I don’t know about you guys, but I’m here in southern California on coronavirus lockdown. Hopefully, you are doing your part to avoid getting or spreading this nasty virus. If I’m in lockdown, that means that many teams are as well, so that may complicate things a bit due to some of the restrictions. Let’s take a look at the team, by position, again with the caveat that it’s obviously early in the season.

QB: Right now, the Chargers don’t have a quarterback. They let longtime starter Philip Rivers go. I suspect they wanted badly to sign QB Tom Brady, but that didn’t happen. There’s a chance backup QB Tyrod Taylor could start, but that’s no way to sell season tickets to a huge new stadium when you can’t even fill a tiny 20,000 seat plus soccer stadium. Stay tuned, as the team needs to do something. Taylor is a serviceable backup, but I don’t feel he has what it takes to be a quality starter.

RB: Unsurprisingly, RB Melvin Gordon is gone, having signed with the Denver Broncos. Good for him. They’ve signed RB Austin Ekeler to a fat new contract, and he is the Chargers starter going forward. The departure of Gordon enhances Ekeler’s fantasy value, which was fairly high to begin with.

WR: The Chargers primary receivers will be WR Keenan Allen and ?????. Normally, we consider Allen to be in the solid WR1 category, but let’s see if the team can sign a quarterback who can consistently get him the ball. If it’s Taylor, that could hurt his value.

TE: The Chargers have placed the franchise tag on TE Hunter Henry, and in my view, despite some injuries, the guy is too talented and young to let go. Expect Henry to play a significant role in 2020, if he can stay healthy.

PK: Most likely, PK Michael Badgley will retain his job. He remains a middle-of-the-pack or better fantasy option for 2020.

DEF: The Chargers have traded DT Russell Okung to Carolina for OG Trai Turner. DT Brandon Mebane has been released, as has LB Thomas Davis, Sr. Most of the defense should be return and I’d think they’d be fairly good.

More to come next month!

End.