Dicaprio Bootle

The Chargers continue to deal with injuries in the running game, placing a running back on injured reserve for the second time this year. A couple weeks after the return of Gus Edwards from IR, J.K. Dobbins has been placed on the injured list. Joining Dobbins in an absence of at least four weeks is safety Alohi Gilman.

It’s frustrating news for Dobbins, who will fail to play a healthy, full season for the first time since his rookie year. Dobbins missed a game with a COVID-19 designation in his rookie season and, since then, has missed the entire 2021 season, nine games the following year, and 16 games last year. Through 12 weeks this season, it finally looked like Dobbins was going to put together a full season. Instead, the 25-year-old will miss the next four games, at least, with a sprained MCL. He’ll hope to come back for a potential playoff run at the end of the season.

Gilman is dealing with a hamstring injury that will cause him to miss his first game of the season since Week 2. Gilman’s in the first year of a new contract, after securing an extension by grading out as the seventh-best safety in the league last year, according to Pro Football Focus. Gilman has slumped in 2024, ranking 80th out of 89 graded safeties, per PFF. He’ll hope to make a return late in the season to try and turn things around.

The Chargers will fill one of the two vacated roster spots by signing veteran safety Tony Jefferson to the 53-man roster from the practice squad. The 32-year-old has extensive starting experience and has appeared in three games this year for Los Angeles. He’ll likely be included in the plan to replace Gilman over the next several weeks.

The team also named cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste as standard gameday practice squad elevations for this weekend.