The Chargers suffered yet another huge blow on Sunday.
Safety Adrian Phillips was diagnosed with a broken forearm during the Week 2 loss to the Lions. Phillips will be placed on the injured reserve, forcing him to miss eight weeks.
So once again, it’s next man up for Los Angeles after losing James first, now Phillips.
Phillips was the strong safety for the first two weeks because he was filling in for James. He stepped up as the team’s dime linebacker when the position group was hit with injuries last season.
With that, L.A. is tasked with finding a player to do the many tasks that James and Phillips would normally do.
After Phillips came out from Sunday’s contest, Rayshawn Jenkins moved down to strong safety and Jaylen Watkins took over at free safety. Rookie Nasir Adderley did see the field for a single snap as the free safety when they were in their dime package.
Going into this weekend’s matchup, the starting safeties remains to be seen.
The team could slot Jenkins as the starting strong safety, while Watkins mans the single-high role. Or, they could finally give Adderley the snaps that many people have been anticipating after seeing his stellar performance against the 49ers in the preseason.
When speaking to the media, coach Anthony Lynn commented on why Adderley hasn’t seen the field much and he said that the second-round selection still “doesn’t know a lot”, as he missed all of training camp and is still getting caught up to speed.
It’s certainly frustrating to fans because the glimpses of him are certainly enticing, but Lynn hasn’t been one to rush a player from their perspective injury.
Then there’s undrafted free agent Roderic Teamer, who made the 53-man roster after showing out on a consistent basis since arriving earlier this spring.
Teamer is healing from a hamstring injury, but is fully recovered now and is expected to see snaps at strong safety in practice this week.
When Sunday rolls around, I’m expecting them to go with Jenkins at strong safety and Watkins at free safety this week.
The positional swaps wouldn’t be all that puzzling either because Jenkins has the awareness and instincts you want in a box safety, while Watkins has the fluidity and movement skills to thrive in the deep role.
While none of these players are up there with James or Phillips’ level, they are capable of holding down the fort until they come back later this season.
