The Chargers released Marquez Valdes-Scantling on Saturday. They are 0-5. If you are looking for the thing that is wrong with this team, the fifth receiver is not it.
Technically the move was procedural. Los Angeles activated KeAndre Lambert-Smith off injured reserve, signed linebacker Caleb Murphy to the active roster, elevated offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill and cornerback Isas Waxter, and needed a spot. Valdes-Scantling, promoted to the roster on September 23, was the spot.
He leaves with 219 career catches, 3,686 yards and 21 touchdowns across 116 games, and with two catches for 22 yards in the loss to Denver. He will get another job somewhere, probably quickly, given how many teams are down receivers.
The Numbers Behind 0-5
Los Angeles ranks 30th in offensive success rate at 41.3 percent and last in the league in expected points added per play. The team has given the ball away 13 times, seven on interceptions and six on lost fumbles. Justin Herbert has been sacked 17 times.
Now look at who is not playing up front. Rashawn Slater, Tyler Biadasz and Trey Pipkins are all on injured reserve. Joe Alt and Kayode Awosika are ruled out for Sunday at Kansas City. That is five offensive linemen unavailable for a team that has to protect a quarterback against the Chiefs.
Seventeen sacks in five games stops being a mystery once you line up that list. Jim Harbaugh built his reputation on running the ball and winning in the trenches, and he currently does not have the trenches.
Cutting a Receiver Does Not Fix This
At receiver, Tre Harris is out with a hamstring and Brenen Thompson is doubtful with a quad. Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston carry no designation. Lambert-Smith, back for the first time since mid-September, is questionable with a hamstring of his own. Harbaugh said Lambert-Smith brings juice and speed, and he is right that the Chargers need both.
But speed at receiver is a luxury item for an offense that cannot keep a pass rush off its quarterback for three seconds. The problem is structural, and the roster moves available in mid-October do not touch it.
This is the part that should worry Chargers fans most. The injuries on the offensive line are not the kind you wait out. Slater, Biadasz and Pipkins are on injured reserve, which means the best version of this line is not walking back through the door before November at the earliest.
Harbaugh went 11-6 in each of his first two seasons in Los Angeles. That buys patience, and he will get it. But a team that opened at 0-5 and now travels to Arrowhead with five linemen out is not a team one personnel tweak away from a run.
Kansas City will look at five Chargers linemen on the inactive list and know exactly what to do with that information, and the Chiefs have a quarterback who does not need five seconds to throw on the other end of it.
Cutting Valdes-Scantling was housekeeping. What the Chargers need is a construction crew.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.