Derwin James, Budda Baker – safeties on the rise in action in preseason Week 1

Jul 29, 2018; Costa Mesa, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James (33) during training camp at Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex.
Both James and Baker enter the 2018 season with high expectations tied to their names, and meeting said expectations starts Sunday night.
Sidelined due to a hamstring injury early in camp, James has only recently started working with the Chargers first-team defense, but all signs point to the former Florida State standout earning the nod and playing significant snap totals for Los Angeles as a rookie.
Though expected to play a majority of his snaps at free safety with the Chargers, James is no one-trick pony when it comes defensive positioning.
Working within his jack-of-all-trades role, James led all FBS safeties who logged at least 250 defensive snaps in defense grade (91.6) and coverage grade (91.9), while also finishing third in pass-rush grade (80.7) and 24th in run-defense grade (84.2).
Baker, like James, played a similar role for Arizona this past season, as he too played significant snap counts at multiple positions on the defensive side of the ball, a majority of which came at free safety (183), off-ball linebacker (133) and slot cornerback (106).
Defending the run, Baker recorded 15 defensive stops across 172 run-defense snaps, ranking T-18th in run-stop percentage among qualifying safeties.
He also earned an 86.4 run-defense grade, which ranked third among the same group of safeties.
He totaled 11 pressures (eight hurries, two hits, one sack) across just 30 pass-rush snaps, ranking second in pass-rush grade (92.2) and win percentage (18.5 percent) among safeties with with at least 15 pass-rush snaps in 2017.
Baker struggled in coverage at times and missed too many tackles (eight total), while James must prove he’s fully recovered from his hamstring injury and that his play in college can indeed translate to the next level.