NFL Free Agents List Just Proves Chargers Got It Right This Offseason

There are a shocking number of former Chargers still on the market in NFL free agency.

Mekhi Becton | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Chargers made some key re-sigings in free agency before the draft, highlighted, but not limited to, getting Khalil Mack back under contract. 

But the roster churn after Year 2 of the Jim Harbaugh era was always going to be immense. Entire positional groups, like the interior of the offensive line, were always going to get replaced. Pieces of a defense that had a coordinator change moved around, too. And Mike McDaniel coming over as offensive coordinator meant a revamp across the depth chart. 

Looking at it now, the list of Chargers free agents who still don’t have a new home says more than almost anything else. 

NFL free agents list filled with Chargers

Andre James | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

In the wake of the NFL draft, the notable remaining free agents tend to find homes between that first week and into training camp. 

Still, it feels like the Chargers have more free agents left on the open market than most other teams. 

Take, for example, Mekhi Becton. The Chargers cut him one year into a colossal mistake of a signing. That bad tenure culminated not just in poor play, but in his publicly going to the media about his dissatisfaction. 

There’s also running back Najee Harris, who remains on the comeback trail after the torn Achilles he suffered early into his first year with the Chargers. 

Don’t forget tight end Will Dissly, another supposed solution for the Chargers at a problem spot who wound up catching just 11 passes over nine games last year. 

Elsewhere on the offensive line, Bobby Hart and Andre James are still out there on the market. The Chargers signed Hart off the street after perhaps the worst run of offensive tackle bad luck in modern NFL history.

James was hyped as a guy who could compete with Bradley Bozeman (retired, or he’d be on this list too) for the starting center job this year, but could never crack the field. 

There are a few others, with one big exception: Keenan Allen. It always felt like he was going to take his time. And it has always felt like if he keeps playing at all, it’ll be with Justin Herbert and the Chargers. We’ll have to revisit the conversation over the summer. 

Overall? The fact so many of these names remain without jobs and on the free-agent market shows just what an overhaul the Harbaugh era still needed to do to the roster. And it shows they’re doing a good job, at least, of trimming out the roster and rebuilding it to their vision. 

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