Chargers’ defense focuses on standards

EL SEGUNDO — How low can they go?

Last season, the Chargers gave up a puny average of 17.7 points per game, best in the NFL. They won 11 games during Jesse Minter’s first season as their defensive coordinator after joining forces with Coach Jim Harbaugh in his return to the NFL, thanks in large part to their stingy defense.

Many of the pillars of their successful 2024 season returned to the practice field when training camp began Thursday, including outside linebackers Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu, inside linebacker Daiyan Henley and defensive backs Derwin James Jr., Alohi Gilman and Elijah Molden.

The obvious question facing Minter and his defense is whether the Chargers can repeat their efficiency during the upcoming season. Given their many defensive playmakers, can the Chargers do what they did during the 2024 season or, perhaps, be even more effective in shutting down opponents?

Definitely.

Maybe.

Expectations are high going into the 2025 season.

Is this the season, finally, that the Chargers dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs as AFC West champions and make a deep run in the playoffs, maybe even to the Super Bowl? Some pundits around the NFL have mentioned the Chargers as a team capable of moving among the league’s elite teams.

Minter cautioned against expecting too much from the Chargers’ defense.

Let him explain, as he did the other day to a room full of reporters.

Without a doubt, there is a method to his madness.

“I operate on standards instead of expectations,” he said. “We have a standard of how we want to play. I think as long as we play to the standard of the way we want to play, we’ll live with the results. Whatever the final stats are or whatever, if we play to our standard, we’ll live with whatever the final numbers show. I think when you start chasing those things and you start chasing expectations, you get in your own way. It’s really about the things we think it takes to play good defense.”

No question, it helps to have players such as Mack, Henley and James, among others, filling leadership roles. Tuipulotu, for example, has played well in his first two seasons in the NFL, after the Chargers selected him from USC in the second round of the 2023 draft (54th overall).

Tuipulotu said he wants to raise the level of his game in his third season, and he doesn’t have to look far to see what that might look like in the years to come. He has watched and listened intently to Mack since first arriving at the Chargers’ training camp in July 2023. Last season, he and not Mack led the Chargers with 8.5 sacks, a breakout performance if ever there was one.

But he could be better, he insisted.

“He’s the standard,” Tuipulotu said. “That’s what I’m chasing.”

Granted, Mack is likely to be enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, when his playing days are done. His resume includes nine Pro Bowl selections in 11 seasons, 107.5 sacks in 167 career games and a Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016 with the then-Oakland Raiders.

So, those are lofty goals for Tuipulotu.

Or, rather, lofty standards to hit for Tuipulotu, and the Chargers defense, too.

“It’s really just about the things we think it takes to play good defense,” Minter said. “If we hold ourselves to that every day and try to do a little better, and if we play that way, if we play with that competitive mindset for however many games, I think we’ll like where we’re at, at the end of it.”

EXTRA POINTS

Joe Alt shifted to left tackle from his customary spot at right tackle to replace Rashawn Slater, who got the day off from practice Saturday. Greg Roman, the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, said it was a chance to “give Joe reps on the left side. It’s not something you’re going to see every day.” …

Bradley Bozeman moved to center from left guard and Zion Johnson went from center to left guard as the Chargers continued their tryouts on the third day of training camp. Actually, the rotation between Bozeman and Johnson began during spring practices and is likely to continue for some time, Roman said. …

Safety Tony Jefferson and linebacker Daiyan Henley had interceptions during 11-on-11 drills. Henley’s pick was his second in as many days. … Molden worked out on the sidelines under the watchful eyes of an athletic trainer. He was placed on the PUP list before camp began Thursday.