DEVASTATING: Chargers Suffer Another CRUCIAL Injury As Rookie RB Omarion Hampton is Placed on IR

DEVASTATING: Chargers Suffer Another CRUCIAL Injury As Rookie RB Omarion Hampton is Placed on IR

The bad injury luck continues for the Chargers as running back Omaran Hampton is now headed to injured reserve and it’s a devastating blow to an offense that is already missing several key starters. You are Locked on Chargers, your daily podcast on the Los Angeles Chargers, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up and welcome into the Locked On Chargers podcast. I’m your host Daniel Wade, joined as always by my co-host David Drogmire and we’ve been covering the Chargers now for 10 seasons, but this is our eighth year as the host of the Lockdown Chargers podcast, bringing you your team every day. Thank you to the everydayers out there for making us your first listen. To make sure that you never miss the show, go subscribe or follow for free on the Lockdown Chargers YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from. David, what do we got today? Daniel, when it rains, it pours. The Chargers running back room suffers a devastating blow as Omaran Hampton is going on IR with an ankle injury. And now the Chargers are going to have to scramble to figure things out at the running back position. And that begs the question, with all these injuries, with all these issues, are the Chargers still a playoff team in 2025? And I think one thing is very clear. It’s time to see what Andre James can do in the middle of the Chargers offensive line, man. Especially after the terrible sequence has been going viral on social media of what happened in the game between Justin Herbert and Bradley Boseman. But unfortunately on this buyer sell Tuesday getting into the biggest Charger storylines and overreactions. The biggest story line today is the Chargers losing another key offensive piece as Omaran Hampton is the second of the Chargers running backs to end up on injured reserve. now down their top two running backs and their top two offensive tackles at the moment. Doesn’t get much tougher that than that for an offense and they’ve already been paying the price and this is really one they couldn’t afford to lose. Amarian Hampton was just starting to hit his stride over the last few weeks and it was just another, you know, kind of freak thing. A fourth and two play that Tyler Cochran dropped the pass. Amari Hampton was tripped by Frankie Louvu, came up hobbled, never came back into the game, but did seem to be trying to come back in to a certain extent and wasn’t able to. Now we know he’s going to be missing David the next four games at the very least. Yeah, just a devastating blow. Uh the kid just seemed like he was just starting to rev up the engine. Seemed like he was really starting to be a focal point of the offense. He showed what he was capable of doing and felt like he was in line for more touches from for a bigger piece of that offensive pie. And of course, another horrible injury. And I I guess one of the good things is at least uh according to Ian Rapaort, he did say that Omar and Hampton should be coming off in just the requisite four games, which would put him in line to come back for the Steelers game because obviously you have to miss at least four games, but it could be more than that as well. So just a horrible injury and the Chargers are going to have to really scramble to figure out how to fix this issue. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean before the game he got injured last week. I mean in weeks three and four he had 294 yards from scrimmage averaging almost 150 yards of offense per game. And that’s the guy that you’re losing on an offense that has already been bad and has been bad specifically in the second half where you kind of need a running back like this to be able to try to put teams away when you’re in that position. Chargers scored the least second half points in the NFL so far or tied with the Giants in last place. So that’s where the Chargers at can’t really afford it. He also has become, you know, a big weapon in the passing game, too. 17 catches over the last three games is tied with Keenan Allen for the second most on the team. And and, you know, he just been good. Like, he had a legitimate chance potentially being the offensive rookie of the year. I mean, we we’ll see what happens with Genty, but he was right there with him. I mean, there’s not much difference between those guys so far, 15th in the NFL in rushing yards, which is impressive since he only played four and a half games and didn’t really start getting the workload until week three. 