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Chargers receive poor marks on re-grade of 2015 offseason

Good morning.

In this ESPN Insider piece, NFL Insider Mike Sando re-grades the 2015 offseason for every NFL team.

And as you can imagine, the San Diego Chargers received a lower grade in hindsight of some of the decisions made last offseason, including signing guard Orlando Franklin, returner Jacoby Jones and cornerback Brandon Flowers in free agency, and the misuse of first-round selection Melvin Gordon.

Sando initially gave the Chargers a B-minus grade, but dropped them to a C-minus after taking a second look.

My take: The lower grade is not unexpected, but the Chargers have an opportunity to get things corrected by making better decisions this offseason. The return of offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt should help.

Chargers chairman Dean Spanos talked one-on-one with Paul Rudy of KUSI TV in San Diego in this video. Rudy asked Spanos how he intends to sell voters on the public potentially contributing $350 million toward a new stadium.

“This is not my stadium or the Chargers stadium,” Spanos said. “You hope and you want this to be a regional asset -- something that can be used by the city multiple times throughout the year or the seasons that you play there. So it has to be multi-faceted.”

Spanos also said nothing has been decided between the downtown and Mission Valley sites, and discussions on the two potential locations for a new stadium will be discussed over the next two months.

“I’m open at looking at both sites,” Spanos said. “It’s no secret that I preferred downtown, and I’ve said that before. But we’re all going into it with a fresh start, and we’ll see what happens.”

My take: Taking a closer look at both sites and finding the best, long-term solution for the city and the team is crucial to the success of this project over the next, few months.

Tom Krasovic of The San Diego Union-Tribune takes a closer look at comments from Chargers general manager Tom Telesco that he made in this interview with Dan Sileo of The Mighty 1090 AM radio, stating that his team can flip things around from 4-12 in 2015 to 12-4 in 2016. Telesco points to the Indianapolis Colts finishing 3-13 in Peyton Manning’s rookie season while he was a member of the personnel department, to going 13-3 the next season in 1999. Krasovic has his doubts about the Chargers achieving the same thing in San Diego.

My take: While the Chargers have the benefit of playing a last-place schedule in 2016, they also have to face the AFC West after going winless against division foes last season.

Jordan Beane of Chargers.com talks with San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers in this video. Rivers discusses how the return of Whisenhunt should help the Chargers in 2016. “He’ll come in here and be able to clean up some things that we’ve done, add to some things that we’ve done,” Rivers said. “And really just try and bring it all together, both run and pass game. He has a good feel still for the personnel, even though we’ve made a few changes since we’ve been here. I feel like he will come in and it will be a seamless transition. The terminology will remain the same. And we can get started on this bounce-back season.”

My take: Having stability and consistency in terms of personnel and scheme are important for any quarterback, and should benefit Rivers with Whisenhunt returning to San Diego.