The Chargers announced their initial 16 man practice squad last week. But in the days that followed afterwards, they kept churning through available free agents to add. CB Kaiir Elam and TE Patrick Herbert were key additions that the team announced. But a former Charger also returned to the team via the practice squad.
EDGE Caleb Murphy was also in the group of vets the Chargers signed after launching their initial practice squad. In a corresponding move, the team released Nadame Tucker from the practice squad. The Chargers lost Murphy during the 2025 season on waivers when they added Khalil Mack back to the roster from IR. The Ferris State product played with the Patriots for the rest of 2025 and spent this offseason with the Giants.
Why Chargers EDGE Caleb Murphy might end up being more important than fans currently think.
First, this gives the Chargers a fifth EDGE they can feel fairly confident in. The team expected to find that in one of Kyle Kennard or the aforementioned Tucker. But neither of them really had a good enough preseason to justify that confidence. Murphy played 129 defensive snaps for the Chargers in six weeks before he was waived for Mack's return. The run defense wasn't very good, but his pass rush chops showed. Murphy had six pressures, 12 tackles, and 0.5 sacks in his 2025 stint with the Chargers.
But besides defensive play, there was another key reason the team elected to bring Murphy back. Despite playing in just six games with the team in 2025, Murphy played 118 special teams snaps. Out of 59 Chargers that played special teams last season, that figure was still good enough for 14th. Murphy played by far the fewest games of anyone ranked that high in snaps.
Andre Carter II will also provide some good depth for the practice squad EDGEs. He flashed enough in the preseason for the Chargers to make the decision to keep him over Tucker.
If the Chargers do lose one of their top four EDGE players for any amount of time, Murphy getting the promotion to the main roster would make sense. The team could also use him from time to time without an injury in order to take some of the special teams burden off of Tuli Tuipulotu.
As a trusted member of both the Chargers' defense and Ryan Ficken's special teams unit, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Murphy play sooner rather than later. We'll find out whether he's a candidate for a practice squad elevation against the Arizona Cardinals later next week.
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