Derwin James' injury may be far more serious than the Chargers let on

Update: The initial Tweet about Derwin James' potential groin tear was deleted after time of publication. James was not a participant in Thursday's practice.

The LA Chargers are finally starting to turn a corner when it comes to health. For the first time all season, we saw the wide receiver room at full strength for an entire game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 14 and it had a massive impact on the offense as a whole.

There have also been a lot of promising updates around the team heading into the final four weeks. Joey Bosa appears to be on the cusp of returning and Rashawn Slater may actually make his return to the team before the end of the regular season. For the first time in a long time, Chargers fans feel optimism.

All that being said, there is one big injury looming over the team with Derwin James. James missed the Week 14 win over the Dolphins with a quad injury that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. The injury did not appear to be too serious, though, so many fans were not losing sleep.

However, it appears that James' injury might actually be more serious than the team is letting on. Beat reporter Elliott Teaford of The OC Register provided a bleak update to Derwin's injury on Thursday that could have huge ramifications.

This is a bad look for the Chargers if Derwin James' injury is a torn quad.

There is no official confirmation that Derwin James has a torn quad and the team could still dodge that bullet. However, if this is indeed the injury that James has then it is going to be a very bad look for the Chargers and how they have identified injuries thus far.

This would certainly end Derwin James' season and could potentially even delay his ramp-up for the 2023 season. It would be a tough break for Derwin, who was finally putting together a healthy stretch after dealing with so many injuries early in his career.

Regardless of the severity of the injury, the LA Chargers have to be extremely cautious in how they handle James' injury. Rushing him back before he is ready would be the worst possible thing to do. Sure, the team is in the playoff hunt, but they would risk losing James for much longer by making a poor decision like this.

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It would not be the first time that the team has seemingly rushed a player back before they were ready, either. Both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams missed multiple weeks after their initial returns that reaggravated their respective injuries. The last thing this team needs is that to happen to Derwin James.