San Diego Chargers News 5/24

As it was reported here, before UT or NC Times had a chance to report it, Ryan Leaf has been indicted on drug and burglary charges as a result of his addiction to Hydrocodone.  It's been 11 years since he was the first-round draft pick of the Chargers and over 8 years since he took his last snap as a Charger.  It's time to stop harboring ill-will towards the guy.  I, for one, hope he gets his life on track.  I loved the stories a few years ago about him enjoying coaching college quarterbacks.  I'd love to see him turn his failures as a player into success as a coach (as many others have before).

The latest Yahoo! Sports team report discusses how much information the Chargers throw at rookies in mini camp, with some quotes from Louis Vasquez.  What I find even more interesting is the notes about the starting safety spot.  The writer of this report seems to think Kevin Ellison and Paul Oliver have a legitimate chance of winning the starting job.  I'd love to see it happen, but I just not buying it yet. 

Kevin Acee did a story on Ryon Bingham's versatility as someone who can play defensive end and nose tackle in the 3-4 scheme.  I know Bingham will get a roster spot because he can player all 3 spots on the line and we have a pretty terrifying lack of depth there, but has he ever made a big play?  Bingham seems like the poor man's Igor Olshansky to me, which is fine as a backup who doesn't make much, but I don't like the talk of him possibly winning the starting RDE spot.  I'd rather have a mix of Cesaire and Martin there and have Bingham backup at NT and LDE.

The massive proposal from developer Perry Dealy to build the Chargers a new stadium at the current location, along with building an incredible amount of residences and office buildings around it, is being shut down by the Chargers and the mayor of San Diego.  It doesn't make financial, logistical or logical sense.  It looks like if the Chargers are going to be in San Diego in 5 years it's going to be at a location that we haven't considered yet.  Or maybe an outside-the-box idea.  What about letting Donald Trump pay for half of the project for lifetime naming rights?  Trump Stadium I could live with, as long as it's in San Diego.

Chargers.com has posted a Q&A with Chargers tight end Antonio Gates.  I'm fairly shocked that his toe is still not 100%.  Granted, foot problems tend to stick around but you get the feeling that Gates won't be 100% until he retires now.  Lots of questions in there about basketball and his history as a basketball player, which tells me that as Chargers fans we really don't know much more about him than we when first signed him except that he's a great tight end.  I thought he was a step slow last year and overcame that with good hands, good positioning and good technique.  If he can get that step back I love when he brings to the middle of an explosive passing game.

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