The LA Chargers are in a unique situation where the team is legitimately going all-in to win a Super Bowl in the near future. Los Angeles had arguably the most aggressive offseason in franchise history in 2021 and followed that up with several extremely bold restructures to create space in 2022.
It is hard to blame Tom Telesco and Brandon Staley for being this aggressive. Both of their jobs may be on the line in 2023 and if things don't work out the future salary-cap situation will be someone else's problem to solve.
All that being said, there are some inflated contracts currently on the books for the Chargers that are holding the team back. NFL teams have more leverage in getting out of deals than any of the other professional sports but these deals are still an issue.
3 contracts that are holding the Chargers back:
Khalil Mack
- Contract: Six years, $141 million (originally signed with Chicago Bears)
- 2023 salary-cap hit: $16.6325 million
- Years remaining: 2
Khalil Mack only has two more years under contract with the LA Chargers as the team absorbed the last three years of his deal when they traded for him from the Chicago Bears. While Mack was solid last season, the Chargers did pay an elevated price for what he contributed to the team.
Meanwhile, Uchenna Nwosu signed a cheaper two-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks and produced more in the pass-rushing department than Mack did. The situations were different, sure, but it is worth questioning if it was worth a second-round pick and this much salary-cap space.
The Chargers had the ability to get out of Mack's deal almost completely unscathed in 2024 in what will be his age 33 season. However, the team needed salary-cap space this offseason so they orchestrated a max restructure on his deal. It lowered his cap hit this year but significantly raised the dead-money hit next year.
Mack has a $38.5 million cap his in 2024. As of right now, that is the 10th-highest cap hit for the 2024 season in the entire league and is the largest for any player on the defensive side of the ball. Better yet, Joey Bosa checks in at 11th right behind him.
Mack is almost undoubtedly going to be a cap casualty next season but it will still cost $15.2 million for the team in dead money.
J.C. Jackson
- Contract: Five-year, $82.5 million
- 2023 salary-cap hit: $17 million
- Years remaining: 4
If there is one move that the Chargers would likely take back from the 2021 offseason it would be signing J.C. Jackson to a five-year, $82.5 million contract. This is totally in hindsight as well, as just about every Chargers fan and pundit alike loved this deal when it happened.
However, a lot has happened since then. Jackson really struggled in this Chargers' defense before rupturing his Patellar tendon against the Seattle Seahawks. Unfortunately, that injury is one that NFL players do not historically come back the same from.
What makes it worse is the fact that the Chargers don't really even need Jackson even if he was fully healthy. Asante Samuel Jr. really took a step up in his sophomore season and Michael Davis played like a legitimate CB1 after Jackson got hurt last season.
That money would have been spent better elsewhere. Instead, he has the highest cap hit of any player on the Chargers this season. He has a cap hit of over $19 million in each of the remaining three years.
The Chargers can get out of his deal after the 2023 season with a $15 million dead-cap hit in 2024. In 2025 that dead-cap hit goes down to $10 million and then $5 million in 2026.
Austin Ekeler
- Contract: Four-year, $24.5 million
- 2023 salary-cap hit: $7.75 million
- Years remaining: 1
Austin Ekeler's contract is holding the LA Chargers back for completely different reasons. This is not a case of the team owing a lot of money to someone over 30 on the decline or someone who is hurt and may never be the same.
In fact, Ekeler only has one year left on his deal and there are no long-term issues at all. That being said, his contract situation is currently holding the team up and could hold them back for the 2023 season. This is important considering the all-in nature of the front office right now.
Ekeler requested and was granted permission to seek out a trade as the two sides could not come to terms on a contract extension. Ekeler may not ever get the extension he is looking for considering his age and the fact that the running back market is not where it was three years ago.
While that seemingly would guarantee his return to LA, Ekeler already called returning to the Chargers on his deal the worst-case scenario. We have seen these kinds of situations happen both on the Chargers and on other teams and it almost never ends positively.
There is no guarantee that Ekeler is even going to be on the Chargers next season and if he sits out and decides not to play then the Chargers will be paying just under $8 million for absolutely nothing with no real contingency in place at running back.