Official Chargers Blog

RUNNING BACK: Three-time Pro Bowl selection LaDainian Tomlinson is the team’s starting running back...in five seasons, Tomlinson has rushed for 7,361 yards and 72 touchdowns…LT rushed for 1,462 yards and a career-high 18 touchdowns in 2005…Michael Turner proved to be a capable backup to Tomlinson in 2005, rushing for 335 yards and three touchdowns, including an 83-yard scoring run in the Bolts’ Dec. 18 win at Indianapolis…the bruising Turner averaged nearly six yards a carry (5.9) last season…Darren Sproles primarily handled kickoff and punt returns as a rookie in 2005 though the coaches plan to get him more involved in the offense in 2006…Ray Perkins spent his rookie season in 2005 on the team’s practice squad…Larry Croom, the former Arizona Cardinal, rushed for a team-leading 427 yards and six touchdowns for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe in 2006…Croom played in six games for the Cardinals in 2004…Bryson Sumlin and Tyronne Gross both are competing as rookie free agents.

FULLBACK: Lorenzo Neal was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2005 after paving the way for the Chargers to rush for 2,072 yards…Neal has been a lead blocker for a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last nine seasons…Andrew Pinnock has played primarily on special teams, but the fourth-year player out of South Carolina should see his role increase as a blocking back…Pinnock played in 12 games last season…Shawn Willis is a rookie free agent from Oklahoma State.

TIGHT END: Two-time Pro Bowl choice Antonio Gates starts at tight end…Gates has caught 194 career passes for 2,454 yards and 25 touchdowns…he’s caught 23 touchdown passes over the last two seasons and is the first tight end in NFL history to catch 10 or more touchdown passes in consecutive seasons…Brandon Manumaleuna came to the Chargers in a 2006 draft-day trade from the St. Louis Rams for a fourth-round choice in ’06…he will be used primarily as a blocking tight end in the Chargers offense, however he caught 66 passes for 648 yards and six touchdowns in his first five seasons with the Rams…Aaron Shea joined the Chargers in 2006 as a free agent from the Cleveland Browns…Shea is a solid blocker and receiver, who caught 97 passes for 851 yards and seven touchdowns during his first six years, all with the Browns…Ryan Krause is a third-year player who missed most of the 2005 season with a foot injury and has been slowed by a hamstring injury during training camp…Kelly Griffeth is an undrafted rookie free agent from Fort Hays State.

WIDE RECEIVER: Keenan McCardell and Eric Parker are returning starters…McCardell, in his 15th season, is the NFL’s 10th all-time leading receiver with 825 catches…he ranks 19th with 10,680 yards…last season, McCardell caught 70 passes for 917 yards and a career-high nine touchdown passes…the speedy Parker set career-highs in 2005 with 57 catches and 725 yards while catching three touchdown passes…Vincent Jackson only caught three passes as a rookie in 2005, but at 6-5, 241 pounds, he has the size and speed to become one of the NFL’s top young wide receivers… Kassim Osgood has been a solid backup receiver and an outstanding special teams player…in 2005 he was the team’s leading special teams tackler with 19 stops late in the season before a pectoral injury brought a premature end to his season…some observers felt that if he’d stayed healthy that he would have been selected to play in the Pro Bowl…in three seasons, Osgood has 30 catches for 607 yards and four touchdowns…Malcom Floyd has spent the better part of his first two seasons on the practice squad…at 6-5, Floyd is one of the team’s tallest receivers and has made countless amazing catches in camp…Greg Camarillo earned a spot on the practice squad as a rookie in 2005 by running precise routes and demonstrating outstanding hands…he seems to catch just about every ball thrown his way…Robert Ortiz, Sean Coffey, Mark Simmons, Gerran Walker and Ricky Bryant are all free agents competing for roster spots…Ortiz is a native San Diegan and an alum of San Diego State...Coffey suffered a shoulder injury in training camp and isn’t expected to play in the preseason…Simmons stands just 5-10 but has demonstrated very good hands and quick feet…Walker was claimed by the Chargers off waivers from Indianapolis on Aug. 1…Bryant has NFL experience on New England’s practice squad and two years with the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe.

OFFENSIVE LINE: All five starters return along the offensive line, including LT Leander Jordan, LG Kris Dielman, C Nick Hardwick, RG Mike Goff and RT Shane Olivea…the line helped pave the way for the Chargers to rush for 2,072 yards in 2005, the team’s fourth-straight season with 2,000 or more yards…Jordan started nine games, Dielman started 14, Hardwick started 13, Goff was the only lineman to start all 16 games and Olivea started 15…LT Roman Oben is working his way back from offseason foot surgery…he started the first eight games in 2005…Cory Lekkerkerker, Scott Mruczkowski and Wes Sims all spent time on the active roster in 2005…Marcus McNeill was the team’s second-round draft pick in 2005 from Auburn…at 6-7, 336 McNeill is the one of the tallest players on the roster…Cory Withrow is a seventh year center-guard who was signed Aug. 9…Withrow played the first six seasons of his NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings…Ben Johnson spent time on the practice squad in 2005 and played for the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe in 2006…Jeromey Clary and Jimmy Martin were both late-round draft choices in 2006 and Nick Mihlhauser joined the team as a free agent.