The Chargers entered their early bye week hoping to return healthier than ever. Week five has come and gone, and things started rough. The initial injury report was sixteen men deep, and fans were ready to watch their team enter yet another week injured. However, Thursday’s injury report has come out and it looks a lot more promising.
First off, this injury report has a lot more people considered full participants than Wednesday. At practice, Joey Bosa (hip) worked off to the side of everyone else, while Gus Edwards (ankle) and Ja’Sir Taylor (fibula) were not seen. All other players who did not practice on Wednesday – Cameron Dicker, Kristian Fulton, and Deane Leonard – practiced on Thursday.
Some of the most important Chargers to note, however, are the ones still not practicing fully. Those two are Justin Herbert (ankle) and Rashawn Slater (pec). The two are essential to both the offense and the team’s success every week. Although, with Slater’s counterpart Joe Alt practicing fully, the offensive line will likely be with one of their strongest weapons.
These players’ statuses will be intriguing leading up to Sunday’s matchup in Denver. One can expect players like Alt, Daiyan Henley, and other full participants to suit up on Sunday. With Justin Herbert’s previous experience on the injury report, it is more likely than not that he will be quarterbacking the offense vs. the division rivals. Rashawn Slater is where it gets interesting. Slater could very well sit this one out, and the Chargers line will likely see Joe Alt return to his former position of LT, while Trey Pipkins takes over at RT, and Jamaree Salyer comes in at RG. While not ideal, that front line would still be leagues better than what they pushed out vs. the Chiefs in week four.
Fans should also not necessarily expect to see Joey Bosa, Gus Edwards, or Ja’Sir Taylor play against the Broncos. This would mean extended reps for Tuli Tuipulotu, JK Dobbins & Kimani Vidal, and Tarheeb Still in this matchup. Luckily, all those players are solid (with Vidal expected to make a name for himself when he gets snaps), so they may not be the biggest hits that one would expect when seeing big names missing out.
Overall, the Chargers could be in good shape for this game against the Broncos. Many of their biggest stars had much better statuses in practice on Thursday, setting the stage for most of them to play on Sunday. Of course, anything could change, and one guarantee about the NFL is that there are no guarantees.
