Robert Benson-US Presswire
The San Diego Chargers chose Ryan Mathews with the 12th pick in round one of the 2010 NFL Draft. San Diego made a trade with the Miami Dolphins to move up from the 28th pick in round one to the 12th pick.
San Diego also traded a second round pick acquired from the Seattle Seahawks, a fourth round pick and linebacker Tim Dobbins. Mathews missed five games during the 2008 season in college with a knee injury.
Mathews also missed four games during his rookie season in 2010 with an ankle injury, missed two games last season with a groin and a calf injury and broke his clavicle in San Diego’s first preseason game this year.
Mathews was expected to miss 4-6 weeks at the time of this injury which happened on August 9, 2012. Mathews missed the team’s first regular season game on Monday and could miss Sunday’s home opener against the Tennessee Titans.
Dan McLellan of cbssports.com said that Mathews is unlikely to play on Sunday while Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune said that Mathews should play on Sunday.
Mathews has a tremendous amount of upside as he showed last season. Mathews ranked seventh in the NFL with 1,546 yards from scrimmage, 10th in rushing yards with 1,091 and 12th in rushing yards per game with 78.
Mathews’ 4.9 yards per attempt led all players in the top 10 in rushing yards as well. San Diego received a long term return on their investment with Philip Rivers.
The franchise has not been fortunate to say the same about their first round picks after Rivers from 2005-2008. This was mostly due to injuries which led to releases or trades. Hopefully Mathews will give San Diego a long term return on their investment in him.
