The Chargers Owed Rivers a New, Better Offensive Line

Philip Rivers have given his all to the San Diego Chargers. Yes, he has made some mistakes over the years. Yes, he’s thrown his fair share of untimely interceptions. But nobody can deny the fact that Rivers has given this team 100% of what he can give.

Rivers is 35 now and will turn 36 before the end of the season. He once played a playoff game on a torn ACL, but those days are long gone. Rivers is “old” now in NFL years, and the Chargers owe it to him to make his life easier on Sundays.

The team drafted Melvin Gordon, who in year 2 showed everyone that he can be an every-down back and take pressure off of Rivers.

The team still has Antonio Gates, but also brought in Hunter Henry to be a big safety net for Rivers.

The team has brought in Travis Benjamin, and young WR’s like Dontrelle Inman, Tyrell Williams, and Keenan Allen to catch passes from Rivers.

But the team has time and time again, let Rivers down when it comes to his protection.

This is unacceptable. And thankfully, the front office finally thought so too.

The additions of Russell Okung, Forrest Lamp, and Dan Feeney (not to mention the development of Spencer Pulley) are the kind of moves that Rivers deserves and will break that 10 year run of awful pass protection for the team’s most important player.

Rivers has always had a knack for stepping up in the pocket and avoiding pressure with his pocket presence, but this season hopefully he will be able to focus on looking down the field. Maybe he’ll be able to see some of the open WR’s he’s missed that Kyle Posey points out in his game reviews.

If Rivers is going to have a chance to keep playing, and to make a deep run in the playoffs, giving him a line that will protect him was a must, and it looks like they may have finally done it.