The Chargers should sign this defender before training camp

Chargers veterans report to training camp in Costa Mesa, California on Tuesday before hitting the practice field on Wednesday. With the majority of L.A.'s starters returning, this edition of camp won't feature many position battles at the top of the depth chart — with defensive back and kicker as the exceptions.

With the departure and subsequent retirement of Nasir Adderley this offseason, Derwin James needs a new running mate in the secondary. Furthermore, James' safety spot needs to be occupied in packages the require him to play slot corner or in the box. There are essentially two spots open here.

In a recent mailbag column, The Athletic's Daniel Popper fielded a question regarding current free agent safety John Johnson III, who made a name for himself playing safety on Chargers head coach Brandon Staley's defense with the Rams in 2020. 

Popper indicated the reason as to why the Chargers have yet to sign Johnson to compete with more inexperienced safeties in Alohi Gilman and J.T. Woods: money.

The Chargers currently have about $12.2M available in cap space. But as Popper writes, the issue is not with this season. It's with next season:

"Because of how the Chargers approached this offseason, restructuring four contracts to create room, they are miles over the projected cap for 2024 — $60.577M over ... One tool at the Chargers' disposal is rollover cap space. Teams are allowed to roll over any unused cap space from one season to the next ... So while it might appear on the surface that the Chargers have plenty of space to use, they are likely viewing that space as a potential asset for next offseason."

While Popper does note that extending Justin Herbert and lowering the cap hit of Herbert's fifth-year option would take a chunk out of the 2024 cap overage, it's understandable why Chargers GM Tom Telesco may be frugal with his club's future finances.

Still, should Johnson be willing to take a cheap, one-year deal similar to the one-year, $1.75M deal safety Adrian Amos signed with the Jets in June, it could go a long way in creating competition at one of L.A.'s few unresolved position groups while not adversely impacting the team's 2024 cap space.