One of the few teams that was able to outplay their Banged-Up Score health ranking this past season was the Los Angeles Chargers. A team absolutely battered and bruised all season with injuries to stars on both sides of the ball they were still able to make the playoffs despite finishing 27 out of 32 teams in their average B.U.S Position throughout the regular season. The injuries continued to pile up week after week with coaching staff and depth 2 players having to step up to make sure they accumulated enough wins for the post-season. In-fact even the Chargers had to make light of the situation as they continued to win in the face of adversity.
Los Angeles couldn’t seem to shake the injury bug as the medical staff dealt with nagging soft tissue injuries, re-aggravations, head trauma and acute severe injuries throughout last season. The Chargers overall health trend as seen by the B.U.S graphic below shows the downward trend that their health took as the season progressed. Though we always expect a drop off from the 1st few weeks as teams will only get more banged up as the season moves on we like to see it steady itself which shows players hopefully returning if others get injured or the best case scenario, less injuries.
Unlike the graph trend from the Chief, one of the healthiest teams last year. Whose Banged Up Score never fell below 78.8 and worked its way back to an 89.3, the Chargers trend downwards was constant falling to a season low 50.6 in week 10 and only climbing back to a 61 before dropping for their loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Though they were able to climb slightly as they worked for a playoff spot it was no surprise that the injuries eventually caught up to them. The Wild Card match-up between them and the Jaguars saw one of the biggest playoff discrepancies in BUS scores with Jacksonville entering the game with a 78.2 and Los Angeles a 57.9. Even with mistakes by Trevor Lawrence it proved too much for the Chargers to overcome.
One of the prime issues for Brandon Staley and his squad (outside of playing starters week 18 when he didn’t need to be resulting in injury, but I digress) was the importance of players injured. Possibly, only the 49ers had “more important” players injured and that may be because they were all to the same position who just so happens to run the offense. The Chargers meanwhile lost both Keenan Allen (Hamstring) and Mike Williams (High Ankle) at various points this season. They lost starting corner J.C. Jackson to a ruptured patella and Joey Bosa to a groin injury. Their starting safety Derwin James had to be held out of a few games for an array of issues while their offensive leader played through a rib injury that most thought he would sit out for.
Those types of players on both sides of the ball and you can add kicker Dustin Hopkins to make it all three sectors of the game is hard to bounce back from. Even so, making it to the playoffs was a feat in itself and if not for blowing a 27-point lead would have been playing in the divisional round. Say what you want about the team and their record over the last two years, but from a health standpoint, that is incredible.
This offseason will no doubt be used to recover from multiple surgeries and heal up from the ailments suffered by many this past season. Players should be consistently visiting the athletic training room keeping the medical staff busy as they get them healthy for OTA’s and training camp. Strength and conditioning coaches will hopefully be altering programs to reduce chronic issues like soft tissues strains as much as possible and get their athletes strong but also pliable so that they can grind through another full season in 2023-2024.
As we approach the draft the question remains how the chargers will use their picks. It could be an offensive lineman to protect Herbert, tight end to add to their weapons on offensive or perhaps a young talented linebacker to shore up their defense for next year. Find out their options tomorrow at thepredictors.com. One thing remains clear however, they will need less injuries if they want to go further next year. Star players can’t put points up from the sideline that’s why health matters.
