Chargers Daily Links: WR still a need for Bolts ahead of 2024

Good morning, Chargers fans!

In a recent piece over at CBS Sports, NFL analyst Josh Edwards put together a list of the biggest remaining needs for every team in the AFC. With the Chargers still needing a bit of help at several position, I was quite curious to see which group Edwards would land on. In the end, he believes the wide receiver room is still their biggest pressing need despite adding quite a few new bodies across both free agency and the draft.

“Coach Jim Harbaugh wants to build a tough, physical football team and that means being stubborn in the trenches, first and foremost, which led to the selection of Joe Alt at No. 5 overall,” says Edwards. “Wide receiver is a much bigger need after trading Keenan Allen and releasing Mike Williams. If the season were to start today, Josh Palmer, Quentin Johnston and Ladd McConkey would be in line to start. DJ Chark and Brenden Rice would be on the two-deep.”

“Cornerback is a critical area of weakness as well.”

Could the receiver room use more talent? Sure. But they have a top four already already settled and adding anyone else would either bump Johnston (a first-round pick) out of meaningful playing time or make the DJ Chark signing a waste of time. This group is put together for the 2024 season and I don’t think that’s going to change no matter how uninspiring it is to look at.

Now for cornerback, I think this was the group to tab as their biggest need due to the lack of draft capital spent on the room. Asante Samuel Jr. is your top dog but after that it’s Kristian Fulton (coming off a injury-plagued season) and a bunch of day-three picks. Adding a body here would make way more sense in my opinion as most of these players still need time to develop without having high expectations out of the gate.

Both are needs, sure, I simply think the latter is more practical.

And now for today’s links.

Chargers News:

Three recently-signed Chargers that are already cut candidates (Bolt Beat)

The five best offensive coordinators in Chargers franchise history (Bolt Beat)

Jim Harbaugh has been participating in drills to help build team chemistry (Charger Report),

The Chargers are opening The Bolt to fans from July 13-14 (Chargers.com)

NFL News:

Biggest remaining need for every AFC team (CBS Sports)

Dak Prescott is dealing with a minor foot sprain (NFL.com)

Safety Tashaun Gipson is being suspended six games for PEDs (ESPN)

All UFL head coaches are now free agents (Pro Football Talk)

One player on every team who could be traded (Pro Football Network)

Predicting the 2024 record of the Arizona Cardinals (Touchdown Wire)