Justin Herbert returned in time for OTAs this and Chargers have now begun their next step of the offseason calendar.
Helmets are on and the team is ramping up their activity and preparation
Defensive Tackle
This offseason, the Chargers added veteran nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson to the defensive tackle room. He’s a bonafide run-stopper with a surprising amount of success as a pocket-pusher over the years. After a down year with the Cardinals this past season, the hope is that Chargers’ coaching staff can once again
get him back on the right track.
Tomlinson joins a room with current incumbents Teair Tart and Jamaree Caldwell, on top of new fifth-round draft pick Nick Barrett. This room went from fairly shallow to basically at capacity. Add in former fourth-round pick Justin Eboigbe and this group is all of a sudden the most competitive on the team.
Eboigbe showed some real improvement as a pass rusher in 2025. Caldwell also had his fair share of splash plays. The Bolts used an early pick on day three with Barrett for a reason. All of this is to say that, even with O’Leary expected to continue a rotation up front along the interior, there’s still only going to be so many snaps to go around. Tart will get everything he can handle after being signed a big extensions earlier this year, but the rest of the opportunities to come this year will surely be hard to come by.
Tight End
The tight end duo of Oronde Gadsden II and Charlie Kolar looked like an ideal 1-2 punch at the position once the latter was signed in free agency. The addition of veteran David Njoku all of a sudden muddies up the role and snap share of the two incumbents.
Njoku is a tried-and-true starting tight end with a ton of experience in the league as the #1. Will he immediately unseat Gadsden as the presumed starter for the Chargers? Will he take some two-tight end snaps away from Kolar? A third body gives Mike McDaniel a third skillset to mix and match with his multi-tight end sets and we have to assume he’s going to take full advantage of that.
Safety
The selection of Genesis Smith in this year’s draft immediately creates competition in a safety room that also needs to get younger. The Bolts selected R.J. Mickens in the seventh round of the 2024 draft and re-signed veteran Tony Jefferson this offseason. There are bodies here, but no one apart of Derwin James is going to be locked into the starting lineup.
Even Elijah Molden isn’t safe. His play was very middling for most of 2025 and I believe the Chargers are preparing for him to potentially have hit his peak. Mickens flashed as a rookie, but Jefferson did the same at his advanced age. Both are valuable as depth, but does that make either of them and their potential snap shares safe from Smith’s addition? The latter was drafted for his rangy, free safety skillset which is in contrast to both Jefferson and Mickens.
Can the latter two fend off the rookie for at least a season?
Offensive Guard
We’re saving the best for last.
Trevor Penning, Kayode Awosika, and Jake Slaughter are the three prominent names who should be duking it out for the role of starting at left guard. Right guard already seems to be secured by Cole Strange due to his experience in McDaniel’s system. Thus far in OTAs, it’s Awosika getting first-team reps with Trevor Penning reportedly not in attendance as of now.
That may leave people questioning why Slaughter isn’t getting the first-team reps after being the Chargers’ second-round pick this year, but remember he’s hasn’t played a snap of guard since high school. Awosika is the veteran in this situation and it’s best for the offense to hit the ground running as much as possible right now and slotting the rookie in there would slow things down ever so much.
Once all competitors are in the building, prepare for things to really take flight. Penning will fight like hell to earn a spot after the Saints sent him away. The former first-rounder has always played with a massive chip on his shoulder and the last thing he’ll do is keel over for a rookie with no real experience at the position. To a degree, the same could be said for Awosika who was most recently with the Lions. And we all know how Dan Campbell coaches his players, right? This will be a real dogfight.
