The San Diego Chargers landed arguably the top remaining free agent and bolstered their offensive line on Tuesday, signing OT Joseph Barksdale to a one-year contract.
The #Chargers will sign OT Joseph Barksdale to a 1-year deal, source said. Base minimum, $350K to sign, $1M more available in incentives.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 19, 2015
That’s exceptional value for San Diego, as the 6-foot-5, 326-pound right tackle has been arguably the best offensive lineman in St. Louis over the last two seasons, and he’s missed just three starts during that span.
His play regressed a little bit in the run game last year, but he was one of the league’s top right tackles in pass protection last season.
Just a couple of months ago, Rotoworld projected Barksdale to land a pretty big contract on the open market, roughly similar to the five-year, $32 million deal Jermey Parnell got in Jacksonville.
It was a mystery why his market was so quiet, until Turf Show Times revealed that he got married and left the country for his honeymoon around the start of free agency.
It’s a little puzzling that the wedding and honeymoon was scheduled for April, as he likely would’ve made millions if he would’ve gotten married in February, April, May or June.
But if he performs well in San Diego this year, he should land a big contract next spring.
Barksdale, 27, also drew interest from the Titans, Rams and Falcons, but the former 2011 third round pick (No. 92 overall) out of LSU visited the Chargers on Monday and apparently was sold on San Diego.
The addition of Barksdale could cause San Diego to kick D.J. Fluker inside to right guard. Chris Watt is penciled in at center with LG Orlando Franklin and LT King Dunlap holding down the left side.
Check out a series of interesting videos below related to the San Diego Chargers.
Meanwhile in St. Louis, second round pick Rob Havenstein (No. 57 overall) looks to replace Barksdale at right tackle. Third-round Louisville OT Jamon Brown (No. 72 overall) and fourth round Iowa OT Andrew Donnal (No. 119 overall) will also compete for playing time.
Prior to the draft, St. Louis’ projected starting OL stood as follows: LT Greg Robinson, LG Rodger Saffold, C Demetrius Rhaney, RG Brandon Washington and RT Garrett Reynolds.
Check out a series of interesting videos below related to the St. Louis Rams.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The post Chargers Bolster Offensive Line, Land Top Free Agent appeared first on GridironGrit.com.
