Chargers lose star safety Derwin James ahead of matchup with New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints quarterbacks will not be hounded by one of the NFL’s best safeties in Week 2. LA’s Derwin James has been ruled out indefinitely.

Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James will be out in Week 2’s preseason matchup with the New Orleans Saints. The star safety will likely also miss some of the regular season with a stress fracture in his foot, according to NFL.com’s Grant Gordon.

This is a huge development ahead of the Saints Week 2 game.

While James may not have played regardlessly because of the nature of the preseason, he’s now officially out for this upcoming game. The Chargers may already be sitting the majority of their offensive firepower as they did in Week 1.

That said, the status of the Saints’ stars is still unknown.

We saw Alvin Kamara last week, but we didn’t get to see Drew Brees, Michael Thomas or star cornerback Marshon Lattimore, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re at least active in the team’s second outing.

All three haven’t been ruled out and don’t have any reported injuries, just not taking advantage of these tune-up games given their meaningless nature.

This will be the Chargers and Saints only matchup of the season.

Overall, James’ impact can’t go unnoticed. He was one of the best safeties in the league last season. Although only a second-year player, James was ready to explode as arguably the league’s best safety which may’ve been prevented by this fracture.

James is expected to make a full recovery, although he’s been ruled out indefinitely. This injury just shows how important depth is. The Chargers will now be short at safety. Adrian Phillips is likely the replacement for James and should get some snaps against New Orleans.

With no James, let’s hope Teddy Bridgewater and company can rip up a depleted Chargers secondary.