The Los Angeles Chargers have been bitten hard by the injury bug once again. The Chargers have placed safety Jaylen Watkins on season-ending injured reserve after tearing his ACL, per Eric D. Williams of ESPN.
Watkins suffered the injury in the first half of Saturday's preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks when teammate Melvin Ingram inadvertently fell on his right leg while trying to sack quarterback Russell Wilson.
After spending the past four years as a backup and special teams player for the Philadelphia Eagles, Watkins signed a one-year, $880,000 deal with the Chargers during free agency in April. He played in 28 games for the Eagles over the last two years, making five starts and 47 tackles.
He had had a strong training camp and was competing for playing time at free safety job with first-round rookie Derwin James.
The unlucky Chargers have now lost four players for the year before the start of the regular season. Watkins is the third one to suffer a torn ACL following tight end Hunter Henry, who went down in May, and undrafted rookie tight end Austin Roberts, who did his in the opening week of training camp. Meanwhile, starting cornerback Jason Verrett suffered a torn Achilles just before the start of camp.
The Chargers filled Watkins' roster spot by claiming undrafted rookie safety Micah Hannemann off waivers from the Cleveland Browns.
As long as James delivers on his potential during his rookie season, the Chargers should be able to make do just fine without Watkins. But still, his loss is another blow to their secondary's depth, which could play a crucial part to their success this season.
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