The headline today was that Wide Receiver Stevie Johnson got injured early on in practice today. Coach McCoy said that the team is still awaiting further tests and should have an answer on how severe of an injury he sustained today at practice tomorrow. Rather than re-post the tweets today, let's lay out what happen today at practice from both sides of the ball.
Offense
The Offense as a whole took on a new look today opposed to yesterday's 12 Personnel heavy sets. Today they a lot of 11 but when they ran out the 3 Wide Receivers it was Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams and Dontrelle Inman. The Free Agent acquisition this offseason Travis Benjamin got most of his playing time with Zach Mettenberger and the second team Offense. He did make the most of it by burning Craig Mager for a touchdown that Mettenberger made a little harder for him by floating a deep ball that Benjamin had to stop and wait for. Regardless, Benjamin was strictly with the first team Offense yesterday but played with the second team today.
Yesterday Philip Rivers worked primarily under center but today got a lot work out of the shotgun. Also another note, after two days of camp when the Chargers run a two Tight End set is when they look their best. Since Hunter Henry is a good blocking Tight End the team now has options without tipping their hand.
The backup quarterback play is bad, real bad. A lot of young wideouts like Dom Williams and Jamaal Jones aren't getting a fair shake because of it and it must be frustrating. In fact it's hard to nail down the Chargers Wide Receiver depth chart right now because nobody is getting any real action.
Branden Oliver has broken a run loose once a practice so far, he has been the better back so far. Gordon struggled today especially running out of shotgun but did spring one loose yesterday in part by a nice block by Henry to seal the edge.
Rookie Guard Donavon Clark has stood out both days of Training Camp by sending Sean Lissemore to the ground in drills. Clark has been playing with the second team Offense and holding his own.
Fullback Derek Watt is running with the starters at Fullback. During drills Watt stands out as the Back who need to work the most on his footwork. He's showed good hands out of the backfield and seems to have all the Fullback snaps to himself early in camp.
Defense
Since the Offense was running a lot of three Wide Receiver sets, Jeremaih Attaochu was playing with the starters today opposite Melvin Ingram which wasn't the case yesterday. Pagano rotated Attaochu and Emanuel depending on the situation.
Brandon Flowers played all his snaps in the slot and Casey Hayward was the outside corner all through practice. It seems backwards to me. Hayward has the versatility to play both but excels in the slot with his short area quickness and ball skills. Though he showed flashes early on in his career on the outside he's struggled the last couple of years playing there and has proven to be one of the best playing inside. Flowers doesn't have the foot speed to be chasing receivers sideline to sideline. Maybe they're tinkering with different lineups, but I hope that's not the case Week 1.
Safety Dexter McCoil got a handful of snaps with the starters today early on and ILB Nick Dzubanr also got a couple reps with the first team defense. McCoil seems to be climbing the depth chart at a rapid rate, his speed and size combo is very tantalizing.
The Linebacking corp is exciting. Especially Jatavis Brown and Joshua Perry who got a lot of work together with the second team defense. Brown also looked great as a gunner in Special Teams drills, that role was made for a player like him.
Sean Lissemore has not played a snap at Nose Tackle. He's gotten work strictly as a Defensive End and even got bumped to the third team D-Line today.
Safety Adrian Phillips just keeps making plays. I haven't bought the hype yet but he got multiple interceptions in Mini-Camp, got a pick yesterday and almost had one today but he also made a beautiful break on the ball to break up a pass from Clemens.
Like I mentioned earlier, Craig Mager got smoked for a TD and it's been a reoccurring theme. Got beat in mini-camp by Tyrell Williams for 6, was giving up multiple catches yesterday and was getting yelled at by the DB coach and now giving up another TD to Benjamin who had more than a couple of steps on him.
Ryan Carrethers is still with the third team defense and Damion Square with the 2's. Don't ask me to explain it but I hope it changes soon.
That's it today I'll be out there tomorrow covering Day 3 of Chargers Training Camp.