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Joe Hortiz may not be done yet, as he continues to make good on his promise to perpetually be looking for roster upgrades.
The Chargers have a very formidable starting pair at safety in Derwin James Jr. and Alohi Gilman, but the depth behind them is extremely questionable and filled by players from Tom Telesco’s regime. Only UDFA’s Jalyn Phillips and Akeem Dent have been added to the roster since Joe Hortiz has taken over, making it one of the few positions not backfilled with multiple competition-stoking additions.
The safety market is filled with intriguing veteran names that would be upgrades over incumbent depth pieces J.T. Woods and A.J. Finley. Justin Simmons would be the most ambitious signing, giving Jesse Minter a perfect three-safety punch for big nickel sets. Other interesting names include Jamal Adams, Eddie Jackson, Quandre Diggs, or even a reunion with Adrian Phillips.
However, Tony Jefferson is a player that thrived in Baltimore’s defense while Jesse Minter was there from 2017-2019. His 2019 season ended short with a torn ACL, and he’s had trouble fighting through various injuries to make his way back on the football field again.
After taking the 2023 season off, there’s hope that time away from the game has given his body a chance to heal. He wouldn’t be asked to start on this Chargers roster, but there are plenty of rotational snaps up for grabs as that third safety, so the Chargers will definitely be keeping on eye on his durability and health in mini-camp.
Overall, this feels like a very low-risk move, but it won’t be enough to dispel the cries for a true standout safety like Justin Simmons, the player whose picked off division rival Patrick Mahomes more than any other defender.
What do you think, StormCloud? Would a Jefferson signing move the needle for you?
Would it move the needle for me? No.
But does the fit/move make sense? Sure. Baltimore familiarity, tough player, etc.
Jefferson’s signing would be riskier, I think, than some of the other one-year contracts we’ve handed out this offseason. His combination of age, injury history, returning from retirement, and diminished PFF grades, make his ceiling pretty low (IMO).
I remember Jefferson in his prime as a hard-hitting, “in the box”, safety. But his career snap alignment distribution actually show he played FS more frequently than SS for each of the 2015-2018 seasons. That said, during that stretch his Run Defense Grade was always significantly better than his Coverage Grade which is counterintuitive.
I was hoping that any additional Safety signed would be a better coverage player than Jefferson appears to be – because I would see that skillset as the better complement to Derwin and Alohi’s.
These meandering paragraphs probably best represent how I feel about it all actually ^
It is exciting that the new Front Office will leave no stone unturned. I’m ok with these moves that include Alex Leatherwood and Tony Jefferson. Just one or two of these need to workout to make a difference on just one play, one drive, one tackle, one block, and eventually one more win. . I would expect a mid-season trade that brings in talent as well. Non-stop acquisition of talent. Building the bottom of the roster with cap friendly deals.
Jefferson’s signing would be riskier, I think, than some of the other one-year contracts we’ve handed out this offseason.
The only reason it would be riskier is if the Chargers committed non-trivial guaranteed money to him to sign. Not sure they would do that here… do they need to, i.e., who would they be bidding against? If they sign him to a minimal, non-guaranteed “prove it” contract, there is probably no risk at all.
That said, I agree with the rest of your post. IMO the Chargers need to sign a good free safety with deep range much moreso than another box safety. Jefferson doesn’t seem like a great fit unless he is risk free (i.e., like I said, no guarantees).
@tau837 You are, of course, totally correct. In a previous version of my post subsequently edited, I went on to elaborate on what I meant by ‘riskier’ and then deleted it because I didn’t think it added anything to the post 😂
Replace ‘riskier’ with ‘less likely than others to be a smart signing in retrospect’. With players like Bozeman, Dissly, Hurst, Fulton, I can at least convince myself that the player has a chance to ‘hit’ and outperform their deal.
With Leatherwood and Jefferson, I have no problem at all with adding them to the back-end of the roster (as you say, they probably won’t cost much), but both of them are players who I would be less confident predicting have a good outcome with the team. And that’s fine. I still generally like the process.
Yes, the approach to me is fascinating to say the least. They’re basically grabbing previously highly sought after, highly drafted players. And they believe they can turn their careers around in THEIR system. Some of these players have had injury concerns (i.e. Fulton, Dobbins, etc). Others simply didn’t perform up to par (i.e Leatherwood, etc). I really like this strategy. It shows me that Harbaugh & Hortiz believe in their system.
@lfg_boltz It’s something I plan on writing another article about soonish (trying to work on our posts formatting ATM), but yes… I think Joe Hortiz recognizes the value draft pedigree in contract negotiations.
Even though guys like Hayden Hurst, Kristian Fulton, Alex Leatherwood, DJ Chark are all 1st and 2nd round picks that should they have breakout performances will be perceived as living up to their draft stock (they are all 1st or 2nd round picks).
Whereas a late round guy might need an extra season or two of elevated play, if any of these guys if higher draft pedigree “hit,” they could surprise us with a significant payday and subsequent draft pick
@lfg_boltz I like it too. I think the difference with Tony Jefferson, if he’s signed, compared with the others, is he’s 32yo and arguably going to block the path to the field for JT Woods, a younger player who we probably want to find out soon if he can actually play.
Bringing in older players on one year deals is usually a ‘win now’ approach when the team is ready for a run – and if it was Justin Simmons, I’d get it – but with Jefferson, I see neither the ceiling nor the future upside (of the younger veterans we’ve signed, like Fulton) quite to know how to describe the strategy.
- @alisterlloyd if JT Wood is worth a shit this won’t block that getting noticed. I’m betting he’s not. And that’s not support for Jefferson talking, it’s realization of just how bad the talent assessment of TT/little Johnny is.
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