DJ Chark is turning into a huge bust for the Chargers

DJ Chark was supposed to be the guy to feature prominently in the Los Angeles Chargers passing attack after the Keenan Allen and Mike Williams era came to an end.

Instead, injuries derailed the plan, and he has yet to work his way back into the fold.

Chark went to injured reserve with a hip injury in training camp and missed the first seven games of the season. While he worked back, a groin injury slowed things down. Then, the team nearly used all 21 days of his return window to get him back on the active roster.

Since, he’s played a single snap in one game, been a healthy scratch in another and played just two snaps in another game.

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh remains adamant that Chark is on the upswing but has also made it clear that “there are some guys playing better than him,” according to The Athletic’s Daniel Popper.

“The opportunity is there,” Harbaugh said, according to Popper. “It’s there during the week. It’s there in practices. It’s there. It is an opportunity. Two plays, that’s an opportunity. One play is an opportunity. So I like the way he’s progressing. Everybody that puts that uniform on and is dressing on game day, or anybody that puts on the uniform who is practicing during a practice day has the license, the ability and the opportunity to go out there and show that he can contribute.”

It’s not a good look for Chark, to say the least. In Atlanta over the weekend, rookie Ladd McConkey caught nine passes for 117 yards while Justin Herbert went 16-of-23 for 147 yards. The Chargers want to win on the ground and with tough defense in true Harbaugh style, but not while a rookie catches seven more passes than anyone else on the roster.

On the season, McConkey has 58 catches. The next closest target, tight end Will Dissly, has 41. McConkey has 815 yards. The next closest is Joshua Palmer at 414. And now McConkey is hurt and the latest updates don’t sound great.

That Chark can’t beat out the likes of Jalen Reagor for snaps while even Brenden Rice and Simi Fehoko sit on injured reserve is making him one of the rare, if not the only outright bust of the otherwise stellar Jim Hortiz era so far.

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