3 contracts holding the Chargers back right now

Eric Kendricks contract is holding the Chargers back

The Chargers would be in a much better situation if the team simply re-signed Drue Tranquill to a $3 million contract last offseason instead of overpaying for a regressing veteran in Eric Kendricks. Granted, nobody truly knows what happened besides Tranquill's camp and the Chargers, but all signs point to the Chargers simply moving on from the breakout linebacker.

The Chargers paid Kendricks over twice as much as what Tranquill and Kyzir White ended up signing in their respective breakout offseasons... combined. It was another example of the Chargers paying for past performance and yet again, the signing did not work out for the Bolts.

Kendricks wasn't atrocious last season but he was not very good either; he definitely was not worth the price point that he signed for. Now the Chargers are in a situation where cutting him for cap space is a no-brainer and it really did not have to be that way.

The Chargers will save $6.5 million when the team inevitably cuts Kendricks and that will be important in getting under the salary cap. But it would be much nicer if the Chargers wouldn't have to pay the $2.75 million in dead cap, and could have had more roll-over cap to spend if the team just re-signed Tranquill instead.

It may seem small, but the added rollover cap paired with not having any dead money on the books this offseason for a linebacker could have been the difference in keeping Khalil Mack or being forced to trade him. Just remember that.