{"id":820507,"date":"2026-03-19T04:15:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820507\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:15:29","slug":"los-angeles-bringing-tony-jefferson-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820507\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles bringing Tony Jefferson back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/los-angeles-chargers\/chargers-news-la-clear-9-7-million-cap-space-dumping-ex-super-bowl-champion\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Chargers are keeping the ball rolling<\/a> late in free agency by retaining veteran safety Tony Jefferson.<\/p>\n<p>After an out-of-nowhere resurgence in 2025, Jefferson is sticking with Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers for his 12th NFL season. The 34-year-old safety inked a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Schultz_Report\/status\/2034343006459867403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">one-year, $2 million<\/a> deal to return to the Bolts in 2026, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported.<\/p>\n<p>Since coming out of retirement in 2024, Jefferson has defied time to play the best ball of his career with the Chargers. After ending the 2024 season on a high note, the fan-favorite safety recorded a career-high four interceptions and seven pass breakups in 2025. Jefferson&#8217;s 57 tackles were his most since the 2018 season and the fourth-most on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferson allowed an elite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/tony-jefferson\/8361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">36.7 passer rating<\/a> when targeted in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus, the second-lowest on the team and third-best among all safeties. Fans might recall his infamous Week 15 ejection against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he was statistically Los Angeles&#8217; best coverage safety.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Chargers are re-signing S Tony Jefferson to a 1-year, $2M deal, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Schultz_Report?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Schultz_Report<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u26a1 36.7 rating allowed (3rd among safeties)<br \/>\u26a1 4 INTs (5th among safeties)<br \/>\u26a1 0 TDs allowed <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8d9GDVVxaY\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/8d9GDVVxaY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PFF (@PFF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF\/status\/2034344351250440209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although Jefferson started eight of his 13 games in 2025, he is poised to return to Los Angeles as a backup in 2026. He rejoins Derwin James, Elijah Molden, RJ Mickens and Kendall Williamson in the team&#8217;s safety room.<\/p>\n<p>Despite losing star defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, the Chargers have retained the majority of their top-10 defense in free agency. They notably <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/los-angeles-chargers\/chargers-news-khalil-mack-signs-18-million-contract\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retained edge-rusher Khalil Mack<\/a> and linebackers Denzel Perryman and Del&#8217;Shawn Phillips before re-signing Jefferson. The high defensive retention rate allowed the front office to otherwise focus its efforts on making much-needed offensive line signings.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Chargers are keeping the ball rolling late in free agency by retaining veteran safety Tony&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,2592],"class_list":{"0":"post-820507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangeleschargers","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-free-agency"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116253906726734233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}