2024 Chargers Roster Build Discussion - Transactions | News

[CanadianBoltFan]

I'll post this here, since we're on the topic. ESPN looked at Herbert's stats when both MW and KA were not in the lineup, and the numbers show that Herbert was still elite without his dynamic duo. That is the hallmark of an elite QB.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/39739980

100 %

Justin Herbert is a gifted and smart QB with elite traits. He doesn't NEED Keenan Allen or anyone else to be good.

In fact a good QB helps receivers much more than the other way around.

[CanadianBoltFan]

I believe Harbaugh was genuine when he said he coveted the opportunity to coach Justin Herbert, and that is the primary reason he took the job.

Drafting QBs is a crap shoot. There's no guarantee that any QB drafted in the top 5 is going to become an elite NFL QB.

Justin Herbert is already a proven commodity as an elite NFL QB.

I think people/pundits are reading too much into the decision to trade Keenan Allen.

Not to mention Harbaugh still has to report to his bosses who I am sure don't want to commit marketing suicide in a market they are already struggling to get a long term foothold in.

[Velo]

So our 1st and our extra 4th to get #11 & #23

The 4th round pick from the Bears is worth 74 pts, so that would but the Chargers at 1,774 points, and the #11 and #23 picks are worth 2,010 pts.

[CanadianBoltFan]

His skill set always makes sense.... just because Harbaugh wants to run the ball doesn't mean he won't pass the ball

And again, the cap hit if traded is $110m


Plus Harbaugh picked the Chargers because of Herbert

lol people are acting like Harbaugh, who played QB in the NFL for 13 years, is an idiot who doesn't understand what an elite QB is

[Boltjolt]

In order for this to truly become Herbert’s team Keenan HAD to fucking go, I’ve posted about this in the past, it’s almost been like herb felt obligated to pass the ball to Keenan even ignoring open players and forcing the ball to Allen, FUCK THAT SHIT! Now we can see herbs scan the field and go through reads again like when he was a rookie. He’s not beholden to big brother anymore, it’s his fucking offense now!!!

and when Keenan was saying he wanted to retire a charger, yeah that was fucking contingent on him getting top dollar still, what a load of bullshit!

Nonsense. When has a offense ever belonged to a WR?
When the next WR Herbs trusts the most emerges, he will look for him as well more often.

Not like MW didn't get throws to him. In 2.5 games he had 19 receptions last season. Keenan was the #1 WR. Every team has a #1

[Bolt4Knob]

The 4th round pick from the Bears is worth 74 pts, so that would but the Chargers at 1,774 points, and the #11 and #23 picks are worth 2,010 pts.

I think 11 and 23 for 5 works

if the Vikings want an extra pick - they can have the Chargers 5th at best but preferably at best the 6th or 7th. Vikings are paying a premium for a QB. If they want the QB - have to pay for it

[Bolt4Knob]

lol people are acting like Harbaugh, who played QB in the NFL for 13 years, is an idiot who doesn't understand what an elite QB is

Harbaugh wants a good running game to make Herbert an even better QB with options so that the defense has to respect the run and the pass. Last year, after the Miami game, the run game was historically bad. Almost like a wasted down. Harbaugh just wants to be able to run to complement the pass.

[CanadianBoltFan]

Nonsense. When has a offense ever belonged to a WR?
When the next WR Herbs trusts the most emerges, he will look for him as well more often.

Not like MW didn't get throws to him. In 2.5 games he had 19 receptions last season. Keenan was the #1 WR. Ever team has a #1

Not to mention Keenan was not a top 10 draft pick with the elite traits of MHJ, Nabers and Odunze. If they pan out to their potential they will be better all around WRs than Keenan Allen. Herbert will hit them just fine.

Keenan is an elite possession receiver. Maybe the best one in the NFL. But he is not the most dynamic, dominant alpha stud #1 WR. There is actually room for improvement in our #1 WR. The top 3 in this draft could be up there with the Chases and Jeffersons, AJ Browns...players who can dominate. Players with explosive traits.

The pain of losing Keenan gives way to an exciting new chapter! That's the way I am looking at this.

[Xenos]

Bolt4Knob here’s Popper’s breakdown of the Keenan situation. I’m still confused about what it means for us with regards to Mack and Bosa’s cap hit for 2025.

Keenan Allen is on his way to Chicago, and the Los Angeles Chargers have now firmly navigated through their precarious salary cap situation.

After months of speculation about the Chargers’ big-four veterans contracts — Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, Mike Williams and Allen — we have our answer, at least initially, on who is staying, who is going and at what price.

