Chargers' Denzel Perryman suffers ankle…
SportsNFLLos Angeles Chargers
Chargers' Denzel Perryman suffers ankle injury, out at least 2 months
Denzel Perryman was slated to start at middle linebacker for the Chargers. (Matt Ludtke/The Associated Press)
By Jack Wang | jwang@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: August 15, 2017 at 4:09 pm | UPDATED: August 21, 2017 at 12:01 am
COSTA MESA >> A meaningless, routine play will cost Denzel Perryman a large chunk of his third NFL season.
On Sunday, the Chargers' starting middle linebacker limped to the sideline at StubHub Center, his left ankle betraying him just seven snaps into the preseason. Attempting to defend a quarterback scramble, Perryman began hobbling after awkwardly planting his leg to change direction. Less than two hours later, he found himself on crutches, wearing a protective walking boot.
On Tuesday, Perryman underwent ankle surgery — an operation that Coach Anthony Lynn said could require at least two months of recovery.
Multiple reports said that Perryman's surgery was to repair a torn ligament, but the Chargers did not comment on the specific nature of the injury.
"His spirits are good," Lynn said. "Denzel, he was looking to step up as a leader, and he did. He was one of our leaders on the team, and he still will be. He'll be around. He'll be in the meetings. He'll be at practice. He just won't be on the field."
The injury represents only the latest health-related blow for the Chargers, who ended last season with more than 20 players on injured reserve. Since the team hired Lynn in January, the 48-year-old has made injury prevention one of his main focuses. Early in the offseason, he stressed the importance of rest and recovery.
Six months later, the Chargers are again licking their wounds. Second-round pick Forrest Lamp, a potential starter at right guard, tore his ACL during the first week of training camp. Receiver Mike Williams, drafted No. 7 overall, is recovering from a disc herniation in his lower back. He is at least three weeks away from practicing with his teammates, and has yet to catch a pass from starting quarterback Philip Rivers.
"It's always a concern when you lose a player, especially a starter," Lynn added. "But it's football. You're going to have injuries. We try and prevent them as much as we can, but they're still going to happen."
Perryman will likely be replaced by either Nick Dzubnar — a Mission Viejo High graduate who made the team as an undrafted free agent in 2015 — or Korey Toomer, a former fifth-round pick. Both linebackers got reps with the first-team defense on Tuesday.
Both have experience with the team's new 4-3 defense. Dzubnar played in a similar scheme at Cal Poly, while Toomer began his NFL career in Seattle with Gus Bradley — who arrived in Southern California earlier this year as the Chargers' defensive coordinator.
"It helped a lot," Toomer said. "Being in that defense early on in my career, it just shows me little stuff that I've been doing wrong, as far as not having to worry about the defense as a whole. I can worry about the technique work and fundamentals."
Both Toomer and Dzubnar expressed their hope that Perryman would return soon — but added that it was up to them to keep the Chargers' defense afloat in the meantime.
"Football is such a next-guy-up type of thing," Dzubnar said. "You can't be happy about it, because Denzel is a great guy, a good friend of mine, and it's really unfortunate he went down. But we can't let the defense skip a beat because Denzel is not in."
Said Toomer: "He's going to live vicariously through me until he gets better.".
Jack Wang
Jack Wang covers the Chargers, the latest NFL team to relocate to Los Angeles. He previously covered the Rams, and also spent four years on the UCLA beat, a strange period in which the Bruins' football program often outpaced their basketball team. He is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he spent most of his time in The Daily Californian offices in Eshleman Hall — a building that did not become earthquake-safe until after his time on campus.
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