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Los Angeles Chargers News & Rumors

Latest On Los Angeles

October 8th, 2015 at 3:21pm CST by Zachary Links

Sources have suggested to Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News that Rams owner Stan Kroenke might simply go back to the Edward Jones Dome on one-year leases and turn attention to Toronto or London. Alternatively, if the Chargers and Raiders move to Los Angeles, the Bay Area and San Diego could be markets he considers as a new home for the Rams. It’s not immediately clear if an international move or relocation to Oakland or San Diego is a consideration for Kroenke. I’m personally skeptical of the probability of those ideas, they are interesting to note as the race to Los Angeles continues.

Here’s more on L.A..

  • Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters, including Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) that he’s encouraged by the fact that there are two possibilities for how to enter the L.A. market at this time. Right now, those two plans are ostensibly the Rams‘ proposed project in Inglewood and the joint Chargers/Raiders plan for Carson, Calif.
  • While those are the two competing plans at this time, a source tells Bonsignore (Twitter link) that there seems to be a lot of pressure to put the Rams and Chargers in a room together. Due to financial constraints, many have wondered if the Raiders could wind up getting squeezed out.
  • The NFL’s return to Los Angeles seems both inevitable and hugely complicated, James Bell of USA Today writes.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/7/15

October 7th, 2015 at 8:03pm CST by Luke Adams

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

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

New York Giants

San Diego Chargers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Latest On Los Angeles

October 7th, 2015 at 7:31pm CST by Zachary Links

Raiders owner Mark Davis could be on the verge of selling a piece of the team to a Los Angeles investor, a source tells Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter). The sale of a minority stake would be done in hopes of facilitating a move of the team from Oakland to the Los Angeles area. The Raiders might need a shot in the arm as there has been speculation that a deal can be brokered between the Rams and Chargers, busting up the current partnership between Oakland and the Bolts.

Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the owners meetings, Steelers owner Art Rooney told Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter links) he expects a vote on a potential move in January. Interested teams will submit their applications after season, he added. The league has not expedited the relocation process or changed any of the deadlines, however, and it’s possible that no move will take place for the 2016 season.

Latest On Rams, Chargers, Raiders, L.A.

October 7th, 2015 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The NFL’s team owners are meeting this week, and while those meetings are taking place in New York, it’s another major U.S. city that’s dominating discussions: Los Angeles. With the league considering possible relocation, Peter King of TheMMQB.com writes that a franchise may not move to L.A. until 2017, and it could be end up being either one or two teams.

According to King, owners aren’t expected to make a decision until January, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of notable updates to keep an eye on this week. Let’s dive in….

  • Team owners are somewhat at odds over the best path back to Los Angeles, as Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times details. While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is among the proponents of Stan Kroneke‘s plan for the Rams, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and Texans owner Bob McNair are believed to prefer the Carson project, since they reportedly feel that Chargers owner Dean Spanos has done more to exhaust stadium possibilities in his own market.
  • Speaking of Kroenke, the Rams owner ticked off one check-box today for a potential move to L.A., as his fellow owners approved his cross-ownership proposal. Kroenke will retain ownership of the Rams, transferring ownership of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche to his wife, writes Farmer.
  • While the Chargers and Raiders are ostensibly partners in the Carson plan, there has been speculation that perhaps a deal can be brokered between the Rams and Chargers, writes Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. If Kroenke and Spanos were to reach an agreement that would allow their two franchises to share the Rams’ proposed Hollywood Park location, it would leave the Raiders on the outside, but owner Mark Davis says he believes “everything is going to work out” for his club.
  • There are no formal presentations from team owners on Los Angeles scheduled for today, but Kroenke, Spanos, and Davis will have an opportunity to address their fellow owners, should they choose to, tweets Judy Battista of the NFL Network.
  • According to Jim Trotter of ESPN (via Twitter), he’s getting the vibe at the owners’ meetings that it will take a successful Hail Mary to keep the Chargers in San Diego long-term.
  • Count Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie among the owners who believes there will be a team in Los Angeles in 2016, tweets Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal.
  • With St. Louis vying to keep the Rams, their stadium project got good news and bad news this week. The stadium secured a $158MM naming rights deal with National Car Rental, as David Hunn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details. However, Ray Hartmann of St. Louis Magazine reports that the St. Louis stadium plan calls for $215MM more in taxpayers’ money than what was initially anticipated.

