Joseph Filler

ESPN SoCal

8-29-23

Aug 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Max Duggan (8) hands the ball off to running back Elijah Dotson (42) during the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Chargers announced on Tuesday that the initial 2023 53-man roster had been released. The list included some surprising names alongside some surprising moves that could could either help or hurt the team.

To begin, the list included 25 offensive players, 25 defensive players, and 3 specialists to reduce the list to 53 players. 

A big name that made the list included 2023 undrafted free agent RB Elijah Dotson. He became the first undrafted free agent RB to make the initial 53 man roster for the Bolts since Austin Ekeler in 2017, who has proven himself to be a solid RB1 for the team.

In the 2023 preseason, Dotson ran for 146 yards on 18 carries with an average of 8 yards per attempt. He also put up 2 touchdown runs in their game against the Los Angeles Rams. Those numbers, alongside his explosiveness, is what initially caught the Chargers' coaching staff's attention, enough for him to make a spot on the roster. 

This is a big moment for Dotson, especially since he is an undrafted player. His potential value was seen as something the Chargers did not want to leave on post-cut waivers. 

Even if he is only a practice squad player, if Ekeler alongside RB2 Joshua Kelley both leave the team being unrestricted free agents, then Dotson has the potential to becoming a future RB1 or RB2 for the Bolts. 

The Northern Colorado product is listed as a RB4 but will look to potentially suit up for Week 1 on Sunday, 9/10, at 1:25 PM PDT against the Miami Dolphins. 

Another big name that made the list is another 2023 undrafted free agent, safety A.J. Finley. The Ole Miss product played numerous defensive positions in college, before settling as a safety. 

Finley finished his college career with over 200 tackles, 8 interceptions, and was a standout on defense. The Chargers' coaching staff saw his ability to make plays in the run game and in pass coverage stemming from his range and instincts.

Finley made a roster spot over a 3 year pro, Georgia standout safety Mark Webb. Webb has struggled with staying healthy in his NFL career, missing 9 games his rookie season to a knee injury and then dealt with the lingering injury his 2nd year, remaining on the practice squad. 

One final standout to make the roster is right guard Brenden Jaimes, a backup who received very little playing time across 22 games in two years. He will take over a spot that OL Zack Bailey had, a practice squad player who made his NFL debut in 2022 after being cut from numerous teams since going undrafted in 2019. Bailey only played in 4 special teams snaps in his lone appearance during the Chargers' week 13 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. 

In addition to these players making the initial roster, 35 players were waived to meet the deadline. 

Zack Bailey was waived to make room for Brenden Jaimes. However, even bigger names were waived. 

TCU standout QB and 2023 7th round draft pick Max Duggan was waived. Duggan, who won numerous accolades while at TCU, lost the College Football Playoff National Championship with an obliterating 65-7 loss on January 9th against the elite Georgia Bulldogs. He passed for 152 yards while throwing 2 interceptions and rushing for the only TCU touchdown that day. 

Duggan only appeared in 2 preseason games, completing 6/12 passes for 34 yards and a touchdown while being sacked 3 times. 

His departure leaves Easton Stick as the only quarterback behind starter Justin Herbert.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins was traded earlier today to the Cleveland Browns for a 2025 7th round pick after Cameron Dicker won the only kicker position. 

A 2013 6th round pick drafted by the Buffalo Bills, Hopkins has made 190 of 224 of his career field-goal attempts.

He only played in 6 games in 2022 before suffering a season-ending right quadriceps injury during their Monday Night Football Week 6 matchup against the Denver Broncos.

The Chargers are also making room for their ravaged 2022 receiving core. WR Keelan Doss and WR John Hightower were both cut, with Hightower not even making a practice squad spot. Doss has a spot on the practice squad, who potentially could replace WR Jalen Guyton who is still recovering from a detrimental ACL tear he suffered in 2022. Guyton is on the PUP list through the first 4 games of the 2023 season. 

Will the moves that the Chargers made today be helpful or hurtful for the team? Only time will tell for the hopeful few fighting to see time on the gridiron on the professional stage. 

