The NFL's worst team last season, the Chargers opened minicamp Friday with a ton of new faces and a whole different atmosphere than the last time they were on the same practice field. There is a lot of excitement. When Doug Flutie wasn't running the offense, Drew Brees got the chance to throw his first passes as a pro. LaDainian Tomlinson took his first runs up the middle. Norv Turner, now in charge of what was one of the NFL's weakest offenses last year, made the Chargers rerun plays he didn't like.
Last year is gone.
We're happy to have Doug here. It's nice to have a leader in the huddle. If you didn't know better, you'd have sworn a new sheriff, er, general manager was in town. Which, of course, there is All the changes have come courtesy of new general manager John Butler, who was hired on Jan. 5. Butler waived Leaf on Feb. 28, signed free agents Flutie and defensive end Marcellus Wiley , then picked Tomlinson and Brees in the first and second rounds of the draft April 21.