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Los Angeles Chargers News & Rumors

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/9/15

December 9th, 2015 at 4:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad signings and cuts from across the NFL:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

  • Signed: RB Bronson Hill (Twitter link via Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune)

San Diego Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: WR Douglas McNeil (Twitter link via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times)

Chargers Sign Vincent Brown

December 9th, 2015 at 12:54pm CST by Luke Adams

WEDNESDAY, 12:54pm: The Chargers have officially signed Brown, cutting safety Adrian Phillips to make room on their 53-man roster, the team announced today in a press release.

TUESDAY, 2:38pm: In need of a healthy wide receiver, the Chargers are signing a familiar face, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who reports (via Twitter) that Vincent Brown is rejoining the club.

Brown, who turns 27 next month, was part of a group of a wideouts that worked out for the Chargers today, after Dontrelle Inman and Steve Johnson left Sunday’s loss with injuries. Austin Pettis, another former Charger, was among the other free agents involved in the audition, according to Gehlken.

Having been selected by the Chargers in the third round of the 2011 draft out of nearby San Diego State, Brown was never able to deliver on the promise he once had. In his three years with the Chargers, he caught 60 balls in 30 games, with his best run coming in 2013. Brown played for the Raiders last season, and spent time with the Colts this summer before being released during preseason cutdowns. He earned a look from the Rams last month, but ultimately didn’t get another shot until now.

Brown will join a depleted receiving corps that also lost Keenan Allen earlier this season, and currently features Malcom Floyd, Javontee Herndon, and Tyrell Williams.

Cole’s Latest: Coughlin, Pagano, Chargers, Rams

December 7th, 2015 at 4:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we rounded up several items related to head coaches whose jobs may be in jeopardy as the season nears an end. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report has provided a few updates on that topic as well, discussing a couple of the coaches we mentioned earlier, as well as a couple others. Here’s the latest:

  • The Giants aren’t likely to fire head coach Tom Coughlin before the end of the season, but they certainly could consider at after the season if they miss the playoffs, says Cole (video link). However, Cole cautions that the franchise has very specific qualifications in mind for its head coach, including a proven ability to deal with the pressure and attention that comes with working in New York. If the Giants don’t have strong potential candidates in mind that fit that bill, they may think twice about letting go of Coughlin.
  • The Colts’ defense allowed the Steelers to put up 45 points on Sunday, just over a year after letting Pittsburgh score 51 on them. That sort of repeat performance is a bad sign and could spark major changes for the team, according to Cole (video link). Although Cole suggests that Chuck Pagano is back on the hot seat, I’d expect the club to wait and see how the season finishes before making any decisions there — a playoff berth and a postseason win or two would make it a tough call. If Indianapolis misses the playoffs, it’s much harder to imagine Pagano keeping his job.
  • While Chargers head coach Mike McCoy and Rams head coach Jeff Fisher are both on the hot seat in their respective cities, there’s a scenario in which one or both coaches could keep their jobs for another year or two. As Cole explains (video link), the transition period if either of those franchises moves to Los Angeles in 2016 will be a rocky one, with the new L.A. team(s) playing in a temporary stadium for a couple seasons. As such, those clubs may be more inclined to hang onto their current coaches, perhaps putting off a change in a year or two and then making a new hire as excitement for that new stadium starts to build. I’m not sure I buy that theory, for a number of reasons, and Cole himself acknowledges that it’s one possible outcome, but perhaps not the most likely one.

Los Angeles Rumors: 12/7/15

December 7th, 2015 at 12:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The Chargers‘ and Raiders‘ joint stadium plan for Carson seems to have momentum at this point than the Rams‘ Inglewood proposal, writes Peter King of TheMMQB.com in today’s Monday Morning Quarterback column. As King explains, the reason is fairly simple: owners around the league want to support Chargers owner Dean Spanos, whom they feel has done all he can to try to make a stadium work in San Diego.

