Chargers urged to take big free agency risk to help Justin Herbert

It’s no great secret the Los Angeles Chargers need to upgrade the interior of the offensive line in front of Justin Herbert next season

What’s interesting, though, is how Jim Harbaugh and Co. might go about it. The shine on Kanas City Chiefs guard and impending free agent Trey Smith has dramatically faded in the wake of the Super Bowl flop. After him, the market gets risky.

One of those risks is veteran Kevin Zeitler, a guy propped up as the Chargers’ most important free-agent target this offseason by Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport:

“Signing an interior lineman well past his prime might not appear that big a priority. But given the importance Harbaugh places on dominating the trenches and how well Zeitler played a year ago, it's a move the Bolts should make a priority when the "legal tampering" period opens.”

The risk with Zeitler isn’t performance or even the asking price for a Chargers team projected at roughly $64 million in free cap space right now.

No, the risk comes in the form of the fact Zeitler will turn 35 in March and level of play tends to nosedive after the age of 30 for most players. That, or at least a steady decline.

Zeitler, at least so far, though, hasn’t been most players. Last season in Detroit, he ranked fifth amongst guards with an 86.8 PFF grade. For comparison, former first-rounder Zion Johnson just ranked 47th at 65.7 last season for the Chargers. Trey Pipkins, who was yanked from the lineup at times, 57.8.

With Pipkins a cut candidate, Johnson not likely to see his fifth-year option and underwhelming starter Bradley Bozeman perhaps on the outs too, it’s easy to see the Chargers liking a risk such as Zeitler while pairing him on the inside with a high draft pick, too.

Kevin Zeitler — Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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