A portion of Daniel Popper’s Friday column:
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What the Chargers will do at strong safety, Denzel Perryman back in the LB rotation and, of course, tacosBy Daniel Popper
It started as intermittent one-play flashes during the Chargers’ organized team activities in the spring.
Roderic Teamer, an undrafted rookie out of Tulane, would charge from his strong safety spot and ofill a gap during an 11-on-11 running play.
Veteran defensive back Jaylen Watkins took notice.
“He was just doing some of the stuff that you don’t expect,” Watkins said this week, remembering some of Teamer’s first practices on an NFL field. “You’re kind of like, ‘OK rook.'”
After training camp opened in July, those standout plays from Teamer happened more frequently.
“Then it wasn’t a flash,” Watkins said. “It was just like, ‘Oh, that’s him.’”
Added Watkins: “He’s a one-of-a-kind rookie as far as his preparation and how cerebral he is. This is my sixth year, and I tell him all the time, I don’t think I’ve seen that yet from a rookie, coming in and just knowing what he needs to do.”
That mental aptitude has put Teamer in a position to start in his NFL debut on Sunday when the Chargers host the Texans. A hamstring injury forced him to miss the first two weeks of the season, but he returned to practice fully this week. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
After Adrian Phillips broke his forearm in last week’s loss to the Lions, the Chargers are down both their starting and backup strong safeties. Derwin James, of course, is on injured reserve because of a stress fracture in his foot. Phillips is on IR as well.
That has left Gus Bradley and the rest of the Chargers’ defensive coaches in a difficult spot.
Rayshawn Jenkins lost weight this offseason as part of a move from strong safety to free safety. He’s been working as the starter at free safety since the spring. And the coaching staff loves what Jenkins brings to that position — speed, length, ball skills, all the things he showcased when he picked off one of Matthew Stafford’s deep balls in Detroit.
“It’s my favorite position on the football field,” Jenkins said this week.
The Chargers want to avoid moving Jenkins out of the free safety spot so they can maintain some level of consistency and familiarity in the midst of all these injuries. Moving Jenkins to strong safety would effectively mean an entirely new tandem — Jenkins in a different position than he’s played since May and a fresh free safety, either second-round pick Nasir Adderley (who sat out all of training camp with a hamstring injury) or Watkins.
Adderley is still trying to catch up from the month he missed. Watkins, meanwhile, fills a jack-of-all-trades role for this defensive backfield. He can play both safety spots, outside corner and nickel corner. He also comes on in dime packages as the sixth defensive back.
The Chargers already have injuries at cornerback. Trevor Williams (quad) is on IR. And Michael Davis (hamstring) is doubtful for Sunday after missing the Detroit game. The Chargers need Watkins as a depth piece in case of another injury, and giving him a starting role at safety would force them to find another body to back up at corner.
“If I was to start at a certain position, now it kind of takes me from others,” Watkins said. “Now you got to cross train other people. So it does kind of keep me from ever being in a starter role, and I’ve struggled with that in the past. But at the same time, it presents me opportunities that other players may not have.”
So that’s where Teamer comes in. The Chargers can keep Jenkins at free safety. And in Teamer, they can insert a player who fits the mold of the strong safety in Bradley’s scheme — a linebacker/safety who plays close to the line of scrimmage and is eager to get involved in the run defense.
Jenkins called Teamer “perfect” for that position.
“He fits everything you need from that (spot),” Jenkins added. “We need a guy who is physical down there. That’s him. We need a guy who’s smart down there. He’s smart … and a guy who’s going to be consistent down there, as well. So I feel like he fits all of those criteria to be a strong safety, and he’s going to do well.”
“Throughout my career, I’ve always been kind of a hybrid between linebacker and safety,” Teamer said. “And the strong safety in this defense plays linebacker and safety, so I feel very comfortable. They’ve been teaching it from the ground up since I got here, so it’s not like I’m just getting thrown into anything. All the stuff I’m hearing now, I’ve been hearing all offseason. So it’s just time for me to really do what I have to do.”
Head coach Anthony Lynn said Friday that Teamer will likely start, but “if for some reason he’s not picking it up the way we want him to, then we can make a switch.”
That switch would be moving Jenkins to strong safety and bringing on Adderley or Watkins at free safety.
But Teamer earned this opportunity. He’s been impressing coaches and teammates since the spring, both on defense and special teams.
“Teamer is a hell of a player,” Watkins said. “I’m excited for him.”
“He’s ready,” Jenkins said.
“It’s huge. It’s a way bigger opportunity than I could have imagined getting this year,” Teamer said. “I have to step up and … at least make sure there’s no drop-off. I’m not going out there trying to do anything that Derwin did or A.P. did. Some of the good stuff, yeah, I copy off that. But I just want to go out there and let my teammates know that they can still play, they don’t have to overcompensate anything for me, that I’m going to be out there and I’m going to be holding my own.”
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