Latest On Los Angeles

October 6th, 2015 at 8:25pm CST by Zachary Links

Colts owner Jim Irsay says there’s a “high likelihood” that there will be one or two NFL teams playing in Los Angeles by the 2016 season, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Meanwhile, it was previously reported that if the NFL were to put only one team in L.A. for 2016, that they would not be following up with a second club later on. When asked if that’s the case, however, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (link) said, “No. Emphatically, no.”

Of course, there are also some secondary matters for the league to address when it comes to Los Angeles. Jaguars owner Shahid Khan told Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports (on Twitter) that while there’s been a lot of discussion, there is still no resolution on the matter of L.A. relocation fees or temporary venues for a team (or teams) to play in while a permanent stadium is built. On the whole, Khan feels that the NFL in L.A. will happen in 2016, but added (link), “The best solution might be something that’s not even presented. There might be Plan C.”

The Chargers have been heavily linked to L.A., of course, but San Diego will not give them up without a fight. The mayor of San Diego has been personally contacting NFL owners about his city’s latest stadium funding plan, sources tell Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (via Facebook) and while the league is impressed with the plan, there are serious roadblocks. The mayor likely can’t bring it up for a vote before January at the earliest and the NFL believes it will have made a decision on which team(s) will relocate to Los Angeles by then. Also, the Chargers are working to make their Carson project happen and likely aren’t in a position to throw real support behind San Diego’s plan.

Recently, we learned that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is reportedly more willing to share his proposed Inglewood stadium with another club than originally thought. However, it remains unclear whether that other club would be Kroenke’s “tenant” or if it would have more of an “equity” stake in the stadium. Kroenke, of course, prefers the former option, but he is open to a more equitable arrangement as well, which would require a significant financial investment from the second team. Some owners are against the idea of the Rams going to L.A. since it appears that they have a viable stadium offer on the table in St. Louis, but Kroenke appears determined to head west.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/6/15

October 6th, 2015 at 5:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL:

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Miami Dolphins

  • Signed: DE Jordan Williams (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle)
  • Cut: G Mike Liedtke (Twitter link via agent Brett Tessler)

Green Bay Packers

San Diego Chargers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Chargers To Re-Sign Donald Brown

October 5th, 2015 at 4:17pm CST by Zachary Links

The Chargers have re-signed Donald Brown, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Brown was released by San Diego over the weekend but he has quickly circled back to the team. As a vested veteran, Brown did not have to pass through waivers.

Brown signed a three-year, $10.5MM deal with the Bolts in 2014, but missed three games due to injury last season and was usurped by undrafted free agent Branden Oliver. At the time of his release, the Chargers didn’t seem to have a spot for the former Colts first-round pick, with Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead atop the depth chart and Oliver seeing carries behind them.

The 28-year-old Brown was due $3MM this season in base salary and carried a $4.83MM cap number under his old contract – the largest among San Diego running backs and the eighth-highest figure on the Chargers. He averaged just 2.6 yards per carry last season after netting 5.3 per tote in 2013, a season when he recorded a career-high six touchdowns. The ex-Connecticut standout has $2.17MM in dead money on the Chargers’ books this season and $1.08MM in 2016. One would imagine that Brown’s new deal is for less money, but San Diego likely had to re-sign him at his previous $3MM salary due to termination pay rules, Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap tweets.

In a corresponding move, the Chargers announced that they have parted ways with offensive lineman Michael Ola. The Chargers promoted the guard on Saturday when they released Brown.

Gates, Hardy, Others Return From Suspensions

October 5th, 2015 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

With four weeks of the NFL season now in the books, several players – and one general manager – are eligible to return from their four-game suspensions, as Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link) notes. While Yates’ list isn’t exhaustive, he includes the most notable names who will be eligible to suit up for their teams’ next games:

In most cases, teams will be given a roster exemption for their returning players, so they won’t have to immediately make room for them on the 53-man roster today. However, teams will have to create an opening on their rosters by Thursday if they intend to activate these players, and there aren’t any players on this list that look like release candidates.

The Cowboys could get the biggest boost this week, with two of their best defensive players – Hardy and McClain – set to return. McClain’s career production has been somewhat up and down, and Hardy hasn’t played since Week 1 of the 2014 season, so it’ll be interesting to see if either player is able to make an immediate impact for Dallas.

Richardson, meanwhile, could be a candidate for additional discipline — he’ll have his pre-trial hearing on street-racing charges today, but the legal process is expected to continue for about a month, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). The NFL could step in and hand out another suspension for Richardson before his trial, but it’s more likely that the league will simply wait until after it concludes to make a decision.