Defensive end Niko Lalos #54 of the New Orleans Saints sacks quarterback Easton Stick #2 of the Los Angeles Chargers in the second half of a pre-season NFL football game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Sunday, August 20, 2023. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

Elliott Teaford
The Orange County Register
(TNS)

INGLEWOOD — In the end, the takeaways were the biggest takeaways from the Chargers’ 22-17 exhibition loss Sunday to the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium. Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next after the Saints capitalized on the Chargers’ mistakes:

STICK’S STRUGGLES

Quarterback Easton Stick played the entire game, running for 63 yards and two touchdowns and passing for 233 yards with two interceptions. Stick’s fumble on a sack led to a New Orleans touchdown, one interception led to a field goal and another interception essentially ended the game.

“Up and down, to say the least,” Stick said of his performance.

“Uneven,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley called it.

Stick, who is expected to be Justin Herbert’s backup when the regular season begins Sept. 10, was under more pressure from the Saints than he was during the Chargers’ 34-17 victory over the Rams on Aug. 12. As a result, his throws were hurried and he was forced to scramble frequently.

In fact, Stick was better with his feet than with his arm.

He also was more effective in the final minutes of the half and the game.

Overall, he rushed seven times for 63 yards, an average of 9 yards per attempt. He scored on runs of 6 and 1 yards, the second of which pulled the Chargers within 22-17 with 3:46 remaining in the game. He completed 21 of 41 passes for 233 yards, but did not throw for a touchdown.

Stick had a chance to drive the Chargers to a victory after they stuffed the Saints, forcing them to punt from their own 18-yard line with 2:45 remaining. He took the Chargers down the field, but a fourth-and-four pass from the Saints’ 28 was intercepted. Stick was trying to hit Terrell Bynum near the goal line.

In the first half, Stick fumbled after he was sacked, which set up Kendre Miller’s 7-yard touchdown run that gave New Orleans a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Stick’s first interception set up Blake Grupe’s 35-yard field goal that made it 10-3 inside the final two minutes.

Stone Smartt caught four passes from Stick, and Derius Davis, Keelan Doss and Quentin Johnston had three receptions each. Stick targeted Smartt, a tight end, and Doss, a wide receiver, five times each. Johnston caught each of the three passes Stick threw to him after two drops against the Rams.

“We didn’t protect the passer very well,” Staley said when asked to assess the play of Stick, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 109 yards and one touchdown in the first half against the Rams. “I didn’t think we threw it with accuracy. I just thought it was inconsistent throughout the night.

“Certainly, three turnovers really told the story tonight.”

GETTING THEIR KICKS

There aren’t many camp battles, but the kicking position is one of them.

Dustin Hopkins made a 25-yard field goal and an extra point after Stick’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Cameron Dicker converted the extra point after Stick’s 6-yard scoring run in the second quarter as Staley stuck to his plan to give each player a chance to kick Sunday.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

The Chargers limited the Saints to 61 yards on 26 rushing attempts, an average of 2.3 yards. New Orleans quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Jake Haener combined to throw for 287 yards, with Winston completing 13 of 21 passes for 169 yards. The Chargers didn’t force a turnover.

“I really liked the way the group competed,” Staley said. “I thought that they gave us a chance. I thought our run defense, our third-down defense, our red-zone defense was really good.”

Staley lamented several missed chances for takeaways.

“There were at least five opportunities for interceptions that I felt like our guys needed to come down with,” he said. “My father would say, if you come down with one-third of them, I think we would have been in a lot better shape. We didn’t capitalize on their mistakes and they capitalized on ours.”

WHAT COMES NEXT

The Chargers face the San Francisco 49ers in their exhibition finale Friday in Santa Clara.

©2023 MediaNews Group, Inc.  Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Jeff Miller
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

The Chargers lost to the New Orleans Saints 22-17 Sunday at SoFi Stadium in their second preseason game. Here are the highlights:

Easton Stick struggles to produce

A week after a solid performance against the Rams, No. 2 quarterback Easton Stick was less consistent, finishing 21 of 41 for 233 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble.

Stick, who is entering his fifth season but first as the backup, also scored two touchdowns while running for 63 yards on seven carries.

He played the entire game, coach Brandon Staley explaining that the increased snaps were significant at this point in Stick's development.

"Easton needed to play in a game like this," Staley said. "He was able to fight through some things. He was able to give us a chance to win in the two-minute drill."

The Chargers had the ball at their own 40-yard line with 2:35 remaining. Stick moved the offense to the Saints' 28 — converting a fourth-and-23 along the way — but his final, desperate pass on another fourth down was picked off.

