Grading Chargers S Derwin James and the 2026 safety room

Derwin James is back like he never left. After a challenging season for the Chargers safety in 2023, he's made back to back All-Pro teams. NFL personnel viewed 2026 as one of James' best seasons. In Jeremy Fowler's ESPN poll, they ranked him as the second best safety to only Ravens S Kyle Hamilton.

James is the linchpin that this defense is built around. Outside of QB Justin Herbert himself, there's probably not a more individually important Chargers player. New DC Chris O'Leary will look to make it three All-Pro seasons in a row for James as he takes over for Jesse Minter.

The Chargers rewarded James with an extension to make him the second highest paid safety in the league. For the foreseeable future, LA's defense will continue being built around him.

The questions on the depth chart at safety start after James. Elijah Molden is the incumbent second safety after a contract extension with the team last offseason. Molden's play has generally been solid, but he's dealt with a variety of injuries that have necessitated more from LA's depth at the position.

Then there's the third safety competition. Will Tony Jefferson maintain his role in the room after getting more guarantees on his new contract this offseason? Jefferson has impressed the team since unretiring in 2024. However, the Chargers have historically viewed him as an expendable practice squad re-sign. He's been cut before the formation of the initial 53-man roster in each of the last two offseasons.

Can Genesis Smith or RJ Mickens push themselves ahead of Jefferson? Both Chargers' day three selections have gotten a decent amount of hype for their performances in the offseason to this point.

How does the Chargers' 2026 safety room look with the newly extended Derwin James?

S1/Slot Corner: Derwin James

There's not a better Chargers player relative to his position around the league than James. He's probably viewed as the consensus second best safety in the league. He lines up everywhere on the field whether that's the on defensive line, the box, slot corner, or deep safety. Everything that was hyped up about his potential as a true Swiss Army Knife in the 2018 NFL Draft has panned out.

Relative to the aspects of O'Leary's defense that will change relative to Minter's, James' role is one that should remain similar. Maybe his exact number of slot vs. safety snaps could change. But in broad terms, he'll still remain both the stabilizer and chaos engine that drives the unit.

James scored his lowest opposing passer rating allowed (77.2) since the 2022 season while being an equally disruptive level of run defender and pass rusher.

Grade: A+

S2: Elijah Molden:

Elijah Molden has a great debut season in Los Angeles in 2024. He had the highest graded PFF defensive season of his career. Molden had three interceptions to go along with a 47.9 allowed passer rating and zero penalties. It was just incredibly clean football from drive to drive. He also missed just 8.9% of his tackles.

Towards the end of 2024, Molden tore his meniscus and had a full repair surgery. During 2025, he also fought to play through hamstring injuries and a broken thumb. He missed five games this year as a result and when he did play, it just wasn't quite as the same level he previously demonstrated. Molden allowed the second highest passer rating of his career (100.9) and had the highest missed tackle rate of his career at about 17%.

Assuming Molden stays healthy, he's in a perfect position to still run the second safety spot for the Chargers over the next two years. But as has been the case for most of his career, fighting off injuries has been the issue.

There should still be faith in Molden to rebound back to his 2024 form. But this is a key season as the LA safety has zero guaranteed salary left on his contract for 2027.

Grade: B

The third safety competition: Tony Jefferson, RJ Mickens, Genesis Smith

As mentioned earlier, the dynamics here in this competition for playing time will be key to Los Angeles' defense.

Starting with Tony Jefferson-he was arguably the Chargers' second best safety last season. Initially a preseason cut as he also was in 2024, he re-signed to the practice squad. At the age of 33, Jefferson more than doubled his defensive snap count from his initial return season out of retirement. He allowed the second lowest passer rating of his career (34.5) and snagged four interceptions. Despite justifiable concerns about his age, he keeps proving over and over again since his initial unretirement that he can be a contributor.

Tony Jefferson: B

RJ Mickens was named by NFL insider Ryan Fowler as one of the leaguewide standouts during OTA's. When he started to get more playing time last year, he proved why he belonged on the field. Outside of some issues as a tackler, Mickens was getting more and more comfortable in LA's defense every week. On 10 targets, he allowed an opposing passer rating of 8.3 last season with a 74.2 PFF coverage grade. He managed to come away with two interceptions.

On paper, there's no reason he shouldn't keep taking steps forward in 2026.

RJ Mickens: B-

The Chargers drafted Genesis Smith in the fourth round for his eyes and ball skills in coverage. Every season in college he was a chaos creator when the ball was thrown his way. Smith came away with a career-high six pass breakups last season and had his best season PFF coverage grade (87.9).

His tackling needs work. It will likely be the aspect of his game that needs the most development in his first few years. In college, Smith had a 19.8% missed tackle rate over three seasons.

But with Smith, you're betting on the other parts of his game to catch up to the killer coverage and game instincts that are already there.

Smith made his presence felt early during mandatory minicamp.

Genesis Smith: New rookie, N/A

Special teams consideration: Kendall Williamson

Kendall Williamson has been a great special teams player for the Chargers in his last two seasons. Last year, he played the fifth most ST snaps on the team last year at 263. The drafting of Smith makes it tricky to find a spot for Williamson on the 53-man roster. But whether it's the main roster or the practice squad, I'd imagine the Chargers would like to keep one of their key special teams fixtures in their plans.

Grade: B-

Undrafted free agents: Noah Avinger, Devin Grant

Utah State's Noah Avinger and Syracuse's Devin Grant will likely compete for practice squad consideration. It could still be an opportunity for them to contribute in 2026 with the Chargers or elsewhere as there were a number of LA secondary players who got claimed on waivers last offseason despite being cut.

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