The Chargers cut Williams on Wednesday, saving $20 million in cap space. Mack and Bosa both agreed to restructured contracts, according to league sources. Mack agreed to his ahead of the new league year Wednesday. Bosa agreed to his Thursday ahead of a roster-bonus deadline. As part of those restructures, Mack took a $4.25 million pay cut, and Bosa took a $7 million pay cut, according to NFL Network. Mack’s restructure saves the Chargers $12.92 million in space, according to figures from Over the Cap. Bosa’s restructure will end up saving the Chargers around $11 million in cap space, based on the NFL Network report.

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And then came Allen. The Chargers traded one of the best players in franchise history to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick late Thursday night. According to league sources, the Chargers approached Allen about taking a pay cut, and he refused. The structure of the proposed pay cut was similar to the adjustments Bosa and Mack agreed to — slash some salary before restructuring the deal by converting part of the new total salary into a signing bonus. That would have allowed the Chargers to use bonus proration over two years to clear space. The Chargers and Allen could not come to terms, and that is when trade talks picked up, according to a league source. The trade saves the Chargers an additional $23.1 million in space.

GO DEEPER

How will the Keenan Allen trade impact the NFL Draft? Next moves for Jim Harbaugh, Bears

Bosa and Mack, the two edge rushers, return. Allen is gone. Williams is now on the open market.

Factoring in projected savings for Bosa, the Chargers are working with close to $30 million in effective space, which includes the money needed to pay draft picks and reach the 51-man roster minimum. If we budget $8 million for in-season moves — a rough projection for things like practice squad and injury settlements — the Chargers are working with about $21.5 million in pure spending cap space.



Which brings us to the big question: What exactly is the plan for coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz?

Until the Allen trade, there was a synergy and intention to all the moves the Chargers were making. The cap situation dictated they had to move on from at least one of the big-four contracts. They made that move by releasing Williams, which allowed them to become cap-compliant by the new league year deadline. They brought back safety Alohi Gilman, who played well as a starter last season alongside Derwin James Jr. They agreed to terms with running back Gus Edwardsand signed blocking tight end Will Dissly— two additions geared toward building a reliable rushing attack for quarterback Justin Herbert.

Harbaugh and Hortiz both publicly stated their desire to win in 2024. Hortiz was most explicit in early February when he said, “We want to compete to win a championship every year. That’s going to be starting now. That’s not going to be, let’s gut it and start over.” By restructuring Bosa and Mack, the Chargers kept two really good players (when healthy) at a premium position. The duo gives new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter weaponry to work with as he implements his scheme in Los Angeles.

The Chargers were ostensibly avoiding the full teardown. The San Francisco 49ers went 6-10 the year before they hired Harbaugh as their head coach in 2011. Harbaugh went 13-3 in his first year in San Francisco and made the NFC Championship Game. He has executed a quick turnaround before in the NFL, and, based on the moves, it seemed as though he was going to attempt to do the same in Year 1 with the Chargers.

It all made sense. Until the Allen trade.

This move was jarring on multiple levels.

GO DEEPER

Keenan Allen trade grades: Bears scoop up a star; Chargers feel sting of cap crunch

Of course, there is the sentimental aspect of it. Allen is a Chargers lifer. He said in January that he wanted to retire with the organization. He has the most yards of any wide receiver in franchise history. He is beloved by the fan base. And now, like Junior Seau and LaDainian Tomlinson and Eric Weddle and Philip Rivers before him, Allen is poised to finish his career in another uniform.

There is also the roster-planning aspect of it. Why keep the two edge rushers and get rid of both receivers? Allen was one of the four Chargers players Harbaugh specifically mentioned at his introductory news conference Feb. 1. He is a highly productive player with plenty more in the tank. If winning in 2024 is the goal, how does Allen playing in Chicago help the Chargers achieve that?
Keenan Allen had perhaps the best season of his career in 2023 despite missing four games to injury. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
Allen is coming off perhaps the best season of his career: 108 catches (a franchise record) for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns in 13 games. He sat out the final four games with a heel injury he suffered against the Denver Broncos in Week 14 — the same game Herbert sustained his season-ending fractured finger. Allen never suited up for backup quarterback Easton Stick. In the first game Allen missed, the Chargers lost to the Las Vegas Raiders, 63-21. Coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco were fired the next day.

The day after the regular season ended, Allen discussed his injury. “There was no shot at the playoffs, so it was just kind of a let’s-not-go-get-hurt type of thing,” he said. “Probably could have played in a playoff-type game or something like that. Probably could have fought through.”

The Chargers paid Harbaugh at the top of the coaching market to reset the culture. Something to consider in juxtaposition to that quote.

