You would never guess it based on the small swings the team took, but the LA Chargers entered the 2025 offseason with the second-most cap space in the NFL. Instead of using that space for big signings, general manager Joe Hortiz instead took a quantity approach.
Some of these signings have worked out, others have not. But because of the way Hortiz operated, the Chargers will head into the 2026 offseason with the same financial flexibility. Financial flexibility is a blessing in the NFL, and Hortiz knows it.
That being said, the Chargers aren't very flexible right now. In fact, they rank fairly high on the list of teams with the least amount of in-season cap space to utilize throughout the rest of 2025.
From today's internal NFL cap report, 10 teams with the least space ...
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 29, 2025
1) Bills: $1.76M
2) Chiefs: $1.85M
3) Chargers: $2.82M
4) Dolphins: $2.83M
5) Colts: $3.72M
6) Falcons: $4.22M
7) Giants: $5.02M
8) Broncos: $5.07M
9) Raiders: $6.66M
10) Bears: $7.42M
Chargers land on list of teams with least amount of cap space
The Chargers were among the teams with the most cap space before they made their biggest in-season trade for talent of the century (no, that's not an exaggeration). Los Angeles flipped Alohi Gilman and draft capital for edge rusher Odafe Oweh, who has a $9.5 million cap hit with the team.
Combine that with the late signing of Keenan Allen right before the season and all the flexibility the Chargers had entering training camp is gone. Thankfully, the NFL season isn't full of moves, but it does change how the Chargers have to operate.
The NFL trade deadline is right around the corner and the Chargers have various needs they can fill via trade. As a Super Bowl contender, the Chargers would be doing a disservice to not commit as many resources as possible to fielding the best team this season.
That's a bit harder to do when there is not much cap space to utilize. In order to make room for another trade, the Chargers would have to restructure someone's contract to create more cap space. This partially sacrifices future flexibility to make a current move.
Justin Herbert and Derwin James are the biggest names the Chargers can restructure to create cap space. Doing so with Herbert would create up to $11 million in space, per Over The Cap. Will Dissly ($1.5 million) and Bradley Bozeman ($1.375 million) are cheaper candidates.
Thankfully, the Chargers are in such a great position with the cap that they can restructure contracts now and not worry about the future implications. After all, the Chargers are projected to have the second-most cap space in 2026 with over $111 million. No, that's not a typo.