ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\nHortiz also told reporters that the price of these contract extensions were one reason why the franchise has been frugal with their spending in free agency this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have players coming up that are going to be eating up a lot of that cap room,\u201d Hortiz said, per ESPN. \u201c\u2026 So the players we got, we liked. We really do. And we really feel like they\u2019re going to help us. But it\u2019s not like going to a grocery store and saying, \u201cHey, I need an orange.\u201d And there\u2019s a whole surplus of oranges. Free agency doesn\u2019t work like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Players Are Coming Off Strong 2025 Seasons<\/p>\n
James is coming off back-to-back All-Pro seasons, and the Chargers made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history with his now-expiring contract extension from 2022.<\/p>\n
He recorded 94 total tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble in 16 games last season. James is on track to earn another high-paying contract, but he is turning 30 in August which could also influence the price and length of the contract Los Angeles is open offering the veteran.<\/p>\n
Tuipulotu logged a career-high 13 sacks last season while also recording 49 total tackles, two forced fumbles and three passes defended in 16 games. He is going into the fourth season of his career and will turn 24 in September.<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Chargers are reportedly discussing contract extensions with two key players this offseason: safety Derwin James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,10728,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,10719],"class_list":{"0":"post-870825","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-derwin-james-jr","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-tuli-tuipulotu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116439104736819307","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870825","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=870825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/derwin-james-jr-tuli-1024x683.jpg\")
Nov 17, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) is pressured by Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. (3) and linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu (45) in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n