The latest Chargers roster move only adds to a mess that has been building since the team bet big on Mike McDaniel.
Los Angeles handed McDaniel plenty of say in hopes of giving the Jim Harbaugh era a boost and helping Justin Herbert take another step forward. Instead, the offense has gone nowhere. Herbert has looked lost, he’s playing the worst football of his career, and the results on the field have made it plain that Joe Hortiz and the front office are not close to assembling a competitive roster.
Now the injury pileup is making the whole thing look even worse. The Chargers placed Alec Ingold on injured reserve, a move that is expected to end his season because of both the injury and his overall play. With limited IR-return spots available, the club is not in a position to keep waiting.
That matters because Ingold was supposed to be one of the cleaner fits in the McDaniel collection of additions. Brought over from Miami, he was one of the players expected to help smooth the transition into a new offense while also giving the staff the kind of athletic profile it wanted on the field.
Instead, it has fallen apart. Ingold has been a disaster, and his struggles have gotten so extreme that he has already been bumped aside by Scott Matlock, a two-way player who has often been treated like a joke by the Chargers fanbase.
Ingold is not the only McDaniel connection going wrong. Guard Cole Strange was installed as the starter without much debate after coming over from Miami, and he has been a problem at the position, ranking 73rd out of 75 graded guards at PFF.
The list keeps growing from there. Tight end Charlie Kolar has six catches in three games, and the ground game has not exactly taken off.
Keaton Mitchell has 33 carries for 135 yards. Rookie receiver Brenen Thompson has appeared in two games and caught one pass.
At the same time, McDaniel has left players such as Omarion Hampton and Oronde Gadsden on the sidelines while these outside additions have taken precedence.
So even a move involving a fullback ends up feeling bigger in Los Angeles. When Scott Matlock is the one stepping in as the answer, it’s a loud sign that the Chargers are in trouble.
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