Daiyan Henley played just 53 defensive snaps as a rookie. By his second season, the 2023 third-round pick moved into the Chargers’ defensive signal-caller role as an every-down linebacker — for a defense that made a substantial leap.
The Bolts have Henley signed for two more seasons, and they re-signed 2024 regulars Denzel Perryman and Troy Dye this offseason. But the internal preference may be for those veterans to provide insurance in part-time roles. This would clear a path for a Henley-like ascent from 2024 third-round pick Junior Colson.
Playing for Jim Harbaugh and Jesse Minter at Michigan, Colson could not establish himself as a rookie-year starter. He logged 218 defensive snaps, ceding time to Perryman (11 starts) and Dye (five). Colson made one start, but if he has a solid training camp, that status should be expected to change in Year 2. He enters this year’s Bolts camp as the player to watch at linebacker, per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, who notes the ex-Wolverines cog has a route to being an impactful 2025 starter.
Harbaugh drafted two of his Wolverines last year, adding wide receiver Cornelius Johnson in Round 7. Johnson is no longer on the roster, but three years remain on Colson’s rookie contract. Although Colson did not prove ready as a rookie, he saw two health issues impede him. An appendectomy led to missed camp time, and an ankle injury led him to IR during the season. The Chargers used an IR activation on Colson in December, and he returned to a part-time role during that stretch.
Henley’s climb from rookie afterthought — in Brandon Staley‘s abbreviated final season — to green-dot player in a year’s time provides encouragement for a Chargers team that got plenty from an unspectacular defensive cast last season. The team giving Perryman a one-year, $2.7MM deal — ahead of his age-33 season — and keeping Dye at two years, $5.5MM do not stand to block Colson if he proves ready over the next several weeks (the Chargers also did not draft an off-ball LB this year). The Bolts, who jumped from 24th in scoring defense in Staley’s finale to first in Minter’s debut, would then have two starting LBs at rookie-scale rates.
A labrum tear did not disrupt Henley’s ascent last season, but the former Nevada and Washington State ‘backer addressed the issue via offseason surgery. While a few Bolts landed on the active/PUP list to open camp, Henley was not one of them. Henley said this week he is full go entering his third NFL camp.
Nikhil Mehta contributed to this post.