The Chargers received an early Christmas gift with the return of safety Derwin James in Week 13.
James had been out for the first 11 games, recovering from a stress fracture that he suffered weeks before the season opener. He started doing agility drills weeks prior to the matchup and was a full go in practice just a week out.
With not a whole lot of work under his belt after fully recovering from the type of injury he sustained, expectations weren’t that high for the former Florida State product’s season debut.
Unsure if coach Anthony Lynn would have James on a limited snap count, he was confident enough to keep him on the field for all but one play.
It wasn’t long into the game when James made his impact felt, giving fans a glimpse of what had been missed this year.
On the Broncos’ first drive, James was deployed as an additional blitzer. He had a free lane and burst through to hurry quarterback Drew Lock. Lock was able to get the pass off but his teammate Adrian Phillips, who was also activated from the IR, stopped the tight end from converting.
James also showed flashes against the run, quickly diagnosing plays and filling the alley with urgency to stop running back Phillip Lindsay.
The plays shown were James’ only two tackles on the evening.
There were plays that displayed a player coming back from a lower body injury, particularly changing directions where he was caught slipping and struggling to gather his footing on a few occasions.
Even though it wasn’t like last season where he was tallying the stat sheet on a weekly basis, it was good to see the All-Pro back on the field.
With there not that much to gain for the Chargers the rest of the season, it’ll be key to make sure they don’t overextend James and possibly put him at risk of injury again.
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