https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/lists/chargers-free-agency-grades-gus-edwards-will-dissly/

Alex Insdorf
March 12, 2024 12:24 pm PT

The Chargers made some signings yesterday as the legal tampering window
opened in free agency. While Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh still work
through what to do with the big four restructured contracts, there was
still value that LA couldn’t pass up on the market. Monday ended with
bringing in Gus Edwards and Will Dissly externally, plus an internal
extension for Alohi Gilman.

RB Gus Edwards: A-

In a much larger philosophical sense than the Edwards signing itself,
the Chargers had to decide what they wanted to get out of this running
back market. Names like Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs were rumored for
LA. Yesterday, in the early window, both got $12+M in AAV contracts.

For me, it just never made sense to pay a running back big money on the
market while looking at the teams’ depth chart. TE, IDL, IOL, CB, RB, S,
LB, etc. are just some of the spots that needed to be filled prior to
yesterday’s proceedings. High cash flows for a big-name running back
would’ve been a tough decision to stomach from a team-building standpoint.

Edwards has more experience with the Greg Roman scheme than anyone and
is coming off an efficient season in which he put up 800+ yards on 4.1
YPC with the Ravens. His cap hit in 2024 will be $2.25 million.

Last year, Edwards had more explosive runs over 10+ yards on fewer
attempts than both Austin Ekeler and Josh Jacobs. Yes, he’s the big
240-pound running back by committee rotation guy who isn’t going to
excite the fanbase. That’s exactly what the Chargers needed from a
football standpoint if they wanted to be successful. In his time with
Roman, Edwards was fourth in rush yards over expected in the entire
league with 0.7.

They’re not done with the running back position this offseason. They’re
absolutely still drafting a guy and may dig deep into the value of the
second and third weeks of free agency if someone cheap is available. But
Edwards on a sub $3 million cap hit is a start. More importantly, in the
macro, it was the smart team-building decision compared to the alternatives.

TE Will Dissly: B+

With Harbaugh in the fold, let’s just say it’s not coincidental that the
teams’ first two signings were a big short-yardage back and a blocking
tight end. Will Dissly can be a solid receiver when he’s asked to be,
but the Chargers are mainly paying for the blocking aspect in Roman’s
offense.

Via PFF, Dissly had an 83.5 pass-blocking grade and a 77.2 run-blocking
grade. The issue in Seattle mainly stemmed from the cap hit he was on
for 2024, which was in excess of $10 million. But that actually works in
the Chargers’ favor: Dissly will not count against the comp pick formula
as a cut. To some extent, that had to be a factor that appealed to
Hortiz when he made this deal.

The Chargers still need to find a primary receiving tight end. For that,
they probably pivot towards the draft at this point unless they can get
some cheaper value later in free agency. At this stage of his career,
Dissly is a little more one-dimensional as a tight end than I would
like. But he’s being brought here to block and probably will have a low
year-one cap hit on a $4.7M AAV deal. Can’t argue with the process.

S Alohi Gilman: A

Personally, it never made sense for the Chargers to dip their toes into
the safety market when they could just opt to bring back Alohi Gilman.
And that’s exactly what they did.

Gilman’s two-year, $10.1 million deal is a bit above what PFF had
previously projected for him at around three million per year. But
according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim, other teams were supposedly interested in
the Chargers’ free agent safety at last week’s NFL Combine, which
probably drove the price up a bit.

Still, even though it exceeded projections, the Chargers are bringing
back a great 2023 performer on just a $3.3 million cap hit for 2024. It
made too much sense. Gilman was a great free safety on tape last year
and was one of the defense’s bright spots.

As a smart coverage player, good tackler, and a bona fide turnover
creator, Gilman is at least one very positive defensive aspect Jesse
Minter will inherit from the previous regime.