When Will Derwin James Start Working With The First Team?

After two practices and a scrimmage, Derwin James has spent almost all of his time working with the second-team defense. This may have some fans puzzled as the team obviously didn’t select James to not start on this defense. He was a massive need for the team and will be treated as such, but they are likely giving him some time to get acclimated before sticking him with the 1s.

In his debut on Thursday, head coach Anthony Lynn said James “looked great” and that the rookie had been ready to go several days prior but the team didn’t want to rush him, whatsoever. He later added, “It’s one of those situations where we don’t want this to linger, so we’re being overly cautious.”

According to our very own Ruben Gonzalez, James lined up everywhere across the defense throughout the scrimmage. He split time between lining up in the box and back deep while spending some time in the slot defending tight ends and running backs. This is great to hear as James possesses the skills necessary to line up almost everywhere and that skill-set should be utilized once he really starts to nail down the defensive playbook.