Jesse Minter, in his first season as the Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive coordinator, has made it clear that having more players getting game time is beneficial for his defense.
Injuries to two key starters might test Minter’s defensive depth before the Chargers’ game on Sunday at Carolina.
Linebacker Joey Bosa and safety Alohi Gilman did not practice on Thursday. Bosa had a back issue that limited him on Wednesday, and Gilman has not practiced this week due to a knee injury.
Bosa tied for the team lead with seven tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble in last week’s opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. Gilman participated in all but one of the Chargers’ 60 defensive plays and had four tackles.
Bosa and Khalil Mack combined for 2 1/2 of the Chargers’ four sacks against the Raiders’ Gardner Minshew.
“They drive the engine of our defense. The way they play, the physicality. Those guys keep doing it. I think they have a lot of fun out there,” Minter said.
The Chargers had 16 defensive players on the field for at least 20 snaps last Sunday in their 22-10 win over Las Vegas. Going into the second game, Minter wants to get at least 19 players to have at least 16 snaps each.
“When we have multiple good players at a position, to me, they all need to play,” Minter said. “We were fresh when we needed to be able to close out the game, so that’s how we want to kind of play this game for a while.”
Three players rotated at middle linebacker: Denzel Perryman, Daiyan Henley, and Junior Colson each took turns with the helmet to receive plays from Minter and then call them in the huddle.
“I didn’t remember half the time who I was talking to,” Minter said. “They did a great job, we were really not able to have any communication issues. Kudos to those guys and how they played as well.”
It was the first time Henley and Colson had used the green dot helmet. Henley, who played 41 snaps on Sunday, had only 51 defensive snaps as a rookie last season, while Colson is a rookie.
