2025 Chargers Official News | Acquisitions | Transactions | Injuries

[blueman]

I think for it to make sense Bosa would have to take a pay cut from $22m to $8m with incentives based on games played and production.

Sure, but what’s his incentive to take that?

[Bolt4Knob]

Sure, but what’s his incentive to take that?

Exactly -- thats why they should be talking to his agent about finding a potential trade for the guy.

[blueman]

Exactly -- thats why they should be talking to his agent about finding a potential trade for the guy.

Yup. Don’t see how he stays.

[Formula 21]

Bosa knows he’s underperformed. Williams knows he’s underperformed. Both know they are not producing up to the value of the contracts even though the injuries are the cause of it. Both have to expect for their contracts to be renegotiated down. Playing for other teams is not always better.

[Icebolt]

Bosa performs great. He just needs to stay healthy. It will be our luck if we cut him he will play a full season going forward.

Don't care if Bosa makes All-Pro next year with some one else. I just want him off the team and his salary. Win-Win

[Topcat]

Bosa performs great. He just needs to stay healthy. It will be our luck if we cut him he will play a full season going forward.

That's like saying, "The Titanic performs great. It just needs to quit hitting icebergs..."

[Bolt4Knob]

Don't care if Bosa makes All-Pro next year with some one else. I just want him off the team and his salary. Win-Win

Agree about Bosa and also I think for Mike Williams. The injury and salary make him easy to release but the offense also needs to evolve and grow and if you are keeping Allen, you have Palmer and Johnson, want to upgrade the TE room - Williams skill set is not what the team needs.

[sdchrgrboy]

Bosa performs great. He just needs to stay healthy. It will be our luck if we cut him he will play a full season going forward.

See Rodney Harrison

[Bolt4Knob]

Good read from Popper in The Athletic. Harbaugh and Hortiz have a lot of work. The cap number if you include the draft class plus. Hortiz is going to need to nail the draft. Also I think teh writing is on the wall for two of the four players so often discussed. If not three. I think Allen is the closest to a lock. The other three, not so much


Chargers 2024 Offseason Handbook: Cap space, roster needs, free agency and more


By Daniel Popper
5h ago

18

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Welcome to the 2024 Offseason Handbook.

This is your one-stop shop for everything offseason-related as the Los Angeles Chargers shift their focus from coach and general manager searches to the roster-construction portion of the NFL calendar.

The Chargers introduced Jim Harbaugh as their new coach Thursday. New GM Joe Hortiz will conduct his introductory news conference Tuesday. The top priority, as Harbaugh said Thursday, is finalizing the coaching staff. Waiting in the not-so-distant future are big decisions on key veteran players, then free agency, then the draft.


Home Depot, 'Ted Lasso' and an RV: What we learned at Jim Harbaugh's Chargers introduction

How much cap space do the Chargers have? Where will they be picking in April’s draft? Pending free agents? Roster needs?

The answers to all those questions are below. We will keep the analysis here pretty high level. A tasting menu, if you will. Over the coming months, we will have plenty of time to dive deeper into the details, like we did last month when assessing the Chargers’ cap situation and how they can navigate through the contracts of Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack and Mike Williams.

All salary-cap and compensatory-pick figures are courtesy of Over the Cap unless otherwise noted.



Salary cap


All NFL teams must operate financially under a league-mandated salary cap that is adjusted from season to season based largely on revenue. This limits spending to a degree and is designed to create competitive balance despite differing wealth and cash budgets among ownership groups.

NFL Network reported in December that the 2024 cap is expected to exceed $240 million, an increase over the $224.8 million cap for the 2023 season. Over the Cap is projecting a cap of $242 million, and we will operate off that number for now. The official number should be coming soon. Last year, for example, the league informed teams of the cap Jan. 30.

