The San Diego Chargers will apparently have a running partner for wide receiver Keenan Allen next season.
NFL Media’s Rand Getlin is reporting that the team will sign Cleveland Browns pass catcher Travis Benjamin when the free-agent market officially opens Wednesday afternoon:
I’m told WR Travis Benjamin plans to sign with the #Chargers when the market officially opens tomorrow. San Diego gets a dangerous weapon.
— Rand Getlin (@RandGetlin) March 9, 2016
Benjamin, 26, was considered by some to be the top receiver in the free agent class. He’s coming off a 2015 campaign that saw him record 68 receptions for 966 yards and five touchdowns.
Benjamin’s receptions and yardage totals from this past year trumped what he put up in his first three NFL seasons combined. That has to be cause for alarm for the Chargers moving forward. Was he in fact a one-year wonder?
As it is, the former fourth-round pick from Miami (F) gives Philip Rivers that deep threat he sorely needs with Allen acting the part of a possession receiver.
It’s the type of signing San Diego simply needed to make in order to keep up with the other three teams in the ultra-competitive AFC West.
Benjamin will automatically slot in as a starter for the Chargers, especially with veteran Malcom Floyd calling it quits. To be sure, he’s a dramatic upgrade over what the team has on the roster behind Allen.
The signing also affords San Diego the ability to go in another direction early in the upcoming 2016 NFL draft.