15th in yards per carry, seventh in yards after contact per attempt, and also didn’t have much to work with because he ranked 30th out of 44 eligible running backs according to True Media in yards before contact per attempt, yards he had the ball before he was getting hit by one of the defenders on the opposite side. So now I think you look at what’s next and I think the problem is David is the options on the roster right now are not going to be very inspiring as far as who’s taking some of those snaps or most of those snaps. Yeah, I mean the only two guys really that you have left is Kaimmani Videl and Hassan Haskins who have barely touched the football so far this season. I mean it was Naji Harris and and Omaran Hampton to start the year and basically I think Kamani Videll got a couple of carries before this game and Hassan Haskins got his first touches in this football game this past game. So not a lot of of touches out there for them. They’re going to have to get revved up very, very quickly. And it just seems like they have to go make a move. They have to add to this room because what they have in the building right now is certainly not enough. No, it’s it’s hard to feel confident in either of those guys. And I mean, I’m sure Kamani gets signed at this point, but as of right now, he’s on the practice squad. Like, they don’t even have anybody. I mean, and and to show you kind of how much they didn’t trust those guys. Actually, neither of those guys had a Kiri before this game. every carry they had, Marion Hampton had more carries in this game before he got injured than most both of these guys have combined all season, which shows you kind of the lack of faith that they had or just how much better Omaran Hampton was than those guys because even after Naja Harris’s injury, we heard it’s going to be a committee approach. And then they literally didn’t give it to anybody else. You know what I mean? Last year, Kamani Vidal 34 yards, 89, 34 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns, 2.7 yards per carry. Last season for Kamani Vidal, 3.6 yards per carry on 43 carries, one receiving touchdown, no rushing touchdowns. So, I know that fans are are, you know, probably wishing they had held on to Rocket Sanders at this point, but yeah, I mean, I think the point is is somebody has to be added into the mix. I’d like to see what Lamar Johnson can do on the practice squad just to see something different because I kind of know what you have right now on the roster, but it doesn’t feel like the answer is there. And you’re probably not going to be able to find, you know, a one for one replacement. I mean, I’ll just say you can’t really at this point, at least not on the open market, right? There’s no one that’s going to be able to come in and, you know, provide you anything like that. But I think that leads to the first buy or sell of the day here from Sea 55 who says, “Buy or sell with Hampton’s injury. the Chargers should trade for Alvin Kamara or make an offer to bring back Rocket Sanders. David, obviously the big name here is Alvin Alvin Kamar. What do you think about that? Yeah, I mean I think looking at Alvin Kamar, he’s been in the league for a very very long time. Um is one of the best receiving backs in, you know, the last 10 years. I think when you when you actually look at the numbers, I mean, a guy who has caught 50 passes the last three seasons before this season and probably on track to catch another 50 plus this season. 70 carries for 283 yards, one touchdown, 3.9 yards per carry. It’s solid. You know, it’s decent. And then 17 receptions for 77 yards. Nothing spectacular there, at least so far. But Alvin Chimera is a guy that’s very, very patient. uh a guy who has very good vision who can really ex uh exploit the uh you know openings in the defense. This guy if he’s got some blocks in front of him, it seems like he’s kind of moving in slow motion, but he’s not. And I think you know when you look at some of the best athletes across sports, it looks like they’re making it look very very easy, but they’re moving at a very very high rate of speed. And it’s just because they’re so good at kind of what they do. And I I kind of liken that to Al Alvin Chimera and his kind of movement skills in space. And if there is a deal to be made here, absolutely the Chargers should be looking at trying to do this because they need help. They need somebody who can make a difference, who can at least provide some quality touches and I think with Alvin Chimera, he can do that. