Chargers training camp opens up on July 25, and will offer plenty of opportunity for players to carve out roles for the upcoming season.
Here’s a look at five players with the most to gain by having strong performances during this summer’s training camp practices and preseason games:
OL Forrest Lamp
Lamp is one of the most highly anticipated players entering the 2019 season. Many fans are eagerly waiting to see if he’s healthy after a torn ACL suffered in 2017 and if he is able to perform up to the standards he showcased coming out of Western Kentucky.
The Chargers will be giving Lamp every opportunity to win a starting job this season. In training camp, he’ll split reps with the ones and the twos.
If Lamp is 100 percent health and is moving well, then he shouldn’t have an issue of earning a starting guard spot, kicking Dan Feeney or Michael Schofield out of a job going into the upcoming campaign.
CB Trevor Williams
Williams emerging in 2017 after taking Jason Verrett’s starting spot when he was hit with a season-ending injury. He started 15 games and posted 54 tackles (46 solo), 13 passes defensed and two interceptions.
Williams played in nine games last season, ultimately losing his starting job to Michael Davis prior to being placed on the injured reserve due to a lingering knee injury that stripped Williams of his movement skills and quickness.
Williams, now healthy, and Davis will compete for the starting job opposite of Casey Hayward. The ball is in Williams’ court to earn the No. 2 role once again. If he can show he’s healthy and is moving the way he did two seasons ago, he should have no problem entering Week 1 as the starter.
WR Artavis Scott
The Chargers will deploy Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Travis Benjamin as their top three wide receivers. This leaves a few candidates to fill the final two or three spots and Scott is atop of the list to solidify one of those roster sports.
Scott was a bright spot last year and basically won a spot on the 53-man roster before an injury sent him to injured reserve, where he spent the entire 2018 season. Prior to the injury, he hauled in eight catches for 82 yards and carried the ball once for four yards.
Scott isn’t a big bodied wideout like Dylan Cantrell, who will also be another candidate for the job. Instead, he’s a perfect slot receiver for this offense. He is quick and decisive once the ball is in his hands. Scott is the type of receiver that moves the chains.
LB Jatavis Brown/Kyzir White
Despite losing all three starting linebackers in 2018, the Chargers still managed to finish as No. 9 in the entire league defensively. After bringing back Denzel Perryman and adding Thomas Davis, Drue Tranquill and Emeke Egbule, they have the opportunity to top that in 2019.
Perryman and Davis are the likely penciled in starters but White and Brown will have every opportunity in the world to still contribute significantly given the fact that Los Angeles plays the majority of the time in nickel and dime packages.
Brown started the majority of last season as the team’s weakside linebacker. In his 10 starts, the third-year linebacker had amassed 97 tackles, four tackles for loss, and one sack. He was arguably one of the best tacklers for L.A.
Meanwhile, White was limited to only three games in his solid rookie season after undergoing a minor knee procedure. He will have the ability to showcase he can get back to where he was last year. He will likely be playing all three linebacker positions, as he has bulked up to around 233 pounds.
