The injury bug has feasted on the Los Angeles Chargers practically every year. While it was back at the beginning of the year, the Chargers are actually one of the healthiest teams at this point in the year. Their only injuries at this moment are Mike Williams (out for the year with an ACL tear), Corey Linsley (out indefinitely with a heart problem), and Joshua Palmer (out for a few games with a knee sprain). That means that a lot of players have been coming back from injuries for the Chargers.

2022 season taken away

One of those players was wide receiver Jalen Guyton, who had torn his ACL in week three of the 2021 season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Guyton had been one of Justin Herbert’s favorite downfield targets since Herbert entered the league in 2020. You could tell right away after Guyton was lost for the year that Herbert didn’t feel comfortable going deep with the players and wasn’t as successful the few times he did. Well, after the long wait of over a year, Guyton finally got to get back on the field again in week 9 against the New York Jets. However, he didn’t do much of anything as he only had two targets and didn’t catch any of them.

Jalen Guyton back

Chargers WR Jalen Guyton (15) – Ashley Landis/ AP Photo

Guyton’s performance against the Lions

This past week 10 matchup between the Chargers and the Detroit Lions was destined to be a different story for Guyton. As mentioned in the week 10 takeaways for the Chargers game against the Lions, Justin Herbert had himself a great game and that was without Keenan Allen for part of the game. Allen hurting his shoulder and being taken to the locker room was the perfect opportunity for Guyton to show the world what they were missing in 2022, and he did just that.

Guyton played a total of 57 snaps for the Chargers offense. With those valuable snaps, he was targeted six times, caught four of his targets for 41 yards and most, important of all, caught a touchdown. On that touchdown catch, you could just tell that the connection between Herbert and Guyton was still there. Guyton really put up a statement with this touchdown. That statement is: I’m back!

What Guyton being back means

Guyton still isn’t back to his speedy self completely, but he is definitely on his way to that player for Herbert. If Guyton is able to get back to form, then he could give this Chargers team something it has been missing for about a year and a half now: a deep threat. Pretty much all of last year and the majority of this year Herbert hasn’t had a deep threat. You could argue that Williams has been his deep threat, but he’s more of a 50-50 type of receiver and not an actual deep threat. Guyton can really spread the field and get past the safeties.

With Allen getting better with age like wine and rookie Quentin Johnston developing with each week, Guyton could be the final piece to complete this offensive puzzle for offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Watch out NFL, the Chargers could be just over the horizon.