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he definitely, you know, raises the ceiling and the floor of that room if you make that kind of trade just because you know what you get. He’s also one of the most masterful players at letting his blocks develop, being able to see the open field and have that kind of open field vision for an offense that’s going to have to manufacture some yards at this point with the injuries that they have so far. And it’s also hard to go off his stats. I mean, two of the last three years, you know, two years before this, barely over four yards per carry, one year under, one year over. This year, he hasn’t hit the four yards per carry mark, which is kind of the gold standard of, okay, that’s efficiency. Uh, but it’s hard. He’s also in a bad situation. And I think for me, that’s probably why I wouldn’t do it, just because I don’t think Alvin Kamar at this point is is going to be able to improve what he has in front of him or be able to overcome the short, you know, the short-handed Chargers offensive line. like he running the football is a running back stat, but I can tell you that even with, you know, Amaran’s kind of modest yards per carry over the first few weeks, you still knew he was good because he was breaking tackles in the back field and getting much more than he should have because there really wasn’t much there to work with. Think that Alvin Chimera at this as a 30-year-old running back’s going to be able to overcome what the have put out there off wise. And to me, this is I mean, they’ll never trade again, who’s been an inactive, you know, healthy scratch for the Cleveland Browns. Nor should they. They’ve already sent away a 2026 and 2027 draft pick at this. You only have in each of the next drafts with no projected picks at this moment. I think what it ends up coming down to though is what it’s going to cost. Is he going to cost a mid- round pick at this point in his career? I’m not sure. But the only premium picks I’m sending out at this point are for an edge rusher or an offensive lineman that can be signed long-term at a position that you already have a need at that you would have been probably spending one of those picks on next year anyways. But that’s where I would be with it. But I do understand, you know, where everyone’s at. There needs to be an urgency right now because right now it feels like things are spiraling. And I think the biggest question now is are the Chargers still a playoff team after that 3 and 0 start that they had. We’re going to get into all that and more on today’s Locked On Chargers podcast. This episode is brought to you by Price Picks. Every day we make decisions, but on Price Picks, being right can actually get you paid. Don’t miss the excitement of this football season with Prize Picks, where it’s good to be right. Playing Prize Picks is such a fun, simple way to add more excitement to football. You just book more or less on player projections like Josh Allen’s passing yards or Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown, and you’re in the game. I love how quick it is. I’ve gotten in lastminute projections many times and my favorite part just added stacks. So if I want to ride with a player, I can set select their pass yards, their rushing yards, touchdowns, all in one lineup. One of my favorite parts about Price Pick specifically though, the new injury reboot features. If your player leaves early and doesn’t return, it won’t count against you. But there are already projections out for this week. You can go with Justin Herbert to throw for more than or less than 265 and a half passing yards. And combine that with Quinton Johnston getting more than or less than 60 and a half receiving yards. He’s basically been a lock for that. All you have to do download the Price Pix app today and use the code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown NFL for $50 in lineups after that first $5 lineup price picks. It’s good to be right. David, we still need to get into more of these buyer sales. And thank you to the everydayers out there for giving us what you have and what you’re thinking about right now because we know there’s a lot going on out there. A lot of overreactions, a lot of storylines to talk about and maybe some aren’t overreactions because this team does have legitimate issues. But I do want to start with this one here from John Clark who says, “Buy or sell. This team could still make the playoffs at 9 and 8 given the AFC’s early deficiencies collectively. It has been a weird year in the AFC so far. Maybe it’s a little less competitive at the top of it as far as fighting for that, you know, sixth or seventh wild card seed. Can the Charge get to nine wins, 10 wins? That’s also a good question, but I do get the point here where it’s like, hey, if there was a year to maybe be a little bit down and not be able to get to 11 wins potentially, this might be it. Yeah, actually, I think this is a great point and I think something that everybody should be looking at trying to just keep in perspective because yes, the Chargers uh have lost the last couple of games. Obviously, we all know that, but they’re not in a bad spot yet. Like, they’re still in pretty good shape. I think you look across the AFC Conference. I think there’s probably two playoff teams that are coming out of the AFC South, right? With the Colts and the Jaguars who just knocked off the Chiefs, right? I