King’s piece includes plenty of interesting tidbits on the Los Angeles situation, so let’s dive in and round them up….

  • The Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities will likely vote 4-2 or 5-1 in favor of the Carson project, a source tells King. However, that prediction hinges on how solid the St. Louis stadium proposal is — if any of the six owners on the committee are uncertain about St. Louis’ proposal, they could switch to the Inglewood plan.
  • Looking ahead to the league-wide vote involving all 32 owners, neither side is close to having the 24 votes necessary to approve a relocation plan, according to King.
  • Disney CEO Robert Iger has been a major boon to the Carson side, with one source suggesting to King that Iger “feels like a partner to people like Roger Goodell and Bob Kraft.” One ownership source believes that if the Carson plan just involved the Chargers, Spanos, and Iger, it would already have 24 votes from league owners — some owners, however, view the Raiders as a drag on the project.
  • While the league would like to finalize its Los Angeles plan during the January meetings in Houston, that’s not a lock. It’s probable, but not certain, says King.
  • If Kroenke’s Inglewood project doesn’t come to fruition, no one knows what he’ll do, writes King. If Kroenke doesn’t like St. Louis’ stadium plan, it could be “an ugly shotgun marriage,” perhaps with the Rams owner “refusing to go to the altar.”
  • One more L.A. note from Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link): Oakland city leaders have talked to the NFL about developing a stadium in Oakland. While those discussions are ongoing, it’s hard to imagine the city putting together a concrete plan within the next few weeks.

Coaching Notes: Giants, Chargers, Lions

December 7th, 2015 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

With less than a month remaining in the NFL regular season, we’re getting to that time of year when every poor performance by a sub-.500 team can raise questions about a head coach’s job security. A few coaches, in particular, are on the hot seat after bad Week 13 showings, so let’s round up the latest on a handful of situations around the NFL….

  • The Giants aren’t the sort of team that would fire a head coach – particularly one with two Super Bowl wins under his belt – for clock management. However, at some point, after so many terrible losses this season, “the accumulation of disappointment erodes even the most formidable reservoir of goodwill,” writes Dan Graziano of ESPN.com in his discussion of Tom Coughlin.
  • Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch may love Coughlin, but the head coach is making their choice on his future easier with a series of bad losses, writes Gary Myers of the New York Daily News.
  • Jordan Raanan of NJ.com identifies 13 potential head coaching candidates for the Giants in the event that the team decides to replace Coughlin at season’s end.
  • Wholesale changes to the Chargers‘ coaching staff are necessary, according to Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. That could mean parting ways with head coach Mike McCoy, though Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune hears from a highly-placed source that team management has mulled the possibility of retaining McCoy and making changes to his staff on both offense and defense.
  • While the Lions would like to get a permanent general manager in place before deciding on the future of head coach Jim Caldwell, sticking to that plan may result in the team missing out on some top candidates, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press observes. At the very least, the club likely wouldn’t be involved in the first interview window for assistants on teams with first-round byes.

Extra Points: Amendola, Patriots, Los Angeles

December 6th, 2015 at 4:57pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Returning from injury, Patriots receiver Danny Amendola has had a nice — and profitable — day so far, as New England is tied with Philadelphia as the contest heads to halftime. Amendola not only caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady, but caught his 50th pass of the season, good for a $150K bonus, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link).

Here’s more from around the league as the second slate of NFL games reach their midway points…

  • Appearing on the Patriots‘ pre-game show, owner Robert Kraft said that NFL owners discussed the possibility of moving a team — or teams — to Los Angeles for roughly three hours at last week’s owner’s meetings. However, the group still has “no sense” of what clubs will ultimately end up in southern California (Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe).
  • While the owners might not have a solid plan for the NFL in LA, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has several, which he outlined earlier this morning. Each scenario involves some combination of the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders in either Carson or Inglewood, CA, and the entire post is well worth a read.
  • The league recently shortened the legal tampering period from three days to two, and according to Florio, that’s not the only change the NFL will implement. Actual negotiations will be allowed to take place during that two-day window, a source tells Florio, instead of just vague contract concepts. Whether or not that means teams and agents can come to concrete agreements is still unknown.

