The LA Chargers' One Position Group That May Make or Break Chris O'Leary's Defense

The Los Angeles Chargers have undergone significant changes this offseason. They have brought in two new coordinators for the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. The hiring of Mike McDaniel has received the lion's share of attention, coverage and offseason hype. The return of Jesse Minter disciple Chris O'Leary as defensive coordinator should be getting more attention.

The 2025 Chargers fielded one of the best defensive units in the NFL and had the hallmarks of a well-coached defense. Jesse Minter departed this offseason to take over for John Harbaugh as new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

O'Leary's return to the Chargers after leaving the team following the 2024 season to become the defensive coordinator for Western Michigan brings schematic relief. O'Leary, for the most part, ran Minter's scheme at Western Michigan while even showing his players film from the Chargers. O'Leary promised two things at his introductory press conference: to elevate and evolve the defense that is already in place.

One of the most obvious elevations and evolutions O'Leary may bring to the defense is bringing additional blitzers. Jesse Minter deployed a shockingly low blitz rate at only 18.9 percent, good enough for fifth-lowest in the NFL in 2025.

Chris O'Leary's lone season as a defensive coordinator

Chris O'Leary helped dramatically turn around the Western Michigan Broncos defense in a single season. The 2025 season was his first time calling plays and his style may have been a function of the team and talent he was working with but it had some big differences compared to Jesse Minter's 2025 Chargers defense but also some clear similarities.

The 2025 Chargers ran zone coverage on defense at a very high 81 percent of the time while O'Leary ran zone coverage 76 percent of the time. O'Leary ran cover three slightly more than Minter but both were in the 30s.

The biggest difference comes from the blitz rate. O'Leary preferred to send five and six-man pressures and had a blitz rate on the season of 36.4 percent, nearly double the 2025 Chargers. Although O'Leary has close ties to Minter throughout his career, he has spent time with Vanderbilt's head coach Clark Lea and Notre Dame's head coach Marcus Freeman, both of whom historically utilized a higher frequency of blitzing, specifically from their linebackers.

Statistically, O'Leary sent extra rushers from multiple positions in 2025 and with Derwin James Jr. now at his disposal, expect more pressures from the slot cornerback position. In 2025, when blitzing, O'Leary sent pressure from the linebackers 28.9 percent of the time, slot corner 16.6 percent, and cornerback 11.7 percent.

Linebackers will be a key component of O'Leary's defense

The Chargers and Chris O'Leary have a very deep linebacker room heading into training camp and there will be tough battles that play out and even tougher decisions to have to be made for roster spots. The stacking of linebackers may have been the first clue that O'Leary will lean heavily on the linebacker room in 2026.

If O'Leary's trend from Western Michigan continues, linebackers will be blitzing more often but also forced to fill vacated coverage responsibilities when defensive backs are being sent on blitzes as well. Based on the numbers from 2025, the Chargers defense and ability to get pressure may rely on the linebackers.

The 2025 totals from Western Michigan support the idea of the linebacker's importance in the defense. The top two leading tacklers for O'Leary were linebackers James Camden and Sefa Saipaia Jr. They were also the top two non-edge rushers in total pressures on the year.

Given the trends of 2025, Daiyan Henley and the rest of the Chargers linebackers will be leaned on in the 2026 Chargers defense.

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