{"id":843838,"date":"2026-03-30T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843838\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T22:58:14","slug":"espn-updates-the-chargers-needs-ahead-of-the-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843838\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN updates the Chargers’ needs ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated March 30, 2026, 3:05 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Chargers<\/a> still have several needs following the first wave of free agency, and it appears the team will seek to fill the holes on the roster via the NFL draft.<\/p>\n

ESPN’s Khris Rhim<\/a> listed the Chargers’ biggest needs at right guard, left guard and defensive tackle.<\/p>\n

“The Chargers’ interior offensive line has been this team’s Achilles’ heel for the past two seasons. The Chargers will have a new interior after center Bradley Bozeman’s\u00a0retirement, right guard\u00a0Mekhi Becton’s\u00a0release\u00a0and left guard\u00a0Zion Johnson’s\u00a0departure\u00a0in free agency. L.A. signed former Commanders starting center\u00a0Tyler Biadasz, but questions still remain at the guard spots. The team signed\u00a0Cole Strange\u00a0from Miami, but he ranked 40th out of 65 qualifying guards in pass block win rate last season.<\/p>\n

“And while the Chargers have a solid defensive tackle group led by\u00a0Teair Tart, they could use better pass rushers from that position,” Rhim writes.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Jordan Reid, the Chargers should draft guard Jalen Farmer out of Kentucky outside of the first round to address the interior part of the offensive line. Reid lauds Farmer’s combination of power and balance and believes he could be an immediate starter.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cole Strange was signed to a two-year deal to reunite with new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. He is currently the projected starter at right guard. The Bolts also re-signed Trevor Penning. Penning is currently the presumed starting left guard, but they will likely resort to the draft to add competition.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles also has needs at edge rusher, cornerback and safety. They could also benefit from a true X-receiver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 30, 2026, 3:05 p.m. PT The Chargers still have several needs following the first wave of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[95878,241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,97083,97084,95882,103342,110801,95892,97085,97688,95896,95888,95899,95883,97518,102142,96004,97689,95881],"class_list":["post-843838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-accessfree","tag-chargers","tag-football","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-nfl","tag-sstssportsnflchargers","tag-sstsnchargers","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbradley-bozeman","tag-tagcole-strange","tag-tagespn-inc","tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","tag-tagmekhi-becton","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagteair-tart","tag-tagtrevor-penning","tag-tagtyler-biadasz","tag-tagzion-johnson","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116320607718484344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843838","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=843838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}