Chargers’ secondary should be considered among league’s best position groups, how is it not?
By Travis Wakeman
The Los Angeles Chargers boast a fierce, talented secondary. The line of teams excited about matching up with the Bolts’ cornerbacks and safeties isn’t very long.
But Chris Wesseling of NFL.com doesn’t see it as one of the seven best position groups in the league. Are there really seven position groups that are better?
According to him, yes.
Wesseling put together a list of the league’s seven-best position groups. Only one secondary makes that list, and it belongs to the New Orleans Saints. To give Wesseling credit, he does give the Chargers somewhat of an “honorable mention” in his explanation, but is that secondary in New Orleans really better than what the Chargers are going to trot out this season?
Marshon Lattimore might be getting a bit too much credit.
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The Chargers should have been on this list instead. The team has Casey Hayward and Jason Verrett who have both made Pro Bowls in their careers. Trevor Williams was solid in relief of Verrett last season and Jahleel Addae holds down his role as well.
But how do you argue against Derwin James? Sure, he has to prove it on the professional stage, but adding him to an already good secondary is at least comparable to what the Saints did with Lattimore last season.
And then you have Desmond King. He’s just an added bonus. So with all of that said, it seems hard to understand why the Saints are considered a better secondary. After all, would the Chargers’ secondary have given up a play like this?
Probably not.
But what makes the secondary in Los Angeles so good is Gus Bradley. The architect of the Legion of Boom in Seattle, all of the makings are there for him to do the same thing in L.A.
Hayward can play the role of Richard Sherman and the trio of King, James and Addae can become what Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas were for the Seahawks. That wasn’t just a top positional unit in the league at the time, it’s a top positional unit in league history.
The Chargers have some strides to make to be in that conversation, but this group is better than what the Saints have and in a short amount of time, that’s going to be proven on the field.