Something else to consider is the Chargers’ financial position. They are paying Harbaugh. They have constructed an enormous staff of 29 assistant coaches, including executive director of player performance Ben Herbert, who Harbaugh brought with him from Michigan. The cap is an equalizer for teams. Cash spending, though, is by no means equal. Every team operates on a different cash budget. The Chargers are saving nearly $35 million in cash between the Bosa and Mack pay cuts and the Allen trade.

Some of that cash will assuredly be spent to build out the depth of the roster. That process is already under way. The Chargers agreed to terms with Poona Ford, his agent confirmed on X. Tight end Hayden Hurst told The Athletic’s Joe Person that he was visiting the Chargers on Thursday with the intention of signing. They reportedly signed former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Troy Dye, who played for special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken in Minnesota. They also reportedly re-signed Stick.

And more moves are likely on the horizon. They still need to sign a center. Bradley Bozeman, a former Baltimore Ravens draft pick in 2018, was cut by the Carolina Panthers earlier this week. Hortiz spent 26 years in the Ravens front office. Former Los Angeles Rams starting center Brian Allen is still available.

Now the Chargers have significant operating room to attack the lower tier of free agency. There is also nothing precluding the team from re-signing Williams, depending on how his market shakes out.

As The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported last week, the Chargers were gauging the trade market on their veteran players, including Mack and Bosa, ahead of the new league year. They ultimately deemed the fourth-round pick was fair compensation for Allen. With Mack and Bosa returning, it is fair to assume the Chargers felt keeping both players outweighed any hypothetical offers they received.

Perhaps the Chargers could have been more aggressive in the upper tiers of free agency if they had made their cap moves earlier. The timing of all this is something Hortiz and Harbaugh will have to explain when they address the media. Still, with the amount of holes in the roster, bargain shopping to build depth has been and remains a sensical approach.

GO DEEPER

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A more exact plan should crystallize over the weekend and into next week.

After firing Staley and Telesco in December, owner Dean Spanos said he would be “reimagining” his process for “building and maintaining a championship-caliber organization.”

The Chargers brought in Harbaugh and Hortiz to do just that.

Trading Allen is a bold move. It runs counter to how the Chargers have operated for more than a decade. But that was sort of the point, wasn’t it?

It understandably hurts and stings for the fan base.

Change is never easy.

Change also does not necessarily translate to success.

After moving on from a franchise legend, that is the weight and responsibility Harbaugh and Hortiz now bear.

[Bolt4Knob]

Bolt4Knob here’s Popper’s breakdown of the Keenan situation. I’m still confused about what it means for us with regards to Mack and Bosa’s cap hit for 2025.

Good article and I looked at OTC for both players:

Bosa is not posted yet on OTC. But based on what Popper wrote - Bosa took a 7m pay cut and he saved $11m on the cap - that tells me they punted $4m to 2025. IF that is correct, Bosa would have a current cap hit of almost $37m, of which $11.6m is "dead" and his salary 25.36m - in 2025. I think his cap hit this year is $15m


Mack - is on OTC, which is below: he took a 4.25m pay cut, they gave him a roster bonus of $17.7m, divided by two (so half in 2024 and half in 2025) - ]Mack has a salary of $1.255m. Cap savings of over $12m . For 2025, Mack has the "voidable dead cap of $8.872". So they either figure out his contract next year or he is a free agent. Also, if the team is bad this fall, trade him at the deadline.


Current Contract

2024	33	$1,255,000	$27,140,000	$200,000		$1,255,000		$25,595,000	9.7%		$37,267,500	($11,672,500)
2025	34	Void	$8,872,500	Void		Void		$8,872,500	3.4%		$8,872,500	$0
Total		$1,255,000	$36,012,500	$200,000		$1,255,000		$34,467,500

[Javia]

If I was Justin Herbert, I would be looking for a way to get out of my contract or force a trade. He now has ZERO quality receivers: no quality WRs, no quality receiving TEs, no receiving RBs. I can understand Harbaugh wanting to improve the running game, but not by destroying the passing game. Herbert cannot throw to himself. Trading Allen for a 4th round pick is a terrible deal and makes the team much, much worse.

[blueman]

To note, as Popper cites it as important:

Keenan’s awesome play until he was injured had us at a 7-5 record, with multiple one score losses with the ball in Herbert’s hand and a chance to score at the end. Yes, the D was sucky, but if the O has the ball at the end with the chance to win it, doesn’t matter. If you can’t win in the closing minute or so…7-5.

Harbaugh wants an O that can close out games. Understandable. At his price, I’m not hating the trade. Sad, but I get where it’s coming from.