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PART 3 – DEFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS
During this dead pre-training camp period, we have our coaching staff, front office, and we mostly have the 2024 core players that will come from our ninety rostered players. I am sure we will add another few players as the summer and season move forward. I would also guess that we add/drop a scout or two. By position group I have rated each area of this team. My first time ever posting something this large as I am usually just a commentor of other peeps content. This has taken about two weeks of typing on my phone in the wee hours when I cannot sleep. Please enjoy, comment, disagree, agree, or whatever twirls your propeller.
I will break this into three parts (one every couple of days). First is the off-field component, then the offense, then the defense & special teams.
Strength - defined as the team is locked in, top ten unit/staff. This is a group that will carry us.
Fine - defined as this is passable/average. This unit/staff will not hurt the team but won’t be the reason we win games.
Weakness - defined as this staff is not experienced enough or lacks resources. On the field, this unit lacks talent and/or depth and could cost us games and will be a focus in 2025 to fix.
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CBs - Weakness - Asante Samuel will need to stay healthy and have a big contract year. He will need to step up his tackling and physicality. I think that he will respond and have a great year in his “contract” year and will give the front office something to think about in resigning him in the offseason. Kristian Fulton has not been able to stay healthy. Hopefully, Ben Herbert can make him less breakable. In 2021 and 2022 he graded out as “average” by PFF (64.1, 63.8), but in 2023 that dropped to 46.4 (118th of 127). Both his run defense and coverage grades were in the mid-40’s. This is potentially a huge risk to assume that he will anchor half of the field. Sometimes a change of scenery, better scheme fit, better coaching, and a guy like Herbert retuning your body could be the difference. This is a big bet to go into the season hoping to have Fulton rebound. At this point it looks like the slot corner could be Ja’Sir Taylor or Tarheeb Still and both of those players have a lot to prove. Backing up this whole group is Deane Leonard and Cam Hart. Any injuries to ASJ or Fulton and there could be serious issues covering receivers. This was an area during the offseason where limited financial flexibility and multiple deficiencies left by the prior front office could not be fully addressed. A lot of stars will need to align to get this group to “Fine”.
Safety -Fine – This area could solicit some debate on strength versus fine categories. The starting two are very good, but the depth at this position is very concerning. Alohi Gilman has improved every year and that is why scouting and 6th round picks matter. I will give Tom Telesco credit on this pick. He is an ascending player physically and has the “right stuff” regarding intangibles (nice interview Kyle DE). Derwin James will need to return to form and earn his contract. When put in the right position and playing to his strength DJ is a huge difference-maker on the defensive side of the football. I will leave it to this staff to get him in the right spot and to possibly be a top-ten defensive player of the year candidate. Depth is the concern at this position group. This forum has talked for months about building up some depth in the safety group. Tony Jefferson coming out of retirement is a nice story, but he was out of football last season and injury plagued the last couple of years before that. JT Woods has literally shown nothing. He has hardly hit the field and opposite of giving Telesco credit as I did above, I will take a swipe at Tom to say that this was a big reach of a valuable 3rd round pick. AJ Finley and Deane Leonard are also part of the group as well as some UDFAs. Any injuries to the starters could be a killer. Coupling this with the corner position and the secondary with any injuries could be a major weakness.
LBs - Fine - This group is hard to get a handle on. Denzel Perryman is purely a run stopper (77.9 PFF and 17th overall), but in pass defense his coverage grade (PFF 38.4 – gulp) was horrific last year. He is purely a 2-down linebacker and I’m not sure what he has left in the tank. Daiyan Henley hardly saw defensive snaps in his rookie season so no idea what he will bring aside from athleticism. He is a player who had a position change in college from wide receiver to linebacker in his junior year. With only two-years of experience and being a smaller guy, I almost see him as the opposite of Denzel Perryman. I believe that he can run with running backs and tight ends in coverage, but may struggle on the diagnostic part of being a linebacker with so few reps. Junior Colson knows the defense, but he's fighting through an injury and is a rookie. I am hopeful that Junior wins a job in training camp and stays healthy. This team has had great success with guys named “Junior”. Nick Niemann, Troy Dye are mostly special teams players, but good enough as rotation backers in this system. I think there is enough here to have a decent linebacking group. I don’t think it’s a strength, but they should hold up.
Edge (using Edge instead of LB designation) - Strength - This is a very good group, and I would say top five in the NFL (Mack, Bosa, Tuipolotu, and Dupree). The depth and quality are outstanding. All four players will be dangerous for opposing QBs. The depth will allow for Bosa and Mack to play 20-less snaps per game and hopefully keep them healthy and fresh. I would expect that in a two-minute drill that three or all four will be on the field at the same time or just rotate to keep them fresh. The depth is important at this position to not only keep guys fresh, but Bosa has struggled significantly to stay on the field the last two-years and is only getting older turning 29 in two weeks. I also love Khalil Mack, but it might be a reach for him to get another 17-sacks at age 33. As Buck featured in another article he is a lunch pail kind of player and it is critical that he is in the lineup all year long. He really sets the tone and leads by example and by off the field effort. Can’t have enough of players like Mack. I believe that Mack was critical in Joey Bosa sticking around and taking a pay cut. I am assuming that Chris Rumph will be on the team, but he will need to win his job in training camp and through preseason games. He has pretty much been a non-factor and at this point I would rather invest elsewhere with a younger guy as I doubt that Rumph will be with the team in 2025.
