Derwin James: DB · Florida State · #3.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Derwin James
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. Played for two head coaches in three seasons at Florida State. The first one came in 2017: All-America (CBS). A game that shows it: 13 tackles against Boston College — Week 9, 2017.
Play style
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
84 tackles. 11 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 5.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
The New York Times Nov 1
Saturday Down South Oct 28Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Florida State | 84 | 49 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 11 | 2 |
| 2016 | Florida State | 11 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | 1 |
| 2015 | Florida State | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 95 | 58 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 11 | 3 |
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 7-24vs No. 1 Alabama | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 21-27vs NC State | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 26-19@ Wake Forest | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | L 20-24vs No. 13 Miami | 5 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 7 | W 17-10@ Duke | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 28-31vs Louisville | 8 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 3-35@ Boston College | 13 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 13 tackles |
| Wk 10 | W 27-24vs Syracuse | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 4 | |
| Wk 11 | L 14-31@ No. 4 Clemson | 9 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 77-6vs Delaware State | 3 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 38-22@ Florida | 7 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 14 | W 42-10vs UL Monroe | 12 | 8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 84 | 49 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 2 | 11 |
Week 10 · 2017
W 27-24
vs Syracuse
1 interception · 1 tackle for loss · 3 tackles
A close one, won by 3 at home.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
13%11 pass breakupsInterceptions
2interceptionsTackle volume
84tackles this seasonTFL rate
7%6 TFL84 tackles · 5.5 for loss · 1 sack · 11 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.
3 seasons under Jimbo Fisher — 27-12 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 6.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Road5g | 7.8 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 5.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 7.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Odell Haggins
Pass share
42.8%
344 pass / 459 run
Plays / game
61.8
13 games
Team sack rate
8.3%
384 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2017
84 tackles in 12 games, more tackles a game than nearly every FBS defensive back who plays every week.
How it ended
Three seasons at Florida State, 95 tackles — drafted at #17 overall by the Los Angeles Chargers.
A blue-chip recruit with honors.
Coaching lineage · 2015–2017
1 coachPlayed every college season under Jimbo Fisher.
Next stop · NFL
Los Angeles ChargersEntering 9th NFL season
Los Angeles ChargersEntering 9th NFL season