As we laid out in our cap-focused story last week, the Chargers are well over the projected cap for 2024. That is largely a result of the restructures they executed on four contracts last year: Bosa, Mack, Williams and Allen. A simple restructure typically converts base salary or roster bonus into a signing bonus. That signing bonus can then be prorated — or divided evenly — over the remainder of said contract. This is a way to move cap charges into future seasons. Restructures create immediate cap relief, which allowed the Chargers to keep their roster mostly intact in 2023. But those cap charges have to be incurred at some point down the line.

Teams are allowed to roll over unused cap space from one season to the next. The league also makes adjustments to each team’s cap after the postseason based on factors like incentives and bonuses. A team’s cap is equal to the league-mandated cap, plus rollover space, plus adjustments.

According to the NFLPA website, the Chargers will roll over $7.537 million in space into 2024. Adjustments are still to be determined, but those should not affect the cap significantly. For now, we will operate with the Chargers having a team-specific cap of $249.537 million.

Jim Harbaugh — and GM Joe Hortiz — will have to trim more than $55 million from the Chargers’ salary-cap liabilities. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)

They have 49 players rostered. Those 49 players account for $295.344 million in liabilities. This means the Chargers are $45.806 million over the cap. The Chargers will also need a projected $7.994 million in space to pay their draft class. The top 51 salaries count against the cap during the offseason, so we also need to add salaries for the two players the Chargers will have to add to the roster to reach that minimum. The minimum salary for 2024 is $795,000. Two of those salaries equal $1.59 million. Adding in the draft class cap hits and the minimum roster requirements, the Chargers are effectively $55.391 million over the cap.

A lot of work to be done. If you want a thorough breakdown of the different mechanisms they can use to become cap compliant by the new league year, please read our piece from last week.


Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Keenan Allen: How Chargers should navigate their 2024 cap Draft picks


The Chargers hold all seven of their original draft picks. They are also projected to receive one seventh-round compensatory pick for linebacker Drue Tranquill, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs last offseason.

Compensatory picks are awarded based on how much value a team loses in free agency in a single year and can fall at the end of any round between 3 and 7. The league uses a formula that effectively compares the value of contracts for players acquired in free agency to the value of contracts for players lost in free agency. Players who hit free agency after their contract was terminated by their previous team do not count against the formula. Players also must sign for a certain amount of money on a per-year basis to factor into the formula.

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Tranquill was the only eligible free agent the Chargers lost. They signed linebacker Eric Kendricks to a two-year deal worth $6.625 million in average annual value, but Kendricks had been cut by the Minnesota Vikings. Thus, he does not count against the comp pick formula.

The Chargers’ first three picks are set:

Round 1: No. 5
Round 2: No. 37
Round 3: No. 69

The rest of the picks will not be officially slotted until the NFL announces the 2023 compensatory picks ahead of the draft, but we can project them as such, though these are subject to slight changes depending on how the comp-pick formula shakes out:

Round 4: No. 106
Round 5: No. 139
Round 6: No. 183
Round 7: No. 223
Round 7 (comp pick): No. 256

With three picks in the top 70, including the No. 5 pick, Harbaugh and Hortiz will have plenty of opportunities to start injecting their roster with young talent. Pending free agents


The Chargers have 27 players who are set to hit some form of free agency this offseason.

There are three types of free agents under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement: unrestricted free agents (UFAs), restricted free agents (RFAs) and exclusive rights free agents (ERFAs).

Players with four accrued seasons are eligible to become UFAs, and they are free to negotiate with any team and sign anywhere.

Players with three accrued seasons become RFAs. Teams have the option of tendering contracts to RFAs they want back, and this tender gives them the right to match any other offer that player receives. These tenders can also come with draft-pick penalties if another team signs the player. Last offseason, the Chargers had six RFAs: WR Jalen Guyton; TE Donald Parham Jr.; DL Breiden Fehoko; edge Derrek Tuszka; OT Storm Norton; DL Joe Gaziano. They did not tender any of those players, though they did re-sign Guyton and Parham later in the offseason.

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Players with fewer than three accrued seasons become ERFAs. They can only negotiate and sign with their previous team, unless that team opts not to tender them by the start of the new league year March 13.

