The Official 2026 Chargers Season Discussion - (0-2)

[CanadianBoltFan]

Let's just remember that all teams experience the same increase in free cap space.

Doesn't really help us at all. The added cap space is cancelled out by salary inflation.

Maybe but most were expecting an increase to about 295 million, so another 7-8 million to work with doesn't hurt.

The is would fall under "good news" not "bad news"

[Bolt4Knob]

Let's just remember that all teams experience the same increase in free cap space.

Doesn't really help us at all. The added cap space is cancelled out by salary inflation.

How does it not help? Of course it helps

I understand about inflation but the prices would go up anyway so it does help

[YAC]

I've got a general sports strategy question for you boys, though our focus here is, of course, pure football. Here I'm going to reference baseball (of all things) to ground this question.

How many maybe-half-decent starting pitchers does a team need before they start their season...assuming they can't buy whatever they want, whenever they want like the corrupt Empire known as the L.A. Dodgers?

I'm willing to include mediocre pitchers, arms past-their-prime, converted relievers, not-quite-ready guys. How many in the realm of (possibly) viable SP arms are needed for a hopeful season? Only five starting pitchers are needed, right? And If you have 3 stud starting arms...what could go wrong? So how many do you need?

Three?
Four?
Five?
Six?
Seven?
More?

---

I see nobody wanted to discuss this post from last night and I know why:
Fans and arm-chair GMs love to ignore the need for ROSTER DEPTH during the offseason. During the season? They crucify the real GM for not loading up on it.

Depth! Depth! Depth! C'mon boys. Gotta budget money and picks to secure it.

[beachcomber]

What’s more probable….

Signing Tyler Linderbaum in FA, signing Connor McGovern in FA, or trading for Aaron Brewer?

don't think we sign the both of Oweh and Lbaum.... do like the idea of trading for the Aaron Brewer one year rental while Brailsford acclimates himself to the NFL pivot position, and.... despite opinion to the contrary, won't be surprised if QJ straight up is a decent enough offer.... ??

and don't really like the idea of letting Dissly walk, and.... can see the logic from the bean counting perspective.

[YAC]

How does it not help? Of course it helps

I understand about inflation but the prices would go up anyway so it does help

It doesn't help because every team experiences the same increase. What happens when you dump 20% more currency into a market? Makes people feel great until they see that the currency buys 20% less at the register.

Sure does help the players pocket books, though! Their increase is far above the rate of real world inflation.

[beachcomber]

I've got a general sports strategy question for you boys, though our focus here is, of course, pure football. Here I'm going to reference baseball (of all things) to ground this question.

How many maybe-half-decent starting pitchers does a team need before they start their season...assuming they can't buy whatever they want, whenever they want like the corrupt Empire known as the L.A. Dodgers?

I'm willing to include mediocre pitchers, arms past-their-prime, converted relievers, not-quite-ready guys. How many in the realm of (possibly) viable SP arms are needed for a hopeful season? Only five starting pitchers are needed, right? And If you have 3 stud starting arms...what could go wrong? So how many do you need?

Three?
Four?
Five?
Six?
Seven?
More?

---

I see nobody wanted to discuss this post from last night and I know why:
Fans and arm-chair GMs love to ignore the need for ROSTER DEPTH during the offseason. During the season? They crucify the real GM for not loading up on it.

Depth! Depth! Depth! C'mon boys. Gotta budget money and picks to secure it.

didn't see your post, and.... do recall when the Pods were real good, their depth went all the way thru middle relief.... they had really good middle relievers, and so....

what's your suggestion for the all of us, or are you just gonna join the armchairs here who bash other people's posts, but fail to offer up any of their own suggestions/solutions ?? !!

[Bolt4Knob]

It doesn't help because every team experiences the same increase. What happens when you dump 20% more currency into a market? Makes people feel great until they see that the currency buys 20% less at the register.

Sure does help the players pocket books, though! Their increase is far above the rate of real world inflation.

Yes - that is true

What would have helped the Chargers is if the cap stayed flat or dropped by 6-10m

[Riverwalk]

Weren’t you just opining about the GMs poor offensive free agents thus far? Meh. Don’t bother even thinking about it. Don’t worry. Be happy.

