For the second straight season, Derwin James will begin the season sidelined by a major injury. The Chargers’ third year All-Pro safety suffered a meniscus injury in practice today according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport who adds that the prognosis is significant missed time.
#Chargers star safety Derwin James is likely to miss significant time with a meniscus injury he suffered during today’s practice, I’m told. James was expected to be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and will now have to wait and see when he will be back on the field.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 30, 2020
James won the 2018 Defensive Rookie of the Year award and was also named an All-Pro that season. Last season, his second in the league, he suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and was was placed on injured reserve, returning to the active roster on November 30 and appearing in the final five games of the season.
Depending on the timetable, it would appear as if James could once again end up on injured reserve at least for the first half of this season.
Should that happen, the earliest he could return would be the Chargers’ week nine game against the Raiders.
Regardless, this is another big blow for James and for a Chargers team that all too often of late seems to have their best players go down with injury.
