One position battle that may work against the Chargers

Los Angeles Chargers veterans reported to training camp in Costa Mesa, California, this week. With all but one of the team's offensive starters returning, the focus is further down the depth chart.

Specifically, the tight end battle behind Gerald Everett is pivotal for the execution of new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's system.

One reason Chargers head coach Brandon Staley hired Moore as his new offensive coordinator was to fulfill Staley's desire to marry the run and pass games:

"The offenses that I think are the most challenging to defend are the ones that put a lot of pressure on you every snap, in terms of marrying the run game to the pass game, putting a lot of pressure on you with personnel groupings, pace, motion, and being able to get the explosions consistently," Staley said in January. "I want to have an offense that mirrors our defense because I think that those are the types of organizations, those are the type of football teams, who are consistent, game-in and game-out, season-in and season-out."

As the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator last season, Moore used 12 personnel — an offensive package consisting of one running back and two tight ends — at the 12th-highest rate in the NFL. It's extremely efficient to pass out of this personnel grouping because of how defenses are forced to match the multiple tight ends with bigger, slower players of their own.

Everett is not the only tight end who will get snaps in this offense. In fact, former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi didn't even let Everett on the field for more than half of the Chargers' running snaps in 2022. 

That doesn't mean Everett won't see the field on running snaps. While his value lies in the passing game (Everett forced the second-most missed tackles among tight ends last season behind only Kansas City's Travis Kelce), an offense can't simply take one player in or out of the game based on whether it's a run or a pass.

With veteran Richard Rodgers leaving in free agency, Tre' McKitty and Donald Parham are the two tight ends relevant to this conversation.

Entering his third season, McKitty hasn't shown he's a capable run-blocker. His 37.7 run-blocking grade in 2022 ranked 80th out of 84 tight ends who were on the field for at least 20% of their team's run-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

Parham, on the other hand, has excelled as a run-blocker ... when he's on the field. Between two concussions and a hamstring injury, Parham has missed 14 games over the past two seasons. The 6-foot-8 tight end has yet to progress as a downfield threat.

Not many teams feature tight ends who excel in both facets of offense. Tight ends who do are often considered among the best in the league. Moore had one of those players in Dallas with Dalton Schultz. The Chargers have none. Moore may have to alter how he goes about marrying the run and the pass.

After a 2023 draft in which the Chargers did not select a tight end, Moore said he is willing to adapt.

"We'll do whatever suits us best as we kind of build this thing. I am excited about the guys we have."