The One Overlooked Departure That Will Hurt the Chargers the Most

While headlines focused on Odafe Oweh and others, the Chargers quietly lost this important name, too.

Benjamin St-Juste | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

When it comes to the Los Angeles Chargers in NFL free agency and losses, it’s easy to focus on the big names. 

Losing pass-rusher Odafe Oweh to the Washington Commanders was a big deal. The Chargers had already invested in Oweh via trade last season, then got a breakout from the former first-round pick that hinted quite a bit more was to come. 

The Chargers also lost guard Zion Johnson. He had been unsteady during his time with the Chargers, but they had invested a first-round pick in him and knew all too well that they needed to upgrade at all three interior offensive line spots if he left. 

For better or worse, those two losses have overshadowed another really big one, too. 

Chargers losing Benjamin St-Juste in NFL free agency impact

Benjamin St-Juste | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

It might only be Chargers fans who know what a big loss Benjamin St-Juste is. Even fans of his new team, the Green Bay Packers, might not be wise to the addition just yet. 

A former third-round pick, St-Juste arrived with the Chargers last season and provided some really good snaps for the defense. 

Very, very quietly, he wound up ranked 12th out of 114 cornerbacks at Pro Football Focus. 

Of course, that doesn't tell the whole story. It wasn’t a full-blown starter’s worth of snap counts. It was in a rotation within a defense that tends to get the most out of its odd assembly of parts. 

But it’s not going to be that easy for the Chargers to replace that type of high-quality production. They’re going to run Derwin James in the slot often and leave names like Cam Hart, Donte Jackson and Tarheeb Still across the formations otherwise. The rotational depth isn’t all that encouraging with St-Juste gone. 

There’s the coordinator element to this, too. 

The Chargers need continuity this offseason as they go from Jesse Minter to Chris O’Leary. St-Juste had only been around one year, sure, but it would’ve been better than breaking in someone completely new. 

This might seem like making a big deal out of one loss. But it was easier to accept that the next random free-agent add like a Poona Ford or Teair Tart would do just fine under Minter. Now, the Chargers head into unproven coordinator waters down a guy who had more than proven himself.

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