Charger Report

Chargers Training Camp Observations: Offensive Line Gets Tested vs. Cowboys in Joint Practice, Derwin James' Historic Contract and Other Notes From Day 15

Updates and notes from the 15th day of Chargers training camp, featuring a joint practice with the Cowboys.

Nicholas Cothrel

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COSTA MESA – The Chargers held the Cowboys for the first of a two-day joint practice at Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex. It was a clean operation without any fights or scuffles between the two teams.

On the first field, where I spent most the day viewing practice, was the Chargers offense vs. the Cowboys defense. My Wednesday observations will feature these two groupings and tomorrow will include takeaways on the far field with the Cowboys offense vs. the Chargers defense.

Here are my observations and notes from the Chargers' 15th training camp practice of the summer:

How the Chargers offensive line fared

The Chargers’ first-team offensive line faced its first test of the summer. They got a crack at an opponent that wasn’t their own defense in a practice. Dallas threw at them the likes of Demarcus Lawrence, Micah Parsons and others, and the results were primarily a mixed bag.

The Cowboys won the battle in the trenches. Certainly, the Chargers' front-five had reps they won, but the time in the pocket for Justin Herbert and the other two quarterbacks was quite eye-opening.

Head coach Brandon Staley said after practice that they went into Wednesday with a blank frame of mind. The offense didn't study the Cowboys defense prior to meeting, ultimately leading to an adjust-on-the-fly approach.

"This is the perfect place to figure it out. You want to be able to do that," Staley said. "Some of the un-scouted looks, you know what Dallas did last year, but maybe they have added some new things based on new people that they have. That's part of why these practices are valuable, it's so that you can go against somebody else's personnel and scheme, and then test your rules. These aren't game-planned practices. We kind of have rules of engagement about making sure that the other side knows what groupings we're playing and stuff like that, but you want to go play ball and figure it out."

The bulk of the pressure came off the right side where Trey Pipkins and Storm Norton split the first-team reps. Regardless of which player was in, the end result looked quite similar. They won reps, but there also were instances where they were blatantly beat.

Pipkins and Norton weren't alone either. Even Rashawn Slater was beat off the edge on a rep against Dante Fowler in what would’ve been a sack. Zion Johnson's pure strength showed up yet again, but he too had rookie moments, including a false start penalty.

With Cowboys outside linebacker Tarell Basham rushing off the right side, he collapsed the pocket and swatted Easton Stick's intended pass towards the sideline to himself, securing an interception.

Since teams aren't fully tackling each other to the ground in these joint practices – especially the quarterbacks – it's broadly a judgement call on whether or not a play is deemed a sack, unless the pass rusher unequivocally beats the offensive lineman. From my rough estimate of counting sacks, it's fair to say the Chargers allowed about seven to eight during Wednesday's practice.

"We didn’t know what they were going to come out in and they showed us some looks today, defensively, that we weren’t really prepared for," running back Austin Ekeler said. "We were kind of figuring it out on the fly. They’re going to get you sometimes. You’re going to get them sometimes. It’s a push back and forth. When you don’t really game plan — like, we just watched a couple of clips last night. ‘Hey, this is what we expect, but no idea really what’s going to happen.’ Come out, play, you compete, and you try to adjust on the fly. I like that because it puts us in situations where it’s a little bit more stress on our team and we’re going to see how we are going to react."

Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and red zone work

When Herbert had time to throw, he had success when targeting his top two receivers, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. 

Herbert was 10 of 12 when passing to Allen and Williams. Allen hauled in seven grabs and Williams three. Again, some of these completions could’ve been called back for a near-sack, but without tackling to the ground and the play not ruled dead, it's up for debate.

Two of Allen's catches came on routes he shook the defender and was able to cut free for a wide open pass from Herbert. Allen's crisp route running and ability to find the soft spot in the defense, like he's done for some many years in the NFL, came to fruition against the Cowboys secondary.

Once they moved into red zone work, the Chargers found the end zone on four occasions. Gerald Everett, Keenan Allen, Jalen Guyton and DeAndre Carter each caught a touchdown pass.

Isaiah Spiller also broke off an aggressive run from the 10-yard line for what finished at the goal line.

Derwin James' record-breaking day

After three weeks of watching his teammates from the sideline as he embraced a 'hold-in' approach awaiting a new contract extension, Derwin James became the highest-paid player at his position Wednesday morning.

James' deal will span across four seasons, paying him $76.5 million, including $42 million in guarantees.

“I’m feeling amazing. First off, I just want to say thank you to the Chargers for believing in me — from [Owner] Dean [A. Spanos], [President of Business Operations], A.G. [Spanos], [President of Business Operations John Spanos], to [Salary Cap & Personnel Assistant] Mikey [Spanos], [General Manager] Tom Telesco," James said with a big smile on his face just hours after signing his lucrative contract extension. "You all heard [Head] Coach [Brandon] Staley yesterday, thank you to him. Thank you to my agent [David Mulugheta], the best agent in the world. Thank you to my family and my loved ones that really helped me get to this day. I just wanted to say that.”

James went through individual drills with his teammates for the first time of training camp. While he's continued to keep his body in top-tier shape – as Staley mentioned yesterday that he's in the best shape of his life – James will be phased back into things in a rather safe manner.

He didn't participate in the joint practice team period portion with the Cowboys, though Staley said he wanted to. The team plans to phase him into individual drills for the remainder of this week followed by team period drills next week. 

“I’m just really excited for him. It’s just really special, any time you see a dream come true. That’s what happened today, a dream came true for him," Staley said of James. "You know how hard that he had to work in order to make it happen. This wasn’t like every other big contract that gets signed, because you know what he had to go through in order to make it to this point in his pro football career. He overcame a lot to earn this contract, and he earned every cent of it. We love him."

Injury updates

The Chargers had a couple players sit out of Wednesday's joint practice, including Donald Parham, Damon Lloyd, Joe Reed and Emeke Egbule.

Following practice, Staley provided updates on each player’s status. Parham is progressing from a hamstring injury but is considered week-to-week, Lloyd is dealing with a minor ankle injury, Reed has an illness and Egbule has a soft tissue injury.

Staley also stated that Kenneth Murray, who's missed all of training camp following offseason ankle surgery, is expected to make his return to practice on Monday barring any setbacks.

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Nick Cothrel is the publisher of Charger Report. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel for more Chargers coverage.

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Nicholas Cothrel
NICHOLAS COTHREL

Nick Cothrel is the publisher for Charger Report, covering the Los Angeles Chargers for Sports Illustrated.  You can follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel.

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