{"id":744756,"date":"2026-02-11T12:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/744756\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T12:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:50:16","slug":"could-zion-johnson-reunite-with-former-chargers-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/744756\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Zion Johnson reunite with former Chargers coach?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 10, 2026, 10:59 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With free agency nearing, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/los-angeles-chargers\/357\" data-autotag=\"a419627d-6dfd-46c4-8ebe-6ca8a0506ea7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Chargers<\/a> guard Zion Johnson has been linked to the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-orleans-saints\/350\" data-autotag=\"84b23fc0-f769-4d65-9d38-018c62e4efd7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Saints<\/a>. Kellen Moore is New Orleans&#8217; head coach, but previously served as Los Angeles&#8217; offensive coordinator during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Because of the connection between Johnson and Moore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/sports\/saints\/saints-2026-offseason-guide-free-agency-nfl-draft\/article_0d2ee75d-ba33-41ea-afac-4e8376a2f5cc.html\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew Para of The Times-Picayune and The Advocate believes the guard could be an option for the Saints in free agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Johnson has familiarity with Saints coach Kellen Moore, who served as Los Angeles\u2019 offensive coordinator in 2023,&#8221; Paras wrote. &#8220;And Johnson is one of the rare Chargers linemen who has stayed healthy and can block. That\u2019s a plus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How Did Zion Johnson Perform in 2025?<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">While the interior offensive line was uneven, Johnson performed well at left guard, playing every offensive snap and showing significant improvement in pass protection.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:4|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Johnson has been a mainstay on the Chargers&#8217; offensive line since being drafted by the team in 2022 out of Boston College. Last May, the Bolts declined to exercise the fifth-year option on Johnson&#8217;s contract, and the 2025 season marked the final year of his rookie deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Chargers enter the 2026 offseason with over\u00a0$87 million\u00a0in cap space, giving them the financial flexibility to offer Johnson a competitive contract extension, which could be in the range of\u00a0$11 million to $15 million\u00a0per year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 10, 2026, 10:59 p.m. PT With free agency nearing, Chargers guard Zion Johnson has been linked to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[95878,241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,97083,97084,95882,97082,97085,96129,95895,95899,95906,95883,97689,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-744756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-chargers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnflchargers","17":"tag-sstsnchargers","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagboston-college","20":"tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","21":"tag-tagnew-orleans-saints","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagoverall-positive","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-tagzion-johnson","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116052087962413329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744756","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=744756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}