The Los Angeles Chargers' defense hasn't been truly at fault for their 0-4 start to the season. Chris O'Leary has shown major improvement as a play caller over the first four games, and he was able to follow up a hallmark performance against the Buffalo Bills with a respectable one—down Derwin James Jr. and Donte Jackson—against an active Seattle Seahawks passing game.
There's certainly room for improvement, though. And with the Chargers' playoff hopes essentially dead in the water, that will be a major storyline to watch over the course of the season. Is O'Leary the right play caller for the Chargers moving forward? And how can the organization best allocate their assets to give him the tools he needs to at least rival Jesse Minter's production during his two seasons here?
It certainly won't be an easy task. There's a real chance Khalil Mack is gone before the end of the season, and Los Angeles has plenty to evaluate in terms of their impending free agents. But it's one the Chargers must take on headfirst over the duration of this campaign if they want to salvage any silver linings from this disaster.
Although Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart are still under contract with Los Angeles through 2027, therefore, it's time to start thinking about what the future of this cornerback room looks like under O'Leary. Are either of them strong enough to be future defensive cornerstones for this team? And where do the Chargers turn to if they're not?
The Chargers need to identify the building blocks of their defensive future over the remainder of this campaign
Although it hasn't resulted in a win, it's notable that Los Angeles has rebounded from their poor defensive start to the season against the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders. They've performed more cohesively now, in back-to-back weeks, against objectively more potent offenses, and they now sit in the middle of the pack in their total passing yards against. It's a far cry from what we saw under Minter, but there's clear improvement there.
This cornerback room, though, simply isn't deep enough to reach the heights we saw over the past two seasons. Even when Jackson was fully healthy, both Kirk Cousins and Jacoby Brissett were able to target Hart routinely on short and intermediate routes. Hart has now allowed 11 receptions on 16 targets this season for a total of 174 yards.
Still, meanwhile, has put up the sort of staunch coverage we're used to seeing from him. But beyond that, Los Angeles simply doesn't have any true rotational options they can turn to. UDFA Rodney Shelley has not had a truly inspiring rep this season, although his defensive snap share was raised up to a career-high 17 in this Week 4 matchup. Neither Deane Leonard, Isas Waxter, nor Kaiir Elam seem like long-term depth options at outside corner, either.
There is a path to rebuilding this room from the ground up, although that doesn't seem truly necessary at this point. Jackson will be a free agent after this season, and Hortiz's history with retaining cornerbacks on the open market is not great. Hart and Still, meanwhile, will each be entering the final seasons of their rookie contracts in 2027. If Hortiz wants to continue to build out the room by taking flyers on mid-round draft selections, letting Jackson and, eventually, Hart walk would both be real options for this front office.
But will that be enough for O'Leary, who hasn't yet shown the same acumen for maximizing secondary talent that Minter did during his time here?
It's a question that will underlie this season and next. Still has shown major development since his rookie campaign, but if the Chargers are comfortable letting Jackson walk this offseason, they're going to need to be assured that Still can take over alpha corner duties for this defense. Hart, at this point, is going to need to work his way back into a possible extension with the organization—the inconsistencies in his tackling and coverage abilities are just too glaring.
It may seem premature to consider these questions, but these are exactly the types of things the Chargers are going to need to be monitoring over the duration of the season now that they're clearly on the outside of the playoff picture.
If Still or Hart is going to have a clear future on this team, they're going to need to earn it in O'Leary's defense. And if one or the other doesn't, Los Angeles needs to seriously consider spending real capital on an additional defensive back this offseason.
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