LA Chargers: Free agent options not named Earl Thomas or Jahleel Addae
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers could look for external safety help after Derwin James’ injury.
The LA Chargers took a massive hit for the 2020 season on Sunday when Derwin James was forced to leave practice early with a leg injury. It turned out that the injury was a torn meniscus and James would miss 6-8 months of football.
That is the entire season. We will not see Derwin James suit up for the LA Chargers until training camp 2021 and it will mark a combined 27 missed games for James in his second and third season. It is a massive loss for a team that is going to succeed because of its defense.
Luckily, the Chargers do have some internal talent that can fill that void and it can get a lot worse than having Rayshawn Jenkins at strong safety and Nasir Adderley at free safety. The team even has Desmond King that can help as well.
However, with James missing the entire season, the Chargers have to bring in some external help to at least add some depth. There is no legitimate option at strong safety behind Jenkins (Alohi Gilman is not ready) and the Chargers need that safety blanket.
The two names that have been talked about the most are Earl Thomas and Jahleel Addae, both of which are not particularly wanted by the fanbase for various reasons.
So, if it is not Earl Thomas or Jahleel Addae, who could it be? Here are three free-agent strong safeties that are still on the market.