AFC Notes: Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

Chargers

The Chargers entered training camp with a wide-open competition at right tackle between Storm Norton and Trey Pipkins. At roughly the halfway point of camp, neither has really separated themselves from the other, as they continue to split first-team reps 50-50. However, Pipkins definitely doesn’t look as lost as he did at times in his first few seasons. 

“I feel like there’s confidence,” Chargers OC Joe Lombardi said via the Athletic’s Daniel Popper. “More consistency, understanding that you have to come out every day and be ready to go. I haven’t seen some of the dips, maybe, that we saw last year in his performance. A lot of consistency. He’s a talented guy. He’s been playing more like what you would expect from him so far in camp.”

• Popper thinks ideally the team would like fourth-round RB Isaiah Spiller to win the competition for primary backup but so far it remains wide open and will likely take preseason games to establish a winner.
• Chargers RB coach Derrick Foster praised Joshua Kelley‘s smarts and size, while highlighting Larry Rountree‘s physicality and pass-catching ability. He then added Spiller is a combination of both of them: “He’s the mold of both of them put together, because he has size, he has good speed, and then he has soft hands. This guy can run routes out of the backfield…Obviously we haven’t been live, but he’s had some pretty good runs that look really good so far. I like that part about his game, because he’s got good vision.”

Chiefs

Chiefs DC Steve Spagnulo has had high praise for his rookie defensive backs and continues to shed light on what CB Trent McDuffie has done ahead of his first season.

“[He has done a] great job,” Spagnuolo said of McDuffie, via ChiefsWire.com. “I think he’s done an outstanding job. We’ll probably move him around a little bit too, but we need to get him settled in a spot eventually. I think he’s competed really well with the bunch of really good veteran wideouts we have. The thing I like about Trent (McDuffie) is when it hasn’t gone great for him, he’s not one of those guys that sticks his head in the sand. He bounces right back up, that’s a good quality.”

Raiders

• Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes there’s no feeling at all that the Raiders are shopping RB Josh Jacobs in a trade.
• Even if he’s not in their long-term plans, Bosnignore points out the Raiders could receive a compensatory pick if Jacobs signs elsewhere in free agency next offseason. For 2022, the plan is for him to be their lead back.