NFL Training Camp: 10 most intriguing battles in 2023

#5, Los Angeles Chargers – Power back

Candidates: Joshua Kelley, Isaiah Spiller & Larry Rountree III

NFL Training Camp: 10 most intriguing battles in 2023

This is something the Bolts have struggled to find a solution to for a few years now. I may look very stupid if the Chargers end up signing one of the veterans like Kareem Hunt or Ezekiel Elliott still on the market, but let’s look at what we have to work with for now.

Kelley has seen by far the biggest usage among these three names. He’s played over 20% of offensive snaps each of his three years as a pro in LA, turning 255 combined touches into 1030 yards and four touchdowns. However, last season was the only time he went over 3.7 yards per touch (at 4.7) in large part because he had six carries of 10+ yards.

Kelley is an efficient mover between the tackles in terms of not losing time stopping his feet in the backfield and he runs hard with continuous leg drive, but he’s not somebody who adds something with the way he understands the conceptual ways of setting up runs or making things happen individually.

Plus, he dropped five of 30 catchable targets and has been up-and-down I’d say in pass-pro. His game certainly lends itself more to game plans where they could get into some heavier sets and run the ball extensively.

Spiller was not only my but also the consensus RB3 in last year’s draft behind only Breece Hall and Kenneth Walker III, who both looked like stars when they received the according opportunities. However, Spiller only appeared in six games, as a healthy scratch on several occasions, with 18 carries plus three receptions for just 54 combined yards.

At Texas A&M I thought his ability to translate information from his head to his feet and how effectively he can adjust his running path was highly impressive for a young player. He found the balance between urgency and patience depending on the run scheme, while he could make people miss in the backfield or at least minimize the surface area for tacklers whilst being 225 pounds.

I thought there were times when he should use that size more and his long speed isn’t great while having a reliable pair of hands and he got the job done as a pass-protector much better than most college backs.

Rountree comes in the mold of an inside banger the most. He was kind of a bowling ball at Missouri whose game hasn’t quite translated to the pro game. He’s carried the ball 49 times for just 106 yards and one TD across 16 career contests, as he jumped back and forth between practice squad and active roster.

The after-contact numbers aren’t where you’d like them to be for that profile since he doesn’t give you much in the passing game. With that being said, the Bolts did bring him back for one more year at nearly a million dollars. So they must like some stuff about him.

Austin Ekeler will of course handle the majority of touches, as somebody who had over 200 carries and 100 catches last season, along with leading the league in touchdowns for the second year in a row. However, they’d certainly like to reduce his workload a little bit, because while he’s proven that he can be an effective in-between-the-tackles runner, there’s room for a second guy to add more to their early down run game (which will now diversify under new OC Kellen Moore) along with taking pass-pro snaps.

To me the guy who most clearly fits that bill is Spiller. I really liked his pacing, understanding of concepts and not allowing defenders to get a straight shot at him. Plus, I saw him stone-wall some blitzers or at least push them off track at A&M, in order to give Justin Herbert time. Plus, I expect them to block things up more regularly rather than playing with five guys out as much.

Kelley has his value as a pure runner and they did bring back Rountree for a reason, but if the Chargers don’t bring in another veteran, I don’t see why Spiller couldn’t play close to 30% of snaps. I might be stuck up a little bit here with his college evaluation – I’ll admit that – but I don’t believe Kelley would be playing nearly half the snaps on teams if they looked at him as an integral piece to their offense.

With what Moore will ask of that role, Spiller is the guy I think can fulfill it best. Other than when he had a couple of defenders in the backfield before he could get back to the line of scrimmage, I liked what I saw against the Falcons and Chiefs – his only two outings with extended playing time.