What's Going On With the San Diego Chargers This Off-Season?

The San Diego Chargers have been having a miserable off-season ever since suffering an extremely disappointing loss to the New York Jets in the divisional round of the 2009 playoffs.

First, parting ways with one of the faces of the franchise in LaDainian Tomlinson was a tough situation for both sides.

LT truly wanted to win a ring in San Diego before he retired, while the Chargers wanted to believe LT was dominant enough to remain a top tier featured back.

Still, the numbers do not lie and the fact of the matter was that LT had a measly 770 yards and 3.3 yards a carry at the end of the regular season; pretty disappointing from a guy who had 31 touchdowns in a season (compared to 12 in ’09) just a few years ago.

Nevertheless, it looked like the situation was going to pan out for both sides. Tomlinson got signed by the Jets, who had the No. 1 rushing offense last year.

Meanwhile, the Chargers traded up in the draft to nab the Fresno State product Ryan Mathews.

The physical back looks to be a worthy successor to LT for the Bolts; however, the Chargers have yet to sign their first round pick.

While it is pretty unlikely that the deal will still be up in the air by the time the season comes around, this is one more headache the Chargers really do not need right.

The state of affairs regarding the Vincent Jackson holdout really has not budged an inch since he declined his tender offer.

While the same could be said for Chargers left guard Marcus McNeill, both sides have agreed to again open up contract negotiations. While a deal with McNeill is expected to be reached in the immediate future, the Jackson ordeal has not improved one bit.

Jackson has seemingly not budged an inch on his stance that he deserves more money, and rumors persist that he will hold out for up to 10 games if his demands are not met.

Should this be the case, it would be very possible Jackson holds out the entire 2010-11 season. He is guaranteed to miss three games already due to a violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, likely stemming from his second DUI charge in a four year time span.

Additionally, amidst all this drama, teams are still looking to acquire the Pro Bowl receiver via a trade.

The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins have been closely monitoring this story as it develops, but it appears that the Redskins are the team most interested in adding Jackson to their roster.

While Jackson has not said much regarding his holdout, if a new agreement can not be reached, the best case scenario for the Chargers seems to be him sitting out the entire season.

Finally, the latest in this tumultuous San Diego offseason is that now three-time All-Pro Shawne Merriman is hopping on the holdout bandwagon. Merriman swears the situation is not about money, despite declining an offer that was reportedly worth over $3 million.

He claims that the situation is about “being comfortable” and that he does not want to have to worry about being “on the trade block every three weeks."

Merriman made it clear that he was willing to hold out this year’s training camp if necessary, but is yet to make any mention of the regular season.

Will all this turmoil cause the Chargers to take a step back this year? Right now, it certainly looks that way.

General Manger A.J. Smith needs to look at the team budget and start dishing out some deals in order for his squad to continue their winning ways this season.