaves the later stages of the draft up for debate.  They lack a sixth round draft pick because of a trade for backup defensive lineman Travis Johnson, but hold the 28th position in all other rounds.

That gives them three mid-late draft picks to try and address the team’s lesser needs.  Generally speaking, by that point in the draft, attentions turn to simply “the best player available” at any position not overflowing with depth.

Given that that strategy is not conducive to pre-draft speculation, let’s address those rounds from a more direct format of looking at needs over the impossible-to-predict availability.

As the fifth-to-last drafting team, San Diego is somewhat at the mercy of other teams.  Because of this, the top one or two names in a given round are almost sure to be unavailable, another wrinkle in trying to figure out what to do.

At round four the team still has a solid chance of landing a player that can compete for a starting job.  Because of this, the team must take into consideration where the team could use that type of competition.

The two most obvious would be right tackle and defensive end.  Jeromey Clary and Jacques Cesaire are both very good rotation guys that only make adequate starters. 

With a deeper mid-round field at offensive tackle, as well as much greater depth on the team at defensive end, RT is the fourth round position to address.

Kyle Calloway would be an excellent choice if he were still available.  His availability may hinge on Jason Fox’s health concerns.  If Fox’s health takes Calloway out of the equation early, then the situation muddies.

Selvish Capers and Ed Wang both are athletic prospects with solid upsides, but are also project tackles that would probably not compete for the job for at least a year.

Sam Young has better experience than either of the two and showed great promise in his junior year, but had a poor senior campaign that could be worrisome.  He is, however, a giant and would give the team a pair of massive bookends.

In the fifth round the team has a few options.  Personally, I feel the team might be better  served making due at the position for the year so they can try and grab a player of greater value in 2011 (perhaps with that Antonio Cromartie pick).

Instead, San Diego can look to lesser needs with its final two picks.  For the fifth round choice the team should pursue a wide receiver to address the limited depth at the position.  Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd are secure as starters, while Legedu Naanee is a solid change of pace wideout.

After that, the team has Buster Davis, who has seen little action throughout his Chargers tenure and Demetrius Byrd, who may or may not be able to play football in 2010.

There are a host of good-sized receivers fitting the Chargers system that could be brought in around the fifth round. 

Marcus Easley could be a great find as an unpolished player in need of some time.  With the starters already in place, San Diego would be in a great position to oblige him that time and could reap the benefit with another Malcolm Floyd-type player in three or four years.

Another option could be a big possession-type receiver like Eric Decker.  He wouldn’t be the downfield threat of Jackson or Floyd, but could complement them well by making 8-10-yard catches across the middle, making room for Gates to go deeper.

By the seventh round, a team is just looking for someone who may contribute in some fashion.  Trying to find a starter is a tough proposition.

Because of this, San Diego should look more to niche players who have the potential to be solid at the specific role they do.

With Brandon Manumaleuna signing with the Chicago Bears, San Diego could use a new sixth-lineman type of tight end.  Virginia Tech monster Greg Boone fits that bill.  At 6′3″, 283 pounds, he would be tremendously helpful for the team in short yardage and goal-line situations, where the team’s subpar running game could especially use help.

The other option would be the always useful offensive line depth.  Dennis Landolt and Kyle Jolly would be solid options who could give the team depth, while actually having the skills and athleticism to be dark horse options to crack the starting lineup at right tackle.

Given San Diego’s recent history, and the probable loss of at least one more free agent, San Diego is likely to receive a compensatory pick in the fifth or sixth round, but as that is impossible to predict until announced, the current draft choices available stand at four, five, and seven. 

With those, the San Diego Chargers could reap the benefits of taking:

4. Kyle Calloway or Sam Young

5. Marcus Easley

7. Greg Boone

 

On the surface it seems peculiar not addressing positions of greater need with the latter two picks, but picking quality players who can contribute should ultimately help the team more than hoping they land another late round, rookie starter like Kevin Ellison.

 

 

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If you are looking at past years’ draft results and transactions, you would have a better chance of finding a “Ryan Leaf for Governor” pin rather than finding a Charger first round trade up on draft day. 

While the team has good scouts and (aside from Leaf) usually draft pretty well considering their usual later round pick, this years’ draft may be the time the team breaks from the norm. 

Right now they are faced with an option: rebuild or rejuvenate. Should the Bolts decide to use their current 28th overall pick, they will be looking at slim pickings offensively. As mentioned, the team usually drafts well, but this will be the first time in the last half decade that their decisions will be crucial for the clubs’ 2010-2011 success. 

Right now the team has Darren Sproles slotted as their No. 1 back. However, seeing how the Chargers offensive line is as poor as it is, it doesn’t look likely that he will stay in that spot. Unfortunately the RB is a tad too short and a tad too small to fill the role of No. 1, so look for him as the No. 2 man once again this season. 

Right behind him there are only two possible candidates vying for the No. 3 job:

- Newly acquired Marcus Mason from the Washington Redskins. He is 5′9 and ran the ball for an average of 4.0 yards in nine games last season, so its not likely he will fill the front man role.

- Former LSU Tiger Jacob Hester could resume the role he played in college as a running back, rather than his current job as fullback. However, given the circumstances and lack of runners on the team it seems unlikely. 

