Safety Tony Jefferson, who came out of retirement to join the Chargers last season, is back for another one with the team. Jefferson and the Chargers agreed on a new one-year contract on Monday, bolstering the team’s already solid secondary for the 2025 season.
It’s expected that he’ll be a backup for safeties Derwin James Jr., Alohi Gilman and Elijah Molden for the upcoming season. He had a similar role last season, making the 53-man roster after an exhibition game in which he had 14 tackles and two interceptions against the Dallas Cowboys.
Jefferson, 33, played eight games last season, starting four, after Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz lured him from retirement. Jefferson spent the 2022 season with the New York Giants, announced his retirement and then joined Hortiz and the Baltimore Ravens as a front office intern in 2023.
Hortiz was hired as the Chargers’ general manager after 26 years in various roles with the Ravens. Jefferson decided to unretire and return to the field with the Chargers after playing with the Giants, Ravens, Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers in a nine-year career. He had 27 tackles in 2024.
Jefferson, a Chula Vista native who grew up rooting for the then-San Diego Chargers, signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent from the University of Oklahoma in 2013. His most productive seasons were with the Cardinals for four seasons and then with the Ravens for the next two, ending in 2019.
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