Chargers safety Derwin James is suspended this week because of a head-to-head hit, but Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh questions what James could have done differently.
Harbaugh said he is “disappointed” in the suspension and that as a coach he can teach James and other players to hit with their shoulders, but ultimately there’s going to be head contact in football.
“You can never really take the head out of the game because it’s in between the two shoulders,” Harbaugh said. “Trying to tackle with the shoulder, now the head, the helmet’s coming with it. It’s in between the two shoulders. So, to the best of his human ability, he is trying to do that. Genuinely cares and wants to do it the absolute right way.”
Harbaugh said he does not believe James should have faced NFL discipline for his hit on Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth.
“There was not a defenseless player, changed his course, and I thought that Derwin’s helmet was stiff-armed by Mr. Freiermuth,” he said. “I thought that caused his head to make the contact, and I thought the contact was first with the forearm, then the shoulder, then the head.”
Harbaugh said he respects James as much as any player he has coached and that James personally reached out to the league office during the offseason to try to learn the proper tackling techniques to avoid league discipline.
“He has reached out on his own to officials this past summer to gain a better grasp of how they want it done,” Harbaugh said. “And the evidence is right there in the tape. I mean, look at all his 20-some tackles on the season and he is going out his way, literally going out of his way, sometimes giving up yards, so that he can not injure another player or hit him with the head. So yeah, I’m disappointed.”
