Eric Weddle Lit the Chargers on Fire After Winning Super Bowl LVI

In the mass of content that came in the wake of Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl LVI victory, we missed Eric Weddle absolutely lighting up his former employer. It's clear Weddle is not over what happened during his final stretch with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers.

Weddle was a late addition to the Rams this season, signed on January 12 after safeties Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp got hurt. Weddle had retired nearly two years earlier, but he came out of retirement, played really well and wound up with a Super Bowl ring. It's a great story. And it gave him a perfect platform to get a little revenge.

During his postgame press conference, Weddle thanked the Chargers for drafting him back in 2007, then things took a turn. Weddle mentioned how the Chargers treated him at the end of his tenure with the team and sarcastically referred to Chargers general manager ("Ol' Tom Telesco") who was terrible to him at the end.

Check it out:

Yeah, I'd say it's fair for Weddle to claim he got the last laugh. Not only did he leave the Chargers and get named to three Pro Bowls after the team basically said he was washed up, he won a Super Bowl for their crosstown rival in a game held in Los Angeles. That's beautiful.

Despite being a wildly popular player who had been a multi-time All-Pro and one of the NFL's best safeties, the Chargers essentially dumped Weddle after the 2015 season and tried to make him look bad on his way out. They didn't offer him a contract, and following a Week 15 win over the Miami Dolphins, Weddle was fined $10,000 for conduct detrimental to the team. Weddle's offense? He had stayed on the field to watch his daughter perform as part of the halftime show. The Chargers also put him on injured reserve before Week 17 despite Weddle claiming he was healthy enough to play.

In 2016, Weddle discussed Telesco and the end of his Chargers tenure:

“(Telesco) said I had a lot of mileage. They brought me in to make things better, and made things worse by treating me like I was a nobody. It was shocking.

“I never did one thing wrong. Never was late to a meeting. Never was fined. Never refused to do a charity function for them. Never didn’t sacrifice. I was a leader, a captain, an All-Pro. And they showed me the door. I’m as loyal as anyone and will do anything for people I respect. But if you don’t give that back to me in return, you’re dead to me. So I could never go back to that place after what they put me through.”

Weddle was signed by the Baltimore Ravens that offseason and had a wildly-successful three-year stint there before spending 2019 with the Rams.

It's understandable that Weddle is still bitter about what happened with the Chargers. Having lived in San Diego at the time, fans were irate at how the franchise was treating one of its biggest, most beloved stars. Now he's a Super Bowl champion and they're still attempting to find relevance in a city that is indifferent to their presence.

Safe to say Weddle got the last laugh.