Philip Rivers thankful for warm welcome as Chargers open training camp

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Philip Rivers always gets a bit nervous for the first training camp practice.

This time, the veteran quarterback had another layer of anxiety as the relocated Los Angeles Chargers put their initial footprints in a new market after moving from San Diego.

Go ahead, Philip. Exhale.

Although the Chargers didn’t have official numbers, a club official estimated that more than 5,000 fans showed up at the new Jack Hammett Sports Complex on Sunday. What a warm greeting for the newest NFL franchise in Los Angeles.

“Better than anticipated,” Rivers said. “Not that I don’t have high hopes and not excited about the fan base here and in all of Southern California. But I didn’t anticipate this.”

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Rivers said it was the “unknown” that added anxiety. After all, he remembers the last time the Chargers held training camp in Greater Los Angeles, when they trained in Carson, Calif., after he broke into the NFL in 2004.

“My rookie year — granted we were coming off a bad season and we were in San Diego — we were in Carson,” Rivers recalled. “I was there for one day of camp. But there were literally 12 people there. I mean you could count. There were 12 bodies there. So I wasn’t sure. But there’s a lot excitement.”

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

PHOTOS: Training camp action