The Chargers overcame adversity for the entire 2025 season after star left tackle Rashawn Slater was lost for the year before the regular season even arrived. They had to overcome even more adversity with the loss of right tackle Joe Alt following his second ankle injury that led to season-ending surgery. Add in missed time by edge rusher Khalil Mack and first-round running back Omarion Hampton and you get the picture. The 2025 season could have easily been a wash for a team missing so many impact
players as key positions, but it truly wasn’t in the end.
The Bolts made the playoffs and won 11 games for the second consecutive season. An astounding accomplishment given how rough things looked at times throughout the year. But according to NFL.com’s Eric Edholm, the Chargers are still a team that deserve higher expectations entering next season. In a new set of post-Super Bowl power rankings, Edholm has the Chargers at No. 10, just behind the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“If losing defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is seen as a blow, the addition of Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator might be one the best upgrades of the offseason so far. At the very least, the McDaniel-Jim Harbaugh pairing will be interesting, but Justin Herbert figures to be the beneficiary — assuming the Chargers can make the proper offseason roster upgrades. They probably need at least two new offensive linemen capable of starting, and though they have the salary-cap space to make additions, the draft (only five selections for now) might not be as fruitful for them. Los Angeles also has a few defensive holes, even if that unit was mostly very good in 2025. They must assume the Broncos will be back and that the Chiefs aren’t likely to suffer another non-winning season. The sledding will be tough, but the Chargers are still worth keeping an eye on.”
I do agree with Edholm here that the addition McDaniel as offensive coordinator is arguably the best-case scenario to help balance the loss of Minter to the Ravens. The former has also has been very active in giving the offensive staff a facelift with new additions in Chandler Henley (run game specialist), Butch Barry (offensive line), and Adam Gase (pass game specialist).
The hire of Chris O’Leary as defensive coordinator may have been a little out of left field seeing as he just came off his first season calling plays for that side of the ball, but the job he did at Western Michigan in 2025 compared to the prior season speaks for itself. The goal was seemingly to replace Jesse Minter with the best option at running the same scheme, and it looks like that guy ended up being O’Leary. It also helped that the players themselves backed the hire immensely on social media.
The Chargers have long been offseason darlings this century and that hasn’t always boded well for them. However, that’s one of the things that the Jim Harbaugh effects has seemed to fix. They’re not only given higher expectations each offseason, but I’d argue they’ve met and exceeded all of them since 2024 given the circumstances. That’s why I’m completely on board with Edholm believing them to be a top 10 team at this point in the offseason.
