Junior Colson

Daiyan Henley Full Go At Chargers’ Camp; Junior Colson In Mix To Start

Daiyan Henley played just 53 defensive snaps as a rookie. By his second season, the 2023 third-round pick moved into the Chargers’ defensive signal-caller role as an every-down linebacker — for a defense that made a substantial leap.

The Bolts have Henley signed for two more seasons, and they re-signed 2024 regulars Denzel Perryman and Troy Dye this offseason. But the internal preference may be for those veterans to provide insurance in part-time roles. This would clear a path for a Henley-like ascent from 2024 third-round pick Junior Colson.

Playing for Jim Harbaugh and Jesse Minter at Michigan, Colson could not establish himself as a rookie-year starter. He logged 218 defensive snaps, ceding time to Perryman (11 starts) and Dye (five). Colson made one start, but if he has a solid training camp, that status should be expected to change in Year 2. He enters this year’s Bolts camp as the player to watch at linebacker, per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, who notes the ex-Wolverines cog has a route to being an impactful 2025 starter.

Harbaugh drafted two of his Wolverines last year, adding wide receiver Cornelius Johnson in Round 7. Johnson is no longer on the roster, but three years remain on Colson’s rookie contract. Although Colson did not prove ready as a rookie, he saw two health issues impede him. An appendectomy led to missed camp time, and an ankle injury led him to IR during the season. The Chargers used an IR activation on Colson in December, and he returned to a part-time role during that stretch.

Henley’s climb from rookie afterthought — in Brandon Staley‘s abbreviated final season — to green-dot player in a year’s time provides encouragement for a Chargers team that got plenty from an unspectacular defensive cast last season. The team giving Perryman a one-year, $2.7MM deal — ahead of his age-33 season — and keeping Dye at two years, $5.5MM do not stand to block Colson if he proves ready over the next several weeks (the Chargers also did not draft an off-ball LB this year). The Bolts, who jumped from 24th in scoring defense in Staley’s finale to first in Minter’s debut, would then have two starting LBs at rookie-scale rates.

A labrum tear did not disrupt Henley’s ascent last season, but the former Nevada and Washington State ‘backer addressed the issue via offseason surgery. While a few Bolts landed on the active/PUP list to open camp, Henley was not one of them. Henley said this week he is full go entering his third NFL camp.

Nikhil Mehta contributed to this post.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/7/24

Saturday’s minor transactions, including gameday practice squad elevations:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Eagles starting tight end Dallas Goedert has been placed on injured reserve, so Jenkins will come up from the practice squad for a little added depth.

Chargers Designate LB Junior Colson For Return

It sounds like Junior Colson will soon resume his rookie season. The Chargers linebacker is expected to return to practice this week, coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters (including Daniel Popper of The Athletic).

[RELATED: Chargers Place Junior Colson On IR]

Colson suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 that’s sidelined him for the past four weeks. Based on Harbaugh’s comments today, there’s a chance the player only requires a minimum stay on injured reserve. The Chargers will have 21 days to activate the rookie to the active roster.

A former standout at Michigan, the linebacker was selected in the third round of this past year’s draft. Thanks to an unrelated hamstring injury that knocked him out for Week 3 and Week 4, Colson has only made six appearances this season. In three of those games, he exceeded a 50-percent snap count, and he collected 11 of his 14 tackles during that stretch.

Colson could be in line for some playing time during the stretch run of the season. Daiyan Henley will continue to lead the depth chart, but the rookie should compete with Denzel Perryman (who is nursing his own groin injury) for leftover snaps. Colson’s return could also knock Troy Dye to mostly a special teams role.

Chargers Place Junior Colson On IR, Designate Gus Edwards For Return

The Chargers have placed Junior Colson on injured reserve with an ankle injury, another setback for the rookie linebacker who dealt with appendicitis during training camp and missed Weeks 3 and 4 with a hamstring injury.

When healthy, Colson was a rotational contributor to the Chargers’ league-leading defense with a role on special teams. The third-round pick will now be sidelined for at least four weeks, with his earliest possible return coming on December 8 against the Chiefs.

The Chargers have plenty of linebacker depth on the roster with Troy Dye, Nick Niemann, and Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste backing up starters Denzel Perryman and Daiyan Henley.