DI (in Minter’s defense this would include NT, DT, DE) - Weakness - The Chargers added Poona Ford and Justin Eboigbe and that will help. Morgan Fox has been a good pass rusher, but the rest of the crew (Ogbonnia, Matlock, Hinton, Clark) are very underwhelming players to date. I thought Poona Ford played much better in Seattle and seemed to get lost in the numbers in Buffalo last season. I am hoping that he bounces back. I am also hoping that Eboigbe comes in as a rookie and gets meaningful snaps and into the rotation. I also am hopeful that Ogbonnia is completely healthy and ready to contribute as a solid rotation piece. This position group will most likely get more attention during 2025 free agency and draft. There are no difference-makers in this position group. Nobody that can cave the pocket like a Chris Jones, Christian Wilkins, Jeffrey Simmons, etc. There is nothing a QB hates more than the pressure up the middle. That is a dealbreaker for QBs. You can’t fix all the roster deficiencies in one offseason as I’ve mentioned previously.
K/P/ST – Strength – Cameron Dicker has been a stud since he showed up. He has a strong and accurate leg and can be counted on at every distance. He is young and could be the Chargers kicker for another decade. JK Scott is one of the top ten punters in the league (6th out of 33p) on PFF with a 78.6 grade.
The coverage units have been excellent the last couple of years under Ficken. This roster has gotten much better over the last few seasons in developing a strong core of special teamers including Deane Leonard, Nick Niemann, Troy Dye, Ja’Sir Taylor, AJ Finley, and I would expect to add to that with Tarheeb Still, Cam Hart, Kimani Vidal, and maybe a Shane Lee. The kickoff rule changes will challenge every team and special teams coach. I would expect that the top special teams coaches around the league will be creative in managing the new kickoff rules. I would expect Ficken to be in that group. I would like to think that Harbaugh taps into his brother and ex-special teams coach prior to becoming a head coach, for some advice/insight.
Derius Davis had a solid season as a punt returner but will need to do more than that to make the team or even be active. He will need to develop as a receiver or gadget player going forward.
Well done with this series and I agree with all the designations in this article.
I would still be interested in pursuing Stephon Gilmore at the right price. The lack of a true CB1 limits the ceiling of the overall D, even if scheme should mask some deficiencies. I think the DT group is amongst the worst in the league, but the UFA market at that position is underwhelming. Unless they want to trade for someone, they may have to kick that can down the road.
Daiyan Henley is one of the players I'm most interested to see this year. I heard him interviewed a couple months ago and he explained that he nursed a hamstring injury all year that effectively limited him to Special Teams duties. I frequently slagged off the coaching staff for not playing Henley last season, but if it was the lingering injury limiting his snaps, then that's simply unfortunate for all involved. Hopefully after an offseason with Ben Herbert he's ready to show us all what he can do and win a starting job (because, as you say, Perryman has limitations).
@alisterlloyd I would agree that Gilmore is number one CB available. Maybe Ahkello Witherspoon could be a fit. Xavien Howard is another, but has had injury issues the last couple of seasons as well as some poor personal decisions. It is really picked over and fingers crossed on Fulton, Still, and Hart.
id prefer for Hortiz to use available funds on Justin Simmons or Connor Williams.
@alisterlloyd I'm not sure I understand how one can play special teams effectively with a nagging hamstring injury but not play defense. I don't think players run harder on defense than on special teams.
@tau837 I don't really get it either but he said it, and looking back at injury reports he did have a hamstring issue through the preseason that Popper reported on. I think I was wrong to say that it's simply unfortunate if that's what kept him from playing more snaps. I question the strength and conditioning staff + the decision-making from Staley et al to let him play in a limited capacity all season. Surely placing him on IR or some other approach where he could properly rest the muscle was a better option than the one that was taken.
There's also a problem here with me attempting to interpret something someone else has said. When Henley says he nursed a hamstring issue and couldn't get it right, he might mean that he never felt 100% and thinks the hamstring was the cause. Maybe it was never bad enough to be on the injury report but enough for Henley to be aware of it; the coaches felt he wasn't showing enough improvement at practice to warrant defensive reps; and Henley considers the hamstring to have been causative. I think you can interpret the comment a couple of ways but still place blame on the coaches on any interpretation. But if the coaches were aware of the issue generally that's one piece of information that potentially explains why his snaps this year were more limited than expected
@alisterlloyd didn’t know about the injury as it wasn’t on the injury report that I recall outside of first part of the season. I do know one of his prior coaches and his athleticism was extremely high. His diagnostic component of the position was lagging behind (only 2-years playing LB). That may hold him back.
CB is a big concern. With pass rushing as a projected strength, Minter is going to need to dial up consistent heat on the QB to mask deficiencies in the secondary. I feel fairly certain Hortiz is continuing to look for improvements but you can't manufacture available players. Perhaps training camps will shake lose something.
Nice series. 👍🏼
@buck-melanoma thanks Buck. I think Hortiz and Harbaugh have made a lot of chicken salad this offseason with quite a pile of chicken shit that they were left with. The best corners got gobbled up in free agency early when they had no money to work with. I agree, they will need to dial up the pressure all season long and disguise coverages really well to help the young guys.
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