After a 2025 season in which their offensive line disintegrated before their eyes, the Chargers had every reason to believe this would be a bounce-back year. They thought they could build a fortress around quarterback Justin Herbert, providing him an airtight pocket to pick apart defenses.
Already, that line is beginning to crumble.
Tyler Biadasz, the talented center they signed to a three-year, $30-million deal in March, suffered a knee injury in training camp and is done for the year. Rookie Jake Slaughter moves to that critical spot, and although the second-round pick played that position in college, the Chargers were hoping to start him at guard.
Meanwhile, left tackle Rashawn Slater, who missed all of last season after sustaining a knee injury in training camp, was sidelined for much of August because of a flare-up to that same knee.
It’s an ominous start to the third season under Jim Harbaugh, who has found significant success at every one of his coaching stops. He guided the Chargers to the playoffs in both of his first two seasons, but they responded with poor one-and-done performances, first at Houston and then at New England.
Still, Harbaugh believes the team has elite leaders on both sides of the ball, in Herbert and All-Pro safety Derwin James, and that this team has the capability to not only win a postseason game — something the Chargers haven’t done since 2019 — but contend for a Super Bowl that will be played on their home field.
“So much investment has been made, when you make an investment and you pull it back out, you get the dividend,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a lot in there and we’re very capable. … That’s the feeling, that’s the excitement.”
Former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel joins the staff as offensive coordinator and has been working for months with Herbert to fine-tune his footwork, particularly in the shotgun formation, so that he can get the ball out quicker.
Chris O’Leary has been promoted to defensive coordinator, taking over for a career mentor in Jesse Minter, who was impressive enough in his coordinator duties last season that the Baltimore Ravens hired him to replace John Harbaugh.
Heading into training camp, Jim Harbaugh made the analogy of the Chargers ramping up like an airplane. It was an appropriate comparison seeing as his team traveled more than any other in the NFL last season, opening the year against Kansas City in Brazil.
This season, the Chargers have a long runway followed by a dramatic ascent. They open against three first-time head coaches, then face four Super Bowl-winning head coaches in a row.
Their first three games are against Arizona (Mike LaFleur), Las Vegas (Klint Kubiak) and Buffalo (Joe Brady), before squaring off against Seattle (Mike Macdonald), Denver (Sean Payton), Kansas City (Andy Reid) and — after a week off — the Rams (Sean McVay).
The Chargers headed into the draft with the No. 22 pick and two pressing needs: edge rusher and guard. They went defense and took Miami pass rusher Akheem Mesidor, who gives them depth at the position after Odafe Oweh signed a robust free-agent deal with Washington. Mesidor is in a rotational role behind Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu, and can learn from both of them before truly stepping into the spotlight.
Last year, the Chargers used the identical 22nd pick on North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton, who showed flashes of promise as a rookie but also slogged through an injury-plagued season. He finished with 737 yards from scrimmage on 156 touches, playing in nine games.
The Chargers have not had a 1,000-yard rusher since Melvin Gordon in 2017, although the running game is a central component of McDaniel’s offense.
The team’s new running backs coach is Max McCaffrey, the older brother of Christian McCaffrey, All-Pro running back for the San Francisco 49ers. Their father is longtime NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey, a favorite target of John Elway in Denver.
When McDaniel was head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he brought on Max as an offensive assistant from 2023-25. When McDaniel got the Chargers job, he brought Max with him, giving him a key position to oversee.
Joked McDaniel: “For fantasy owners out there, if you’re not liking your output, you have Max to blame.”
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