All draft picks signed

The San Diego Chargers' roster is now all set for training camp this July, as the team signed third-round pick Brandon Taylor yesterday. The safety from LSU was the last of the seven draft selections to agree to a contract.

San Diego liked Taylor so much it traded up to get him in the third round. He will vie for the starting strong safety spot next to All-Pro free safety Eric Weddle.

Considered a very formidable hitter, the 5-11, 209-pound Taylor had 71 tackles and two interceptions in 2011. The hope is he could be the long-term answer at strong safety, as the Chargers haven't had a fixture at the position since Rodney Harrison left following the 2002 season.

Taylor's two toughest competitors for the starting spot will be Atari Bigby, a veteran who was signed to a two-year contract this offseason, and 2010 fourth-round pick Darrell Stuckey.

Bolts come to terms with Baker

In need of a complement to running back Ryan Mathews, the San Diego Chargers signed seventh-round draft pick Edwin Baker to a four-year deal last night. Baker, a running back out of Michigan State, was the sixth Chargers draft selection to sign a contract this week. The only draft pick left to reach a deal with San Diego is LSU safety Brandon Taylor, the team's third-round choice.

Baker left Michigan State a year early to enter this April's NFL draft. In three years with the Spartans, he rushed for 2,293 yards and 19 touchdowns. His best season was in 2010, when he ran for 1,201 yards and 13 touchdowns. Many draft experts believe the Chargers got quite a steal with Baker in the seventh round, and the hope is he'll be the ideal backup to Mathews, San Diego's first-round pick in 2010.

Chargers sign rookies Green and Troutman

Making even more progress in what has been a very good offseason, the San Diego Chargers have signed two more of their draft picks . The team inked fourth-round selection Ladarius Green and fifth-rounder Johnnie Troutman today. Each of them agreed to four-year deals.

Green, a 6-6, 238-pound tight end out of Louisiana-Lafayette, is expected to eventually make big plays in the passing game. He caught 95 passes for 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns over the last two seasons of his college career.

The Chargers will probably carry four tight ends in 2012, with All-Pro Antonio Gates and versatile veteran Randy McMichael likely assured of the top two spots on the depth chart. Dante Rosario, formerly of the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos, will compete with Kory Sperry for the last spot. Although Green needs to improve his blocking, he could make an impact early on in double-tight end packages with Gates during passing situations.

Troutman, a 6-4, 325-pound offensive guard out of Penn State, will likely sit out his rookie season, due to a pectoral injury that required surgery days prior to the NFL draft. San Diego has high hopes for him, as he didn't allow a sack in any of the 32 games he started at left guard for the Nittany Lions. There are also indications that he's a very disciplined player, considering he didn't commit a penalty during his senior year. With guards Tyronne Green and Louis Vasquez both entering the final year of their rookie contracts, Troutman could very well compete for a starting role in 2013.

The Chargers have just two draft picks left to sign: third-round selection Brandon Taylor, a safety out of LSU, and Michigan State running back Edwin Baker, a seventh-round choice. The team's three-day rookie minicamp will begin tomorrow.

Three rookies agree to deals

Taking advantage of the new collective bargaining agreement and rookie wage scale, the San Diego Chargers came to terms with three of their draft picks today. Outside linebacker Melvin Ingram, defensive lineman Kendall Reyes, and center David Molk all agreed to deals and will not hold out this summer.

Ingram, who played defensive end at South Carolina, agreed to a four-year contract, and the Chargers will have the right to exercise an option for a fifth season. Reyes, who played defensive tackle at Connecticut, and Molk, who started 41 games at center for Michigan, both agreed to four-year deals.

At the very least, Ingram and Reyes are both expected to make immediate impacts during passing situations. Molk, meanwhile, will compete with Colin Baxter for the backup center job to longtime starter Nick Hardwick.

Now that Ingram, Reyes, and Molk are all set to report for work, San Diego has to reach deals with third-round pick Brandon Taylor, fourth-rounder Ladarius Green, fifth-rounder Johnnie Troutman, and Edwin Baker, their other seventh-round selection.

The Chargers will have a three-day rookie minicamp that will start this Friday.

LaBoy released; time for English to step up



This season Larry English (right) needs to show why the Chargers picked him in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft

After signing former Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Jarret Johnson and investing a first-round pick on South Carolina defensive end Melvin Ingram this offseason, the San Diego Chargers, feeling "overloaded" with pass-rushers, released Travis LaBoy this morning.

A second-round pick of the Titans in the 2004 draft, LaBoy spent his first seven seasons in the NFL with Tennessee, the Arizona Cardinals, and the San Francisco 49ers before signing a two-year deal with San Diego last summer. He made 14 starts with the Chargers last season but was ineffective as a pass-rusher, as evidenced by him finishing the year with just one sack.

LaBoy's release is good news for Larry English, San Diego's first-round pick in 2009. Labeled by many as a bust already, it was speculated that English would have to compete for a roster spot with LaBoy this summer. Now that LaBoy is gone, however, English has a better chance of making the team.

At the moment, the Chargers have six outside linebackers on their roster: English, Ingram, Johnson, Antwan Barnes, Daryl Gamble, and Shaun Phillips. San Diego should carry five outside linebackers on its regular-season roster in 2012, and English should beat Gamble out for the final spot. The key for English is remaining healthy, as he's missed a total of 19 games over the last two seasons with injuries. He has a total of seven sacks in 29 games thus far in his three-year career.

