What It Means:

Brandon Flowers is the incumbent starter, but he is coming off a career-worst 2015 in terms of coverage value. Hayward has never been a full-time outside corner, playing 65 percent of his snaps in the slot with the Green Bay Packers. Still, his three-year, $15.3 million deal suggests he’s the favorite to start. He will almost certainly kick into the slot in nickel packages, though.

Our algorithms still project Flowers for a solid year, with 58.61 tackles, 1.31 sacks, 1.74 interceptions, and 6.93 passes defended in 2016. According to numberFire's metrics, the Chargers defense ranked 25th in the league last season in Adjusted Defensive Net Expected Points per play.