The chances of Chargers running back Ryan Mathews being on the field for Monday night’s game with the Raiders are not looking good.
Mathews went through individual work with the Chargers during Wednesday’s practice, but he was held out of the contact portions of the session because he still hasn’t been cleared for a full workload after surgery to repair a broken clavicle. While the Chargers are happy with the overall pace of Mathews’ recovery, coach Norv Turner made it clear that they don’t consider him ready to play in a game at this point.
“I don’t have a schedule,” Turner said, via Scott Bair of the North County Times. “I will say that I love his attitude regarding the injury. He’s doing everything possible to get back. He’d have to get the reps necessary to prepare for a game, and he’s not at that point yet.”
Per Bair, the Chargers want to reintroduce Mathews to contact slowly to lessen the risk of another injury. There’s probably not enough time for them to do that before Monday night, which means Ronnie Brown will likely be the starting tailback when the team takes the field in Oakland.