The LA Chargers officially extended defensive tackle Teair Tart last week for a three-year contract worth up to $37.5 million. For the past week, the official year-to-year cash flows were unknown.
Tyler Schoon of the Guilty as Charged Podcast first reported the 2026-2028 cap hits. The reported values were confirmed by OverTheCap on Thursday morning. Tart's 2026 cap hit will be just $6.02 million. 2027 and 2028's cap hits will be approximately $12 million each.
The 2026 cap hit being lower for Tart is critical. That has generally been the structure GM Joe Hortiz has opted for in the first years of extensions with the Chargers. But with Tart's smaller than expected cap hit next year, the Chargers currently have $83.54M in cap space to operate with. That figure is third in the NFL behind only the Raiders and Titans.
The Chargers have some extra cash to spend with Teair Tart's 2026 cap hit being manageable.
The Chargers also have other avenues to opening up cap space this year. Restructuring QB Justin Herbert's contract is an option. The Chargers would save approximately a net of $12 million against the cap if they were to cut both C Bradley Bozeman and RG Mekhi Becton. All three of those moves combined would put the Chargers slightly over $116 million in cap space.
To be clear, GM Joe Hortiz doesn't have to pull all of those levers to achieve the goals of the Chargers' offseason this year. But if they were to spend big in free agency, they are tools the Chargers can use to give themselves breathing room on the cap margins.
Tart's contract at an average annual value of $10 million puts him somewhere around the 30th highest paid DT in the league. It's a deal that's in line with what Poona Ford got in free agency from the Rams last offseason. Hortiz basically gave him the same contract with a slight AAV pay bump of $800K to account for the cap spike. Ultimately, the Chargers knew they couldn't gamble on being able to replace the production of the NT spot again this year by letting Tart walk.
Finishing Tart's deal with a relatively low year one cap hit also allows the Chargers to potentially address other key internal free agents sooner. The Chargers will have to use a decent chunk of the cap on EDGE Odafe Oweh if they want to re-sign him.
Oweh is currently projected for a four year, $77 million contract with $40 million guaranteed via PFF. Khalil Mack is also slated to cost $14 million guaranteed for one year in the same projections. LG Zion Johnson could have extension talks before March as well.
Stability on the interior defensive line was the name of the game and Hortiz did well with the Tart contract. Now, the Chargers can take care of the rest of free agency in the buildup to the 2026 NFL Draft.