19 Replacements Kept by Chargers
Nineteen were kept, 38 were cut. Management dismantled the replacement Chargers Tuesday, in a fashion befitting the team’s short life.
The replacements had been ordered to be dressed and taped and ready for a workout at 4 p.m. Tuesday. When they had gathered in the San Diego State locker room at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, coaches ordered them upstairs for a team meeting.
As they filed out the door, certain players were grabbed and pulled out of line. Those players skipped the meeting and headed straight for the practice field. At least for this week, they are regular Chargers.
The rest of the replacements walked up to a meeting room, where they were told go back downstairs, undress and leave. They were out.
Said tackle Dan Rosado, who made it: “Ah, America, what a great country.”
Said defensive end Monte Bennett, who didn’t: “It was kind of screwed up the way they did it. But what the heck. What else was I going to do today?”
The Chargers, who could keep as many as 26 replacements to reach the league limit of 85 total players, still kept a number that was among the highest in the league. Some teams did not keep any. But then, only two other replacement teams were unbeaten.
“That we kept so many is a reflection on their performance,” said Steve Ortmayer, director of football operations.
They might only last a week, because the 85-man limit is expected to be reduced next week. And they might not ever get to step on a game field, because come Saturday, the Chargers can activate only 45.
But one more paycheck is one more paycheck.
“The odds were totally against us in the first place,” said linebacker Mike Humiston, who made it. “To make it this far is great in itself. All along, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected.”
Ortmayer, Coach Al Saunders and the staff chose the players based as much on anticipated position need as ability. They chose five linebackers, four offensive linemen, three defensive backs, three defensive linemen, two wide receivers, a quarterback and a running back.
Notable among the ones who made it were defensive back Elvis Patterson and wide receiver Al Williams, both of whom could make this week’s final 45. Other key figures making it were quarterback Rick Neuheisel, running back Keyvan Jenkins and tackle Curtis Rouse.
The biggest surprise among the cuts was Tony Simmons, a defensive end who was on the Chargers’ injured list all last season. He was certainly among the best 19 replacements, but there was no room at his position.
“I’m stunned,” he said. “I was so sure I was going to make it. If I had known this, at our team party last night I would have partied like it was the last time I would be here. I didn’t drink or anything, thinking I would be practicing today.”
Said Williams: “In a way, it’s hard for everybody. It felt weird to be out there on the field today, and all the guys you have gotten close to, they weren’t there.”
But now comes the harder part. Today, for the first time, the replacements must practice with the regulars.
“It’s going to be a long day,” Williams said. “We have to expect anything. We don’t know what is going to happen.”
Said Humiston, who engaged in several on-field fights with other replacements: “I’m sure there will be altercations these first few days. But we replacements are going to keep playing the way we have the last three weeks, and if the regulars don’t like it, it’s pretty much too bad.”
And if the replacements survive these first few days? If a couple of them even make the active roster for Sunday? It still means nothing. Their fight to be a Charger is still just beginning.
“Just because a replacement plays on Sunday against Kansas City doesn’t mean he is a better athlete or player than a regular,” Saunders said. “On the whole, the skill level of the regulars is a notch higher than the replacements. We play a guy Sunday because he is more ready to play Sunday, better conditioned or whatever. We go with our best 45 as of this week. That doesn’t mean next week or down the road.”
Charger Notes Other replacements making the cut were linebackers Jeffrey Jackson, Randy Kirk, John Taylor and Pat Miller; offensive linemen Greg Feasel and Dwight Wheeler, defensive linemen Joe Phillips, Blaise Winter and Les Miller; defensive backs Darrel Hopper and Walt Harris, and receiver Danny Greene. . . . Running back Barry Redden was still missing Tuesday, but he called Coach Al Saunders in the middle of the afternoon and will be in today. “He was home in Tampa and wasn’t sure of our schedule,” said Saunders, who said he had not yet decided whether to fine Redden. . . . Nose guard Mike Charles suffered what Saunders termed a “profound groin pull” in Tuesday’s workout, the first in pads since Sept. 20.
