Los Angeles Chargers: Three questions entering preseason week 1

1. Who is going to step up at tight end?

The Los Angeles Chargers had a very hard decision to make in the offseason; is it time to finally let Antonio Gates go?

Despite still being a decent producer and a good backup tight end, the Chargers opted to not use a roster spot on Gates and did not re-sign the veteran. That move was logical, as the team wanted to shift the focus to the tight end of the future, Hunter Henry.

Of course, that took a bad turn as Henry tore his ACL and will likely miss the entire season. The Chargers did bring in Virgil Green to be the backup prior to this injury, however, he is more of a run-blocking tight end.

Now, with no deal in sight with Gates, the preseason is going to be huge in determining who is going to be the Chargers’ premier passing tight end next season.

Braedon Bowman, Sean Culkin and Ben Johnson are the three tight ends that are going to be battling it out for playing time in the regular season and are listed in that order in the Chargers first unofficial depth chart.

Granted, plenty of things are going to change and that order is going to be moved around based on performance this preseason. I expect the Chargers to target the tight end position the most in week 1 to begin to get a feel.