think that’s those those are two teams I think that right now, at least the way they’re playing, the way they’re looking, they’re look they look like they’re heading towards the playoffs. But you look at the rest of of the divisions, like it’s the Steelers at the top, Bengals at 2 and three, the Ravens at 1 and four. Like that’s very very uncharacteristic. But I think that just reminds you you have to remind yourself there’s a lot of time left. But the way that things look right now, it still seems like the Chargers are in a good spot to be able to make the playoffs if they’re able to improve on some of the obvious deficiencies that have really been exploited the last couple of weeks. Well, I think it’s just about getting guys back and not losing more guys while you’re trying to get there, right? Because I mean that you you desperately need Joe Walt and Mai back and back. Neither one of those guys are on IR. are the quickest two ways to get your offensive line better. Uh, and those are still possible within the next couple of weeks, especially when you have the Colts and the Vikings coming up after this week against the Dolphins. But I think this is a huge game for the Chargers. I I really do. I don’t know if I’d put it in must-win category for their season. Man, it it it is because you have Vikings and the Colts after that and then you’ll get the Titans, but like how many more losses are you allotting to yourself, right? Because now you already have two. You still have the Eagles on the schedule. You still have the Cowboys on the schedule who are dealing with their own injuries and still blowing out the Jets in that game. You still have the Chiefs and the Broncos again. And I think that this team we’re seeing right now would not be either of those teams in the rematch with the wave. They if they had to face either of those teams this week, I’m picking each of those teams by seven plus. That’s just where this roster is at right now. But I do see the point, you know, like some of the normal main stays are not where they normally are at at this point. The Chiefs are two and three. you said, you know, Ravens, Texans, both one and four. And then there are some really bad teams in the AFC as well, like the Dolphins, like the Titans, the Browns, Raiders, Jets, all with one win or less. So, I I do, but with the bad teams come the surprise teams, right? Nobody thought the Colts and the Jaguars would be this good. Nobody thought the Steelers would be sitting alone on top of that division kind of uncontested, and it’s hard to see how good they are. Then you have a Patriots team is a little bit up and coming that just beat the Bills, right? as well as what you have in your own division. That’s going to be tough. So, I I do get the point and I think that is true. You might be able to get in at 9 and 8 right now, but obviously some things are going to have to go into the Chargers favor and they’re going to have to start winning games because they’re still six wins away from that. Right now, these wins are getting harder and harder to find. Let’s get to this one here from Atheir, who I think is voicing something that a lot of fans are feeling right now, especially as so many key Chargers players continue to get hurt. Daniel save David Ail overreaction Tuesday. It’s time for Bernardet to be fired. I’m sorry. I’ve seen enough. Nobody is healthy. He’s not doing enough. This is not what we got him for. Please let me know. Thank you. Well, I think I actually heard the hottake from Atheir heating up in the background as he was giving it. No, I I the I get I mean, I don’t think they should fire Ben Herbert today. It doesn’t really do much to do it in season anyways because he’s the director of a rather large unit of people that is actually employing, you know, what his strategies are. But I understand it, right? Like I I think the thing is with Ben Herbert is for Chargers fans who have been perennially snake bitten by injuries, you hoped, right? And before him, it was, you know, the last guy that they had, you know, Raondo, whatever his name was, he was going to be the savior. and the guy before him was going to be the savior and John Law who gave uh Justin Herbert his worst career haircut was going to fix things, right? It just it’s getting harder to believe that he’s going to be able to fix, you know, what has been a curse for many years for this team. Um and it’s tough because I think the big thing, David, is just it’s not just a lot. I mean, it is a lot of players, especially this year. Uh not a lot of guys hit season ending IR last year and a lot of guys even when they were banged up were able to come back. But I mean you’re talking about Bashan Slater and Joe Alt and Omar on Hampton, Naji Harris, Kawo Mack, Will Dissley, Mai Beckton, Darius Davis, Denzel Perryman, Elijah Molden. That’s not even everybody. And and it’s just