Bolts From The Blue
The Chargers have failed to gain much ground in the AFC following the first wave of free agency.
The Chargers entered this year’s free agency period with one of the largest pools of available cap space in the NFL. That set the potential scene for them to spend, spend, spend in hopes of maximizing their win-now window with quarterback Justin Herbert. However, none of the Chargers’ contracts — whose formal 2025 cap hits we know of thus far — have been confirmed over $6 million.
We currently are still waiting on Mekhi Becton, Andre James, Teair Tart, Naquan Jones, Taylor Heinicke, and Da’Shawn Hand’s final numbers, but only Becton’s should end up over $6 million. The Chargers have been making calculated moves in an effort to maximize their compensatory picks in the coming years. By refusing to sign players to larger contracts, Joe Hortiz is setting up that formula to work in the Chargers’ favor for years to come.
But just how much better, if at all, have the Chargers gotten through all of their moves? Have they been able to keep up with the rest of the AFC teams who are also chasing the likes of the Chiefs, Bills, and Ravens?
According to CBS Sports’ Jordan Dajani, the Chargers have actually been pretty stagnant, if not fallen behind a bit. In his recent rankings of the 16 AFC teams, the Bolts came in at No. 7, behind the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Broncos, Bengals, and Texans.
Here’s what Dajani had to say about the Chargers’ placement:
“Re-signing Khalil Mack was important, and signing former Steelers running back Najee Harris intrigues me. However, losing Ford and Bosa makes you a worse team. L.A. can still be a playoff squad, but it won’t go very far without a physical outside wide receiver. Ladd McConkey can’t do everything by himself, and I wonder how effective Mike Williams will be in his return to the Chargers.”
I hate to admit it, but I do sort’ve agree here that the Chargers haven’t made all that much progress in gaining ground on the AFC’s elite. Losing Poona Ford hurts. Joey Bosa on the other hand? He had his worst year as a pro while playing double-digit games in 2024 and I’m not sold the team moving on from him really hurts that much, especially when he’s barely played in the past three seasons.
But it’s not so much the players that have moved on that hurt the team’s 2025 outlook the most, it’s essentially the lack of impact signings. In the name of compensatory picks, the Chargers are hoping for numerous players to outplay their contracts and essentially have career years, on top of hitting on a handful of draft picks to be starters and/or role players in 2025. It’s not very likely everything they need to work out does, but the Chargers are sticking to a plan and you have to respect it.
Only time will tell how it all pans out, but as...
