Los Angeles Chargers: 5 offseason needs in 2019

4. Safety

Phillips is an impending free agent, and he will also help headline what will be a safety packed free agent class. He will join Tyrann Mathieu, Lamarcus Joyner, Adrian Amos, Landon Collins and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix as safeties who are unrestricted free agents this offseason.

Therefore, Phillips may not be back in Los Angeles with the Chargers in 2019. While he may be a bit cheaper due to the plethora of safeties that may be looking for a new home, the team has a few ways they can attack filling his void.

The Chargers recently re-signed safety Jaylen Watkins. No, he probably wasn’t re-signed to be the starting strong safety that’s going to replace Phillips. Rather, he is a depth move for assurance.

Even with all of that talent in free agency, team general manager Tom Telesco shouldn’t feel the pressure to go blow “stupid money” on one of them. He should save the money for other necessities and use his draft picks for this need.

Telesco may want to use his first-rounder to try and nab one of the draft’s big-time defensive tackles, but he can still check this safety task off his to-do list with a second or middle-round pick.

If he falls and Telesco wants to jump on it in the first-round, Deionte Thompson could be the answer even though he played free safety in college. Regardless of who they might draft, that player would be able to benefit from an experienced secondary and it would save the team money.