Well, anybody who knows anything about football could have seen this one coming: LaDainian Tomlinson was released by the San Diego Chargers on Monday. Really, he hasn’t been effective for the past two seasons, being used mainly in goal line situations to pad his TD stats, and looked like he’s never really mentally recovered from having to start sharing his carries with Michael Turner and then Darren Sproles.
San Diego made the right move here – it was clearly time to move on. With Tomlinson set to earn big bucks while continually declining on the field, they had no choice. The Chargers will now go into the draft looking to pluck one of the many young suitors to compliment Sproles, who lacks in the size department. Ironically, had the team kept Turner from heading to Atlanta two off-seasons ago, he and Sproles could have combined for a wonderful combination of power and speed out of the backfield. But it was still impossible to write off LDT back then.
What’s next for one of the greatest RBs of all time? I’m sure he’ll be hoping for a starting role somewhere, but that’s not exactly the most realistic of situations. Mike Shanahan might want him to play a semi-big role in Washington if he could ship out Clinton Portis, who had been traded by the coach in the past. The Texans back field is uncertain since Steve Slaton can’t hold onto the ball and was even benched last season. Would the Seahawks sign LDT after going through the same scenario with Shaun Alexander a few seasons ago?
Well, that’s the joy of the NFL’s year-round calendar, there’s never nothing going on – especially with these pesky labour negotiations.