Los Angeles

Chargers

Johnston appeared to be on the outside looking in during the early days of camp, but Fowler’s takeaway while visiting Chargers camp is that Johnston is still very much a part of their plans. We’ll see how that plays out in the coming weeks. According to Fowler, Greg Roman is hoping to manufacture opportunities for Johnston to create after the catch and that “there’s no reason to overreact” to “untimely drops in practices.” Fantasy managers interested in taking shots on Johnston can do so at little to no cost to their fantasy roster. He’s currently going outside of the top 50 receivers on most platforms but could have some low-end upside if the Chargers are able to utilize him in the way they hope.

This should be taken with a grain of salt, as Vidal is currently behind journeyman Jaret Patterson and second-year back Elijah Dotson, who rushed for a combined six yards last season. Vidal, who the Chargers selected in the sixth round, could very well be getting the same rookie treatment we saw for Tyler Allgeier a few years back when the Falcons listed him as the RB8 on their preseason depth chart. J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards were listed as co-starters, which is unsurprising given their experience and years of success when healthy. Vidal will undoubtedly have to fight for meaningful snaps in his rookie year, but we wouldn’t expect him to be this low on the depth chart when the Chargers officially break camp.

The 29-year-old Perez is coming off a successful stint with the UFL’s Arlington Renegades. He led the UFL with 2,309 passing yards and 18 touchdowns in 2024. Perez also won the 2023 UFL championship with Arlington. He has bounced around various leagues throughout his career, his most recent NFL stint being with the Rams in the summer of 2022. The Chargers add Perez for camp with Justin Herbert sidelined with a plantar fascia injury.

Details are murky on the specific nature of Bosa’s injury, but Popper said the star pass rusher left the field with trainers after going down. Bosa totaled 6.5 sacks for the Chargers over nine games last season and has appeared in just 14 games over the last two years. We’ll likely know more on the severity of Bosa’s injury in the coming days. Hopefully this isn’t anything that would sideline Bosa for an extended length of time.

The team announced in a statement that the injury is to Herbert’s right foot and is just the second lower-body injury of his career. He will protect the injury with a boot for the next two weeks before initiating a gradual return-to-play ramp-up period. Herbert has been going later than usual in fantasy drafts under a Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman regime that’s expected to take a more run-centric approach this season. It’s possible his ADP will drop even more in the coming weeks with this injury, creating a nice buying scenario for fantasy managers. Despite the injury, the team is hopeful that Herbert will return in time for Week 1’s matchup against the Raiders.

It was Edwards’ first training camp action after undergoing an undisclosed offseason surgery and missing summer practices. Both Edwards and Dobbins saw five snaps with the Chargers’ first-team offense on Tuesday, while Kimani Vidal and the other backs worked with the second and third-team offenses. Though Dobbins has emerged as a potential lead back option in Greg Roman’s offense, Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz described Edwards — who, like Dobbins, played for Roman in Baltimore — as a “bell cow” and a “finisher.” This is trending toward a split backfield between the former Ravens, with Vidal a question to make the final roster.

Muse was drafted by the Raiders in the third-round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He never took a snap for the team after missing his rookie season with a foot injury. He resurfaced with the Seahawks in his second season and carved out a consistent role on special teams over the next two years. Muse appeared in 10 games for the Chargers last year and logged 198 special teams snaps. He tallied two tackles, both of which came on special teams. Muse will play a similar role for the Jags.

Popper made it a point to say that these reps can provide us with “some insight into the rotations.” Former first-round pick Quentin Johnston worked with the second-team offense during this portion of practice. Johnston imploded as a rookie and amassed just 431 yards on 38 grabs. Chark hasn’t done much lately either, but has plenty of NFL experience and can fill the vacant X receiver role in LA. Johnston’s role is alarmingly shaky heading into his second season. Chark, on the other hand, is a viable final pick in deep drafts.

With Gus Edwards (undisclosed) sidelined, Patterson has been receiving first-team reps as the No. 2 behind J.K. Dobbins. It’s two practices, of course, but a needed reminder to pump the brakes on the Vidal hype (if you can call it that). Patterson pre-dates Jim Harbaugh in L.A., spending most of last season on the Chargers’ practice squad. Much like Vidal, Patterson offers something of a change-of-pace skill-set behind the Chargers’ more power-oriented top runners.

It’s two drills through two days of practice, but it is telling nonetheless. The most obvious missing name there is Quentin Johnston. McConkey/Palmer/Chark is whom The Athletic’s Daniel Popper predicted for 11 personnel sets last week. We are in the early days of training camp, but you would rather be in the initial top three than outside.