If Jim Harbaugh has made one thing abundantly clear so far in his short tenure with the Los Angeles Chargers, it’s that he is absolutely willing to swipe what he needs from the Baltimore Ravens and their head coach and his brother, John Harbaugh.
Free agency may give the younger Harbaugh bro another chance to yank another former Raven onto his team. This time in the form of a running back.
The second thing Jim Harbaugh has made clear is that the Chargers will be a power-running team. Which means you need a power running back. Such names as Saquon Barkley have been floated as options for the Chargers, but the fact of the matter is the Chargers are still well over the salary cap. So a budget option may be their only option.
The Los Angeles Chargers Could Land Gus Edwards For A Fraction Of The Price Of Saquon. And Still Have A Better Running Back.
Enter Gus Edwards. Edwards is a Saquon-sized, 6’1″, 238, and has proven to be more durable and quite possibly a better running back. Edwards has a career average of 4.9 yards per carry, .6 more than Barkley. That seems small but had Barkely equaled Edwards, he would have an additional 720 career rushing yards.
The Gus Bus also has a rushing success percentage of 57.4, beating Barkley’s by a mile. Barkley has only been successful on 42.5 percent of his rushing attempts.
Edwards has experience playing in Greg Roman’s offense. Roman was his offensive coordinator from 2018-2022.
The kicker may be the price tag. It is estimated that Barkley will fetch around $10 million per year. Edwards? A fraction of that at an estimated $3.6 million.
