LA Chargers: 5 decisions the Bolts may regret from this offseason
By Jason Reed
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports – LA Chargers
2. Not bringing in a valuable third safety
The LA Chargers are rather thin at the safety position and they are banking a lot on Nasir Adderley to take a step up in year three. As it stands right now, Derwin James and Adderley are going to be the starting safeties for the Chargers and there is not much great depth behind them.
The third-best safety on the roster is Alohi Gilman, who proved to be nothing more than a decent special teams player last season. Could he take a step up? Of course. But banking on that to happen without seeing it happen on the field is troublesome.
Mark Webb is the fourth safety on the depth chart as he was just taken in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He is not going to have an impact on this defense this season.
This is a tricky game to play considering James has played only five games over the last two seasons and Adderley has been really bad to start his career. The front office is seemingly hoping that James can stay healthy and that Adderley can take a big step up in year three with Staley, which is certainly possible.
But still, it would have been nice to add another depth option at the positions as things happen and guys will get banged up. Expecting James and Adderley to both play 90%+ of the defensive snaps this season is simply unreasonable.