COSTA MESA, Calif. -- With Keenan Allen, Dontrelle Inman and Mike Williams all unavailable because of injuries, Isaiah Burse had a chance to take some reps with the first-team Los Angeles Chargers offense on Tuesday.
The Fresno State product made the most of his opportunity, making several diving catches while working mostly as a slot receiver.
Burse carved out a role as a returner during the second half of last season for the Chargers, but he only played 45 snaps on offense in 2016. Burse averaged 20.9 yards per kick return and 6.4 yards per punt return last season.
Now, Burse is working to earn the trust of offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt by showing that he knows the offense and can be depended on to consistently make plays.
“Every time the ball comes my way I just try and take advantage of the opportunity because you just never know,” Burse said. “In the future, if someone goes down, they’re not scared to put Isaiah Burse in. They can be like, ‘Hey, he can make a play.’ That’s kind of where I’m trying to get it.”
Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn has taken notice.
"He’s fast, he’s quick and he’s shown good hands all offseason,” Lynn said. “Nothing he’s doing is surprising me. I saw this back in OTAs."
Making Burse’s effort even more impressive is that he suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder during the first few days of training camp. But similar to what Tyrell Williams played through last season, Burse is dealing with the injury and has been wearing a red, non-contact jersey during camp.
“Tyrell just said ‘Hey, sometimes it’s going to hurt, but if you can go, go,’” Burse said about his conversations with Williams on dealing with the injury. “When you get in between the lines, you really can’t think about that. If the play is designated to you, you can’t be thinking about your shoulder, you got to make the play. And that [conversation] helped out a lot.”
