The Los Angeles Chargers, outside of their cornerback room, have actually found some pretty encouraging depth across their defense in 2026.
The safety room—with long-term options in Elijah Molden, Genesis Smith, and RJ Mickens—seems to be set for the immediate future. So does the defensive line as Nick Barrett and Jamaree Caldwell continue to show signs of improvement.
Perhaps the deepest positional group on this roster, though, remains the inside linebacker room. Even with Denzel Perryman out, Del'Shawn Phillips has established himself as a starting-caliber defender, while Troy Dye has provided his usual solid production as a third, rotational linebacker behind the starting pairing of Phillips and Daiyan Henley.
But the landscape of the room beyond this year remains uncertain. Perryman, Henley, and Dye will all be free agents this offseason. Phillips has another year remaining on his contract, but the price of that will nearly double to $4.75 million this offseason.
That means that Marlowe Wax—who was one of the Chargers' biggest preseason standouts but has been pushed to the sidelines from the start of the campaign—likely just needs to bide his time before he gets another shot at being a real contributor on this defense.
Chris O'Leary has the future of this defense in his hands—and he's shown an obvious liking for Marlowe Wax
Now that the Chargers are 0-6, it's pretty easy to cast what seemed like some of the major storylines of the early season aside as trivial happenings. But the rest of this campaign, for Los Angeles, needs to be focused on shaping the roster for next season. In that light, O'Leary's decision to give Phillips the starting nod in Perryman's absence remains significant.
When Perryman opened the season on IR, it seemed as though the hierarchy of the ILB room was bound to change. Both Phillips and Wax had functioned primarily as a special-teams assets under Jesse Minter, and Wax had one of the strongest preseasons out of any player on the Chargers roster. Across three outings, he posted two pressures, 13 combined tackles, and a run-defending grade of 87.8, per Pro Football Focus. It seemed like Dye, who normally functions as the team's third linebacker, would step in as a starter alongside Henley, and Wax would get the opportunity to claim defensive snaps in Dye's usual place.
The Chargers even went as far as to waive former third-round pick Junior Colson, sending him to the practice squad after a pair of highly limited seasons.
But when the first unofficial depth chart of the season came out, Phillips was listed as the starter. Since that time, he's more than justified that opportunity, functioning as a solid run defender next to Henley and even getting active on the blitz across six games. Wax, meanwhile, has seen just 11 snaps with the defense this season—seeing most of his action with the special teams unit.
Even if O'Leary didn't feel Wax was ready for a major defensive role, however, he's now earned a spot on the 53-man roster in back-to-back seasons after entering the league as a UDFA due to his constant intensity and athleticism. There's a real chance Perryman is gone this offseason, as he's spent much of his age-34 campaign on the injured reserve. It feels like Henley will return on a moderate deal, but Dye's future is also uncertain given the flexibility the Chargers have at the position.
Perhaps Wax will see some more snaps as the season goes on, especially if Dye starts to struggle. But even if he doesn't, the second-year linebacker is still a player to keep an eye on as this season unfolds. Given the landscape of the positional group, he could easily come to play a major role in next year's defense.
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