How will the back seven of the defense shape up?
Even though Los Angeles finished with a top-10 defense last season, some changes occurred to the linebacker and defensive backs corps this offseason. The Chargers moved on from LB Thomas Davis and lost safety Adrian Phillips and LB Jatavis Brown. However, they gained four-time Pro Bowl selection CB Chris Harris Jr., LB Nick Vigil and rookie LB Kenneth Murray, who was drafted No. 23 overall.
The acquisition of the 30-year-old Harris to be starter leaves the future of CB Desmond King in a flux because he manned the slot the past few seasons. King could serve as the dime linebacker, but his snaps will decrease significantly. King is capable of playing the outside corner position spot along with CB Casey Hayward.
That remains an area that should’ve been shored up in the draft, or at least had competition added for CB Michael Davis, who is slated to start there despite his up-and-down play in previous seasons. There’s the possibility of FS Nasir Adderley making the transition from the single-high role to cornerback, too.
Adderley was expected to start at free safety last season, but injuries hampered him, and the team has faith in FS Rayshawn Jenkins in that role. Adderley played cornerback in his first two college seasons at Delaware, so the transition wouldn’t be foreign to him. Safety Derwin James remains as a key piece as a do-it-all defender.
As for the linebacker position, the starting spots are up for grabs. LB Drue Tranquill, a standout as a rookie last season, is expected to start at middle linebacker, while Murray starts at weakside linebacker. But the roles of LB Denzel Perryman and Kyzir White remain to be seen. Perryman is in the final year of his contract, and it’s evident based on the snaps from 2019 that Tranquill earned the trust of the coaching staff in the starting role more so than Perryman.
White, meanwhile, has still struggled to fully recover from a knee injury suffered in 2018. Perryman could have a rotational role, but there’s a possibility he will be released to clear up salary cap space or even traded prior to training camp.