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With Jim Harbaugh as the team’s head coach, the Chargers also have a new defensive coordinator in Jesse Minter.
Minter, 40, was previously with Harbaugh as Michigan’s defensive coordinator from 2022-2023. He also spent 2017-2020 with Harbaugh’s brother, John, as a defensive assistant, assistant defensive backs coach, and defensive backs coach.
As noted in a recent interview with Eric Smith of the Chargers’ website, one of the players Minter is most excited about scheming for is safety Derwin James.
“I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit, just an unbelievable person, unbelievable leader,” Minters said. “The type of mindset that we want to have here on defense is really kind of how he plays already. I’m excited just to sort of try to try to unleash Derwin. No. 1, put him in positions to best utilize his skills and — he can do a lot of stuff — but I also think there’s a fine line. Like, ‘Let’s try to maximize Derwin and allow him to do the things that he’s really, really good at as much as possible.’
“Sometimes you can get a guy like that and you can almost do too much with him and move him around too much. I want him to understand the concepts of the defense so that there’s certainly times that we can maximize his skillset. I think he can really affect the game in a lot of ways.”
When it comes to those multiple skills, Minter called James a “dynamic blitzer” and “an elite cover guy,” especially against tight ends.
“Then he’s a physical presence over the middle of the field at the safety position,” Minter said. “We want to put him in a position to use his strengths and do all that stuff to the best of his ability.
“But really just most excited about his leadership skills, his eagerness. I feel like he stopped by my office every day the first couple of weeks I was here. He just wanted to talk and wanted to kind of get to know me and what we were trying to build. I like to look at it as a partnership with these guys. Now…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/chargers-dc-jesse-minter-im-174529747.html
Author : ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-03-04 17:45:29
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