Joe Hortiz’s first wave of roster-building moves in Los Angeles is looking shaky, and the Chargers are feeling the effects.
For now, the general manager is getting a bit of a pass while the spotlight stays on Jim Harbaugh, who may be losing the locker room, and on the ugly optics surrounding Justin Herbert’s offseason and play. But the Chargers’ front office deserves its share of the blame. Hortiz and company have once again mishandled the offensive line, and the results are hard to ignore.
Los Angeles still has about $30 million in free cap space and plenty of draft picks, but the roster issues remain obvious. The Chargers still have one of the league’s worst interior lines, and losses to the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders have only sharpened the criticism.
The team didn’t chase a splashy free-agent name, and that part is understandable. Tyler Biadasz was the one move that made sense, even if the Chargers landed him before the free-agent market officially opened.
At the time, it looked like a value play designed to avoid paying top dollar. Biadasz’s injury can’t be pinned on the team, but the plan after that was thin: Kayode Awosika and Cole Strange were brought in at guard, and Jake Slaughter was drafted in the second round with the idea of moving from center to guard.
That was only part of the problem. The rest of the class raises even more questions.
The Chargers added Keaton Mitchell even though Kimani Vidal was already on the roster. They brought in Charlie Kolar and David Njoku despite already having Oronde Gadsden.
The strangest move of all came with Odafe Oweh. Los Angeles had already panicked and traded for the pass-rusher last year, then chose not to pay him to stay. Instead of keeping the player they had already invested in, the Chargers used a first-round pick on Akheem Mesidor, banking on his being “older” and therefore perhaps more “pro ready” so he could cheaply replace the production Oweh left behind.
Injuries are always part of the equation, and the Chargers can’t control them. But the broader approach has carried a cheap, uneasy feel from the start. Signing two mid-level guards, drafting a center to play guard and using four of eight picks on linemen does not suddenly solve the guard problem.
Hortiz appears to be building this roster the way he might have in Baltimore. The issue is that he’s not in Baltimore anymore.
In Los Angeles, hoarding cap space and rolling money over for future extensions is not enough. The teams that are actually trying to contend are using every trick in the book to go all-in now and figure out the rest later.
The Chargers are not operating that way, and it’s showing on the field.
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For a team trying to make a fresh offensive scheme work, that kind of instability on the edges can change everything. Herbert can only operate so comfortably when the pocket is collapsing and the tackles are fighting through recovery, and the early evidence suggests the Chargers problems may be rooted in more than scheme or quarterback play. [Read more 🡒]