like not only you missing a lot of guys, you’re missing the most important guys. And it’s just hard because it’s like the whole mantra from Ben Herbert was making these guys harder to break. And just in year two right now doesn’t feel like they’re harder to break. Yeah, I completely understand that for sure. But also, I think there’s a stigma out there where people feel like Ben Herbert has a magic wand that is going to wave over these guys and just magically protect them from getting injured while they’re playing a extremely violent game where they’re exerting their bodies to the absolute max, pushing, pulling, cutting, jumping, doing all of these extremely athletic things. And unfortunately, sometimes you push your body past the point on which it is capable of handling the stress that you are putting on it. And that’s when injuries occur. It sucks. I hate it. Every fan out there hates it. Every team in the NFL is dealing with injuries. And of course it is magnified right now because of how important the injuries are to the players uh you know that are supposed to have a huge part in helping this team win football games. And it you know of course you’re looking for somebody to blame but unfortunately injuries are a part of the game. It is horrible, but is a part of the game and I understand that. But at the same time, you know, if we’re gonna hype up Ben Herbert when they hire him and say, “Hey, the Chargers are hiring the highest paid coach in all of college football and this guy has a remarkable track record of keeping players more healthy and then those players aren’t staying more healthy.” You know, there has to be said, you know what I mean? We can’t have it both ways. We can’t say, “Hey, this guy could make it better.” And then also just, “Hey, actually, you know, it’s just bad luck.” Yeah, he hasn’t. For sure. I mean, the other part is what what is he going to do about Khalil Max’s dislocated elbow, right? Like or Naji Harris’s busted Achilles or even Rashan Slater’s torn patella tendon. Like there are just freak things that are going to happen. Now, doesn’t feel like they’re making maybe they’re making the ankles harder to break, but they’re definitely not making the ankles harder to sprain, I would say. Uh because so many sprained ankles for the Chargers so far this year. But yeah, I mean it’s just tough, man. like it’s a really tough situation because so many big-time players it’s frustrating are having it happen to them and not only that we’ve just seen it for so long and you wanted to think it’ll get better and and many teams are banged up. It does feel disproportionately Chargers, but there’s a lot of teams that are banged up, but you look at the Bucks, multiple big-time receivers out, multiple offensive line starters out, including probably the, you know, the best pass protecting left tackle in the game, and they’re still winning games, right? And those coaching staffs are getting enough out of those other players to be able to keep things afloat. And I think that’s where kind of the focus has to go for this Chargers team now. But I do think part of this is the Chargers not doing enough, right? like they just some of it is injuries, but some of it is just personnel and and not having the horses. There’s a lot of blame to go around. But coming up next, we’re going to be getting into if the Chargers 11 wins in 2024, maybe made them a little too overconfident when trying to build this 2025 roster after beating up on a lot of bad teams last year. We’re getting into that and if it’s time to see Andre James start at center and more in today’s Locked On Chargers podcast. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride. With more IHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than anyone else as of August 2025. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details. Mazda brings the same intention to how we craft every model. And it’s exactly what the Chargers have been missing. I mean, if the Chargers were like Mazda over the last couple of weeks, they might be 5-0 at this point, but unfortunately, it’s been far from that. But with Mazda, you can feel the Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery, and you can make everyday drives feel like anything but. From smooth handling to intuitive controls with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. David, we have more to get into on this buy or sell Tuesday. And again, thank you to the everydayers out there for contributing. We had so many good buy or sells that we’re not going to be able to get to all of them today, but we see them and we appreciate you guys. And as always, love the fact that you’re always making us your first listen. If you need a second listen, make sure to check out the slate they have at Locked Down NFL where you can get kept up to speed with everything going on around the league with two