1. Bryan Walters

The UDFA from Cornell turned a lot of heads in camp and is now set to be the Chargers’ slot man with Patrick Crayton injured. He looked pretty dang good in the preseason tape I watched, a lot of it from the Cardinals game where he caught 5 balls for 61 yards including a couple of first down grabs from Philip Rivers. He did have a fairly glaring drop in that game as well but overall he looked like a tough little slot man who could show up big catching quick underneath stuff with the Vikings dropping their coverage deep to deal with Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd. Antoine Winfield will, as always, be lined up against the slot man in nickel. It will be interesting to see how young Walters fares in that match-up.

2. Mike Tolbert

The Chargers are going with a two-headed beast at running back, and Tolbert is the bowling ball half of that combo, Ryan Mathews being the speedy half. I think the Chargers will try to run Tolbert and Mathews right at the middle of the Vikings defense and test out those tackles, but I also think Tolbert could be a big weapon in the passing game. The Vikings figure to employ their usual strategy of playing their safeties and corners deep which means there will be lots of stuff open short: in other words, feast time for tight ends and receiving backs.

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