EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr., who returned to practice Wednesday after serving a one-game suspension for repeated game law violations, said he has no plans to change his style of play and is off Disappointed NFL decision.

“No, nothing will change,” James said. “Definitely nothing will change. Like I said, I’m just going to go deeper. I won’t change.”

He continued: “I’ll play my style, but like I said, I’ll just go deeper.”

James said his focus going forward will be on hitting players below where they are holding the ball.

“I’m not going to keep paying 700, 800,000 (dollars),” James said

The NFL announced the suspension on Sept. 23 after James was charged with unnecessary harshness in a hit on Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth in the third quarter of Los Angeles’ 20-10 loss in Week 3.

James’ game is based on physicality and big hits that stop defenders in their tracks, but that style has gotten him into significant trouble around the league. It was the seventh time in his career that James was accused of unnecessary roughness, tying him with Marshon Lattimore and Jordan Poyer for the second-most totals in the NFL since 2018 (behind Xavier Woods with eight).

James, a former All-Pro, appealed the suspension, but it was upheld by hearing officer Derrick Brooks, who is jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA.

“They told me the violation, the rule that I had broken, and that was really it,” James said of the hearing. “It wasn’t about how I could get better or whatever they call it.”

In a letter to James included in the NFL announcement, Jon Runyan, vice president of football operations, wrote that video shows James lowering his head during the hit, making illegal, forceful contact with his helmet. that could have been avoided.