Joe Hortiz said this week that keeping Derwin James with the Chargers is a high priority as the safety enters the final year of his deal. Hortiz made the comments during an interview on Up & Adams with Kay Adams, and the timing matters with Chargers minicamp set for June 16-18.
James is playing on the four-year, $76.5 million extension he signed in 2022, and the next stretch of team work could sharpen the conversation around whether Los Angeles moves again before 2026. He was drafted by the Chargers in the first round in 2018 and made an immediate impact, landing on the first-team All-Pro roster and earning his first Pro Bowl nod in his rookie season after posting 105 tackles, six QB hits, four tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and three interceptions in 16 games.
Hortiz did not sound like a general manager trying to create distance from a contract question. He said the Ravens had James as the number one player on their board in that draft, but traded back and watched him go to Los Angeles, adding that he told James when they first met that he should have been a Raven. Hortiz said he was glad that did not happen because he is in charge now, and he described James as one of the best players he has ever been around in leadership, talent and character.
The Chargers have lived through the full range of James’ value and availability. He sat out the 2020 season because of a knee injury, but still has made five Pro Bowl appearances in his first seven seasons with Los Angeles and remains the kind of defender a team builds around when it can. That is why the discussion around him is less about sentiment than planning: James is the kind of player teams do not casually let drift into a contract year without a clear answer.
Hortiz also pointed to other players the Chargers have kept for the upcoming 2026 season, including Teair Tart, Khalil Mack, Denzel Perryman and Tony Jefferson. But James is the centerpiece of the conversation because he is not just another veteran on the roster. He is the face of a defense, and the next checkpoint comes when minicamp opens in mid-June, with the organization needing to decide whether the priority Hortiz described becomes a new deal or just a public statement.
