It didn't take long for Derwin James to establish himself as one of the best safeties in the entire NFL. James was named an All-Pro in his rookie season in 2018, giving the LA Chargers a foundational pillar to build the defense around for years to come.
Then James' career hit some turbulence. James played five combined games in 2019 and 2020 as the star safety dealt with various injuries. By the time he returned to the fold in 2021, the Chargers had a new head coach who was meant to be a defensive wizard: Brandon Staley.
We all know how that panned out.
Staley was fired by the Chargers less than three full seasons into his employment after a 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Chargers consistently fielded one of the worst defenses in the sport while James looked like a shell of his former self. James was a Pro Bowler in 2021 and 2022, but he did not look like the same player from 2018, and was getting progressively worse as Staley's tenure grew.
By the time Staley was fired in 2023, Chargers fans were legitimately questioning if James was worth building around in the future. Then the star safety gave fans some hope under interim head coach Giff Smith, who completely changed how James was used on defense, giving fans hope for the future.
That hope has translated into real results under defensive coordinator Jesse Minter in 2024. James is having the best season of his career since 2018 and just had yet another fantastic showing against the New England Patriots in Week 17. With enough of a sample size to look back on, Chargers fans finally have their answer.
Brandon Staley broke Derwin James. Jesse Minter fixed him.
Staley's tenure with the Chargers will be remembered horribly but what he did to the defense and to James specifially will be his lasting legacy. The "defensive wizard" tried building such a complicated defense that it confused his own players as well. His own former players have been on the record since his departure that this was the case.
Instead of builidng a scheme around the strengths of the players actually on the roster, Staley forced the Chargers to play "his way" even if that did not make sense with the talent on the team. As a result, many players were square pegs being crammed into round holes. James was the most obvious example.
The biggest strength of James' game is his ability to move around the defense and play at the line of scrimmage. The weakest area of James' game is as a traditional cover safety, especially in deep-zone looks where he can't utilize his on-ball instincts near the line of scrimmage.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that James' main role shouldn't be as a two-high safety. But that is how Staley primarily used him. When Staley was calling the defense, James mostly played free safety and in the box. His snaps at the line of scrimmage and at slot corner were limited.
In James' rookie season, he played 38.5% of his snaps in the box, 20.4% at the line of scrimmage, 18% at free safety and 16.8% in the slot, per Pro Football Focus. It was a truly diverse mix with James playing in the slot pretty much just as often as he played free safety.
In Staley's last full season as head coach in 2022, James played 38.8% of his snaps in the box, 32.2% at free safety, 19% in the slot and 7.1% at the line of scrimmage. Free safety should be a small part of James' arsenal but under Staley, it accounted for nearly a third of his snaps.
Compare that to James' first year under Minter. James has played 35.9% of his snaps at slot corner, 28.4% in the box, 23.5% at free safety and 9.2% at the line of scrimmage; a much healthier mix with free safety being the third-most played position.
Snap-count percentages don't tell the entire story, though. The main difference, other than Minter having a more simplified scheme that puts players in better positions to succeed, is that James is primarily playing the nickel in Minter's defense. This is a change Chargers fans first saw after Staley was fired in 2023 that has carried over into the 2024 season.
James would play in the nickel under Staley, but not as frequently. By using James primarily at nickel corner, the Chargers have been able to build a secondary around James and his strengths. Staley, meanwhile, would try to use James as some sort of bandage to fix other problems on the defense, which rarely worked.
The tape speaks for itself. While James' tackle numbers are lower this season, the positive impact he is having on games (while removing the negative plays) has been astounding. And as a result, he has been a key member of a Chargers defense that has gone from one of the worst in the entire league to one of the best.
All it took was going from Brandon Staley to Jesse Minter.