The Chargers’ defense gave up only 17.7 points per game last season, best in the NFL. It was as remarkable as it was unexpected. After all, Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz were mere months into their new jobs as coach and general manager and it was all new to them and the players.

Somehow, some way, under the watchful gaze of new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, it all clicked. The Chargers went on to win 11 games, playing stingy defense in almost all of them en route to an AFC wild-card appearance that proved they were good but not good enough .

Change was inevitable, but Hortiz approached the offseason with the idea that the Chargers needed more depth. So, when players like defensive linemen Poona Ford and Morgan Fox signed elsewhere, for instance, Hortiz sought to replace them with n

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