shows a day with Tyler the Madman Roland and my guy Tony Wiggins in the barber shop on YouTube. and wherever you get your podcast from. Let’s get to this one here. David from Big Daddy E uh consistent question buyerell asker and he has today for us. Buy or sell the 11 wins in 2024 with a cupcake schedule caused Harbaugh and Hortiz to overvalue the strength of the roster. Love the postgame therapy Pod Boys. We needed it and we also needed it. It does help. As much as sometimes we don’t want to do that show because we have to be here for the big wins and the tough losses, it does always help after the fact. and me were always, you know, getting done being like, man, I do feel a little bit better about that situation now. But let’s get back to this, David, because I think I I’m buying this, especially on the offensive line, but I think there’s multiple places when you look at this roster where you say maybe they thought this position group was better than it was because last year they got to beat up on so many bad teams and so many bad quarterbacks defensively, and an offense won in spite of a really obviously flawed interior offensive line. I just remember this ringing in my head, this answer from Joe Hortiz where somebody asked him about his team and he said, “We won 11 games last year, didn’t we?” Yeah, exactly. And said it with that kind of cocky arrogance. And now we sit here in 2025 with the obvious issues that we knew about that were very very obvious heading into the season that the Chargers had every resource to emphatically address and they chose not to. They chose to be penny pinchers. When they had the money to be able to go out there and make big impact signings, to be able to bring in higher priced, more sure things, they did not do that. And so, yes, I am buying it. I think that the success that they had in the inaugural season definitely went to their heads a little bit. Yeah, I mean I’ve brought that quote up, you know, a couple times in the last week from Joe Hortiz to Daniel Paer who is asking him after the draft after seeing free agency and the draft and asking if he did enough on the interior of the offensive line. And I hear it literally in my nightmares him saying, “I thought we were pretty good last year. Pop 11 wins, right?” As if they won it because of that interior instead of in spite of. And that has been my whole thing since then. And it’s I knew it was going to age poorly and it has aged extremely poorly. And I think to the defensive side of things like yeah I mean it feels like they kind of you know really emphasized adding premier resources to the offense and not the defense. And I think the pass rush is worse because of it. I I think they probably could have done more at linebacker with the uncertainty of what Junior Coulter was going Junior Coulson was going to be in year two. They decided to run it back with Denzo Perryman and Tradai. I think there are many places you could look at, but I think the biggest part of this is just they made a conscious decision. If it was between getting Justin Herbert more weapons or getting him more protection, they put their flag in the sand. They drew that line. They said, “We’re going to go get them more weapons.” Listen to the guys that they added that weren’t there last year on the offense. Tyler Conklin, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Naji Harris, Amaran Hampton, Trey Harris, Keandre Lambert Smith, Arande Gadston, all those guys were not there last year. These are the newcomers on the offensive line for the Chargers this year. Andre James, who can’t get on the field, and we’ll talk about that. And who else was it? Branson Taylor, who got cut besides Mai Beckton. They they made one obvious improvement, but besides Mai Beckton, it’s Andre James, who’s a backup, bringing back Bradley Boseman and drafting Branson Taylor, who didn’t even make the initial 53man roster and still wasn’t, right? The thing that makes me sick is just that you could watch what happened. They obviously know more than us. They obviously can see bad play. That’s the most confusing part of all of this is just like, if I can see it, you definitely can see it. And the fact that they actually brought in no competition for either Bradley Boseman or Zion Johnson and decided, hey, maybe we’ll just make Zion Johnson the center is such a slap in the face to what we all saw last year was such a bad unit. I understand not wanting to overpay. That’s what basically trailed Tom Tolesco his entire general manager career with the Chargers was the terrible deals that he gave out. Whether it was, you know, to Brian Buaga who ended up getting hurt, whether it was to Chris, you know, Derek Cox. Oh god, Dererick Cox was the first of We should have known with Derek Cox deal. Yeah. Oh my god, though. Like it’s just like the list like every big contract that they tried to