Here is a breakdown of the Chargers’ pending free agents:

UFA: RB Austin Ekeler; TE Gerald Everett; LB Kenneth Murray Jr.; S Alohi Gilman; CB Michael Davis; C Will Clapp; DL Austin Johnson; DL Nick Williams; RB Joshua Kelley; CB Essang Bassey; WR Alex Erickson; QB Easton Stick; S Dean Marlowe; WR Jalen Guyton; OLB Justin Hollins; S Jaylinn Hawkins; TE Nick Vannett; OL Cameron Tom; LB Tanner Muse; QB Will Grier

RFA: LB Amen Ogbongbemiga; LB Blake Lynch

ERFA: K Cameron Dicker; S Raheem Layne; WR Keelan Doss; OL Zack Bailey; OT Foster Sarell

Dicker should be back. I could see the Chargers moving on from the 26 other pending free agents. Rashawn Slater extension


In 2022, it was Derwin James Jr. In 2023, it was Justin Herbert. Now Slater, the Chargers’ excellent left tackle, is the young star eligible for a long-term contract extension.

The Chargers do technically have two more years of team control on Slater, a first-round pick in 2021. He has one year remaining on his rookie deal, and the Chargers have the option of exercising Slater’s fifth-year option for 2025. The deadline for exercising that fifth-year option is May 2.

James signed his contract extension after his fourth NFL season. Herbert signed his after his third season. With a high-priced position like left tackle, there is not much incentive to waiting for the Chargers. Slater is a proven top-flight player at his position. He was an All-Pro in 2021. He missed most of the season with a torn biceps in 2022. He battled some injuries early on in 2023, but he returned to his elite form down the stretch of the season. Slater allowed five total pressures in the final six games of the season, according to TruMedia. He ranks 10th in pressure rate allowed among qualified tackles since the start of 2021.

The Chargers would be wise to lock up left tackle Rashawn Slater to keep him around protecting Justin Herbert’s backside. (Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)

The price is only going to go up, so I would advise getting a deal done sooner rather than later. At the same time, this is a new regime, and they could also prefer to wait to see how he performs this season in their system and with their coaching.

New York Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas is a clean comp for Slater. Thomas had a rough rookie year in 2020 but rebounded in 2021 before putting together an All-Pro season in 2022. That offseason, after his third year, Thomas signed a five-year, $117.5 million extension — a $23.5 AAV. He is the second-highest-paid tackle in the league behind the Houston Texans’ Laremy Tunsil ($25 million AAV). Negotiations for Slater would start with the Thomas deal.


It would be easier to list the positions the Chargers do not need: starting quarterback.

Outside of that, they could reasonably add at every position. They need a receiver, especially if they are forced to move on from Williams. They could use a right tackle upgrade, with Trey Pipkins III coming off a down year. They need a center to replace Corey Linsley, who is almost certainly retiring. They need a cornerback. They need a safety. They will need edge-rushing help if they move on from Bosa or Mack, or both. They could use an upgrade at guard, with Jamaree Salyer somewhat struggling with his move to the interior. They need interior defensive linemen. They need a linebacker, with Murray hitting free agency and Kendricks looking like a probable cap casualty. And they could be overhauling the entirety of their tight end and running back units.

With cap limitations, Harbaugh and Hortiz will likely have to hit big in the draft if they want to address these needs and compete in 2024.

[Boltjolt]

See Rodney Harrison

Rodney wasnt injured near as much as Joey was. If i recall correctly, Rodney his last season with us had a groin injury or something that was nagging him that he played thru and why he wasnt as effective.

[OG619FrightninLightnin]

That's like saying, "The Titanic performs great. It just needs to quit hitting icebergs..."

That's pretty good.

[ChargersPowderBlue]

That's like saying, "The Titanic performs great. It just needs to quit hitting icebergs..."

And just like that song from the movie by Celine Dion, your Titanic reference goes on.