{"id":865666,"date":"2026-04-13T18:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T18:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:36:51","slug":"why-cant-the-chargers-get-the-interior-of-their-offensive-line-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865666\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Can\u2019t the Chargers Get the Interior of Their Offensive Line Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past season, only the offensive lines of the 3-14 Las Vegas Raiders and the 5-12 Cleveland Browns earned a lower ranking from Pro Football Focus than Jim Harbaugh\u2019s Los Angeles Chargers. A lot of those issues were due to the sustained absences of left tackle Rashawn Slater and right tackle Joe Alt in 2025. However, part of analyst\u2019s Zolt\u00e1n Buday\u2019s synopsis included this evaluation.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFree-agent acquisition Mekhi Becton failed to live up to expectations during his first season with the Chargers. The former Philadelphia Eagles player gave up pressure on 8.6 percent of pass plays during the regular season, which was the worst rate among guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interior of Chargers\u2019 offensive front has been a disaster\"Mekhi<\/p>\n

May 27, 2025; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers guard Mekhi Becton (73) during organized team activities at The Bolt. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Becton is currently looking for work after he was released this offseason after signing a two-year contract a year ago. The 2024 Super Bowl champion with the Eagles was PFF\u2019s 77th-ranked guard this past season with the Bolts. His partner at left guard, Zion Johnson, is now a member of the Cleveland Browns. He was the service\u2019s No. 54 player at the guard position. Finally, now-retired center Bradley Bozeman was Pro Football Focus\u2019 bottom-ranked pivot this past season.<\/p>\n

Now consider that in \u201924, PFF ranked the Chargers\u2019 offensive front 21st in the league. <\/a>Left tackle Rashawn Slater,<\/a> named to his second Pro Bowl, and rookie right tackle Joe Alt started 15 and 16 games, respectively. However, there was this disclaimer via Buday. \u201cMost importantly, first-round pick Joe Alt was as advertised for the Chargers. And as a result, Los Angeles has a top-five offensive tackle tandem in the NFL.”<\/p>\n

\"Bradley<\/p>\n

Oct 21, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Chargers center Bradley Bozeman (75) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

“However,” added Buday, “the line\u2019s interior prevents the unit from being ranked higher and is going to need overhauling this offseason.\u201d Of course, that \u201coverhaul\u201d never really took place as both Johnson and Bozeman were 16-game starters this past season.<\/p>\n

Chargers\u2019 offensive line will have numerous new faces\"Tyler<\/p>\n

Sep 21, 2025; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders center Tyler Biadasz (63) walks off the field after the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Northwest Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | Amber Searls-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Hence, there will be a new interior featuring six-year center Tyler Biadasz, cast off by the Washington Commanders this offseason,<\/a> while general manager Joe Hortiz added right guard Cole Strange<\/a>. The former first-round pick of the New England Patriots spent 2025 with new Chargers\u2019 offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel in Miami. Hortiz did retain former Saints\u2019 first-round tackle Trevor Penning. He made a total of four starts for Harbaugh\u2019s club this past season, one at right guard. <\/p>\n

As for Biadasz, just 11 pivots in the league earned a higher grade from Pro Football Focus,<\/a> which is why his release in March earlier this year was certainly a surprise. Meanwhile, Strange was PFF\u2019s 57th-ranked guard, <\/a>and only six players at the position had a lower grade (42.2) when it came to pass protection.<\/p>\n

Will GM Joe Hortiz address the offensive front in the first round?\"Joe<\/p>\n

Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The draft is 10 days away and drafting a guard with the 22nd overall pick seems to make plenty of sense. However, it may behoove the Chargers to double their pleasure when it comes to the guard spot, and perhaps address the position in the second or third round <\/a>as well.<\/p>\n

With all due respect, Strange doesn\u2019t appear to be a long-term solution and as of now, the team doesn\u2019t seem very interested in adding any more available veterans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This past season, only the offensive lines of the 3-14 Las Vegas Raiders and the 5-12 Cleveland Browns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangeleschargers","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116398857976220903","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865666","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=865666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}