What Giants Offense Must Know About Chargers Defense Ahead of Week 4 Meeting

Will the New York Giants be able to find success against the Los Angeles Chargers defense in Jaxson Dart’s first start?

The New York Giants will give Jaxson Dart his first career start against the Los Angeles Chargers. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart will lead the New York Giants offense for the first time this week against the Los Angeles Chargers. What is he about to face? Let’s break it down.

Personnel

This Chargers defensive front doesn’t have a ton of name value after the departure of Joey Bosa this past offseason and the recent injury to Khalil Mack, but they’ve still been effective.

Tuli Tuipulotu is coming on strong in year three with 16 pressures so far, on pace for a 90-pressure season.

Replacing Mack will be a combination of Bud Dupree and Caleb Murphy, who haven’t done much to this point yet, but Dupree has at least brought solid run defense to the table for them.

The Los Angeles Chargers will be without Khalil Mack against the New York Giants | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

On the interior, a combination of Da’Shawn Hand, Teair Tart, and Jamaree Caldwell will be ready to fight relentlessly.

Tart plays with an impressive level of power, and to put it simply, if he lines up across John Michael Schmitz, Schmitz doesn’t have the strength in his lower body to deal with that.

Hand and Caldwell are both better overall pass-rushers, but Tart is the one that I would expect to have a bigger game on the interior just because of his power.

The Chargers have only two off-ball linebackers, Daiyan Henley and Troy Dye, with Henley being a full-time player and Dye playing in base and nickel sets.

Henley and Dye are both great athletes for the position, and what they lack in some technical areas, such as block deconstruction, they make up for with their athleticism.

The New York Giants will see plenty of Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Derwin James also drops into the box and plays a money-backer-type role for the Chargers, allowing them to continue giving defenses different looks with various personnel.

On the outside, it’s a combination of Tarheeb Still, Donte Jackson, and Benjamin St-Juste - defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has said he views all three of them as starters, as well as Cam Hart, who’s currently hurt.

Still will go into the nickel when St-Juste comes on the field, but the Chargers will also use James there depending on the situation.

At safety, you will see James there (literally everywhere, even on the edge sometimes), Alohi Gilman, and Tony Jefferson all take significant snaps there.

Jefferson has been playing some of the best ball he’s played in years lately, and his ability to reliably contribute against both the run and pass has helped the Chargers utilize James effectively.

Gilman has had a rough start to the 2025 season compared to the rest of the defense, but it’s been masked to this point, partially due to how much havoc has been created in front of him by this defense.

Scheme

Minter has earned a reputation for being possibly the best defensive coordinator in football, and for a good reason: he’s an absolute lunatic.

Minter’s defense is completely unpredictable to this point because not only are they constantly disguising coverages, but players move throughout the defensive formation.

James in the nickel gives the Chargers someone who can play in coverage, defend the run, and rush the passer at a high level for a DB.

The New York Giants will need to gameplan around Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. | Amanda Perobelli/Reuters via Imagn Images

The Chargers will primarily play Cover 3 or Cover 4, but will also employ Cover 2 and, in select situations, Cover 1.

The Cover 1 defense that the Chargers typically play usually features man coverage across the board, with one deep safety and one safety dropping down to play in the underneath robber zone.

While the Chargers don’t blitz often, when they do, it will likely be with James or Henley as the rushers.

The purpose of this is, of course, having off-ball rushers with explosive first steps and speed to close in on the quarterback even faster.

What this means for the Giants

This week might be the most difficult first career start that a quarterback has had to endure in a long time across the NFL.

The Chargers will undoubtedly throw every disguise they can at Dart simply because the odds are that he hasn’t really seen much yet.

If this coaching staff wants to give the offense any chance of success this year, they must simplify things for Dart.

I expect to see pre-snap motion to help identify the coverage, the RPO to give Dart quick and easy reads, and even utilizing the QB run game to give the Chargers something extra to defend.

The Chargers' defense allows 3.9 yards per carry after contact; attempting to get Cam Skattebo touches will be vitally important here.

Using Wan’Dale Robinson and Malik Nabers underneath will allow both to create after the catch, but the Giants will need to attempt the deep shot at least if they’re able to buy Dart some time.

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