Should the Chargers Sign Shaun Rogers?

Do you see Rogers at NT or DE in the Chargers 3-4?

DE. As someone mentioned before, he was even moved to DE in Cleveland this last season. Garay was too good at NT to move him.

Would having Shaun Rogers on the roster possibly slow the development of Martin or Thomas?

Yes and no. Would it eat into their time on the field? Yes. But would they have another veteran around to pick his brain and learn his tricks? Also, if they add Rogers but lose Cesaire and Travis Johnson there should be plenty of snaps to go around.

The numbers John linked to above make him seem damn reliable, but they also make it seem like he might be damn expensive.

Both probably true. This is why a lot of the post was about Rogers taking a San Diego discount.

ran three really heavy guys on their DL. Kind of a different take on the 3-4 but perhaps not a bad idea. Get away from the concept of pass rushing playmakers in there and just have three run cloggers / pocket collapsers. Bring the heat from the outside or with ILBs and Ss up the middle. I think we could do the same thing with Garay, Cam, and Martin + 320 guy off the street / OG. Not sure if adding Rodgers would improve that much.

I guess it really depends on how much he is going to get. Remember that he is probably looking at his last decent sized contract, so will probably not take any sort of discount.

He played most of his career in a 4-3 in Detroit, then had one great year in Cleveland’s 3-4, when he played basically exclusively at NT. Since that first year in Cleveland, he’s been in decline. He doesn’t have the strength he used to have so Rob Ryan tried playing him at 3-4 DE last year. Clearly the experiment was a failure, because he’s now out of there.

Now sure, it’s possible that he could get another shot in the 3-4 DE rotation here. But keep in mind that he’ll be another year older and he’s not the kind of guy that can make up for a decline in athleticism with nonstop effort or motor. If anything, he’s been lambasted most of his career for being lazy… and when a guy like him who’s taller than normal for his position gets lazy, he plays tall and completely loses leverage.

I just don’t see him as an answer when (1) it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be an improvement at DE (2) even if he takes a “contender discount” he’s not going to come cheap, especially when we have so many of our younger guys to re-sign in the next couple of years and (3) he comes with a reputation for being lazy, carrying loaded guns onto planes, and various other legal troubles.