After finally getting the big roles on the coaching staff in place with Mike McDaniel replacing Greg Roman at offensive coordinator and Chris O'Leary returning after a one-year absence to replace Jesse Minter at defensive coordinator, the Los Angeles Chargers can now turn their full focus to player personnel.
That aspect of the offseason will undoubtedly be just as crucial to how the team fares in 2026 as the coordinator search was, as the Bolts have nearly 30 players set to hit some type of free agency, a list that includes a slew of starters on both sides of the ball.
The number was set to be one bigger heading into the new League Year, which officially begins on March 11 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern/1:00 p.m. Pacific, but the Chargers took care of some business early, inking nose tackle Teair Tart to a new three-year deal worth up to $37.5 million, including $20 million in guaranteed money.
While the base terms of the contract were announced on January 26, fans and pundits alike have been eagerly awaiting the year-by-year breakdown to see how it would affect the Bolts' salary cap situation for 2026. And now that those details have finally been made available, it turns out that Los Angeles will have a few more million dollars at its disposal than initially expected.
The Chargers are projected to have the the third-most salary cap space in the NFL
With Tart's contract featuring a base value of $30 million (the other $7.5 million is available with incentives), that's $30 million worth of cap space that must be accounted for over the next three seasons.
And according to Over The Cap, the Chargers have elected to backload the deal a bit, as Tart's cap number for the 2026 campaign is just $6.02 million, with increases in 2027 and 2028.
- 2026: $6,020,000
- 2027: $11,980,000
- 2028: $12,000,000
Now, with so many players set to hit the market, the Chargers were naturally already projected to have a significant amount of cap space.
And with the NFL announcing recently that the 2026 cap number will be somewhere between $301.2 million and $305.7 million per club, a considerable jump from the $279.2 million figure used for the 2025 campaign, that obviously gives Los Angeles even more room with which to work.
And now, with Tart's number set, the Chargers have gotten another bump.
Using the middle ground of the NFL's projected range at $303.5 million, Over The Cap currently projects the Chargers to have the third-most cap space in the league at just over $83.5 million, trailing only the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders. Here's a quick look at the top five.
- Tennessee Titans: $104,769,062
- Las Vegas Raiders: $91,522,807
- Los Angeles Chargers: $83,542,941
- New York Jets: $83,263,050
- Washington Commanders: $76,041,469
Now, it needs to be noted that the numbers above don't include the money that will be needed to sign 2026 draft picks. When taking that into account, the Bolts' projected number is $79,237,966, which would move them into second behind only the Titans ($93,334,968).
These figures will undoubtedly change several times over the next month, as contracts are restructured and roster cuts are made. But regardless of what the Chargers do there, they're in solid shape.