The Los Angeles Chargers defense, at the very least, looked improved in Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills.
Although they struggled to stop the run—ceding 154 yards to star RB James Cook on 24 carries—they were able to largely limit the Bills' passing attack and confine Josh Allen to the pocket, putting together more nuanced pressure packages and more carefully-tailored matchups in the secondary. They held the hottest offense in the league to just 24 points, and that's an effort to be relatively proud of after the way the first two weeks of the season went.
But, of course, this team can't finish a game without a major concern cropping up somewhere.
When starting cornerback Donte Jackson went down in the first half with a head injury (which was later revealed to be a concussion), the Chargers were forced to incorporate UDFA Rodney Shelley into the mix at outside corner. If you've seen any of Shelley's reps to this point in the season, you can guess how that went.
Combine that with the struggles that Cam Hart has seen so far this season outside of the context of Jesse Minter's scheme, and there's serious room to doubt the efficacy of this cornerback rotation for Los Angeles. Even if Jackson isn't forced to miss any more time, then, a move to shore up the secondary is something the Chargers should be seriously considering at this point in the season.
The Chargers are one injury away from a crisis at cornerback—and that's unacceptable in their style of defense
To help illustrate the point, let's quickly recap the Chargers' offseason decisions at cornerback. They let Benjamin St-Juste, who played 37% of the team's defensive snaps across 16 games last season, walk to the Green Bay Packers on a two-year, $10 million deal. They then chose to move on from UDFA Avery Smith on roster cut-down day in exchange for a 2027 sixth-round draft pick, presumably with the intention of elevating Shelley to the 53-man roster as a potential backup at outside corner. Nikko Reed was swiped from the Chargers' practice squad by the New York Giants in Week 2.
That left Los Angeles with just three proven corners in their rotation—Jackson, Hart, and Tarheeb Still.
Allowing St-Juste to walk this offseason may ultimately land the Chargers some sort of compensatory draft selection depending on the role he takes on with the Packers over the rest of the season. But if Jackson (or Hart or Still) is forced to miss time, who can they trust to help take on rotational duties in the secondary?
Shelley has played a total of 13 coverage snaps this season, and he's allowed two explosive plays on just four targets—notably blowing coverage on a pivotal deep pass to Keon Coleman late in the first half against Buffalo that allowed them to tie the game. As solid as he looked during the preseason, he's clearly not an immediately viable option for Chris O'Leary's defense.
So if Jackson misses the Week 4 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, who takes on those snaps? To an extent, they can be split between Hart and Still. Kaiir Elam and Isas Waxter can also be elevated from the practice squad, but neither has an extended stretch of capable play at the NFL level under their belt.
It's too soon to tell who might truly be available at this point in the season for the sort of low-range draft capital Hortiz would likely be willing to spend on an additional cornerback. Perhaps Mike Jackson of the Carolina Panthers? Or maybe the Chargers could look into a reunion with Kristian Fulton, who's serving as a reserve on the Kansas City Chiefs at the moment?
Both of those feel relatively unlikely, but the point is this. They simply don't have the luxury of leaning on their remaining depth at this juncture, and as a result, it's time for Hortiz to seriously re-consider his offseason stance on the cornerback room.
Add us as a preferred source on Google