San Diego Chargers
Workout Tuesday has brought us yet another high-profile visit. The Chargers hosted running back Ronnie Hillman on a visit today, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). 
Hillman, a 2012 third-round pick, was cut loose by Denver in early September despite notching the most offensive snaps, carries, starts, yards, and touchdowns of any Broncos tailback in 2015. This summer, the Broncos preferred Kapri Bibbs for his kick return ability and rookie Devontae Booker for his upside. All in all, Denver felt it would be best to cut Hillman loose and save $1.4MM of his $2MM contract.
The Chargers, of course, are looking for replacements after losing Danny Woodhead for the season, but they already inked Dexter McCluster earlier today. It remains to be seen whether McCluster took Hillman’s spot or if the Chargers could still be in the market for another tailback. The Chargers’ RB group currently consists of Melvin Gordon, Kenneth Farrow, McCluster, and former Giant Andre Williams.
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In need of help at running back, the Chargers will sign free agent Dexter McCluster, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. San Diego has been evaluating its options after losing Danny Woodhead for the season. 
McCluster was let go by the Titans on Sept. 2 as they trimmed down to a 53-man roster. He was one of several surprising cuts in Tennessee as the new regime cleaned house by cutting a number of high-profile names. McCluster averaged 4.5 yards per carry last season in Tennessee and averaged 8.4 yards per reception, but the Titans saw a better use for his roster spot.
The Chargers, meanwhile, need a pass-catching threat to partner up with sophomore Melvin Gordon and they see McCluster as a viable fill-in. . The 28-year-old logged 31 receptions last season and has finished with no fewer than 21 catches in any of his six NFL campaigns. As a special teamer, McCluster took back 24 punts in 2015 and finished 13th in the league in yards per return (9.0), so he can also offer help in the third facet of the game, if needed.
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Bad news for the Chargers as running back Danny Woodhead is done for the year. Tests revealed that the veteran suffered a torn ACL, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Chargers officially announced that they are placing him on IR.
Woodhead, 31, appeared in all 16 games for the Chargers last season, catching 80 passes for 755 yards and six touchdowns. He also added 336 yards on the ground off of 98 carries and three touchdowns, but it was his pass-catching ability out of the backfield that really boosted the Bolts’ defense. This year, he was expected to serve as a complement to sophomore tailback Melvin Gordon. Now, the Chargers may lean more on UDFA Kenneth Farrow and former Giant Andre Williams.
Through two games this season, Woodhead had six catches for 35 yards and one score. He also ran for 116 yards off of just 19 attempts. He is in the final year of the two-year extension he signed with the Chargers in 2014, so his future beyond this year is uncertain.
To fill his spot on the roster, the Chargers are signing wide receiver Griff Whalen. Whalen, 26, spent the offseason with the Dolphins but was ultimately cut by Miami. He auditioned for San Diego last week, leading to today’s deal.
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Chargers safety Jahleel Addae fractured his left collarbone in the team’s 38-14 win over the Jaguars on Sunday, reports Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). Addae will likely undergo surgery, which would require a four- to six-week recovery period. 
Addae has been with the Chargers since 2013, when the club signed him as an undrafted free agent from Central Michigan. After combining for 27 appearances and seven starts in his first two years, Addae picked up 12 of a possible 13 starts last season and amassed a career-high 65 tackles. He added another 11 during the Bolts’ first two games this season before departing in the fourth quarter Sunday.
With Addae set to miss the next several weeks, San Diego could turn to in-house options Dexter McCoil, Darrell Stuckey or Adrian Phillips in his absence. McCoil and Stuckey took the field in the Chargers’ first two games, but Phillips has been inactive thus far.
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This week, the Chargers’ future has resurfaced as a key topic despite the seminal downtown-stadium measure not being set for a vote until November. The latest news coming out of San Diego leans toward the Bolts packing up and leaving.
Sources have informed Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com the Chargers, assuming this upcoming vote fails to surpass the two-thirds majority as expected, will have no choice but to accept Stan Kroenke‘s offer and join the Rams in Los Angeles in 2017. The Chargers’ decision-makers are now resigned to the fact the stadium measure will fail and put them to a choice to follow through on the Los Angeles move, which has long been associated with a better financial opportunity for the team.
These sources told La Canfora this not being the Bolts’ final home opener in San Diego would represent a “shocking” turn of events. The Chargers clearly aren’t excited about becoming Kroenke’s tenant in Inglewood but don’t exactly view their chances as favorable of ever winning a local vote if this one doesn’t go their way.
“It’s pretty cut and dry,” one official told La Canfora. “There is no unknown solution waiting to surface.”
This runs counter to former Bolts GM A.J. Smith saying those around the league believe the Chargers will stay in San Diego. The Chargers have long let it be known they’re unhappy at their current Mission Valley site, hence the team’s effort to secure public funding for a downtown stadium. If that fails, the Chargers would almost certainly be forced to remain at their current site, at which they’ll begin regular-season play for a 49th year, if they were going to stay in San Diego.
The Los Angeles Coliseum, which will host the Rams for three seasons beginning today, looks like the Chargers’ playing site for two years, per La Canfora. But he also hears from some in the organization the much smaller StubHub Center could be a better fit.
