{"id":93967,"date":"2026-05-27T03:23:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/derwin-james-reaches-3-year-75-6-million-deal-with-chargers-to-become-highest-paid-safety-in-the-nfl\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T03:23:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:23:36","slug":"derwin-james-reaches-3-year-75-6-million-deal-with-chargers-to-become-highest-paid-safety-in-the-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/derwin-james-reaches-3-year-75-6-million-deal-with-chargers-to-become-highest-paid-safety-in-the-nfl\/","title":{"rendered":"Derwin James reaches 3-year, $75.6 million deal with Chargers to become highest-paid safety in the NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/741b1abf-f1e2-3006-ac84-8871c154c65e\/what-to-expect-from-puka-nacuas-versatility-this-season-180934064.html?format=embed&amp;region=US&amp;lang=en-US&amp;site=sports\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" data-yom-embed-source=\"{media_id_1:5cd4264f-6fa9-4b76-b811-048998e17c30}\" data-yahoo-uuid=\"5cd4264f-6fa9-4b76-b811-048998e17c30\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Derwin James has secured yet another record-setting deal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Chargers reached a three-year, $  75.6 million deal with James on Tuesday afternoon, according to the <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RapSheet\/status\/2059408373951390095?s=20\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" rel=\"noopener\">NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport<\/a>. At more than $  25 million a season, James will be the highest-paid safety in the league for the second time in his career. The Chargers confirmed the extension on social media. <\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" style=\"width:640px;height:845px;width:640px;height:845px;\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">3skiiiiii \ud83e\udd1e<\/p>\n<p>we\u2019ve agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension with Derwin James <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6CijnBT2WU\">pic.twitter.com\/6CijnBT2WU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chargers\/status\/2059424432515641408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>James, 29, was set to enter the final year of his current contract this fall, and would have been an unrestricted free agent next summer. James was earning an average of about $  19.1 million per season, which made him the fourth-highest paid safety in the NFL. <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/gametime.hnyj8s.net\/R0baDy\" data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Find NFL tickets on Gametime<\/strong><\/a><strong> | <\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/article\/2026-nfl-schedule-release-guide-kickoffs-matchups-broadcast-networks-for-all-32-teams-005129213.html\" data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\"><strong>NFL team schedules<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>His new deal narrowly surpasses the mark that Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton had set at $  25.1 million per season. Detroit\u2019s Kerby Joseph and Tampa Bay\u2019s Antoine Winfield Jr. are the only other safeties in the league who are earning more than $  20 million per season.<\/p>\n<p><sports-player-card home-or-away=\"\" opposing-team=\"\" week=\"\" stat-list=\"\" player-id=\"nfl.p.30987\" position=\"DEF\" stat-time-range=\"2025-2026\" stat-time-range-type=\"season\" stat-type=\"core\" season=\"2025-2026\" meta-data=\"fantasyCTA:1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>James has spent his entire career with the Chargers, who selected him with the No. 17 overall pick out of Florida State in 2018. He had 94 total tackles and matched his career-high of three interceptions last season while earning his fifth Pro Bowl nod.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He helped the Chargers to an 11-6 record and their second straight playoff appearance, too, though the team fell in the wild-card round once again.<\/p>\n<p><core-module type=\"curatedLinks\" title=\"More NFL news\" headerlink=\"\" subheadline=\"From the experts at Yahoo Sports\" listid=\"120c93d0-6d89-45fb-ae6e-b4b4427497c1\"><\/core-module><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI&#39;ve called him the best safety I&#39;ve ever seen in the history of the National Football League,\u201d Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lvqIjafSacA&amp;t=90s\" data-i13n=\"cpos:4;pos:1\" rel=\"noopener\">said after the team\u2019s win<\/a> over the Las Vegas Raiders last season. \u201cI don&#39;t think I&#39;m going out on a limb there. He is one of the most incredible players I&#39;ve ever watched.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>James has been a staple for the Chargers\u2019 defense ever since he entered the league. Clearly, the Chargers weren\u2019t ready to let him walk and opted to reward him with another record-setting contract. <\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/breaking-news\/article\/derwin-james-reaches-3-year-756-million-deal-with-chargers-to-become-highest-paid-safety-in-the-nfl-230230705.html\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derwin James has secured yet another record-setting deal.&nbsp; The Los Angeles Chargers reached a three-year, $ 75.6 million deal with James on Tuesday afternoon, according to the NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport. At more than $ 25 million a season, James will be the highest-paid safety in the league for the second time in his career. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29284,10761,443,16082,145,29283,29285,1051,97,834,3701],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}