Patriots/Chargers: Who are the 3 key players for each team?

Derwin James

When the Chargers made James their first-round pick in the 2018 draft at No. 17, they envisioned the Florida State safety becoming a rangy, free-flowing defender who could anchor their secondary and become the kind of perennial Pro Bowler that former star safety Eric Weddle used to be for the team.

I’m not sure even L.A. GM Tom Telesco assumed James could be all that and more this fast though.

James is now 1-for-1 in making the Pro Bowl, earning a nod in his very first season. He played every game this year and finished with 105 combined tackles, 3.5 sacks, 13 passes defensed, and 3 interceptions. It’s the kind of season Chargers fans only could have dreamed of back in April, and yet here we are in January and it’s all real.

James was solid if not spectacular in the team’s win last week in Baltimore. He wasn’t really tested by Lamar Jackson, as the Ravens rookie struggled to get much going through the air until the final quarter of play.

Tom Brady, of course, is on another level than Jackson. No one knows this better than the Los Angeles Chargers, who are 0-7 against Brady in the Philip Rivers era. Just as Trent Brown has the unenviable task of slowing down Melvin Ingram in Foxborough, it falls on James to try and contain Brady and his bevy of receivers.

Should James snag an interception or two on Sunday – or at the very least hold Brady below 200 passing yards and help out in stopping the run – L.A. should be moving on to face either Indianapolis or Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game.