give out. Orlando Franklin is another one, right? Russell Wkung actually had like some decent time. He did, but that didn’t work out really. Um I mean there’s just Travis Benjamin, right? Travis Benjamin. But I mean, even like look, I mean, the last couple years, you know, you go sign the highest price cornerback in free agency and you make the big time move. How How did that work? His name, I won’t you know what? I won’t say his name. I I refuse to say his name. He’s already collecting enough money from the Chargers without getting any from us. But let’s get to this next one here from Mondo Ramos. I to tie a bow on that point. I understand, you know, not wanting to give out the big contract that’s going to come back and haunt you, right? because the Chargers have had so many of them. But there has to be a middle ground between totally penny pension and and bargain shopping and just not improving units. Like some guys need to be overpaid or you just have to do better. You can’t have no competition for those two guys who played horribly last season. But let’s get to this one from Mondo Ramos who says by yourself. It’s time to start Andre James at center. David, this is something we were clamoring for last week. Uh and I don’t think there’s anything this week that changed our minds. Nope. It’s the same exact thing. I want to see it. I think everybody wants to see it. What we have seen out there so far, it is not good enough. It’s still not good enough. And with the things that have come out after this football game in regards to Bradley Boseman and some of the miscommunications, I think it just heightens it even more. Absolutely. And the Bard’s talking about is the viral play where basically it’s a second and six after Trey Pipkins fall. I believe they had second and one and ended up going to second and six. You have four down linemen and five offensive linemen protecting Justin Herbert. You have a slot on the left side of the defensive formation that Justin Herbert thinks is going to blitz. There’s also on the right side of the formation Frankie Louvu who’s also kind of bluffing as if he’s going to blitz. Justin Herbert tells Tyler Conquin, “Hey, if he comes, I don’t have protection for him. You are the hot read. I’m going to throw it to you right away if he comes because I don’t have anyone to block him.” After he says that, Bradley Boseman shifts the protection to the left side, which is not what Justin Herbert was saying. He was just saying, “Hey, we can’t block that guy. I’m going to you if he comes at me.” He was saying, “Keep it the way it is.” Bradley Boseman shifts it to the left side. You get three guys blocking, two guys on the left side, two guys trying to block, three guys on the right side, and you get a free rusher in Justin Herbert’s face, and he has to basically throw away as he’s getting blasted. You actually hear uh Bradley Bose has been saying something along the lines of gosh darn it right as he snaps it. It’s just it was so bad and like you know there’s been blame put on Justin Herbert for the lack of you know protection and being able to identify things and like right there you see it playing his day. He sees what’s happening. He gets overridden by, you know, a center that was a hot topic at Jim Harbaugh’s press conference on Monday and it’s for the worst, right? And it’s just hard to not kind of let your mind be like this is what’s been happening, right? That is one play right here. But it does feel like that’s been the case because the Chargers have just allowed so many free rushers where they just can’t get it lined up. They can’t protect the right guys. They’re fooled easily. And yeah, I mean I I I’m down to see anything else. The Chargers should be trying anything else to try to improve this line right now. And basically they you know Jim Harbaugh himself said it was a missed assignment by Bradley Boseman. But speaking of Jim Harbaugh, this buyer sell here from Rob Moore is this buyer sell. Jim Harbaugh believing he has an offensive line in front of Herbert that will save him. He said that after the last game. He said he had the guys in the building that had the ability to protect Justin Herbert. And it was laughable, right? Because I mean, at least with the guys they have down right now, I really don’t believe that they do, which is a personnel thing obvious obviously. But at the same time, like I just don’t think it’s Jim Harbaugh is ever going to be the the coach that’s up there just blasting his own players. Am I I I I think and I hope it’s different behind the scenes obviously, but I don’t think you’re going to hear him say what you want him to say at that press conference. Yeah, he’s not going to do it. That’s just not who he is. I think he’s kind of demonstrated that over and over and over again. He’s going to be the guy that’s going to gas his players up and he’s going to prop them up and put them on a pedestal and always speak highly in front of the cameras about his players. That’s just what’s going to happen. To expect anything other than that would be kind of disingenuous to what we’ve seen Jim Harbaugh to be. And so hopefully behind closed doors he’s like, “Okay guys, like this isn’t good enough. We got to figure that we got to figure this out.” And of course he did say, “Hey, we got to tighten up at every part of the operation.” 