Training camp is usually when teams begin finalizing their depth charts. This year, however, it seems as though the Chargers have largely set their starting lineups before players even report to camp.
Let’s run through the starters, continuing with the defense.
EDGE Joey Bosa
After having groin surgery in September, Bosa returned late in the season feeling “better than [he had] in years”. While his performance and antics in the playoff game may not have built any goodwill with fans, the older Bosa brother is still among the game’s best when he’s fully healthy.
DL Morgan Fox
Fox’s free agent market didn’t look the way he and his camp thought it would after he put together the best season of his career. The Chargers reaped the benefits by re-signing him to a 2 year, $7.25 million contract as their only proven pass-rushing threat from the interior. With hopefully more health around him, Fox should continue to eat as the team’s 5-technique.
DL Austin Johnson
Johnson returns from a torn MCL and fractured kneecap that cut an underrated 2022 campaign short. Prior to the injury, Johnson had been LA’s best run defender by a wide margin, and his absence in the middle was palpable down the stretch. As long as his recovery has gone well, expectations should be high for the former Giant.
DL Sebastian Joseph-Day
The keystone of LA’s spending spree along the defensive line during free agency two seasons ago, the former Ram wasn’t quite as disruptive as fans may have hoped in 2022. Part of that can be attributed to health, both his own and his teammates’. With everyone back in the fold to start 2023, opportunity for Joseph-Day should abound.
EDGE Khalil Mack
Mack’s impact ebbed and flowed in his first season as a Charger, as opposing offensive lines were able to double-team the former Defensive Player of the Year due to the lack of pass-rush threat from the interior. Those matchups only got worse once Bosa got injured. With an upgrade at the third edge spot (second-rounder Tuli Tuipulotu) to rotate in with the veterans, Mack should be afforded a bit more freshness to get after the opposing QB.
LB Eric Kendricks
Kendricks replaces Drue Tranquill as the man in the middle of the Chargers defense and will likely take over green dot duties as LA’s defensive playcaller. While not the same player that made an All-Pro team in 2019, Kendricks will add a huge upgrade in run defense for a Chargers team that needs all the help it can get.
LB Kenneth Murray Jr.
Despite having his fifth-year option declined, Murray will remain a starter this season as he tries to prove he’s worthy of a contract extension. There are two ways things can go for the former first-round pick: either Murray finally starts to put everything together and plays to his draft position, or he continues to stall developmentally and risks ceding snaps to third-round rookie Daiyan Henley.
CB J.C. Jackson
Jackson looks as though he’ll be ready to suit up in Week 1 after rupturing his patellar tendon in October, an outcome that seemed far-fetched a few months ago. Should he be healthy, there’s simply no reality in which he doesn’t start – the Chargers gave him $16.5 million a year because they think he can be their lockdown corner on the boundary.
CB Michael Davis
Davis has earned the right to not be embroiled in competition all preseason, as he and Asante Samuel Jr. were last year. It was perhaps the only silver lining of the Jackson injury – the opportunity for Davis to see starting snaps revealed a diamond in the rough. Now, LA has two physical, press-man corners on the boundary to knock opposing receivers off their rhythm.
CB Ja'Sir Taylor
Early signs point to Taylor being the main man in the slot over Samuel, at least to start the season. Samuel’s size, or lack thereof, has been a hindrance in run defense, where the Chargers’ scheme places a lot on cornerbacks’ plates. Late in the season, Brandon Staley swapped Samuel for Taylor to get a boost in that department. That said, Taylor will need to prove that his late-season surge was more than just a flash in the pan to keep that starting role.
S Derwin James Jr.
The league’s best safety returns for his sixth season in powder blue after two consecutive seasons of good health. 2022 was a bit of a letdown for the All-Pro caliber player, for a few different reasons. Asking James to take on the green dot put a bit too much on his plate when he was also responsible for so much as an individual because of his Swiss Army knife-type role. Good as he is, James is still human, and asking him to do what he’s most capable of will hopefully lead to results in 2023.
S Alohi Gilman
Gilman took over the second safety spot midseason and never looked back, somewhat of a revelation considering the former sixth-rounder had barely seen the field up to that point. With Nasir Adderley now embarking on a new journey in retirement, there’s not really a logical option to even compete with Gilman. Second-year pro JT Woods showed little as a rookie and undrafted second-year man Raheem Layne spent most of the season on the practice squad.