Los Angeles also designated Gus Edwards to return from injured reserve on Wednesday. The veteran running back landed on IR in October with an ankle injury and is now headed towards a return to the backfield alongside fellow former Raven J.K. Dobbins. Edwards is unlikely to eat heavily into Dobbins’ workload, as he is averaging a career-low 3.0 yards per carry compared to Dobbins’ 4.9 YPC.

The Chargers made another addition to their offense by promoting Jalen Reagor to the active roster to replace Simi Fehoko, who was placed on injured reserve. Reagor signed with the Chargers’ practice squad in September and appeared in the team’s last three games. With Fehoko facing at least a four-game absence with an elbow injury, Reager will move to the 53-man roster to provide receiver depth alongside recently activated veteran DJ Chark.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/17/24

Some roster movement today in minor transactions as several teams are starting to add players to early injured lists:

Chicago Bears

  • Placed on active/NFI list: T Kiran Amegadjie
  • Placed on active/PUP list: DT Jamree Kromah

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

There was good news on the Horton front back in May as it was announced that the Texans defender had completed his final treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. As a rookie out of TCU, Horton sat out the final seven games of the 2023 season on the non-football illness list. As he continues to work his way back to the field, it appears he’ll start the summer on the list, as well.

Thompson’s situation in Kansas City also received some good news of late. After suffering a seizure that caused him to go into cardiac arrest in early-June, the Chiefs defender continues to make progress towards a return. He’ll start the summer on the non-football injury list but will continue to work his way back as he continues with medical procedures, per Nate Taylor of The Athletic.

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/10/24

Yesterday’s rush of rookie signings continued today. Here are Friday’s draft pick signings:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

  • K Will Reichard (sixth round, Alabama)
  • C Michael Jurgens (seventh round, Wake Forest)
  • DT Levi Drake Rodriguez (seventh round, Texas A&M-Commerce)

New England Patriots

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • G Mason McCormick (fourth round, South Dakota State)
  • DT Logan Lee (sixth round, Iowa)

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

NFL Draft Rumors: Cowboys, McCarthy, Robinson

The Cowboys hosted a number of 2024 NFL Draft prospects for “top 30” visits this week. The visiting group included potential first-round targets like Taliese Fuaga, Graham Barton, and Darius Robinson as well as projected Day 2 selection Junior Colson.

Fuaga, an offensive tackle out of Oregon State, and Barton, a projected interior offensive lineman out of Duke, make sense considering the Cowboys’ losses on offensive line this offseason of Tyron Smith and Tyler Biadasz. If Fuaga is able to start, this would allow Dallas to keep Tyler Smith at guard, where he earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2023. In order to land Fuaga, though, the Cowboys would likely have to trade up earlier into the first round. Barton played left tackle for the Blue Devils for the last couple of years, but his early college film at center shows the versatility that he could bring at the NFL level.

Robinson, a defensive end out of Missouri, feels like the typical Cowboys pass rusher selection and adds depth to a position that saw Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler follow former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to Washington. A bigger defensive end, Robinson could provide some versatility across the defensive line and may be available long enough for the Cowboys to trade back to collect some extra picks and still select him. Colson, a linebacker out of Michigan, would be a nice addition to a position that could use some attention with Micah Parsons spending more time at end. While he’s likely a second- or third-round pick, he’s worth note as he’s expected to be the first linebacker off the board.

Here are a couple of other rumors making the rounds in the weeks leading up to this month’s draft:

  • We have seen the draft stock of Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy soaring over the last few weeks. Once considered a tier-two quarterback behind Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels, the polarizing McCarthy has somehow found himself in consideration for the No. 2 overall draft selection. While his stock continues to inflate, Pro Football Network’s Adam Caplan pointed out some of the red flags that have some scouts feeling less than confident about the former Wolverine. McCarthy has been compared to former Steelers’ first-round pick Kenny Pickett “due to his inability to drive the ball down the field.” His strong sense of timing made up for a lack of arm strength in college, but some worry that it will prevent him from being able to make some throws at the NFL level. While he’s almost guaranteed to be a first-round pick due to the top-heavy nature of the position this year, many don’t have a first-round grade on McCarthy.
  • Chop Robinson is set to be the next pass rusher out of Penn State to be selected in the first round. The projected Day 1 edge rusher had already taken visits with the Eagles, Ravens, and Saints, but Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz informs us that visits with the Giants and Jets were scheduled for this past week, as well. Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 adds that the Texans have Robinson firmly on their radar after meeting with him at the NFL scouting combine.