Entering the offseason, the Los Angeles Chargers were among the most financially flexible teams in the NFL.
As a result, fans expected a flashy offseason. Bradley Bozeman retired, Mekhi Becton was released, and Zion Johnson entered free agency. The entirety of the interior of the offensive line was gone, and Los Angeles had the money they needed to replace them with premier free agents.
Instead, Tyler Linderbaum went to the Las Vegas Raiders on a record-setting deal. Johnson signed a three-year, $49.5 million contract with the Cleveland Browns. Even the other top guards who were on the market, such as Isaac Seumalo, went elsewhere.
In hindsight, it appears to have all worked out, and Chargers fans can heave a sigh of relief. But the Browns, for their part, are now stuck with a hefty contract for an underperforming lineman in Johnson. In Bill Barnwell's list of every AFC team's best and worst move of the offseason, he labeled the Johnson signing as Cleveland's worst move of the offseason.
"Though 2025 was Johnson's best season as a pro, that might be damning him with faint praise. The Boston College product has struggled badly in pass protection on the interior and routinely gets outmuscled or outleveraged by bigger players. He gave up seven sacks and 19 quick pressures a year ago, both of which were the most of any Chargers lineman. And Johnson did that while blocking one-on-one at about a league-average rate in pass protection among guards." Bill Barnwell, ESPN
The Browns are about to find out what Chargers fans knew all along. Johnson might be taking strides toward being a solid guard, but he's not worth the hefty contract that the market commanded.
The Chargers did the right thing by not re-signing Zion Johnson
It's worth noting that Johnson's performance in 2025, relative to his first three seasons in the NFL, was encouraging. Across 663 pass-blocking snaps, he allowed just 26 pressures, per Pro Football Focus. On an absolutely abysmal interior, Johnson was the lone bright spot in 2025.
But that doesn't mean he was good. As Barnwell points out, Johnson failed to maintain contact with his assignment more routinely than any other Chargers lineman, allowing 19 quick pressures. The perception of his 2025 campaign was simply a reflection of how disappointing Johnson's first three seasons truly were after he was selected 17th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.
But young, viable guards coming into their second contracts always demand hefty amounts in free agency. It's the nature of the market, and it's the current state of offensive line play across the NFL.
If Jake Slaughter ultimately starts at left guard, the Chargers will be saving roughly $40 million over the next three seasons compared to if they had paid Johnson.
There's an argument to be made that bringing Johnson back would've helped the team keep some continuity in a room that has a major gap between its ceiling and its floor for Los Angeles in 2026. But Chargers fans know well that there's very little chance Johnson lives up to the dollar figure on his contract with Cleveland.
If that's what the market was always going to command for Johnson, the Chargers did the right thing by letting him walk.
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