Last year WR Vincent Brown broke his ankle in the preseason and never played a down in 2012. Brown was supposed to give the Chargers a viable 2nd receiver to Malcolm Floyd. None of the receivers the Chargers picked up in the off season stepped up to replace Brown. That forced the Chargers to find help elsewhere and ended up taking a chance on Rams' WR Danario Alexander who never played a full season in St. Louis due to injuries. Alexander ended up playing in 10 games and starting the last 7 of the season. He ended up tying the team lead of 7 TD catches and led the team in yards/catch (17.8) and yards/game. (65.8). Needless to say, it was a sad year for Charger WRs.
2013 looked to be a better year for Charger pass catchers with Alexander playing a full season and Vincent Brown coming back from injury, but Alexander's injury history caught up to him yesterday and he tore an ACL and is out for the season. Alexander was a shoe in for the 2nd WR spot and considering his performance towards the end of last season may have ended up the #1 WR ahead of Floyd.
So what does that mean to the Chargers' WR situation?
Vincent Brown would be the leader to take Alexander's place, but hasn't played in a full year and is also nursing a hamstring injury. He's being held out of the 1st preseason game against the Seahawks tomorrow, but is scheduled to start the next game against the Bears. We'll see how much of the rust and injury he has to work off.
Robert Meachem signed a big off season contract before 2012 and didn't contribute anything last season. He himself said "I sucked last year" during a interview during training camp. He said that his wife told him to stop feeling sorry for himself and go out and play ball. He said in the interview you have to ask yourself, "Are you going to be the same guy as last year or are you going to be a new guy?" I haven't heard anything about Meachem in practice, so it's hard to say if he's "a new guy" or not. He's going to get to start in tomorrow's preseason opener with Alexander and Brown out.
Before suffering a knee injury, Cal WR Keenan Allen was projected to be the best WR in the 2013 draft but wasn't able to work out for the NFL combine and didn't perform well during a pro day held at Cal. Allen said he wasn't 100% healthy yet, but teams passed. Chargers took a chance on Allen with a 3rd round pick (76th). If Allen recovers from the injury he could be a draft day steal. It doesn't look like Allen is going to be an impact right away though as word from Chargers training camp is that he "has a ways to go" before he moves up the depth chart.
WR Eddie Royal came over from Denver before 2012 and like Meachem, did nothing of note. Reports from training camp is that Royal has been "tearing it up" and "looks rejuvenated." The thing about Royal is that he performed well during preseason last year also. Despite all the good words out of training camp, Royal is still listed behind Brown and Meachem in the depth chart.
The rest of the WR's are likely to be cut before the season starts. There's a possibility that Richard Goodman makes the team only because he can return kicks, but those duties will likely be turned over to Royal and Allen to gain a roster spot.
I thought the WR corp would be a pleasant surprise this season with Alexander getting to start from day 1 allowing Brown to work his way back in and letting Rookie Allen ease into the rotation. Now, unless Meachem or Royal prove that last season was a fluke, the WR group is a big question mark.
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