The Chargers had their first practice in preparation for this weekend’s matchup against the Dolphins on Wednesday.
During today’s session, Los Angeles did their normal drills, but one positional group had a new face partaking in them.
Defensive lineman Anthony Lanier was spotted working with the offensive tackles, per ESPN’s Eric D. Williams.
The decision to move Lanier to the offensive side of the ball remains to be seen, but it’s head-scratching.
The offensive tackle position is still a work in progress and while they could use an upgrade, it’s hard to imagine that a defensive end would be the solution when there are players on the bench such as Forrest Lamp behind Trent Scott and Sam Tevi and notable free agents that have yet to be signed.
Throughout the years, there’s been a few defensive linemen that have converted to an offensive lineman, with the likes of Brian Waters, J.R. Sweezy and Alejandro Villanueva.
These players spent time learning the position and developing their bodies when making the transition, but it’s uncertain if they are looking to take this approach and see offensive tackle as Lanier’s new position moving forward, or if they’re looking to throw him into the fire.
Lanier is currently listed as 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, so he would likely have to put on 15-25 more pounds and spend a lot of time learning the nuances of the position before even being considered a potential option.
Letting Lanier practice with the offensive tackles is the latest addition to the puzzling decisions made by the coaching staff this week.
We will continue to update when we find out why Lanier was actually working with the offensive linemen.
