The Los Angeles Chargers secondary held up well against the Denver Broncos passing attack despite sweeping injuries among the cornerbacks. They were forced to put Asante Samuel Jr. on injured/reserve days ahead of their game against the Denver Broncos. A day before, starting nickel back Ja’Sir Taylor was ruled out of the game. And that wasn’t all. Kristian Fulton and Deane Leonard were listed as questionable with injuries. Fulton played about half the defensive snaps and Leonard was downgraded to ‘out’ early in the first half.
The result was the Chargers trotting out with a cornerback starting lineup built with two late-round rookies, Cam Hart and Tarheeb Still, and a hobbled Fulton. Previously to that game, Hart had played four snaps on defense, and Still played his career’s first defensive snaps against the Kansas City Chiefs as Taylor missed that game as well. In that game, he was exclusively in the slot, but this week he moved to the outside, and Derwin James a season-high playing 23 snaps in the slot to help support the secondary.
Now in response to those injuries, the Chargers are forced to look outside the building similar to when safety Alohi Gilman missed Week 2 prompting the signing of Elijah Molden.
Chargers Worked Out With Jerry Jacobs and Eli Apple
Today it was reported that the Chargers worked out veteran cornerbacks Eli Apple and Jerry Jacobs.
Jacobs was most recently with the team across town, the Los Angeles Rams but was cut ahead of the season via an injury settlement. He played for the Detroit Lions in 2023, playing 68 percent of the team’s defensive snaps that season. He combined for 55 tackles, including two for loss and a quarterback hit. He also had four pass breakups.
LA Adds Eli Apple
Eli Apple played for the Miami Dolphins last season, his fifth team in eight seasons. The team signed him when Jalen Ramsey suffered a knee injury missing the first seven games of the season. Apple combined for 46 tackles, and had one interception and six pass breakups playing 50 percent of the team’s snaps in 11 games, including the playoffs.
Apple started his career with the NY Giants when they picked him 10th overall in the 2016 draft. In 2018 he was traded to the New Orleans Saints. As a free agent in 2020, he signed a one-year contract with Carolina. He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021, playing in the Super Bowl. He was resigned by the team for another one-year deal in 2022.
Shortly after the news of the workout surfaced, the team made up their mind and pulled the trigger on Apple. More details to come.
