Josh Kaltenberger has gone from an overlooked draft hopeful to a name worth watching in the Chargers’ 2026 roster picture.
The Pennsylvania native was born on August 10, 2001, in Pittsburgh and played at Seneca Valley in Harmony, Pennsylvania, where 247Sports listed him as a three-star recruit. He took that path to Purdue in 2020, redshirted as a freshman, then began stacking up real game experience.
In 2021, Kaltenberger played in all 12 games and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. A year later, he was on the field for 14 games and started the final three at center.
His final stop in college came at Maryland, where he stepped in as the starting center and made 12 starts. That Terps offense finished No. 3 in passing offense in the Big Ten, but the NFL Draft buzz never really followed Kaltenberger. He went undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft before the Chargers brought him in on an undrafted rookie contract.
Los Angeles clearly saw something in the 6-foot-? type of interior lineman’s athletic profile and size, but his first year with the team was a grind. He didn’t crack the initial 53-man roster in 2025 and spent the season bouncing on and off the practice squad.
The numbers from his Maryland season help explain why he stayed on the radar. Kaltenberger started 12 games and logged 794 snaps, with 739 of them at center, plus 30 at left guard and 25 at right guard.
He posted a 61.0 PFF offensive grade, a 57.2 run-blocking grade and a 75.7 pass-blocking grade. He allowed two sacks, both in the same game against Indiana, and gave up 11 pressures.
There’s also a strong athletic case underneath the tape. Kaltenberger’s RAS card listed him as a 9.72 out of 10, which ranked 20th out of 672 offensive centers from 1987 to 2025.
His contract with the Chargers is a one-year deal worth $885,000, with the same figure showing up as his base salary and cap hit in 2026.
Now the path is clearer, if not easy. Kaltenberger is technically the only pure center backup on the roster behind Tyler Biadasz.
Rookie Jake Slaughter was drafted to play guard, though he spent his entire college career at center, which has led some to view him as the emergency option if Biadasz goes down. Kaltenberger has a real shot to stick on the final 53-man roster, but he’ll have to show he can handle NFL-ready competition to get there.
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