{"id":749249,"date":"2026-02-13T12:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/749249\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:44:31","slug":"chargers-should-make-this-offseason-move-ahead-of-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/749249\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers should make this offseason move ahead of 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 12, 2026, 12:13 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The <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> should sign unrestricted free agent center Tyler Linderbaum this offseason in order to strengthen their offensive line for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">PFF&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/news\/nfl-offseason-acquisitions-next-level-nfl-teams\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dalton Wasserman<\/a> explained why the Bolts need to pursue Linderbaum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;The Chargers&#8217; porous interior offensive line was the main reason that the team fell short of its postseason expectations,&#8221; Wasserman writes. &#8220;Justin Herbert was under pressure more than 43% of the time. Only the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/cleveland-browns\/329\" data-autotag=\"9cb205d1-d46a-4c2c-a80a-90061986bc20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Browns<\/a> garnered a worse PFF pass-blocking grade than Los Angeles. The Chargers\u2019 37.3 team PFF run-blocking grade is the worst by any team in a season in the PFF era (since 2006). Their Super Bowl aspirations won\u2019t be fulfilled without major improvement up front.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Los Angeles is armed with the second-most effective cap space in the NFL. That should allow the front office to approach a top-of-market option like Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What is Tyler Linderbaum&#8217;s Projected Contract in Free Agency?<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Linderbaum is projected to earn a contract of nearly $18 million per year, according to Spotrac. He is slated to be a top target for several teams in free agency, including the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-york-giants\/351\" data-autotag=\"9402befb-12da-4b26-905a-81ab1fea0850\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Giants<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:6|\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\">Giants head coach John Harbaugh is familiar with Linderbaum, given the pair&#8217;s connection with the Ravens, and it&#8217;s likely he&#8217;ll try to poach several former players ahead of his first season in New York.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Linderbaum has ranked fourth among qualified centers in overall PFF grade since he was drafted in 2022. The center&#8217;s production is also top-tier as he&#8217;s logged 1,000 snaps in each of his first four seasons in the league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Now that the Chargers have Mike McDaniel running the offense, Linderbaum would be a perfect fit in the former <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/miami-dolphins\/345\" data-autotag=\"22ef43a4-dc5a-43ce-87cd-912a7e348a81\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Dolphins<\/a> head coach&#8217;s scheme. The 25-year-old has earned above a 78.0 PFF run-blocking grade in each season, emerging as one of the NFL\u2019s premier run blockers on the interior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It&#8217;s evident Linderbaum would be a great addition to the Chargers&#8217; offensive line, replacing Bradley Bozeman, who has struggled the past two seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 12, 2026, 12:13 p.m. PT The Chargers should sign unrestricted free agent center Tyler Linderbaum this offseason&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[95878,241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,97083,97084,95882,103342,95957,96161,97085,95951,95896,95891,95888,95895,95899,95883,102303,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-749249","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-tagbradley-bozeman","20":"tag-tagcleveland-browns","21":"tag-tagjustin-herbert","22":"tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","23":"tag-tagmiami-dolphins","24":"tag-tagnational-sports","25":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","26":"tag-tagnfl","27":"tag-tagnfl-hub","28":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","29":"tag-tagsports-news","30":"tag-tagtyler-linderbaum","31":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116063389116625249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749249","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=749249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}