Even without Derwin James on the field, the Chargers’ secondary has been the headline act through two days of camp.
James continues to sit out of practice and work on a contract extension, which has given the other members of the group their chance to shine. On Thursday, they’ve all brought their A-game.
First, it was Ja’Sir Taylor down the sideline. Minutes later, Bryce Callahan over the middle versus Mike Williams. Third-rounder JT Woods flashed his 4.36 speed to force an incompletion against Jalen Guyton. Tevaughn Campbell got in on the action for what felt like the tenth pass breakup of the day towards the end of the session.
Defense is usually a bit quicker to get up to speed in camp, so there’s no reason to suddenly crown the secondary as the best in the league. Still, it’s mighty encouraging that today’s standouts are mostly depth pieces – with as many injuries as L.A. had last season on the back end, shoring up the depth will no doubt be a focal point as the final roster begins to take shape. This also includes offseason star Deane Leonard, who had a quieter day today but did move up the depth chart to work with the second-team defense.
James, JC Jackson, and Asante Samuel Jr. will headline this secondary, and nothing will change that in training camp. But further down the depth chart, it’s good to see young players up their confidence against one of the better offenses in the league.