Chargers' James, back from ban, won't change style but will 'go lower'

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr., who returned to practice Wednesday after a one-game suspension for repeated violations of playing rules, said he didn't plan to change his playing style and was disappointed in the NFL's decision.

"No, it ain't going to change s---," James said. "It's definitely not going to change nothing. Like I said, I'm just going to go lower. I'm not going to change."

He continued: "I'm going to play my style, but like I said, I'll just go lower."

James said his focus moving forward will be to hit players beneath where they are holding the ball.

"I'm not going to keep paying 700, 800 thousand [dollars]," James said

The NFL announced the suspension Sept. 23 after James was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a hit to Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth in the third quarter of Los Angeles' 20-10 loss in Week 3.

James' game is predicated on physicality and big-time hits that stop defenders in their tracks, but that style has gotten him into significant trouble with the league. It was the seventh time James was flagged for unnecessary roughness in his career, tied with Marshon Lattimore and Jordan Poyer for second most in the NFL since 2018 (trailing Xavier Woods' eight).

A former All-Pro, James appealed the suspension, but it was upheld by hearing officer Derrick Brooks, who is jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA.

"They told me the violation, the rule I broke and that was really it," James said of the hearing. "It wasn't, you know, [about] how I could get better or what they're calling."

In a letter to James that was included in the NFL's announcement, vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote that video shows James lowered his head on the hit, making illegal, forcible contact with his helmet that could have been avoided.