The Chargers were hot on the trail of tackle Bryant McKinnie last week before McKinnie decided to return to the Ravens on a two-year deal, a decision that left San Diego without a surefire starter at left tackle.
There aren’t many other veteran options on the market at this point in the offseason and none are better than former Steeler Max Starks, but the team doesn’t appear to be moving in that direction after missing out on McKinnie. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the team has not reached out to Starks before or after McKinnie’s decision to return to Baltimore.
According to Acee, the Chargers “figure” to go into the season with King Dunlap at left tackle with Kevin Haslam given a chance to wind up with the job. Mike Harris, who struggled when put at left tackle with Jared Gaither injured last season, isn’t given any consideration as a competitor for the job. Dunlap started 19 games in the last three years with the Eagles and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a rave review of the work he turned in during any of them.
Acee dropped the note about Starks into a longer column about the need for Chargers fans to believe that the team’s new brain trust has a plan in motion that will get the Chargers headed back in the right direction. He uses the left tackle spot is a reminder that neither Rome nor a better Chargers team can be built in one day or one offseason, although that probably won’t make it any easier for those fans to watch someone beating Dunlap and hitting Philip Rivers for a sack early next season.