2025 Chargers Official News | Acquisitions | Transactions | Injuries

[powderblueboy]

AJ made some great player moves his first few years...until he started whiffing in the draft, and extending players to ridiculous bank contracts, who never panned out...

Getting rid of Marty and Buddy Nix was where he went wrong.

As Donnie Edwards said "Ego" (AJ's) brought the whole thing down.

Aside from the disasterous 2008 draft, his post 2006 drafts were mostly average compared to other teams:

Weddle, Luis Vasquez, Ryan Mathews, Melvin Ingram, Donald Butler

Norvell needed a distinct talent edge over other teams to not suck.

[Steve]

Hernandez plays RG. I bet he could move to LG, I just don’t like the knee….

He played LG when he was with the Giants

[Fouts2herbert]

I was never critical of Hortiz, and my issue wasn't with the idea of leaning heavily on building a team through the draft,
nor was I pushing for the signings of Metcalfe (although it appears Hortiz made some inquiries), Fries, excetra - the players that demanded the biggest contracts.

My issue was with those stating, after Tuesday, that Hortiz' inactivity was due to a disinclination to bring in any starters because he wants to build the roster through the draft,
and that all future signings will be a matter of adding depth to the roster. Hortiz, of course, never uttered any of these words, nor is there any firm evidence that he sees free agency
entirely as a one year gap filling excercise.

If you contend otherwise: well, Bozeman is here for maybe two more seasons, Tart is here for at least one more season, Perryman is here for at least one more season.
Dissley, if you remember, signed a 3 year contract. Molden came in a trade. If you are willing to throw him in than we might as well throw in Mack, who is in year 4.
I'm sure they would like to consider resigning Becton in two years.

The Ravens, Hortiz' model, threw a lot of money at Derick Henry last year: kind of like KC with Thuney or Mitchell Schwartz.
Even they aren't committed to what you are advocating, they are just more selective than most.

There will most likely be a time soon when Hortiz will go after one player that he thinks will put them over the top and is a perfect fit, and signs him to a big contract.
Practically every Super Bowl winner does it.

Even Tom Telesco would say that one must construct a team through the draft: such language is both obvious and entirely meaningless at the same time.
Bad teams signing free agents to huge contracts is foolish: I'll agree to that.

I was definitely not one of the people that said Hortiz would ignore free agency and depend solely on the draft, one of the things I DID say to people was that he wouldn't get into bidding wars for high priced guys, also that he will prioratize comparable players based on what type of free agent they were qualified vs unqualified etc...

Hortiz also came out during interviews at the combine. and said that while he values compensatory picks a lot, he said our roster was not at the talent level yet where you could expect that type of turnover in comp picks every year...in other words, he meant that because this roster still had so many holes to fill that he was going to sign qualified free agents in lieu of compensatory picks this year as needed...he warned people that you can't get compensatory picks every year and it doesn't look like we will ATM, but that will change next offseason when the Chargers get awarded two 3rd round comps in back to back drafts for losing Chad Alexander to another team...

one thing is clear tho, Hortiz is not going to participate in the overpriced bullshit that started early last week, he waits for the fog to clear so he can proceed safely...all the qualified free agents that he's signed, Harris, Becton, MW, and Jackson are all going to award picks to other teams this year and cancel out our own losses, and he's not done signing players, so yeah he's not doing what a lot of people on here accused him of earlier in the week, between the posters here and the podcast bozos people saying that he was neglecting the betterment of the team over compensatory picks, it was ridiculous and some of us asking people to be patient that he had a plan and now folks are starting to eat all that crow and write apologies and such, it's fucking hilarious...

Hortiz is not done, I spent many posts reassuring folks that he would spend the cap money but now he's down to like 25mil in effective cap and I still think he's going to bring in a couple 2-3 more guys before the draft, then he'll save some money for when other teams cut a few guys after the draft...he'll most likely sign another 2-3 players then as well...

once the roster is loaded with his draft picks these 1 year free agent signings are going to be less and less, qualified free agent signings will be rare, the primary focus will be to keep their own guys that they really really like AND let the ones that didn't fit the culture or have been replaced by better cheaper talent walk out the door in free agency to net the team compensatory picks in the following year...but while he's still building his team with his guys, these 1 year deal signings are going to be a thing every year...he had no choice but to do this because of the sheer lack of depth on this roster when he took over...

[Cdn Bolt]

They have done an excellent job w FA so far. They spent smart w the big signings, Harris, Williams and Becton all came in at < $10M / yr. I believe they initiated the negotiatings all at the same time, the larger deals just took longer to consummate testing some patience here but in the end they have filled many needs.

Still some $ left too, they really need another TE so that could be next or a C.

[Bolt4Knob]

They have done an excellent job w FA so far. They spent smart w the big signings, Harris, Williams and Becton all came in at < $10M / yr. I believe they initiated the negotiatings all at the same time, the larger deals just took longer to consummate testing some patience here but in the end they have filled many needs.

Still some $ left too, they really need another TE so that could be next or a C.

Hortiz has been very pragmatic with the 2026 cap - Bozeman, Dye, Scott, Becton and Dionte are the only players that I think have cap hits in 2026. OTC shows them at $161. But Becton and Dionte will eat into that plus draft picks and what not. But I would not be surprised, that after a Slater extension (hoping it happens soon!) - that the Chargers will be some $80-90m under the cap heading into this season for 2026.

[dmac_bolt]

Hortiz has been very pragmatic with the 2026 cap - Bozeman, Dye, Scott, Becton and Dionte are the only players that I think have cap hits in 2026. OTC shows them at $161. But Becton and Dionte will eat into that plus draft picks and what not. But I would not be surprised, that after a Slater extension (hoping it happens soon!) - that the Chargers will be some $80-90m under the cap heading into this season for 2026.

Its even better - first three contracts aren't guaranteed, team could cut them loose if they don't perform or LAC develops new replacements:

Scott - $950k dead cap / $2.85M savings
Dye - $750K dead cap / $2.5M savings
Boze - $1M dead cap / $3.125M savings

Dionte and Mekhi contract terms not posted yet, but I expect there is more committed cap on each of them

[jamrock]

Chargers have officially signed C Andre James, most recently of the Raiders

[Lone Bolt]

WTF...why has this guy barely been talked about? He is elite at pass blocking, decent vs run...was he injured? Expensive? What gives? Cuz this looks like a great pickup

[CanadianBoltFan]

WTF...why has this guy barely been talked about? He is elite at pass blocking, decent vs run...was he injured? Expensive? What gives? Cuz this looks like a great pickup

He signed a deal 3 year for 24 million before last year. Was great in 2023 but struggled in 2024 with injuries. While he was out , 2nd round rookie JPJ took the center job

James can also play guard. Raiders were kind of dumb to release him and not keep him for o line depth, cutting him only opened up about 1.5 in cap space.

[Lone Bolt]

He signed a deal 3 year for 24 million before last year. Was great in 2023 but struggled in 2024 with injuries. While he was out , 2nd round rookie JPJ took the center job

James can also play guard. Raiders were kind of dumb to release him and not keep him for o line depth, cutting him only opened up about 1.5 in cap space.

Oh shit, thats right...I forgot JPJ went there..

[Heatmiser]

In 2024, James was rated by PFF overall as the 33rd C in the NFL. That means every NFL starter and a backup were better than him. He had a very bad 2024.

TG

[jamrock]

In 2024, James was rated by PFF overall as the 33rd C in the NFL. That means every NFL starter and a backup were better than him. He had a very bad 2024.

TG

reclamation project. hopium says Poona v2.0