Linebacker Daiyan Henley had a good 2025 season and led the Chargers in regular-season solo (54) and assisted (49) tackles and had the second-highest Pro Football Focus (PFF) tackling grade (78.5%) of his career. He also had a career high in sacks (3.5) and interceptions (three total in regular and postseason), with the lone interception during the Wild Card game, when defensive lineman Teair Tart tipped a pass, bounced off the hands of safety Derwin James Jr., and landed safely in Henley’s.
Despite his good moments, Henley’s stats declined in some areas from 2024, like tackles, where he had 84 solo tackles that year. Despite the reduced production, Henley may be the Chargers’ biggest defensive weapon for this upcoming season.
Los Angeles Chargers Daiyan Henley’s 2025
Though he was working through a sinus infection that Daniel Popper of The Athletic reported led to a host of other symptoms, Henley had a really good game against the Raiders in Week 2, complete with a sack, an interception, and seven solo tackles.
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And before facing the Colts in Week 7, Popper noted that Henley had “been playing at less than 100 percent while recovering from a severe illness” and was “slowly rounding back into form.”
During the first quarter against the Commanders in Week 5, Henley charged at Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, and Daniels evaded him, but luckily didn’t get a first down.
And against the Giants in Week 4, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart ran into the end zone for his first career touchdown, while Giants running back Cam Skattebo actually blocked Henley from getting to Dart. Henley did have good moments against the Giants, but it was a missed opportunity for a Chargers team when facing a rookie quarterback in his first NFL start.
Last season, Henley also had his lowest regular-season run defense grade (58.5%) and about half the STOPs (27) of 2024 (47).
What Will Henley Look Like This Season?
In this fourth year, if he’s fully healthy, Henley has the potential to be a threat on all fronts of the defense. Though it’s certainly going to be hard to beat edge Tuli Tuipulotu in the quarterback sacks category, considering Tuipulotu had 13 during the regular season, the player who got the next closest to Tuipulotu in that area was edge Odafe Oweh (7.5 sacks), who went to the Commanders this offseason.
So Henley has the potential to get closer to Tuipulotu and could be a good stand-in on the quarterback pressure front, depending on how the Chargers fill the gap that Oweh left behind. Now, when it comes to passes defended, though he’s not going to be up there with the likes of cornerback Donte Jackson, Henley wasn’t too far off from his career high of eight in 2024, so if he’s healthier, that number may cross into the double digits.
Tuipulotu was a beast in tackles for loss (20) this past year, but Henley always has a little action in that space each season, and if his run defense is more on point, the stats should reflect that.
Henley is such an all-around player, and with players like Khalil Mack and James getting older, Henley may be counted on more and more. And even when he was sick and experienced a huge personal loss like he did this past year, Henley still managed to produce, so he should be at the top of everyone’s watchlist this coming season.