{"id":189967,"date":"2025-07-08T03:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/189967\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T03:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:51:14","slug":"who-steps-up-along-the-defensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/189967\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Steps Up Along the Defensive Line?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chargers defensive line underwent a bit of a makeover this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter summed up the recent approach along the defensive trenches.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We traded maybe one or two guys for two to three guys when you look at it,&#8221; Minter said.<\/p>\n<p>Tart is back from a season ago and is now among the leaders of the group.<\/p>\n<p>Tart, signed as a free agent in August, <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chargers.com\/news\/teair-tart-defensive-line-depth-chart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">set career-highs<\/a> in Pro Football Focus&#8217; defense (76.9) and run defense grades (70.9) as well as his second-best pass rush grade (75.6), all of which ranked in the top 16 among all defensive tackles with at least 300 snaps.<\/p>\n<p>And while the Bolts lost a few pieces from a year ago, they replenished the room with the additions of Hand and Jones, both of whom <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chargers.com\/news\/naquan-jones-dashawn-hand-defensive-line-depth-chart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">signed in free agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ogbonnia, Matlock and Eboigbe were all on the roster a year ago and could factor into the rotation in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye on Eboigbe, a 2024 fourth-round pick who played sparingly as a rookie but bulked up this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Caldwell, meanwhile, was the Bolts recent third-round pick. Hinton spent most of last season on the practice squad while Edwards and Fuga are undrafted free agents.<\/p>\n<p>A year ago, the Bolts defensive line room was a bit unproven before flourishing as a unit.<\/p>\n<p>Minter expects the same progression in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a little bit going into the year by committee and then that stuff sort of takes care of itself based on a guy getting in a rhythm, getting in a groove, playing really well,&#8221; Minter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chargers defensive line underwent a bit of a makeover this offseason. Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter summed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[37,241,10723,7,34,38,1037,10096,1014,262,2444,2443,10725,6,10730,10998],"class_list":{"0":"post-189967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-app-homepage","9":"tag-chargers","10":"tag-dashawn-hand","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-homepage-cp","13":"tag-homepage-headlines","14":"tag-jamaree-caldwell","15":"tag-justin-eboigbe","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-losangeleschargers","20":"tag-naquan-jones","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-otito-ogbonnia","23":"tag-teair-tart"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114815585019988215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}