Indeed I was Jack, but Dmac pointed out the stark dichotomy between offense and defense free agents which leads me to believe Roman had a big influence on the offense side. Boze being one of the biggest mistakes with obvious Roman ties. Boze played for Roman from 2018-2021 in Baltimore where Roman transitioned him from LG to Center.

Any anger, disappointment, or other shit flinging at Bozeman should be directed at Roman because that’s the SOB who wanted him as his Charger Center for 2 years even after he had worked with him for 4 years in the past.

Moving forward,I trust McDaniel will evaluate and find Bozeman won’t be his Center. And I also feel confident the Center decision is his to call, not Hortiz or Harbaugh because that’s exactly the latitude Jim was expressing when he said he wanted a HC for the offense.

[Riverwalk]

The NFL is projecting the salary cap to increase from $279.2 million in 2025 to more than $300 million in 2026.

The exact range is said to be $301.2 million to $305.7 million per club. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero notes that this is nearly $100 million more than the $208.2 million salary cap in 2022. The exact number will be finalized before free agency begins on March 11th.

Nice. That YOY increase can cover one half of a QB’s annual salary these days.

[Lefty2SLO]

Maybe not 100% confidence at the center position lol

After all, these are the guys who signed Bozeman after he was an NFL worst level center in 2023 in Carolina...and then stubbornly played him for 2 years when he was a bottom level NFL center,

What the hell happened with Andre James? Did he kick Jim's dog or something? He wasn't chopped liver when he played for the Raiders - he was adequate to occasionally good - far better that what we got from Bozeman. I wonder if he had an undisclosed injury of some kind?

[Jack Burton]

Indeed I was Jack, but Dmac pointed out the stark dichotomy between offense and defense free agents which leads me to believe Roman had a big influence on the offense side. Boze being one of the biggest mistakes with obvious Roman ties. Boze played for Roman from 2018-2021 in Baltimore where Roman transitioned him from LG to Center.

Any anger, disappointment, or other shit flinging at Bozeman should be directed at Roman because that’s the SOB who wanted him as his Charger Center for 2 years even after he had worked with him for 4 years in the past.

Moving forward,I trust McDaniel will evaluate and find Bozeman won’t be his Center. And I also feel confident the Center decision is his to call, not Hortiz or Harbaugh because that’s exactly the latitude Jim was expressing when he said he wanted a HC for the offense.

Fully agree. And this brings me back to my question.
Who’s playing C next season? It’s a valid question to ask.
BALT and BUF might hold onto their centers and never let them hit FA. MIA is in the worst dead cap/cap hit nightmare in the history of the league right now. They will get through it but it’s gonna be ugly.
Is there a C in this draft who could come in day 1 and play right away?

[eaterfan]

Yes - that is true

What would have helped the Chargers is if the cap stayed flat or dropped by 6-10m

Exactly!

If anything this hurts the Chargers. Teams that may have had to cut guys to get under the cap or let guys walk may now be able to keep those guys. Chargers weren't having to make any tough decisions. Now the supply of free agents will decrease and the number of teams able to bid is going to increase (demand increase).

During the covid year when the cap didn't go up, the Chargers were at a huge advantage because they were one of the few teams with big money. A lot of teams had to cut good players to get under the cap because they thought it would rise more. The Chargers were able to be very active. Not all the signings worked out, but they were able to do more.

To put it this way, the Chargers (according to Popper) were going to have about $62 million available (accounting for in season budget and draft picks). Increasing that by $5-10 million is between an 8% and 16% increase. If teams had $10 million in cap space that's a 50%-100% increase in their ability to spend. It's even less for us when you consider they can get an extra $20 million by cutting Dissley, Bekton, and Bozeman. The increase would only be a 6%-13% increase for the Chargers, then.

To put this in a concrete example - with a projected cap of $295.5 million, Baltimore had $5,400,000 in available spending. They would have to make a lot of cuts to afford Linderbaum. Now they have at least $10 million and maybe $15 million in cap space and have a much better chance at keeping him.