Chargers bringing back DT Christian Covington

After the Chargers looked to be reshaping their entire defensive interior, it seems as though they’re bringing back a familiar face after all.

According to Mike Garafolo, defensive tackle Christian Covington is returning to the Bolts for a second year.

This past season, Covington played in 16 games with starts and recorded a career-high 52 tackles with three tackles for loss, a lone sack, and a forced fumble. The 28-year old was a former sixth-round pick of the Texans out of Rice back in 2015. He played in Houston for three seasons before spending short stints with the Cowboys, Broncos, and Bengals.

In seven seasons, Covington has recorded 184 total tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks.

Playing mainly in a rotational role last season, Covington was a steady presence as a run-stopper next to Linval Joseph and Justin Jones. With Covington returning, he’ll team up with new additions Sebastian Joseph-Day and Austin Johnson, along with 2020 undrafted free agent Breiden Fehoko who also stood up fairly well as a run defender in his limited snaps.

With the Chargers still needing to fix several other positions on the roster, this is a solid value signing to reinforce an area that may not get the benefit of adding a first-round talent in this year’s draft.