Derwin James is one of the best safeties in football, and new Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is excited to turn him loose in 2024.
“I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit, just an unbelievable person, unbelievable leader,” Minter said of James, via Eric Smith of the Chargers’ official team website. “The type of mindset that we want to have here on defense is really kind of how he plays already. I’m excited just to sort of try to try to unleash Derwin. No. 1, put him in positions to best utilize his skills and — he can do a lot of stuff — but I also think there’s a fine line. Like, ‘Let’s try to maximize Derwin and allow him to do the things that he’s really, really good at as much as possible.’”
The Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh as their new head coach earlier this offseason, and it didn’t take long for Harbaugh to bring over Minter, who served as Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at Michigan.
Minter who spent time working under Harbaugh’s brother, John, with the Baltimore Ravens from 2017 through 2020. During that time, he worked as a defensive backs coach, so he knows a thing or two about getting the most out of players in his secondary.
“Sometimes you can get a guy like that and you can almost do too much with him and move him around too much,” added Minter. “I want him to understand the concepts of the defense so that there’s certainly times that we can maximize his skillset. I think he can really affect the game in a lot of ways.”
James is coming off of a terrific 2023 campaign in which he played 16 games and racked up 125 tackles, 2.5 sacks, an interception, a couple of fumble recoveries and seven passes defended.
The 27-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Florida State, was selected by Los Angeles with the 17th overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Since then, James has made three trips to the Pro Bowl while also earning a First-Team All-Pro selection.
Minter went on to say that he is most excited about James’ leadership ability, noting that James has already been a frequent visitor to Minter’s office.
We’ll see if Minter can help Derwin James improve even more next season.
More must-reads: