The Los Angeles Chargers finished 2025 with an 11-6 record, good enough for 2nd place in the AFC West, and a 7th seed in the playoffs, before bowing out in the Wild Card round by New England.<\/p>\n
LAC enters 2026 with a league-high $110M of estimated cap space<\/a> according to our data, with 36 contracts currently on the books, led by QB Justin Herbert\u2019s $46.3M figure.<\/p>\n The Chargers currently boast 5 draft picks, having sent their 5th round pick to Baltimore (Alohi Gilman), and a 7th round pick to Tennessee (Elijah Molden). Chargers Future Draft Picks<\/a><\/p>\n Early Offseason Questions Notable Free Agents<\/p>\n (Spotrac Valuation APY)<\/p>\n ED Odafe Oweh<\/a> ($19.3M) VIEW ALL FREE AGENTS<\/a><\/p>\n Option Decision A 2023 1st-rounder out of TCU, Johnston has now put together back-to-back solid – but not necessarily strong seasons in LA, including 8 TD catches in each. He finished 3rd on the team in targets (Allen, McConkey), furthering the notion that he may never be a true #1 option in the league. With that said, it remains likely that LAC declines the upcoming $16M 5th-year-option for 2027.<\/p>\n Extension Candidate The 29-year-old enters a contract year in 2026, set to earn $17.5M against a $24.6M cap hit. The 2018 1st-rounder out of Florida State remains reliable, productive, and dominating still at times, currently projecting towards a 4 year, $76M extension in our system.<\/p>\n Bubble Candidates Self-admittedly never found comfort in Greg Roman\u2019s offensive structure this past season, making it highly unlikely that the Chargers retain him for 2026. LA can free up $10M by moving on before a $2.5M roster bonus is due March 13th.<\/p>\n TE Will Dissly<\/a> Saw his role reduced mightily in 2025 (including a healthy scratch midseason), setting up a likely release out of the 1 year, $4M remaining. LAC can free up that amount of cap space by moving on before a $1M roster bonus is owed March 15th.<\/p>\n ED Bud Dupree<\/a><\/p>\n Dupree signed a 1 year, $6M extension back in June that put him under contract through 2026, but he found himself available for less than 400 snaps this past season. The Chargers can free up $3.5M of space by moving on before a $1M roster bonus is due March 13th.<\/p>\n Potential Cap Conversions<\/p>\n QB Justin Herbert<\/a>\u2019s 2026 salary is already fully guaranteed. Processing a simple salary conversion (plus 1 void year) frees up $18.2M.<\/p>\n LT Rashawn Slater<\/a>\u2019s 2026 salary is fully guaranteed. A salary conversion with 1 void year opens up $13.4M of cap.<\/p>\n Also of note: An extension for S Derwin James should lower his $24.6M cap figure for 2026.<\/p>\n RELATED LINKS
\n
\nHow can this team find a way to keep star players healthy enough to compete when it matters most?
\nLA\u2019s success was focused around 34-year-old Khalil Mack & 33-year-old Keenan Allen, both of whom are pending free agents. Will they run it back?
\nWith a bounty of cap space to begin the offseason, how aggressive will this front office be in attempting to push the franchise into a true contention window.
<\/p>\n
ED Khalil Mack<\/a> ($18.4M)
G Zion Johnson<\/a> ($11.2M)
OL Jamaree Salyer<\/a> ($9.8M)
WR Keenan Allen<\/a> ($6.8M)
DL\u00a0Teair Tart<\/a> ($5.4M)
RT Trey Pipkins<\/a> ($5M)
DL Da’shawn Hand<\/a> ($4M)
RB Najee Harris<\/a> ($3M)<\/p>\n
\nWR Quentin Johnston<\/a><\/p>\n
\nS Derwin James<\/a><\/p>\n
\nG Mekhi Becton<\/a>
\nRelease Candidate<\/p>\n
\nRelease Candidate<\/p>\n
2026 Chargers Salary Cap
<\/a>Chargers Free Agents
<\/a>Spotrac\u2019s Offseason Guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Chargers finished 2025 with an 11-6 record, good enough for 2nd place in the AFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2064],"tags":[98238,90,241,4092,7,1014,262,2444,2443,88,6,1150,5717,37038],"class_list":{"0":"post-674365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-2026-financials-los-angeles-chargers","9":"tag-analysis","10":"tag-chargers","11":"tag-contract","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleschargers","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-report","20":"tag-research","21":"tag-spotrac"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115888691112091857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674365","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=674365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}