4 moves the Chargers can make to free up $62 million in cap space
By Jason Reed
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The Chargers went all-in on the 2023 season only to end up with a 5-12 record and a hefty bill for the 2024 season. Thankfully, the Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz to pilot the team out of this mess while also reinventing the culture of the franchise.
According to Over The Cap, the Chargers are currently $45.8 million over next year's projected salary cap. This figure does not factor in Corey Linsley's potential retirement, although. Linsley said there is a 99% chance that he will be forced into retirement by a non-emergent heart issue that kept him out of action for most of the 2023 season.
If Linsley retires then it will free up $8.9 million in cap space with the Chargers paying him $5.2 million in dead money for the signing bonus money he was owed in 2024 and 2025. Thus, the Chargers are essentially $36.9 million above the cap and need to not just get cap compliant, but make spending room as well.
How the Chargers can free up $62 million in cap space:
Cut Eric Kendricks to free up $6.5 million
This is the least amount of money that the Chargers can save but it does not mean that it isn't important. The Chargers can theoretically sign two depth free agents with this $6.5 million. Those depth free agents would probably play better than Kendricks did in 2023 as well.
Kendricks wasn't awful last season but the arrow is definitely pointing in the wrong direction. The last thing the Chargers need to do is commit to an expensive veteran who is likely only going to get worse in 2024.
Thus, the Eric Kendricks signing will go down as Tom Telesco's last truly bad signing of his tenure as Chargers GM. Hopefully he brings the same kind of signings with him to the Las Vegas Raiders.
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