Chargers Sign Former College Sprinter After Minicamp

After getting a few more practices/workouts in during mandatory minicamp this week, the Los Angeles Chargers now get prepared for training camp next month.

However, before the Chargers start their preparation for minicamp, they’ve made a couple of moves on the 90-man roster. On Friday, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz reported that Los Angeles signed recently retired safety Tony Jefferson.

In addition to Jefferson, the Chargers announced that they signed wide receiver Praise Olatoke, per ESPN’s Kris Rhim. Olatoke has no college football experience as he ran track and field at Ohio State. 

Olatoke also participated in the NFL's International Pathway Program pro-day and is part of the program.

Chargers News: LA Signs WR Praise Olatoke

Rhim reports that Olatoke was an All-Big-Ten sprinter, running a 10.27 in the 100m, and played club football at Ohio State. Olatoke joins an unproven Chargers’ wide receiver unit that features a lot of young players after the organization moved on from Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason.

Los Angeles hopes Olatoke can make some noise in training camp on special teams with his blazing speed, especially with the league’s new kickoff rules. The new Chargers wide receiver grabbed first-team all-conference honors in 2022 after leading Ohio State’s 4x100m relay team to the championship, running a blistering 39.12.

A lot of teams around the league are looking for any advantage they can gain through the new kickoff rules, whether using a position player to do kickoffs or putting the fastest guy on returns. It will be interesting to see if the 6-foot-2 wide receiver can win a job in training camp, as the Chargers are loaded at wide receiver.

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