{"id":857896,"date":"2026-04-07T01:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857896\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T01:03:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:03:23","slug":"chargers-tabbed-landing-spot-for-90-million-all-pro-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857896\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers Tabbed Landing Spot for $90 Million All-Pro Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Dexter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

New York Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence<\/p>\n

New Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> defensive coordinator Chris O\u2019Leary will need all the help in his first season as the playcaller for the organization. The new DC will have tough shoes to fill, replacing Jesse Minter, who is now the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.<\/a><\/p>\n

In Minter\u2019s two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Bolts, the defense allowed 17.7 points per game in 2024 and 20 points per game in 2025, the lowest<\/a> and ninth-lowest<\/a> in the league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bolts have the resources to add another defender to the team and help O\u2019Leary\u2019s in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

An All-Pro has recently asked for a trade, opening the possibility of the Chargers adding him to the team.<\/p>\n

Chargers Named \u201cMost Sensible\u201d Landing Spot for All-Pro\"Cincinnati<\/p>\n

GettyThe Chargers\u2019 defensive front could receive some big help in the 2026 season<\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus ranked<\/a> the Los Angeles Chargers\u2019 defensive line as the 19th best in the 2025 season. Hoping to better that into the 2026 season with a new DC, the Bolts can add a $90 million All-Pro defensive interior who recently asked for a trade.<\/p>\n

New York Giants<\/a> defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence<\/a> has asked to be traded<\/a> from the organization, who is entering the third year of his four-year contract<\/a>, worth $90 million.<\/p>\n

USA Today\u2019s Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz revealed seven landing spots<\/a> for the defender, listing the Chargers as the \u201cmost sensible landing spot\u201d for Lawrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Harbaugh connection certainly could be at play here (Jim Harbaugh\u2019s brother, John, became the head coach of the Giants<\/a>). The two brothers have already demonstrated they can table any sibling rivalry to engineer a mutually beneficial deal,\u201d Middlehurst-Schwartz wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Chris O\u2019Leary potentially in for a difficult adjustment as he takes the reins of the defense, why not equip him with someone who can make things easier for everyone around him?\u2026 Lawrence could help them reach it, and Los Angeles has more cap leeway \u2013 including $48.7 million<\/a> for 2026 \u2013 than many other teams to facilitate a move.\u201d<\/p>\n

PFF graded Lawrence as one of the best defensive interior of the 2025 season, giving the defender a 75.6 overall grade, the ninth-best<\/a> of 134 qualifying. Lawrence also received an 84.5 pass-rush grade from the publication.<\/p>\n

The Giant had the 8% pass-rush win rate<\/a> the previous season, qualifying him inside the top 20 from the defensive interior. No Charger ranked inside the top 20.<\/p>\n

Middlehurst-Schwartz noted that the brothers have engaged in trades in the past, which could signify a possible trade in the future for the defensive lineman.<\/p>\n

A three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, Dexter Lawrence could add quality to the Chargers D-line that lost a couple of notable lineman in free agency.<\/p>\n

Other Additions to Chargers Defensive Line\"Teair<\/p>\n

GettyThe Chargers have extended a member of their defensive line squad<\/p>\n

Adding Dexter Lawrence could bring All-Pro talent to Chris O\u2019Leary\u2019s defense, but the team has signed a couple of defensive interiors in free agency.<\/p>\n

LA re-signed<\/a> D-lineman Teair Tart<\/a> to a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the team. Tart was graded as the ninth-best run defensive interior of the 2025 season, with a 73.3 run defense grade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bolts also signed former Arizona Cardinals<\/a> defender Dalvin Tomlinson<\/a> on a one-year deal<\/a>. Known as a run stopper, Tomlinson will replace Da\u2019Shawn Hand<\/a>, who left for the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dexter Lawrence has a different skill set than Tart and Tomlinson, but he can add in more ways than one for the Bolts. With him asking for a trade, he could make a strong addition for a Los Angeles Chargers team that wants to get past the AFC wildcard.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tJason Garcia<\/a> Jason Garcia is a sports contributor for Heavy Sports who joined the team in 2025, covering the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. More about Jason Garcia<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Chargers\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty New York Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence New Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Chris O\u2019Leary will need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1917,56,2321,2469,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-857896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-giants","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkgiants","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116360743941721201","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857896","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=857896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}