‘No one really saw this coming’: Chargers’ Scott Matlock is NFL’s ultra-rare two-way player

In Matt Holtry’s 16 years of coaching high school football in Homedale, Idaho, he needed to pack two jerseys – one for offense and the other for defense – for just one player.

So when it came time to retire Scott Matlock’s number this summer, Homedale had to decide which jersey number would go in the rafters: 44 or 99? Drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in the sixth round last year, Matlock wore “99” as a defensive lineman, same as he did at Boise State. The No. 44 jersey went into the glass case.

Little did Matlock – or anybody – know then that a few months later he would don the number once again.

“It was kind of surreal that happened the way it did,” Holtry told USA TODAY Sports.

Matlock is still playing on the Chargers’ defensive line and contributing on special teams, but he’s emerged as a mainstay in the team’s offense under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman. At the end of training camp, they switched his jersey number to 44, signaling he’d have a greater role in the offense. Through five games, Matlock has been on the field for 37% of the Chargers’ offensive snaps, compared to 18% of defensive plays (he also plays more than half the time on special teams).

According to an analysis of snap-count data on Pro Football Reference after Week 6, seven teams (including the Chargers) have had players take snaps on both offense and defense this season – eight players for a total of 25 plays. Matlock has been on the field for 166 plays from scrimmage, and that number excludes the 74 times he’s trotted out there on special teams. Matlock may have to wait until Travis Hunter, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft who plays both cornerback and wide receiver for Colorado, for any real competition in that department.

“The last six weeks, seven weeks,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-one-really-saw-coming-053406336.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-18 05:34:06

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