LA Chargers: 5 potential concerns for the 2021 season

4. The LA Chargers defending the run

This is the one area of the defense that fans should still not be sold on. The LA Chargers have struggled to stop the run for years now and the personnel on the team should not lead anyone to believe that they will be much better in 2021.

The hope is that Brandon Staley can turn this ship around and make this is a non-factor. While the overall numbers last season were not terrible, those who watched the games saw the holes in the run defense and other team’s ability to run on command when they needed to.

Just go back and watch the Miami game. It was not great.

The team did not really add much to help the cause. Linval Joseph is one year older and is likely going to continue to take a step back production-wise. Justin Jones is a fine depth piece and Jerry Tillery is decent at times against the pass but is horrible in stopping the run.

Kenneth Murray is good to have behind the ball and a healthy Derwin James and Drue Tranquill should help but I still do not like the interior defensive line, especially if the team does indeed switch to a 3-4 defense and relies on Tillery to play a role that he is not really suited for.

It is better to be bad against the run than be bad against the pass but it is still worth mentioning.