A star Chargers defender sustained a "minor injury" during a flag football event, sparking relief and concern ahead of the NFL season.
I have some good news and some bad news. Let's start with the bad news.
Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James suffered what Fanatics described as a "minor injury" early this week. No further details about the injury have been released.
On one hand, this is worrying news for Chargers fans. James is one of the very few players in the NFL that has an argument for being as valuable to his team as the starting QB, which is Justin Herbert in the Chargers' case. Any injury, no matter how minor, is enough to make a fan of the team hold their breath and pray.
On the other hand, I would rather not have Derwin James testing the flexibility and durability of things like his knee ligaments playing flag football for a company that sells merchandise. Now, I understand that the man himself may want to play. I think he should be welcome to do so. But I will rest a little easier knowing that he won't be. Especially when you consider the non-football players that are expected to participate.
Here's the roster of the team that James was expected to be on:
- Eagles RB Saquon Barkley
- 49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk
- Odell Beckham Jr.
- Rams WR Davante Adams
- WR DeAndre Hopkins
- Chargers S Derwin James
- Retired LB Luke Kuechly
- Steelers S Jalen Ramsey
- Logan Paul
- iShowSpeed
That's about half a roster worth of people that have not played professional football in the last year, and we're going to ask them to run full-speed without doing something stupid like falling into the very important knees of Derwin James? No, thank you.
Speaking of, the whole nature of this mystery injury is at least a tiny bit suspicious. Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett and free agent WR Deebo Samuel had previously been promoted as being a part of this game, but do not show up on either team's roster.
My guess is that either the team or the agent for those two players talked them out of the potential injury risk. I would not be surprised if the same thing happened to James after he was announced as being on the official "Wildcats" roster.
This is all at least mildly interesting from a 2028 Olympics point of view. If you haven't been following along, flag football has officially been added to the list of competitions for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Shortly there after, it was announced that NFL players would be allowed to participate as a part of the event, which rubbed many professional flag football players the wrong way.
Either way, Derwin James can now sit back with the rest of the Chargers fans and watch the Fanatics Flag Football Classic without fear of it affecting or derailing the 2026 NFL season.