ESPN’s Mike Clay projects Chargers’ 2021 defensive stats

ESPN’s Mike Clay revealed his defensive projections for the Los Angeles Chargers.

Mike Clay is an NFL and fantasy football analyst at ESPN and spends a lot of time going through algorithms and formulas to project player and team stats prior to the regular season.

Recently, Clay revealed his defensive projections for the upcoming season.

Let’s take a look at how he believes the Chargers players will fare in 2021 under head coach Brandon Staley’s defense.

Defensive line

Players Snaps Tackles Sacks
Justin Jones 724 48 3.1
Linval Joseph 713 60 3.1
Jerry Tillery 702 35 4.5
Christian Covington 346 23 1.3
Cortez Broughton 130 9 0.6

Edge defenders

Player Snaps Tackles Sacks
Joey Bosa 897 66 10.7
Uchenna Nwosu 454 34 4.2
Kyler Fackrell 378 23 2.7
Chris Rumph II 248 15 1.6
Emeke Egbule 54 3 0.5

Linebackers

Player Snaps Tackles Sacks Interceptions
Kenneth Murray 1,026 123 0.8 0.7
Kyzir White 486 66 0.4 0.5
Drue Tranquill 173 25 0.2 0.1
Nick Niemann 151 20 0.2 0.1

Cornerbacks

Player Snaps Tackles Sacks Interceptions
Chris Harris Jr. 994 66 1.2 1.0
Michael Davis 951 66 0.2 2.5
Asante Samuel Jr. 702 53 0.3 1.5
Tevaughn Campbell 270 19 0.2 0.5
Brandon Facyson 65 6 0.0 0.1
Ryan Smith 43 3 0.0 0.1

Safeties

Player Snaps Tackles Sacks Interceptions
Derwin James 972 104 1.5 2.7
Nasir Adderley 972 81 0.2 1.0
Alohi Gilman 270 24 0.3 0.5
Mark Webb 162 14 0.1 0.3