The Chargers signed Troy Dye, a linebacker and special teams player with the Minnesota Vikings for the past four seasons, to a one-year contract on Friday, according to the NFL Network. Dye could challenge for a prominent role after several others departed earlier this week.
Dye, a Norco native, has a connection with Chargers special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, who held the same job with the Vikings after Minnesota drafted Dye in the fourth round in 2020. Dye also was teammates with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert at the University of Oregon.
The Chargers must fill a void at the inside linebacker position after Kenneth Murray Jr. signed a two-year contract with the Tennessee Titans and his backup this past season, Amen Ogbongbemiga, signed with the Chicago Bears. The Chargers also released linebacker Eric Kendricks, a salary cap casualty.
Nick Niemann and Daiyan Henley were the only regulars at the inside linebacker position remaining on the roster after the departures of Murray, Ogbongbemiga and Kendricks. Niemann was a backup to Kendricks and Henley played mostly on special teams during his rookie season.
Dye, 27, has played 60 games in the NFL, all with the Vikings, starting eight. His brothers, Tony and Travis, played at UCLA and USC, respectively. Tony appeared in one game as a defensive back while with the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2013 season. Travis was a running back with the Trojans in 2022.
STICK RE-SIGNS
Backup quarterback Easton Stick is set to re-sign with the Chargers, per the NFL Network. Stick started the final four games of the 2023 season, his first NFL starts, after Herbert suffered what turned out to be a season-ending finger injury during a loss to the Denver Broncos on Dec. 10 at SoFi Stadium.
Stick, 28, completed 111 of 174 passes for 1,129 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in five games overall last season. He had played only one other game in his NFL career, a relief appearance of Herbert during the 2020 season, before inheriting the starter’s job this past season.
The Chargers drafted Stick in the fifth round in 2019, after he had a standout career at North Dakota State. He served as a backup first to Philip Rivers and then to Tyrod Taylor and, eventually, to Herbert before finally getting a chance to play regularly after Herbert fractured his right index finger.
Herbert said in January he expected to be sound enough to resume normal offseason activities when they begin next month. Herbert’s streak of consecutive starts ended at 63 games when Stick started in his place for the Chargers’ 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 14.