Tom Telesco To Remain With Chargers

December 6th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Rory Parks

Although it had been previously unannounced, Chargers GM Tom Telesco signed a multiyear extension with the club over the summer, per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. His job is therefore secure and he will return to the team next season, but head coach Mike McCoy remains on the hot seat, as the Chargers will evaluate all of their coaches after the season. According to Michael Gehlken of The San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links), the extension runs through 2019 and was not originally reported because it was signed very close to the start of the season and the team did not want to create a distraction.

We heard just two weeks ago that both Telesco and McCoy were in danger of losing their jobs at the end of the 2015 campaign, but La Canfora’s report is consistent with a mid-November story that Telesco would get at least one more year to right the ship. Sources familiar with the inclinations of John Spanos, the Chargers president of football operations, say Spanos prefers continuity among his top decision-makers, and Spanos apparently believes that injuries, more than poor roster construction, are to blame for the Chargers’ 3-8 record. Of course, Telesco’s predilection for small and speedy players could be a cause of the team’s rash of injuries, and it also has had a direct impact on the team’s performance. After all, the defense is undersized and not especially physical, and even before the injuries started to mount, there were not many players on the defensive side of the ball that were worthy of a starting job.

On the other hand, Telesco did manage to piece together a contending club during his first two seasons in San Diego despite inheriting the an aging roster, and it’s not as though many of the players who are currently struggling with injury had any type of injury history in college that should have made Telesco wary of drafting them. While Telesco has been an abject failure in free agency, the team was willing to reaffirm its faith in its first-time GM by granting him a contract extension.

The Chargers are facing a very uncertain future, both in terms of officials and location, but they apparently believe Telesco is the right personnel man to lead them into their next era. When the offseason rolls around, Telesco’s first priority may be to find a new head coach to replace the one who joined the organization at the same time he did.

Los Angeles Updates: 12/6/15

December 6th, 2015 at 8:32am CST by Rory Parks

A source with knowledge of the situation expects that there will be a solution to the Los Angeles relocation dilemma in early January, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Of course, we learned several days ago that NFL owners would convene in Houston on January 12th and 13th and may vote on relocation at that time. Florio’s latest report indicates that the vote will, in fact, take place.

There had been rumblings that this process could be dragged out until 2017, but league owners and league officials understand the importance of resolving the matter as soon as possible. Keeping three teams in limbo for an extended period of time could degrade the markets in those three cities, which could make it difficult for the clubs that do not relocate to thrive in the future, and per Florio, “the league seems to understand that fans of every team in every city are growing fatigued by the process.” Ultimately, Florio writes that Roger Goodell or Panthers owner Jerry Richardson–the de facto Los Angeles committee chairman–could force the hands of the other owners in January by refusing to terminate the meetings until 24 votes are cast in favor of one outcome or another.

Although it has appeared for the past several months that the Carson project–the proposal that would see the Raiders and Chargers share a venue just outside of LA–enjoys the majority of ownership support, that proposal did take something of a hit recently. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com), a 200-acre piece of land that had been viewed as parking and additional development space for the Carson project is no longer available. That tract of land, the Links at Victoria Golf Course, was part of the league’s vision to turn its future Los Angeles outpost as a grandiose centerpiece, and its loss could theoretically be a blow to the Oakland/San Diego relocation efforts. Carson advocate Carmen Policy, however, does not think so. According to Policy:

“We have our core piece of land, we don’t need anything else. Obviously, if the league gives its approval, we’ll be looking at other developments and expansion ideas in the entire area.”

Breer’s Latest: Dolphins, Gronk, Cowboys, Texans

December 5th, 2015 at 3:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dan Campbell‘s decision to jettison both his coordinators, with OC Bill Lazor being the second to go, as an interim coach likely stemmed from the tough-minded instructor’s dismay at the Dolphins being referred to as a “finesse team in a power division,” Albert Breer of NFL.com reports.