As for Farmer, the Browns GM, who was suspended for texting coaches on the sideline during games last season, will be able to resume making roster decisions today, though Cleveland wasn’t exactly closed for business over the last four weeks — with interim GM Bill Kuharich at the helm, the team locked up quarterback Austin Davis to a two-year extension last week.

AFC Rumors: Chargers, Gore, Broncos, Browns

October 3rd, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer did some scouting before this week’s critical Los Angeles-related owners’ meeting, in paying visits to three owners and commissioner Roger Goodell, according to David Garrick of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Along with Goodell, Faulconer met with John Mara (Giants), Robert Kraft (Patriots) and Jerry Richardson (Panthers) — each a member of the six-owner committee in charge of assessing Los Angeles’ feasibility as the Chargers, Raiders and Rams vie for relocation — and has requested summits with the committee’s other members, Clark Hunt (Chiefs), Bob McNair (Texans) and Art Rooney II (Steelers).

The prior trio of owners, however, did not say to Faulconer which way they were leaning, or if they did, Faulconer is not communicating that sentiment to the media. Per Garrick, the mayor’s expressing confidence thanks to a joint-county $1.1 billion stadium plan that would call for the prospective new Chargers’ home to be built over Qualcomm Stadium.

No votes are expected on Los Angeles at this week’s meeting, with a final decision likely coming around Super Bowl week, according to Garrick.

Here is some news from the facilities of the Chargers’ AFC brethren.

  • Due to Ty Sambrailo‘s shoulder injury, Peyton Manning will have another first-time blocker Sunday when Michael Schofield joins the Broncos‘ starting offensive line, per Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press. A third-round pick in 2014, Schofield’s been deactivated for each of the 20 games he’s been on the active roster, counting Denver’s divisional playoff loss last season, and he will take Ryan Harris‘ place at right tackle as Harris shifts to the left side.
  • Colts running back Frank Gore remains miffed 49ers GM Trent Baalke didn’t communicate with him this offseason he left the team after 10 years this winter, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes. “The only thing I was hurt by was that I thought we could have (separated) better,” Gore told the Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder. “I don’t know if I even wanted to go back. But I would have felt better if we would have sat down and had a conversation. I mean, I was going to test the market no matter what. Me and the head coach talked and he basically told me I’d be in a certain situation. But I wanted to hear it from the GM.“
  • In addressing the issues with the Browns‘ offensive line, Terry Pluto of cleveland.com doesn’t think Joel Bitonio and Alex Mack are performing to the level they did at this point last year. The Browns rank 26th in rushing yards, and Football Outsiders grades the Cleveland front as the 27th-best power-blocking quintet thus far.

Chargers Release Donald Brown

October 3rd, 2015 at 3:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

Without a role as the Chargers now have a deep backfield, Donald Brown will begin looking for work elsewhere after San Diego released him, Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

As a result, the Chargers promoted guard Michael Ola from the practice squad to help with the rash of injuries the offensive front’s sustained.

Brown signed a three-year, $10.5MM deal with the Bolts in 2014, but missed three games due to injury last season and was usurped by undrafted free agent Branden Oliver. This season, the Chargers didn’t seem to have a spot for the former Colts first-round pick, with Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead atop the depth chart and Oliver seeing carries behind them.

The 28-year-old Brown was due $3MM this season in base salary and carried a $4.83MM cap number — the largest among San Diego running backs and the eighth-highest figure on the Chargers — but had yet to play a down. He averaged just 2.6 yards per carry last season after netting 5.3 per tote in 2013, a season when he recorded a career-high six touchdowns.

The ex-Connecticut standout has $2.17MM in dead money on the Chargers’ books this season and $1.08MM in 2016.

Gehlken tweeted the Chargers would like to bring Brown back, but he’s a vested veteran and doesn’t have to pass through waivers. Although the Chargers beat reporter notes if Brown does come back it would be at a reduced rate.

Three of the five Chargers starting offensive linemen missed practice Friday, with only Joe Barksdale participating. D.J. Fluker participated partially, while Orlando Franklin, Chris Watt and King Dunlap did not work out. The latter trio are doubtful for Sunday’s game against the Browns.

That created a need for Ola, a 27-year-old CFL veteran who played multiple positions for the Bears last season, starting 12 games.

 

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