For better or worse, 53-man roster is set

Although there weren’t any Earth-shattering decisions, the San Diego Chargers made a couple surprising cuts to get to the 53-man roster limit last Friday. Perhaps the most unexpected cut was the release of fullback/special teams stud Jacob Hester, whom the Chargers traded a 2009 second-round selection to move up and get in the third round of the 2008 NFL draft. (Nice work on that one, A.J. Smith).

Nevertheless, for better or worse, San Diego is all set for the 2012 regular season. Here’s the 53-man roster.

Quarterback

1.      Philip Rivers

2.      Charlie Whitehurst

Running back

1.      Ryan Mathews

2.      Ronnie Brown

3.      Jackie Battle

4.      Curtis Brinkley

Fullback

1.      Le’Ron McClain

Wide receiver

1.      Robert Meachem

2.      Malcom Floyd

3.      Eddie Royal

4.      Vincent Brown

5.      Richard Goodman

6.      Michael Spurlock

Tight end

1.      Antonio Gates

2.      Randy McMichael

3.      Dante Rosario

4.      Ladarius Green

Left tackle

1.      Jared Gaither

2.      Michael Harris

Left guard

1.      Tyronne Green

2.      Rex Hadnot

Center

1.      Nick Hardwick

2.      David Molk

Right guard

1.      Louis Vasquez

Right tackle

1.      Jeromey Clary

Offensive concerns: With Gaither out with a mysterious back injury, the line may be the worst in the NFL. Harris is an undrafted rookie protecting Rivers’ blind side, and at the other end Clary is simply not a starter in the NFL. Therefore, the immense talent at the skill positions will probably be wasted for yet another season. Expect to see a lot of one- and two-yard gains on first down followed by Rivers running for his life on second and third downs.

With Vincent Brown out with an ankle injury that will prevent him from playing for half the season, there’s also uncertainty at the wide receiver position. Due to an injured hamstring, Royal missed a lot of time this preseason, so he didn’t get much work with Rivers. Meanwhile Meachem, expected to take hold of the #1 receiver role, hasn’t seemed to get in sync with Rivers. It’s also pretty much a given that Floyd will suffer an injury that will keep him out of action for a handful of games.
 

Right defensive end

1.      Corey Liuget

Nose tackle

1.      Antonio Garay

2.      Aubrayo Franklin

3.      Cam Thomas

Left defensive end

1.      Vaughn Martin

2.      Kendall Reyes

Strong outside linebacker

1.      Jarret Johnson

2.      Melvin Ingram

Inside linebacker

1.      Takeo Spikes

2.      Donald Butler

3.      Demorrio Williams

4.      Jonas Mouton

5.      Andrew Gachkar

Weak outside linebacker

1.      Shaun Phillips

2.      Antwan Barnes

3.      Larry English

Cornerback

1.      Quentin Jammer

2.      Antoine Cason

3.      Shareece Wright

4.      Marcus Gilchrist

Free safety

1.      Eric Weddle

2.      Darrell Stuckey

Strong safety

1.      Atari Bigby

2.      Brandon Taylor

 
Defensive concerns: There are just four cornerbacks on the 53-man roster, and none of them is a top-25 player at his position at this point. The Chargers are going up against some premier passing offenses (Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, Pittsburgh—to name a handful), so let’s hope Jammer and Cason hold it down, and Gilchrist and Wright make a lot of progress as sophomores.

Strong safety doesn’t look too bad, but let’s hope Taylor is the man to take over the position for many years to come. That spot needs a fixture, as it hasn’t had one since Rodney Harrison left following the 2002 season. Bigby is nothing more than stopgap.
 

Kicker

1.      Nate Kaeding

Punter

1.      Mike Scifres

Long snapper

1.      Mike Windt

Special teams concerns: I hate tobe  mean, but unless he proves otherwise with clutch kicks in the postseason, Kaeding will go down as one of the biggest choke artists the NFL has ever seen. Thus far in his career Kaeding has been nothing more than a respectful Mike Vanderjagt.