Training camp hasn't officially begun and the Chargers have lost a key player to what's feared to be a season-ending injury.
Cornerback Jason Verrett, who has been plagued with knee injuries the past two seasons, suffered an injury _ possibly a torn Achilles tendon _ during conditioning drills Friday.
Verrett, a former first-round pick and Pro Bowler, has had two knee operations that forced him to miss almost all of last season and most of the 2016 campaign. He participated in the team's offseason program this summer and was set to bolster an already strong secondary in 2018.
"He was healthy in the offseason program and we were probably more cautious than we had to be. We probably held him back, and he probably wanted to do a lot more. We tried to gently ramp him up, just on volume. But he's a competitive player," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said of Verrett on Thursday. "He's full go. He wants to be full go. If you're going to play football, you've got to play full go."
Four games into the 2016 schedule, Verrett tore his ACL, costing him the rest of the season. Then after returning partway through training camp last year, the Chargers shut Verrett down after the team's opener and he underwent another surgery on his left knee.
Verrett is in the final year of his original rookie contract and will be a free agent next season. He joins Hunter Henry as the second Chargers player to be lost for the 2018-19 season because of injury.
Without Verrett last season, the Chargers' defense still flourished. His replacement opposite Casey Hayward, Trevor Williams, had a very strong season and rookie Desmond King played well as the team's slot cornerback.
Still, the team had been excited about adding Verrett _ excitement that's now turned to disbelief.
