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“Chargers-Another Injury”

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Does this ever end? This siege of injuries for the Chargers with key players?

Well actually it will, on July 1st, when the team exits Chargers Park, and moves everything, football and business to Costa Mesa.

But there is a team still practicing in San Diego, in Murphy Canyon, and it’s a Chargers team that still is dealing with injured players.

‘Team Torn Achilles Tendon’ saw its season decimated by those injuries and torn knee ligaments too. The top 3-running backs, top wide receiver, a group of linebackers.

A year prior to that, it was an offensive line, that saw 5-of its top six starters go down with an assortment of injuries, concussions, shoulders, knees.

And now it’s hit again, this time top draft pick Mike Williams, the Clemson wide receiver, the number 1-pick, the kid who caught 98-passes a year ago from QB-Deshaun Watson in that fabulous season, capped by the dismantling of Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide.

Williams never got thru his first mini-camp workout. Diving for an errant pass from a street free agent quarterback, he hurt his back.

Strained muscle maybe? Back spasms, maybe? No torn ligaments, no spinal colum damage. Nothing related to broken neck he suffered two years ago in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

But it went 21-days since the injury, all those missed routes, missed practices, learning curve days on the field.

Now we find out he has a herniated disc in the back. No surgery prescribed. Just rest, weight work, time and hope.

But that’s what he has had for nearly three weeks, and the condition never changed.

Why do I sense red-flag already, with this latest piece of bad luck news?

A receiver group that lost Stevie Johnson in camp, then star Keenan Allen early in the year, nagging problems with Tyrell Williams all year, and late season knee problems for Travis Benjamin, looks at risk again.

First Donnie Inman had surprise core-abdominal surgery, likely impacting him into August. And now Williams, with something significant.

There’s a new training staff on board, with the removal of longstanding trainer James Collins. The new people couldn’t detect this disc issue weeks ago?
What are MRIs and CT scans for. It’s not the first time these people have seen a back issue in the NFL. An epidural shot early might have prevented it from getting worse?

These things seldom heal quickly. Two weeks ago he was running on the side with trainers, despite still having back spasms. Now he is gone a minimum 8-weeks.

Why do I fear Philip Rivers needs magic markers and name tags to hand out everyday the locker room opens, to introduce himself to the latest wide out coming in, to replacing somebody who has gone down.

Missing lots of time to start camp, or start a season, won;’t help Mike Williams, nor Rivers, nor the offense.

And knowing the injury history of these other receivers, you worry what could be a strength, won’t be, because the words ‘Chargers-another injury’ are always part of the conversation.

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