Miami ranks 27th in rushing yards per game but sixth in yards per carry at 4.6 and attempted just 23 combined runs the past two games. This led to a sense that Lazor was losing his players, per Breer.

Lazor and Ryan Tannehill began to have a less-than-ideal QB-OC relationship, and Breer now notes Campbell will take a more involved role in the Fins’ offensive approach. So, Lamar Miller will probably see more touches going forward.

Here are some more notes from the veteran NFL scribe.

  • Rob Gronkowski‘s league-high five offensive-pass interference penalties stem from teams alerting officials to the Patriots‘ brand of pick routes against an increasing amount of man coverage, with Gronk’s size making separation at route stems noticeable. Defensive coordinators are torn on the degree of the All-Pro tight end’s level of infraction, with one saying “He pushes off on every play” and another categorizing the physical performer’s penalties as a product of his size. “It just looks extreme with him, because of size and strength. A 180-pound dude pushing off is different [than] a 260-pound dude pushing off,” the anonymous DC told Breer. Another coordinator falls in the middle of these characterizations, noting the Patriots’ volume of pick routes makes it logical they should be on the receiving end of the most OPI flags.
  • With Tony Romo set for his age-36 season in 2016 and coming off more severe collarbone trouble, the Cowboys will explore taking a quarterback in the first round and signing a veteran, Breer reports. Romo being the starter for the foreseeable future gives the Cowboys some flexibility here by not having to reach for a player they don’t think can take the reins.
  • The Los Angeles relocation project continues to point toward the Chargers and Rams, with Breer noting Dean Spanos carries the political capital in the owners’ eyes and Stan Kroenke possessing the finances to make this transition work.
  • Bill O’Brien‘s cultivating a reputation as a players’ coach in leading the Texans, permitting open social media use and organizing a 12-player leadership council, Breer notes. Houston’s now tied for first in the AFC South with Indianapolis, but as far back as the Texans’ blowout loss in Miami in late October, players were behind O’Brien. “He’s not the problem. Very cool coach to play for and everyone enjoys the way he treats us,” one Texan told Breer after that 44-26 defeat.
  • In projecting franchise tag figures for next year, Breer also gives predictions of players potentially being tagged. Moving past long-rumored names like Von Miller and Muhammad Wilkerson, NFL executives told Breer players like Josh Norman, Janoris Jenkins, Russell Okung, Mike Daniels and Kirk Cousins are tag candidates.

NFL Notes: Relocation, Chargers, Rams

December 4th, 2015 at 8:01pm CST by Rob DiRe

The NFL has announced that the window to apply for relocation will open for teams on January 4th, 2016. The Chargers are expected to apply, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter).

Here are some more notes concerning NFL relocation:

  • The NFL sent a letter to home town stadium efforts, announcing that it had extended the deadline for proposals by two days to December 30th, according to David Hunn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).
  • Hunn posted a picture of the letter on Twitter, highlighting that the NFL was asking for a “detailed outline” and “remaining risks” in regards to the local stadium projects.
  • Missouri governor Jay Nixon released a statement regarding the NFL’s decision to extend the deadline, which would be beneficial to the city of St. Louis when it comes to keeping the Rams. Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal tweeted out that statement, which has been re-printed below:

    “I appreciate the league for providing a clear timeline of its decision-making process. With action expected next week by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen following numerous public hearings, St. Louis is in a strong position to meet the December 30 deadline established by the NFL. This is especially important with the league formally accepting relocation applications as soon as January 4, and a decision on those applications anticipated at the special meeting scheduled for January 12 and 13. Our task force has presented a strong, fiscally-responsible proposal that will keep the Rams in St. Louis in a way that is consistent with our core principles of protecting taxpayers, creating jobs, and securing private investment to revitalize a distressed area.”

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