If there's been one silver lining to take away from this season for the Los Angeles Chargers, it's been the performance of the defense under first-time play caller Chris O'Leary.
Sure, the unit's lackluster performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6 certainly hurt its standings in the overall landscape of the league's defenses. Entering Week 8, they're currently fourth in passing yards allowed and 18th in rushing yards (with only six games under their belt). But in general, O'Leary has found a way to maximize both the defensive line and the secondary, in the lineage of Jesse Minter, to limit opposing offenses.
And remarkably, O'Leary has managed to accomplish this feat with a pair of cornerstones in Donte Jackson and Derwin James Jr. missing multiple games due to injury. Jackson, who suffered a concussion and then a hamstring injury in his return, seems like he'll be ready to go for the Los Angeles Rams matchup this weekend.
But as Jim Harbaugh revealed in his press availability today, James could take significantly longer. He suffered a setback in the rehab for his hamstring injury—presumably practicing during the Chargers' bye week—and there's a real chance he will now be placed on IR. Even if Los Angeles doesn't make that move in order to save space on the roster, that essentially confirms he's out long-term.
Wednesday injury updates from #Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh:
— Eric Smith (@Eric_L_Smith) October 28, 2026
Derwin James had a setback in his return from hamstring injury and might be going to IR.
Awosika, Thompson and Leonard won’t practice today.
The Chargers have already survived three weeks without James. But what is the ceiling for this defense if he's going to miss several more weeks?
Derwin James Jr.'s continued absence makes life tough on Chris O'Leary
Coming into the season, there were some obvious questions to be asked about O'Leary's abilities to fill Minter's shoes after the latter's departure to the Baltimore Ravens. So much of what Minter did for the Chargers defense was founded upon his ability to routinely elevate the talent in the secondary to new heights with his zone-heavy scheme, focusing primarily on post-snap communication and various shifts to keep offenses on their toes and limit explosive plays. Even without a true blue chip talent in the cornerback room, Minter led what was essentially a top-10 unit in back-to-back years.
O'Leary has been able to replicate much of that success so far—even with a thinner cornerback room. Both Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart are still in the fold, but neither has been particularly inspiring this season. Beyond the injured Jackson and those two pieces, Los Angeles has UDFA Rodney Shelley and special-teams weapon Deane Leonard at its disposal. They let Benjamin St-Juste, who played 37% of the team's defensive snaps last year, walk in free agency without a replacement.
But more importantly, the connective tissue of Minter's defense was often James—operating in his traditional nickel role and roaming the field depending on what the Chargers needed of him. He could operate as another rangy defensive back in coverage, or he was capable of generating pressure on the blitz or working his way downhill to defend the run with physicality.
Even on the north side of 30, he's still the Chargers' most versatile and useful piece on that side of the ball.
It was primarily O'Leary's run defense that broke down against the Chiefs, but the secondary wasn't entirely clean either in that matchup—allowing Mahomes to complete 23 of his 30 passing attempts for 272 yards. He did throw for zero touchdowns and one interception on the day, but Los Angeles largely wasn't able to limit him in the same way they did other quarterbacks this year.
Los Angeles has already shifted to a lower sub package approach this season, but that's a bit of a 'chicken or the egg' situation there considering the amount of time that James has missed. The Chargers also have replacements in the safety room, with Elijah Molden, Genesis Smith, Tony Jefferson, and RJ Mickens forming a viable combination of skill sets to hold down those spots in James' absence.
But how long can this secondary hold up? If James isn't set to return until after Week 11, at the earliest, the Chargers will be forced to face off against the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, and the New York Jets (ok, that last one's not that scary), without their most versatile and schematically flexible defensive piece in the fold.
This isn't to say that the Los Angeles defense will necessarily lose any of its current momentum with James out. But the longer their veteran safety is absent, the harder O'Leary's job becomes, and the harder it will be to keep this secondary viable on a game-to-game basis.
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