EL SEGUNDO — Denzel Perryman’s appeal of his two-game suspension by the NFL was denied, which means he will sit out the Chargers’ final regular-season games against the Houston Texans on Saturday at SoFi Stadium and either Jan. 3 or 4 against the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium.
Perryman’s replacement at linebacker is likely to be Troy Dye, who has played a key depth role this season. Del’Shawn Phillips, who has been an important part of the Chargers’ special teams success, also could fill in for Perryman until Perryman is eligible to return to the team Jan. 5.
The league suspended Perryman for what it termed “repeated violations of playing rules intended to protect the health and safety of players, including during Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.” Perryman delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit to the Cowboys’ Ryan Flournoy.
Perryman was penalized for unnecessary roughness, but he wasn’t ejected from the game for his second-quarter tackle during the Chargers’ 34-17 victory. His suspension was imposed one week after safety Tony Jefferson was ejected for a similar hit Dec. 14 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“It’s what the league decided,” Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said of Perryman’s suspension. “The focus suddenly shifts to who do we have? How are we going to make it work? I have great confidence in Troy and those linebackers. We’re ready to roll, move forward to the challenge.”
Of shifting Dye into Perryman’s spot alongside Daiyan Henley, Minter said, “We’ve won a lot of games the last couple of years in key sequences when Troy’s been our linebacker. There was a stretch there where he played really well and won some key games. He played really well in the first four or five games.”
In fact, Dye replaced Perryman, who sat out for five games because of a hamstring injury suffered in the Chargers’ season-opening victory over the Chiefs on Sept. 5 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Dye is the Chargers’ third-leading tackler with 50. Perryman is fifth with 47 tackles.
Phillips has a team-leading 23 tackles on special teams.
“Del’Shawn Phillips, the way he’s playing on special teams, the violence, the physicality, the tackling, I’m excited for him to maybe get an opportunity to get in there,” Minter said of possibly adding Phillips to the linebacker rotation. “I feel good about the guys we have out there ready to roll.”
UNDERCOVER CHARGERS
The Chargers took a field trip to SoFi Stadium for practice Wednesday, staying dry while straining to hear instructions as a steady downpour pelted the roof far above their heads. They shifted their plans to avoid an atmospheric river from the Pacific Ocean, which arrived as forecast overnight.
The move also kept the players’ cleats from turning the three grass practice fields at their El Segundo facility into a muddy quagmire. SoFi Stadium’s artificial turf was kept relatively dry by the roof, but there were plenty of leaks that allowed the water through and into the seats closest to the field.
“It was fun,” Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. said of the change in the team’s normal routine. “That was fun today, being able to go out and go to the stadium and still execute. That’s where we’re going to be playing on Saturday. You get on the bus. You get your pads on. It felt good.”
INJURY UPDATES
Wide receiver Derius Davis (ankle), safety RJ Mickens (shoulder), offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer (hamstring), safety Benjamin St-Juste (shoulder) and running back Kimani Vidal (neck) sat out of practice. Guard Mekhi Becton (knee), outside linebacker Bud Dupree (back) and defensive lineman Teair Tart (groin) were listed as limited participants in practice.
