Cletis Gordon knows this:

“First round is to come in and play,” Gordon said yesterday.

But judging by his weekend, Gordon clearly is not going to step aside simply because the Chargers took cornerback Antoine Cason in the first round of the draft.

“It's a competitive game,” Gordon said. “They bring guys in, it does motivate you to be more focused and do the extra things, do the little things to try to make yourself better. Them drafting a corner, it was good for me. We needed a corner. And it just makes me work harder.”

Gordon, who is entering his third year in the NFL, looked like a new player this weekend. Always among the fastest Chargers, he now knows what he is doing.

“Instead of thinking so much,” he said, “I'm able to use my talent.”

With Paul Oliver primarily playing safety, the competition for the third corner spot is between Gordon and Cason. Gordon is clearly the superior cover man at this point.

But there are more than 2½ months until training camp and almost four months before the start of the season.

“It's a long process from here,” Gordon said. “We'll let the competition decide who wins.”

Center insurance?

The Chargers are concerned enough about Nick Hardwick not being able to start the season that they are targeting veteran center Jeremy Newberry for a possible signing after June 1, numerous sources confirmed.

Newberry is an unrestricted free agent, but he would not count against the Chargers when it comes to getting compensatory draft picks next year if they sign him after June 1.

No deal is in place, sources said, but the Chargers are the front-runners for Newberry's services.

The Oakland Raiders would be able to keep Newberry from the Chargers by tendering him a contract offer June 1. If an unrestricted free agent does not sign with a new team before June 1, his former team holds his rights until July 22.

Nuts 'n' Bolts

LaDainian Tomlinson last month floated the idea of his carrying the ball a little during the preseason, something he has done only sparingly in seven previous Augusts and not at all the past two. Head coach Norv Turner says it's not going to happen. The biggest reason is that the risk outweighs the reward. “He doesn't need to carry the ball in the preseason. He's been pretty productive doing things the way they've been done around here for a long time,” Turner said.

Players will convene at Chargers Park on May 19 for offseason coaching sessions that will run four days a week until mid-June. The players will be off until rookies report to training camp on July 20 and veterans report later that week.