100% you do. And I think with this, it’s clear like changes need to be made. They need to try something to be able to improve what they have. And just to answer the actual question, no, I don’t think he believes that he has the right protection because he’s seen his quarterback get hit 40 plus times over the the course of the last three games get pressured 80 plus times over the past three games. It is clear and obvious to anyone who’s watching the games that he doesn’t have enough in front of him. And Jim Harbaugh has won more football games than I’ll ever win or anyone else will ever win in their lifetime. unless you are on that Hall of Fame list like he’s going to be. So, he knows it, we all know it, I know he believes that he doesn’t have the right protection for his quarterback right now. And the thing is is like as much as Joe Hortiz deserves the heat, especially for the interior of the offensive line that he’s getting, I would say the other part of it is it’s very hard for me to believe that Jim Harbaugh does not have a gigantic say in the personnel of what this team ends up being. Batman Robin talk at the beginning of it, whatever. you know, in the offseason show Hortiz in season it’s me. Well, both of those things are failing right now because the inseason adjustments to what you have going on are not good enough and what you have there personnelwide is not good enough. And you also don’t have an offensive coordinator who’s good enough and creative enough to after, you know, the scripted plays at the beginning of the game continue to work around the deficiencies of this offense. It’s a hydra. It’s a multilevel problem. Like there’s just there’s not one thing you can pin down. It’s all of the above when you’re talking about the kind of culpability of the Chargers front office and coaching staff here and a failure in my opinion kind of at every level and obviously just some bad luck because you’ve lost your two best offensive linemen. Your third best offensive lineman’s been in and out the entire year and there’s only so much you’re ever going to be doing about it. But there’s other teams that are doing much more with arguably less. So we’ll get into more very soon. We probably will not be here tomorrow. We’ll see what if any big news comes out. But David has a a very late travel day tomorrow. So if anything big comes out, I’ll probably do a solo show. Uh but we might have to miss tomorrow and we’ll back on, you know, pretty much the rest of the season going 5 days a week. So thank you for your patience. We appreciate the everydayers out there, especially for getting in on this buy or sell Tuesday. We love doing the show with you guys. It’s probably our favorite show of the week, unless they’re giving us a big time victory obviously in doing those kind of shows. But to make sure you never miss the show, go subscribe or follow for free on the Lockdown Chargers YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from, as well as finding the show every day on all of our social media at on Twitter, Lockdown LAC, Lockdown Chargers on Instagram and our Lockdown Chargers Facebook page where you can put all of your buyer cells as well or call to the voicemail line at 323-5247924 to get your 30 secondond Chargers question or buyer sell on the show. We’ll be back with you guys at the very latest on Thursday for Crossover Thursday. Maybe tomorrow if any big news comes out because you know we will be here if anything does. But until then guys, take it easy and go Bolts.

Chargers’ playoff hopes hang by a thread as injuries mount. Can Los Angeles overcome the loss of Omarion Hampton and salvage their season?

Host Daniel Wade and co-host David Droegemeier dissect the impact of Hampton’s injury on the Chargers’ struggling offense. They explore potential solutions, including a bold trade for Saints RB Alvin Kamara. The duo analyzes Los Angeles’ postseason chances in a competitive AFC and critiques the team’s offseason strategy, particularly regarding the offensive line.

Wade and Droegemeier break down a viral play showcasing O-line miscommunication, questioning coaching decisions and front office moves. Is Jim Harbaugh’s influence on personnel decisions helping or hurting the team?

Tune in for an in-depth analysis of the Chargers’ path forward and potential roster shakeups to save their season.

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