Used to host Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy and second-tier boxing cards, the StubHub Center holds 30,000 fans — which would be by far the smallest venue in the NFL. Although, the Chargers bolting for Los Angeles would be a curious fit since the franchise has no real history there despite playing in the city in 1960 and already watched a team that does have history in L.A. move back. So, how the team would be perceived from a fan-interest standpoint after leaving its longtime market would be interesting.
While we’ve heard neither Kroenke nor the NFL want two teams in Los Angeles, La Canfora notes the league “staunchly” does not want the Raiders in L.A., and owners believe Dean Spanos could opt for a lower relocation fee than the Rams’ $550MM due to this.
On the heels of former Chargers GM A.J. Smith categorizing the team’s agreement with Los Angeles as basically a bluff, the team’s point man regarding the push for a downtown San Diego stadium responded.
“I can tell you if it was you or me or any other reasonable person, we’d be looking for a house somewhere on the west side of Los Angeles,” Fred Maas told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune during a radio interview. “… There is a very fixed and firm opportunity that far surpasses whatever the best opportunity may be in San Diego.
“I can tell you first-hand — not from people I’ve spoken to at the NFL, not from rumor central — the only option other than Measure C [the downtown stadium] is a departure to Los Angeles. … Measure C is what is before the voters, and that is what we’re putting our full faith effort and credit into, but for that I’m afraid the most prudent choice would be to go north.”
The Chargers, as of now, need a two-thirds majority to pass this measure in November. Acee notes the team may be looking for a moral victory of sorts and a reason to stay in San Diego, one that could show up at the polls even if the number ultimately falls short of the two-thirds majority. The team acknowledges the measure will be difficult to pass at 66.6%.
Maas, who said he agreed to work with the Bolts on this project after observing Dean Spanos‘ desire to keep the team in San Diego, continued to maintain the voters have the choice of either keeping the Chargers via the measure passing or watching them move to a city they haven’t played in since 1960, the franchise’s first year.
“Who knows what happens after the election, though, but I’m telling you, I want to make sure I say it as unequivocally as I can, that really the option is staying here downtown and the choice that will be before voters — or not,” Maas said.
The team still has the option to share Stan Kroenke‘s Inglewood stadium when it opens in 2019. But Acee notes many in the league are believed not to want Los Angeles to have two teams, nor does the Rams’ owner want to share the market.
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The strained hamstring that kept Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa from playing in their Week 1 loss to the Chiefs will also sideline him Sunday against the Jaguars. Further, Bosa isn’t a lock to play the Chargers’ Week 3 road game versus the Colts, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Nothing has gone according to plan for Bosa or the Chargers since the team selected him with the third pick in this year’s draft. The ex-Ohio State Buckeye and the Chargers engaged in a contentious battle over Bosa’s rookie contract, and he didn’t sign until Aug. 29. The two sides fought over offset language and signing bonus distribution in Bosa’s deal before eventually agreeing to a compromise.
Thanks to the length of his dispute with the Chargers, Bosa missed all of training camp and sat out each of the club’s four preseason games. The now-injured Bosa missed all of the Bolts’ practices this week before they declared him out and hasn’t yet suited up in full pads since ending his holdout.
Without Bosa, a two-time All-American who combined for 51 tackles for loss and 26 sacks during his three-year college career, the Chargers blew a 24-3 lead over the Chiefs en route to a 33-27 overtime defeat last Sunday. San Diego did sack Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith three times, but he still completed 34 of 48 passes for 363 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
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The Chargers seem to be fighting an uphill battle in an effort to see their downtown stadium proposal pass on November 8. The measure failing will give them the same choices they had when it started: work with San Diego on another venture or move to Los Angeles.
Former Chargers GM A.J. Smith does not see the team relocating, even if the downtown-stadium measure fails in two months.
“The Chargers aren’t going anywhere,” Smith said to the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee during a radio interview (via Eric Williams of ESPN.com). “So the fear factor of the local fans, rest assured the Chargers will be here. There is no option to go to L.A.”
The Chargers’ GM from 2003-12, Smith is essentially calling the franchise’s Los Angeles leverage a bluff, saying the league and Rams owner Stan Kroenke do not want them to move to Inglewood. The Chargers reached an agreement with the Rams earlier this year but soon announced plans to go forward with a San Diego project.
That project absorbed a blow when a California Supreme Court ruling determined, for now, the measure needs a two-thirds majority rather than to merely clear the 50% threshold. As recently as last month, the Chargers have mentioned leaving for Los Angeles if the measure fails. Smith doubts the sincerity of that proclamation.
“The reality is, there is no option,” he said, via Tom Krasovic of the Union-Tribune. “There is an option, but it will never be exercised. … San Diego is coveted by the National Football League and the owners. The league wants a team here. They want them to stay here.”
Even if the Chargers moved, they’d seemingly be paddling upstream since the team already saw the Rams gain publicity by moving to L.A. first earlier this year. The Chargers played in Los Angeles in 1960 but, unlike the Rams or Raiders, don’t have a connection to the city other than that.
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All summer long, longtime scouting consultant Dave-Te Thomas of The NFL Draft Report has been breaking down the draft class of every team in the league and identifying the players that can immediately make a difference. The Impact Rookies series, which wrapped up today with a look at the Seahawks, provides unique insight to this year’s NFL freshman class from a veteran guru who worked closely with several teams around the league leading up to the draft.
Here is the full rundown of the Impact Rookies series:
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
NFC West