Fred Dean arrived in San Diego as a second-round pick out of Louisiana Tech in 1975 and stepped right into the starting lineup at defensive end. At roughly 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, he was light for the position by NFL standards, yet that never slowed him down. His explosive first step, long arms, and ability to dip under bigger tackles or club them out of the way made him a nightmare on the edge. As a rookie, he already looked the part, recording seven sacks and a career-high 93 tackles while showing the kind of pass-rush juice that would define his career.

His best years came in the late 1970s and into 1980. In 1978, he put up 15.5 unofficial sacks as the team found its footing under Don Coryell. The next season he added nine more and earned his first Pro Bowl nod while the Chargers won the AFC West and allowed the fewest points in the conference. Then in 1980, even after missing the first two games because of a holdout, he still finished with 10.5 sacks, made First-Team All-Pro, and returned to the Pro Bowl. Lined up alongside Gary “Big Hands” Johnson, Louie Kelcher, and Leroy Jones, the front four earned the nickname the Bruise Brothers and helped the defense lead the entire NFL with 60 sacks. Quarterbacks felt him coming; his combination of speed and leverage let him win even when teams tried to double him.

The 1981 season began with continued contract tension. Dean played only a handful of games for the Chargers before becoming disgruntled with his pay relative to his production and other defensive linemen. Early in the season (October 2), San Diego traded him to the San Francisco 49ers. While some contemporary accounts had highlighted his earlier pass-rushing excellence as AFC Defensive Player of the Year-level production, his full 1981 campaign and major individual honors came after the trade.

In 2008, Dean was inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Chargers Hall of Fame, a dual recognition for the undersized edge rusher who had spent the Air Coryell years making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks before the trade sent him north.