Welcome back to the Chargers Mailbag!

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Off we go...

Hello, Bolt Fam! And welcome back from the bye week.

I hope you all got to sit back and enjoy the 16-hour marathon that was Week 5 in the NFL on Sunday.

The Chargers, of course, had the weekend off as they were one of four teams slated for the earliest possible bye.

Was that too early of a bye?

I thought it might be when the schedule came out in May. But given the health of the team last week, I'd now argue it came at just the right time.

Morgan Fox essentially said the same thing when I asked him after the Week 4 loss.

"At first I definitely thought it was too early," Fox said. "But now I think with what's going on with the team that it's just right. Perfect timing for guys to get right."

The Chargers were without three former first-round picks — Rashawn Slater, Joe Alt and Joey Bosa — in Week 4. Quarterback Justin Herbert (another first-round pick) was clearly not at 100 percent with his high ankle sprain.

The depth of the roster was also tested, especially on defense and special teams, with players such as Junior Colson, Ja'Sir Taylor and Deane Leonard all inactive in Week 4 due to injury.

And that doesn't include anyone who may have gotten some bumps and bruises in a hard-fought game against the Chiefs.

So, no, the bye wasn't too early this year ... especially when you take a peek ahead on the Chargers schedule, too.

The Bolts sit at 2-2 right now and are the only 2-2 team in the AFC. There was certainly a tinge of frustration last week after back-to-back close losses that the Chargers should have maybe been 3-1 or better if they could have played better in the second halves of those games.

Alas, the Chargers sit at .500 with 13 straight games looming over the next three months. And if you look at the next five games, the Bolts have a chance to make a little run and position themselves favorably for the second half of the season.

The upcoming game against the Broncos (3-2) is the only one of the next five that features a team currently with a winning record. Arizona and New Orleans are both 2-3 while Cleveland and Tennessee each have just one win right now.

Yes, the Bolts aren't above .500 themselves, but they've shown the formula they want to employ — wear teams down through three quarters before pulling away late — can be a winning one.

The Chargers held a short practice Monday but it's worth noting that the health of the roster had noticeably improved from a week ago. Alt and Colson were practicing while others such as Slater and Bosa were working off to the sign.

The next three months are going to be a grind for the Bolts both physically and mentally, but if they can use the Week 5 bye as a springboard in terms of health and a successful stretch over the next month, perhaps we'll look back at it as a turning point in the season once we get to December and January.

Great question here. I'm going to go with Ladd McConkey.

The rookie wide receiver currently leads the team in targets (24), receptions (15), yards (176) and catches for first downs (10).

He's also garnered an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 81.6, which ranks third among all rookies across the NFL entering Week 6. McConkey's PFF receiving grade of 82.0 is tied for sixth among all wide receivers.

So while he's already shown plenty of upside, I do think there's another level McConkey and Herbert can reach as they try and jumpstart the passing game.

Entering Week 6, the Bolts rank 21st in EPA per pass play (-0.052). Herbert hasn't surpassed more than 180 passing yards in any game, something we're not used to seeing from one of the most talented quarterbacks in the world.

I wrote here on Tuesday that the potential return of DJ Chark could also help the offense in the coming weeks.

But McConkey seems to be developing as one of Herbert's top targets, and that rapport hopefully leads to an increased efficiency in the passing game going forward.

A quick refresher on Chark:

He began the season on Injured Reserve, meaning he had to miss a minimum of four games, which he obviously has.

The next step is for the Chargers to activate his 21-day practice window. As of Wednesday morning, the Bolts had not done so.

Once Chark returns to practice, the Chargers then have 21 days to add him to the active roster. If they don't, Chark would then be ruled out for the season.

Chark has been working off to the side at practice in recent weeks, a sign that he's getting close to returning to action. But until he actually participates in practice, it's still a waiting game.

First off, we don't know that Bosa is going to miss Sunday's game against the Broncos.

As I mentioned above, he was working off to the side on Monday, which is a sign of progress from the past few weeks.

In the chance that Bosa doesn't play, however, the edge rusher group has shown to be more than capable of picking up the slack.

Tuli Tuipulotu was a monster all over the field against the Chiefs as he racked up a PFF grade of 85.1, the second-best mark of his young career.

Bud Dupree had a pair of sacks in Week 4 and also had a timely interception in Pittsburgh.

And Khalil Mack has probably been the Bolts best defensive player through four games, even as he keeps getting double and sometimes triple teamed on the way to the quarterback.

Mack said after Week 4 that he felt like he didn't do much out there to help his team. Ironically enough, Mack posted the defense's top PFF grade in that game ... and also against Pittsburgh.

That's what a Hall of Fame standard looks like.

As for the fourth edge rusher for Bosa's possible absence, rookie Justin Eboigbe was active in Week 4 but didn't play any snaps. Preseason standout Tre'Mon Morris-Brash is also on the practice squad and could be an option.

A final word on this: the fact Bosa wasn't put on Injured Reserve means he should hopefully be back sooner rather than later.

No, nobody is going to get benched. It's Week 6, and given how banged up the Bolts were last week, they needed all hands on deck.

As for the rookies, Colson was forming a solid three-man rotation at linebacker with Denzel Perryman and Daiyan Henley before he injured his hamstring. That could resume once Colson returns to the field.

Tarheeb Still made his first start in Week 4 in place of Taylor. We'll see how that slot cornerback position shakes out once Taylor gets back in action.

And a shoutout to Cam Hart, who has played the fifth-most snaps on special teams thus far. The fifth-round rookie has been the personal protector on the punt team due to injuries to Nick Niemann and Alohi Gilman.

That's a big role for a rookie to take on and Special Teams Coordinator Ryan Ficken heaped praise on Hart earlier this week.

"That's a tall task. If I'm allowing a rookie to run that thing, it says a lot about him," Ficken said. "He's done a great job."

As Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh mentioned before the bye, it's almost the start of a new season now for the Bolts.

The fresh start begins Sunday on the road against the division-rival Broncos.