Star gamers had been injured. They had been beginning rookies. They’d a model new teaching employees. There are many the reason why the Chargers shouldn’t have a protection that provides up the fewest factors within the NFL.
Elijah Molden seems on the unit’s rise a distinct approach.
“Why not us?” he informed teammates final month earlier than a recreation.
Discarded by the Tennessee Titans for a 2026 seventh-round draft decide after coaching camp, Molden has was a key pressure behind the Chargers’ defensive renaissance. He leads the Chargers (5-3) with a team-high three interceptions, 5 move breakups and 32 tackles getting into Sunday’s reunion along with his former workforce.
There’s no dangerous blood concerning the commerce, Molden stated. He realizes he wouldn’t be taking part in if he was nonetheless with Tennessee (2-6), the place Quandre Diggs and Amani Hooker have a agency grasp on the security positions. When he arrived in L.A., Molden stated he merely wished a chance to play and present the kind of participant he was.
Now as one of many Chargers’ top-ranked defensive gamers, has Molden completed his purpose?
“It’s not over,” Molden stated with a smile after he had six tackles and one interception in opposition to the Cleveland Browns final week.
Molden made the transition to the Chargers look seamless in August when he joined the workforce after coaching camp. He made his debut 11 days after arriving. He was pressured right into a beginning position by Week 2 due to an harm to security Alohi Gilman. Molden grabbed his first interception within the recreation.
Though Derwin James Jr. and Gilman had been the incumbent security starters, Molden’s play couldn’t be denied.
“We got three safeties that start for us,” defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale stated. “And he’s one of them.”
Drafted within the third spherical in 2021, Molden started as a nickel for the Titans. Kristian Fulton, a cornerback whom the Titans drafted the earlier yr, knew nearly instantly the previous Washington Huskies star was going to make an influence within the NFL.
It was most evident in a preseason recreation in opposition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Molden got here on a blitz, ducked his head to undergo and underneath two offensive linemen, crawled a number of steps on his palms and knees, then wrapped up quarterback Kyle Trask for a sack.
Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton acknowledged Elija Molden’s skills once they had been each with the Tennessee Titans.
(Ryan Solar / Related Press)
Three years later, Fulton’s face nonetheless lights up when he thinks about top-of-the-line performs he’s ever seen.
“We knew he had us one,” stated Fulton, who joined the Chargers within the offseason as a free agent.
After taking part in for the Titans final season, Molden, Fulton and defensive lineman Teair Tart all are making key contributions to the Chargers’ protection. Fulton locked down a beginning cornerback spot earlier than being slowed by a hamstring harm. Within the line of defense rotation, Tart has 11 tackles, an interception and a blocked area purpose.
Combining the important thing offseason additions to returning stalwarts James and Gilman, the Chargers rank eleventh in move protection with 195.9 yards given up per recreation, a major leap from the unit that was thirtieth final season.
Though they nonetheless have a frightening, back-loaded schedule that options 5 of the NFL’s prime seven scoring offenses, the Chargers’ common of 12.6 factors given up per recreation is on tempo for a franchise report.
Molden can’t see a purpose why the Chargers shouldn’t preserve pushing for extra.
Defensive deal with Teair Tart (90) has made performs price celebrating with the Chargers.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Instances)
“Why can’t we be the No. 1 defense this year in every category, not just points allowed?” Molden stated. “Why can’t we take it a step further and why can’t we go out there and hold them to zero points instead of 10 points?”
There was by no means a time Molden couldn’t think about reaching even essentially the most far-fetched objectives. He’s the son of Alex Molden, an eight-year NFL cornerback, and a few of his earliest recollections are of NFL locker rooms, attending workforce household occasions and watching his father run out of the tunnel.
However Molden had extra than simply excessive aspirations. He added a relentless work ethic and a soccer thoughts so sharp that he may be taught the Chargers’ protection in just a few weeks.
“If you guys can see the work that he puts in, the preparation, the attention to detail, it really makes a lot of sense why he goes out there and makes a lot of plays,” cornerback Tarheeb Nonetheless stated. “He takes his craft very serious.”
Regardless of being one of many protection’s latest additions, Molden has emerged as a revered voice within the room. Gamers from every place group tackle the protection on Saturdays earlier than video games, talking up about their expectations for every week.When he acquired his flip, Molden emphasised that everybody within the room had, at one level, been informed a purpose why they couldn’t obtain what they wished.
Perhaps it was the trainer who didn’t suppose an NFL profession was possible. The time a participant second-guessed a lofty purpose. Or, in Molden’s case, the workforce that didn’t discover a place on the sector for a defensive again who was solely starting his profession.
“The reason why I’m here now is because I feel like a team didn’t believe in me,” Molden stated. “I believed that my best football was ahead of me, and I wanted to play ball and achieve my goals. Like, why not? I’m here doing that.”
