The Los Angeles Chargers finished the 2023 season with a 5-12 record and missed the playoffs for the third time in 4 years in the Justin Herbert era. It was a long season for the Chargers as they started the year with an 0-2 record and eventually battled back to a 4-4 record through 8 games before losing the next 3 to fall to 4-7. And during that 3 game losing streak – they lost to 3 playoff teams as they fell in consecutive weeks to the Lions, Packers, and Ravens before beating the Patriots with a score of 6-0 in week 13 – which would prove to be their final victory of the year. The lowlight of their season was undoubtedly during a week 15 game against the Raiders in which they lost 63-21 and were down 42-0 at half. Unintentionally – one of both the funniest and saddest moments of the 2023 season for the Chargers – was when Brandon Staley was interviewed at halftime of that game. And to me – that was the summarization of the Chargers season. I – along with countless other people – probably Chargers fans watching this video – thought it was a big mistake bringing Brandon Staley back for the 2023 season and Justin Herbert, and the rest of the Chargers roster – paid the price in a big way last year. And fast forwarding to the present day and the Los Angeles Chargers are in a difficult situation. I truly think they will be okay in the long run and I think they are doing everything right – but I do think 2024 will be a very tough year for them. And in today’s video we’re going to break down how they do in the first year of the Jim Harbaugh era. Now let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down who the Chargers lost this offseason prior to the NFL Draft and who they brought in – prior to the NFL Draft. The reality for the Chargers entering 2024 was they were always going to have to cut ties with any two of Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, Keenan Allen, and Mike Williams. The amount of money these guys were owed was an enormous amount and for what it’s worth – Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack each have a cap hit north of $25 million dollars this year. Keenan and Mike were both owed something north of $20 million per year each had they stayed Chargers and the main reason bring up guarantees whenever we discuss contracts – is because of situations like this. LA still has to pay the guaranteed part of their contract – and for reference – Mike Williams has a dead cap hit of $12.4 million this year and Keenan has a dead cap hit of $11.6 million this year for a team they will not be playing for. And not only that – but they’re also paying JC Jackson $20.8 million dollars this year who was one of the biggest free agent busts of all time – and this is all per Spotrac dot com by the way. So when you have nearly $45 million dollars allocated to 3 players who aren’t going to be playing for your team right from the start – or around 17.5% of your salary cap – you’re going to be at an extreme disadvantage relative to other NFL teams. And that’s a big reason why we titled today’s video – the Los Angeles Chargers are in a difficult situation. Not only that – but having to replace Keenan Allen is a near impossible task and in just 13 games last year – he had over 100 receptions for 1,200 yards. The Chargers receiving core entering the year isn’t great and we will break them down more later – but within free agency they also lost Kenneth Murray, Gerald Everett, Austin Ekeler, Michael Davis, and Eric Kendricks. The reality of building rosters in today’s’ NFL is you really have a 2 or 3 year window with the current group of guys. Some will obviously stay longer than others, but there was never going to be a scenario where Keenan, Mike, Joey, and Khalil all were chargers in 2024. And we’ve seen this with other teams too – and the Chiefs losing Tyreek Hill is another good example. Unfortunately the Chargers haven’t had as much team success as other NFL franchises – but they have went in on building a roster around quarterback Justin Herbert. It just didn’t work out and some of that is due to injury, some of that is due to coaching, and now – some of it has to do with financials. So entering 2024 – the Chargers needed to re tool their roster and go through a youth movement where they get younger – and most importantly – cheaper. I really don’t think losing Austin Ekeler at this point in his career is a big loss really at all and I don’t think 2023 was a good year for him which is a big understatement. There’s a reason teams don’t want to pay running backs after their rookie contracts and around age 27 is when they really start to fall off – and in Ekeler’s age 28 season – he averaged a full yard less per carry than he did in 2022, and his total touchdowns were a third of what they were in 2022 as he went from 18 total touchdowns – all the way down to just 6. LA couldn’t run the ball consistently last year and aside from a game in week 1 in which they ran for over 230 yards as an offense – they ran for 100 yards as a team just 4 times in the remaining 16 games – which is – well bad.
The long term goal for Jim Harbaugh is to run the football and they addressed the offensive line and running back room in free agency by bringing in guys like Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins, and by replacing Will Clapp with Bradley Bozeman. I have a lot of concerns with Bozeman specifically at the center position which we’ll discuss during the offensive portion of the video – but I at least wanted to breakdown the Chargers situation entering this year. They are in a much different situation than a lot of other NFL teams, but I am very eager to see how their defense plays in the first year of the Jim Harbaugh era. This defense is interesting because they have a few good pass rushers in Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, and a player who had a really solid rookie season is Tuli Tupulotu. They of course also have Derwin James and Asante Samuel Jr in the secondary and to be completely honest – I like this defense entering the year – I really do. But we say this every year and for whatever reason – this applies to the Chargers more than it does other teams every year – but health is extremely important. And if the Chargers can stay relatively healthy – then I can’t emphasize enough how much I love the pass rushing trio of Mack, Bosa, and Tuipulotu. Tuipulotu had over 50 pressures as a rookie and given he did that at just 21 years old – I can’t imagine he regresses this year and I think he will only get better. Khalil Mack had an insane 88 pressure season and I think he had the quietest 17 sack season of all time. I really don’t think the Chargers defense was all that bad in 2023 and in the final 11 games of the year – they allowed 400 or more yards of opposing offense just once – which was to the Lions in week 10. And the Lions of course have one of the best offenses in the entire league. Even in the dreaded Raiders game where they gave up 63 points – they only allowed 378 yards and when you turn the ball over 5 times offensively – you’re going to be set up to fail no matter how you slice it. They signed Kristian Fulton in free agency to be their second starting outside corner and this is a position I expect the Chargers to address more in the 2025 offseason – maybe even in the first round of the 2025 draft – and there’s a reason LA only gave him a one year deal. If JC Jackson worked out as a free agent signing – then they wouldn’t have had to bring in Kristian to effectively be a one year stop gap corner. I don’t think Fulton is that good of a player personally – but he will be 26 at the start of the 2024 regular season so if he works out – great – then they can hopefully get a few years out of him – but I wouldn’t plan on it. And through either previous free agent busts or again through an aging roster – this all plays into why the Chargers are in a difficult situation this year. This isn’t going to be a one year turn around. And I know the Chargers specifically have been deemed offseason champions countless times over the years – but this certainly is not the year for that. Ja’Sir Taylor played pretty well in the slot for them last year and like we’ve said before – nickel is the new base and I expect that to continue this year. Ja’sir is entering year 3 and if he has a good year this year – then he may be in line for a contract extension as early as next offseason. One thing I want to see more from the Chargers in 2024 that we didn’t see a whole lot of last year was creating turnovers. This team only forced 21 turnovers in 17 games but what is important to note here is – they created 15 turnovers in the first 8 games of the year and forced just 6 in the remaining 9 games. And 3 of those turnovers in the final 9 games – came in the Buffalo game in week 16. You have 3 good pass rushers – and even Morgan Fox can get after the quarterback too. Poke the ball out, force a quarterback into a hurried throw. Anything. But creating turnovers and being able to run the football down teams throats is going to be a big part of the 2024 Chargers.