So with that said, the decision to shoot for a RB in the draft over any other position should be a given. Not to mention RB’s LaDanian Tomlinson, Gartrell Johnson, and Michael Bennett, who were all on San Diego’s roster last season, are now elsewhere.  

Now that you know the background, lets take a look at this years’ RB draft class. Done? I thought so, there’s not many worth checking out. However, Clemson’s CJ Spiller is sure to turn some heads. He was the 2009 ACC player of the year. He’s 5′10, 195 lbs. Not amazing but not bad considering he can back it up. He has wheels and he can take it to the house through the opposition if needed. 

After watching players like Chris Johnson, Marion Barber, and Ray Rice each come straight from college and tear up the NFL in past years, it seems the old draft and wait for progress system has flown out the window. Teams are looking for immediate results and San Diego should be no different. 

A potential trade up for a better pick should be well within their realm as well. While they are not heavy at a lot of positions, the rumoured re-signing of wide-out Vincent Jackson would give them a few WR’s to toy with, along with a few extra picks that were recently acquired. 

San Diego would be very naive to think that a good RB will still be waiting to throw on a draft cap when the 28th pick is on the clock. If they don’t act quickly to make a move, a possible rebuild and rekindle could be in the teams’ near future.

 

 

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I’m very excited about the San Diego Chargers new addition to the RB position. Two words: Marcus Mason. Why am I excited about this guy? If you look at any of his highlights from college until joining the NFL as a undrafted free agent for the Washington Redskins, then you’d realize the major upside in this athlete’s game.  

Truth is, I only watched him play for the Redskins because I am a huge Colt Brennan fan. As I watched the game, I couldn’t help but notice a small RB that was making plays to include a touchdown catch during the NFL Hall of Fame game. Let me tell you what, this kid could run.

During his limited role in the Redskins games last year, he averaged four yards a carry. Although he opted out of the University of Illinois to play for Youngstown State, the reason couldn’t be anymore clear, other than wanting to play. He didn’t seem to care that it’s a lower division of college football. The only other player that I know that did something similar is QB Joe Flacco.  

Marcus averaged a beast 5.7 yards per carry, racking up 2,739 yards and 31 TD on 478 carries in two seasons for the Penguins. Of that 2,739 yards, he rushed 1,847 of those yards during his senior season. I noticed the way he played was hard-nose football for the Redskins.  

A lot of people ask, “If he is so good, why didn’t the Redskins start him?” The Redskins are going to start the players that they pay the most money; look at Jason Campbell. Colt Brennan outplayed Jason in the preseason. I know you’re all going to say Colt played against a third string defense. Well, he played with a third string offense, too. If given the opportunity, I believe Colt would’ve burned the first string defense with a first string offense. I look at Marcus the same way.  

I think Marcus will fit in with the way the Chargers run a passing type offense. Most of Marcus’ yards during college came from the shotgun formation. The man could catch, run, and block. He’s small, compact, and excellent in running screens and draw plays. He reminds me of the way the Ravens use Ray Rice.

Look for great things from Marcus this upcoming season, as the Chargers will continue to add more depth to the RB position.  

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The popular thought is that the Chargers need to use the 28th overall pick in this year’s 2010 NFL draft to replace LaDainian Tomlinson. But that really isn’t the case. There are too many decent options available via free agency, restricted free agency, and trades—and I’ll prove it.

1. Free Agents: This year’s veteran RB class is healthy, led by Thomas Jones, Brian Westbrook, Willie Parker, Chester Taylor (Bears), and LaDainian Tomlinson. One of these players can contribute right away both on and off the field to a handful of teams, including the Chargers. Thomas Jones or Willie Parker could make a great fit in San Diego alongside Sproles.

2. Restricted Free Agents: New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is currently tendered at a second-round level. The Chargers could make him an offer and if the Saints choose not to match it, the Chargers would lose just their second-round pick as compensation to the Saints, leaving the Chargers with their first-round pick still available. Thomas is still just 25 years old, and is a solid back.

3. Trade: Tashard Choice is unhappy in Dallas, LenDale White wants out of Tennessee, the Giants are rumored to be shopping one of their backs, Brandon Jacobs or Amhad Bradshaw, and Jerious Norwood has been mentioned. There are just too many decent options via trade for the Chargers without giving up their first-round pick this year.

4. The Draft: I said not in the first round, but there are many options in the later rounds. Jonathan Dwyer and Ryan Matthews are not clear cut first-round backs, and could fall to the mid- to late-second round, where the Chargers could trade up or take them at 28. Names like Toby Gerhart, Stafon Johnson, Lagarrette Blount, or Joe McKnight are all solid talent in the later rounds. And thats just to name a few.

If the Chargers wanted to draft a first-round running back, they should have done it last year by selecting Chris “Beanie” Wells. There is just not enough talent at running back in this star-filled draft class. And let’s face it, the Chargers need to use their first-round pick to address their biggest need: defense.

Philip Rivers and company will score at will no matter whos watching Rivers throw from the backfield. Now without Antonio Cromartie and Jamal Williams, the defense lacks too many playmakers. They are a solid defensive unit, but they don’t make the big play. They bend and don’t break, but they don’t snap back when they need to. I would put the team’s needs as follows:

1. Defensive line/Pass rush
2. Running Back
3. Right Tackle
4. Secondary (SS & CB)

The priority is NOT a first-round running back. Terrence Cody and Taylor Mays are officially on my wish list.

 

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