After Chargers safeties Derwin James and Adrian Phillips went down with injuries, they had to turn to undrafted rookie Roderic Teamer to fill in their shoes.
Teamer was a summer standout in training camp and preseason action, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows the first few weeks of the regular season for him.
He experienced some growing pains — blown coverage being at the top of the list — but there has been some gradual progress the past couple of weeks, especially this past weekend against the Titans.
Teamer posted arguably his best game yet in Week 7. He finished with his first career interception, along with six tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass defensed.
Not only was Teamer willing against the run like any other given Sunday, but he showed eye discipline to find passing lanes on underneath zones with strong ball skills to make plays in coverage.
Through five games, the former Tulane product has tallied 31 combined tackles 22 being solo, which ranks him second among rookie defensive backs in each category. He’s third in most snaps played by an undrafted rookie (321).
When James and Phillips come back, Teamer will go back to being primarily a special teams ace. But it’s good to know that they have something special with the rookie to be called upon whenever.