In other Chargers'-related news, the team signed veteran offensive lineman Rex Hadnot to a one-year contract last week. Hadnot, selected in the sixth round of the 2004 draft by the Miami Dolphins, has experience at both center and guard. In addition to the Dolphins, he's played with the Cleveland Browns and the Arizona Cardinals. He will provide depth to the interior line, which is crucial to the team's well-being now that Johnnie Troutman, whom the Chargers picked in the fifth round nine days ago, is likely out for the entire 2012 season, thanks to a torn pectoral muscle he suffered while lifting weights two weeks before the draft. Hadnot will join Brandyn Dombrowski and Stephen Schilling as the backups to Tyronne Green and Louis Vasquez.

And finally, the Chargers have expressed interest in a reunion with cornerback Drayton Florence. San Diego's second-round pick of the 2003 draft, Florence spent five years with the Chargers before joining the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2008. He was with the Buffalo Bills for the last three seasons.

Florence has 53 starts in his nine-year career, and although the Bills had valid reasons for releasing him, he would provide great depth to a cornerback unit that currently possesses Quentin Jammer, Antoine Cason, Marcus Gilchrist, and Shareece Wright.

Chargers icon Junior Seau found dead

San Diego Chargers fans, and the NFL in general, were hit with devastating news today when it was reported that Junior Seau had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Oceanside, California, home this morning. He was 43.

The following was written in U-T San Diego:

Seau’s girlfriend called 911 at 9:35 a.m. reporting a possible suicide, said Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy. Officers found Seau in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the chest. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

A handgun was found near his body, and police are investigating the death as a suicide, McCoy said. No suicide note was found on scene, police said.

An autopsy is expected to be completed Thursday, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Signs of trouble in Seau’s life surfaced in October 2010, when he was arrested at his home on suspicion of assaulting his 25-year-old girlfriend. She did not require medical treatment.

Hours later, after he bailed out of jail, Seau’s Cadillac Escalade swerved off Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad and plunged down a 30-foot coastal bluff. Officers said he had fallen asleep at the wheel. He was hospitalized with injuries.

At the time, Seau’s ex-wife, Gina, said he would never hurt anyone, including himself. The District Attorney’s Office did not charge Seau in the domestic violence incident.

Suffice it to say, Seau's death came as a shock to many, and his passing leaves plenty of us deeply saddened. In addition, his suicide leads many to wonder if he falls into the same category that former Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and Phoenix Cardinals defensive back Dave Duerson has been placed. On February 17, 2001 Duerson also took his own life by shooting himself in the chest. Less than three months later it was confirmed by reseacher neurologists at Boston University that Duerson had suffered from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions.

As evidenced with Seau's 12 Pro Bowl appearances and six All-Pro honors during his playing days with San Diego, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots over his 20-year NFL career, it's clear he was an outstanding football player, one of the best in Chargers history, and will likely be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But his charitable work and generosity off the field, which helped him earn the NFL Man of the Year award in 1994, truly typified what he was about. He was the face of San Diego, a hometown hero, and will be sorely missed.

Rest in peace, Junior.

Ingram is missing piece to Chargers' championship defense

It's a deflating feeling when the San Diego Chargers are eliminated from the playoffs. Devoted fans of the Bolts have experienced that depression far too often.

For me, when it's clear the Chargers aren't going to win the Super Bowl, which has come into reality by Week 16 over the last two seasons, I fall into the trap of believing I actually possess the knowledge to put the team over the top. In other words, I all of a sudden become the San Diego Chargers general manager in my own mind, leading me to fantasize about signing the right free agents and drafting future Hall of Famers.

During this offseason, I looked into as many prospects as I could find, but I was well aware of South Carolina defensive end Melvin Ingram before that. As a fan who watches college football each Saturday during the fall, there was no way I could have missed Ingram's 68-yard fake punt run for a touchdown against Georgia last September 10.

Even so, I wasn't mesmerized by Ingram's skills, and I favored USC's Nick Perry, Illinois' Whitney Mercilus, and Clemson's Andre Branch when it came to the possibilities of filling the Chargers' need at pass-rushing outside linebacker. And admittedly, when San Diego general manager A.J. Smith was on the clock with the 18th overall pick in the first round last Thursday, I was screaming for him to select either Stanford offensive guard David DeCastro or Iowa offensive tackle Riley Reiff.

Now that the days have rolled by, however, I have changed my mind completely. Now I love Ingram. A player I was hoping the Chargers wouldn't draft in the first round is now the man I expect to be the missing piece to a championship defense. Yeah, that's right; I'm no different than the rest of the nutty fans who change their minds when a player joins their team.

Anyway, it seems as though every draft expert believes the Chargers made one of the best picks in the entire draft. Reading glowing reports of Ingram after the selection was made was very nice, but what was even better was reading what was written about him before the draft. My favorite was written by Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports Shutdown Corner.

In his predraft scouting report, Farrar mentions that Ingram is an elite defensive player who has just one flaw: his short arms. But Farrar, who compares Ingram to Pittsburgh Steelers standout linebacker Lamar Woodley, believes teams passing on the South Carolina product for that shortcoming are making a huge mistake.

"Teams that are building their defenses with size as the main priority will shy away from Ingram, and they may very well regret it when he's beating the crap out of their quarterbacks for the next decade,," Farrar writes. "For teams in need of versatile players who do many things very well, Ingram will be of more interest. I would think that any defensive coordinator with a preference for multiple fronts would love to have him in the palette.

"There are great cornerbacks that get more play at the top of mock boards, but I believe that Melvin Ingram is the best overall defensive player in the 2012 draft class. As an every-down, every-gap, every-direction force, he stands alone."

I read this scouting report a few days before the draft and totally disagreed with Farrar. Now that Ingram is a Charger, I fully believe Farrar has an amazing eye for talent, and I know absolutely nothing.

Welcome to San Diego, Melvin Ingram!