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The Los Angeles Chargers seemed to have found a gem in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft when Jim Harbaugh took Junior Colson, the linebacker he coached in college at Michigan. But after a rough rookie season and a slow start this summer, it's looking more likely that the team got a dud.
Colson was hobbled by injuries right out of the gate last summer and that slowed down his progression in training camp. As a result, the team wasn't able to play him as much as it likely would have liked. He made just one start as a rookie and registered just 29 tackles on the season.
With the rookie jitters out of the way and a full training camp to go through this summer, the hope was that Colson would be caught up to speed and ready to make the impact many felt he would when his name was announced in last year's draft. But that isn't looking likely.
Junior Colson had a terrible HOF game.
•Game looks too quick for him. As he was constantly just recognizing plays way late.
•Constantly sitting at the LOS.
•Couldn’t shed blocks even from TE’s.
•He does the opposite of coming downhill.
Unfortunately after watching the tape, I thought Junior Colson was a net negative last night. Just didn’t seem like he saw the field very well and was not playing with a ton of confidence. The difference in reaction time between he and Troy Dye was pretty staggering.
— Steven Haglund (@StevenIHaglund) August 2, 2025Junior Colson (25) looked lost last night. Poor angles, lack of physicality, and showed next to no explosiveness.
Game looked way too fast for him against the 5th stringers, not looking like the player Harbaugh coached at Michigan. https://t.co/SeeUJVlp1A pic.twitter.com/GNx5bhfilb
Those were just some thoughts about Colson's performance in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday night, and when you combine that with the way he looked last year, there's a good chance the Chargers either have a really slow starter or a guy who just isn't going to be that good.
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That is troubling for the team, considering the recent incident with veteran linebacker Denzel Perryman, who, if we're honest, probably wouldn't even be on the roster if Colson looked better as a rookie.
The Chargers don't have great depth at the inside linebacker position behind Daiyan Henley. If Perryman has legal matters to deal with, the team has Colson and Troy Dye, who would be the next names up. Behind that, Del'Shawn Phillips, Emany Johnson, Kana'i Mauga and Marlowe Wax round out the roster.
That's not a group to be too confident in.
The Chargers are going to need to see a positive turn in the play of Colson soon or some serious discussions will need to take place with the team considering outside options to bolster the roster.
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