Chargers Sign H-back to Contract

H-back Craig McEwen, who joined the Chargers as a free agent with four games remaining last season, has signed a new contract with the team, a Charger spokesman said Monday.

Terms of the agreement, which was signed last week, were not released. McEwen, a third-year player from Utah, played in four games, starting two. He caught seven passes for 99 yards. His best game was in the season finale against Denver when he caught five passes for 78 yards.

The Chargers also made contract offers to quarterback David Archer and outside linebacker Ken Woodard, the team’s 1989 most valuable special teams player, for the 1990 season, the spokesman said.

NFL rules required teams to notify by Sunday players whose contracts have expired and who were not protected in the expired Plan B free-agency period that they wanted to retain their rights. Five other players were not notified, the spokesman said, and again became unconditional free agents.

Those players were kicker Chris Bahr, linebacker Jim Collins, center Don Macek, wide receiver-punt returner Phil McConkey and tight end Mark Walczak. Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard had said previously he did not intend to resign the players.

The Chargers also announced the signing of free-agent punter Keith English and kicker Tom Whelihan.

English, a former Colorado player, was in the Raiders’ camp last summer. Whelihan, a former Missouri player, was in the 1988 training camp of the Green Bay Packers. Whelihan is the fourth free-agent kicker the Chargers have signed in the past month in search of a replacement for Bahr.