While the Rams' star-studded secondary has stolen the offseason spotlight, NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal recently suggested it's the other Los Angeles team that boasts the league's deepest cornerback corps.
In order to fulfill this year's lofty expectations, Gus Bradley's defense needs Jason Verrett to bounce back from a lost 2017 season.
The former first-round draft pick practiced in full this week after lingering knee issues limited him to just five games over the past two years.
"Just comparing, it's a night and day difference to where I was at last year," Verrett said Wednesday, via the team's official website. "I'm ready to get back to playing at the level I know I can play at. Man, I feel like me out there again. I feel like Feeva is coming back!"
Night and day difference ranks with best shape of my life on the list of tried-and-true NFL offseason tropes.
In this case, however, defensive boss Bradley vouches for Verrett's claims.
"His skill set, what he has, his speed, his athleticism, his change of direction -- it is elite," Bradley said. "Just to see him go through the individuals sometimes, you see a guy come back from an injury like that, it takes some time. I don't see it right now. The way he's working out (and) the way he's practicing, he's in a really good place right now."
Prior to his 2016 ACL tear, Verrett was developing a reputation as a lockdown corner. During his absence the past two years, Casey Hayward has ascended to that level himself, emerging as one of the stingiest shadow corners in football.
If Verrett recaptures his own Pro Bowl form, the loaded Chargers secondary may just be the class of the city -- and the league.