For the second consecutive week, Stick did put together an impressive two-minute drive at the end of the first half. He marched the Chargers 74 yards in six plays and scored on a six-yard run.

Overall, however, the offense largely sputtered, the Chargers converting only three of 15 third downs and two of five fourth downs.

"We didn't protect the passer very well," Staley said. "I didn't think we threw it with accuracy. It was inconsistent throughout the night."

Said Stick of his showing, "Up and down, to say the least."

Until the final minute of the first quarter, this game featured more earthquakes than Chargers' first downs. The offense started with three consecutive three-and-outs, all after a 5.1 quake near Ojai shook the stadium about 90 minutes before kickoff.

"I was told that," Staley said. "I did not feel it."

JT Woods rallies

Safety JT Woods bounced back from a rough first-quarter play with a string of notable moments in the second quarter.

He provided snug coverage on tight end Lucas Krull to force an incompletion. He then had a pass breakup on Krull over the middle and followed that by fighting off a blocker to drop Krull well short of a first down on third-and-20.

Those plays forced New Orleans to settle for a 35-yard field goal following Stick's first interception, which gave the Saints the ball at the Chargers' 15-yard line.

Woods started the game by taking a bad angle on a screen play and allowing Saints' wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. to turn a short toss into a 32-yard gain.

"In a situation like that, you've got to keep yourself alive," Woods said. "You've got to get the play down."

Woods continues to work on his tackling, something that has been a project for him since his time at Baylor. He said he made the greatest jump in his development as a tackle between his junior and senior seasons.

"The biggest thing is just confidence," Woods said. "I'm really just emphasizing putting my body on somebody, keeping my head up and taking an extra step when trying to wrap up someone."

Woods explained that he needs to "trust my speed" when it comes to taking better angles when pursuing the ball.

"I'm trying to learn and develop that a little more," he said.

Daiyan Henley causes problems for Saints

Third-round pick Daiyan Henley started at linebacker and had an active game, finishing with a team-best nine tackles, including a split sack.

The sack came in the second quarter when Henley came on the blitz to get to Jameis Winston. Carlos Kemp finished it off as the Chargers forced a punt.

"He was aggressive," Staley said. "You see what an outstanding tackler he is. He can really feel the run game. He's physical, outstanding in the blitz game. He just needs to keep improving."

Henley, who relayed the defensive signals in the huddle for most of the game, was stout at the line of scrimmage on a second-quarter play to stop running back Kendre Miller for no gain.

A short time later, he brought down fullback Adam Prentice on a pass play, limiting him to a two-yard pick up.

"The biggest thing for me is flowing to the ball," Henley said. "That's what I'm trying to showcase out there. Today, I felt like I was able to get to the ball because of the past few weeks of practice."

Quentin Johnston makes an impact

Rookie wideout Quentin Johnston finished with three receptions for 37 yards, snagging each one of his targets. In the Chargers' preseason opener, Johnston had a pair of drops.

His first catch went for 16 yards and a first down. Johnston then caught a ball in tight coverage for a six-yard gain.

After drawing a holding penalty on New Orleans cornerback Isaac Yiadom, Johnston had a 15-yard reception for another first down.

Tuli Tuipulotu shows his skills

Among the other defensive highlights, Tuli Tuipulotu beat Saints starting left tackle Trevor Penning on a four-yard tackle for loss in the first quarter.

Fellow rookie Scott Matlock had a tackle for loss in the first half. Then, in the third quarter, Matlock had his hands on running back Ellis Merriweather in the backfield but couldn't bring him down.

Also of note:In the battle for the kicking job, Dustin Hopkins made a 25-yard field goal and an extra point, and Cameron Dicker hit his only extra-point try... Tight end Stone Smartt, battling for more playing time this season, had four receptions for 32 yards... For the second consecutive preseason game, starting guards Zion Johnson and Jamaree Salyer both played. They remained in for four series before being replaced by Jordan McFadden and Zack Bailey... Wide receiver Jalen Guyton, who remains on the physically unable to perform list because of a knee injury, worked out lightly on the field before the game... Reserve linebacker and special teams player Amen Ogbongbemiga didn't play because of an undisclosed injury. Staley said he hopes Ogbongbemiga can return to practice this week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

©2023 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.