LA Chargers: Who benefits most from the possible defensive scheme changes
By Steven Haglund
Changes are coming for the LA Chargers, and not just on the offensive side of the football.
If you’ve been searching for themes this offseason from the LA Chargers, you’ve probably heard the coaching staff and general manager Tom Telesco mention the word “turnover” quite a bit. Not just because of roster turnover but because everyone in this franchise knows that they have to be better on the field at turning the ball over less on offense and creating more turnovers on defense.
To that end, the Chargers have gone after players in both free agency and the draft that can help them create more turnovers on defense. Chris Harris, Linval Joseph, Nick Vigil, Kenneth Murray and even Alohi Gilman have all been brought in to help accomplish that goal.
But it’s not only about the roster moves. Head coach Anthony Lynn and defensive coordinator Gus Bradley have both talked about mixing the scheme up this season and moving away, at least somewhat, from the patented Seattle cover three look that Bradley is a long time practitioner of.
That scheme is fine overall and it’s one that helps the coaching staff put a cap on the roster’s limitations, something we all saw last year particularly after Derwin James and Adrian Phillips were put on injured reserve.
The staff wants to involve more traditional two-deep safety looks so they can play more man to man and cover two schemes. I’ll dive into that more on the following slides, but it is a good thing because this will allow Bradley to call a more aggressive game plan.
The changes won’t be full swing as Lynn emphasized that they don’t want to go from zero to sixty. I imagine that the changes will be subtly mixed in over the first weeks and then gradually increased as the season goes on.
The following slides will outline who on the Chargers roster benefits most from these changes.