Welcome to your Thursday edition of the Los Angeles Chargers’ free agency reset.
This is our third reset of the week. There will be one more waiting for you Friday morning. As always, we will dissect and analyze all the news items relevant to the Chargers: the moves they made, the moves they did not make, the salary cap situation and the top remaining free agent fits.
General manager Joe Hortiz and coach Jim Harbaugh did not make a single move Tuesday. They were more active Wednesday. Still no big-money splash moves, as was expected heading into this free agency period. But this time, we do not have to skip over our first usual section …
The moves the Chargers made
A friendly face returns. The Chargers agreed to terms Wednesday to bring back receiver Mike Williams, who fills a hole on the outside at the X position. Williams spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Chargers, including four with quarterback Justin Herbert. He was cut ahead of the 2024 season for cap reasons. After one year with the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers, he is back.
This was still a bargain deal. The contract was for one year and up to $6 million, according to multiple reports. Even with their large amount of cap space, the Chargers are searching for value. Reuniting with Williams made sense nonetheless. The Chargers now have a veteran to play X, and they are not forced into drafting that position early. You can find more analysis on the Williams signing here.
Including Williams, the Chargers made five moves Wednesday, bringing their total to 11 since the start of the negotiating window. They also agreed to terms with three more internal free agents: linebacker Denzel Perryman, linebacker Troy Dye and receiver Jalen Reagor. And they agreed to terms with former Washington Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste.
Dye agreed to a two-year contract worth up to $8.5 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. Perryman agreed to a one-year, $3.65 million deal, according to ESPN. St-Juste agreed to a one-year deal, according to his agent.
Thus far, the Chargers have focused their activity on re-signing internal free agents. Of their 11 moves, seven have been agreements with internal free agents: Dye, Reagor, Perryman, center Bradley Bozeman, defensive lineman Teair Tart, edge rusher Khalil Mack and punter JK Scott. St-Juste was just their third external free-agent agreement of this window and Williams was the fourth. They also agreed to terms with running back Najee Harris and cornerback Donte Jackson.
It was important for the Chargers to bring back Dye after linebacker Nick Niemann agreed to terms with the Houston Texans earlier this week. Dye played the most special teams snaps of any Chargers player last season. He also had some fine moments on defense when forced into spot duty. Niemann played nearly 1,300 special teams snaps for the Chargers over the past four seasons. He will be missed. The Chargers should be looking to add multiple special teams contributors through the remainder of free agency.
Perryman signed a one-year deal with the Chargers last offseason, and he was paramount early in the season in helping improve the run defense. But after a groin injury in Week 11, Perryman was limited to just 14 snaps over the remainder of the season, including the playoffs. I do not hate the signing. Perryman brings a violent play style and leadership that are both valuable. But I question how much the Chargers can rely on him at this stage of his career. Perryman turned 32 in December.
Reagor will be a low-cost depth piece. He had seven catches for 100 yards last season.
St-Juste is an outside cornerback with excellent size and length at over 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds. He moves well for his frame. St-Juste began 2024 as a starter on the outside for Washington, but he was phased out of rotation after the team traded for cornerback Marshon Lattimore in November.
St-Juste has intriguing traits. He can play some press man because of his size and arm length. His biggest issue is that he is very grabby in coverage. He does not play with discipline at the top of routes, and his bail-out is to hold and make contact with the receiver. That led to a lot of penalties. Since he was drafted in the third round in 2021, only three defensive backs accounted for more penalty yards than St-Juste, according to TruMedia.
St-Juste played for Harbaugh for one season at Michigan in 2017 before transferring to Minnesota, so there is some familiarity there. This is an upside play on a big-bodied cornerback. St-Juste does not have much special teams experience. He only played 170 special teams snaps over four seasons in Washington. I do not see him as being a factor on Ryan Ficken’s special teams units. If he finds a role with the Chargers, it will be as an outside corner.
I will be fascinated to see how defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale use St-Juste’s skill set. They got really impressive production out of rookie Cam Hart last season. Hart is another long corner at 6-foot-3. The Chargers were able to get more consistent coverage play out of Hart than he showed on tape in college at Notre Dame.
Benjamin St-Juste has some intriguing traits. Can Jesse Minter get the best out of his skill set? (Peter Casey / Imagn Images)
The moves the Chargers did not make
Former Detroit Lions guard Kevin Zeitler agreed to a one-year, $9 million deal with the Tennessee Titans, according to multiple reports. I thought the Chargers should have been strongly considering Zeitler, who turned 35 over the weekend. He showed on tape last season that he is still a dominant run blocker. He also played for Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman for two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
This is probably the biggest missed opportunity of free agency so far for the Chargers. It was a short-term deal for reasonable money, and the Chargers need to find a starting guard on the free-agent market. Now, a pivot is necessary again, as the guard market continues to dry up.
Jacksonville Jaguars guard Brandon Scherff is another viable option, but Zeitler is a better player. Chicago Bears guard Tevin Jenkins and Philadelphia Eagles guard Mekhi Becton are two younger possibilities. I like Becton over Jenkins.
The interior offensive line was one of the primary reasons the Chargers lost to the Texans in the playoffs. They have to improve this area of the roster, and the opportunities are shrinking as we get later in the week.
The salary cap situation
We are still working off eight projected cap hits in our cap estimates. Some of these are based on reported figures, while others are educated guesses based on positional markets…
• Mack: $18 million
• Jackson: $4 million
• Tart: $3.5 million
• Dye: $2 million
• Reagor: $1.5 million
• Perryman: $3.65 million
• St-Juste: $2.3 million
• Williams: $4 million
The Chargers are now at 55 rostered players. Only the top 51 cap hits count against the cap through the offseason.
Projected total space: $48.46 million.
Projected effective space (which includes draft pick compensation): $45.27 million.
Projected spending space (which includes draft pick compensation and $8 million in-season budget): $37.27 million.
The roster will get to 90 players by the time training camp begins in July. They currently have 10 draft picks. They will add between 15 and 20 undrafted free agents. That leaves between five and 10 veteran contracts left to add to the cap sheet. If it is 10, then the Chargers can average about $3.7 million in 2025 cap hits for each of those 10 signings.
Top remaining free agents
1. Brandon Scherff, G, Jacksonville Jaguars
2. Mekhi Becton, G, Philadelphia Eagles
3. Morgan Fox, IDL, Los Angeles Chargers
4. Tevin Jenkins, G, Chicago Bears
5. Will Hernandez, G, Arizona Cardinals
6. Calais Campbell, IDL, Miami Dolphins
7. Daniel Ekuale, IDL, New England Patriots
8. Taven Bryan, IDL, Indianapolis
9. Dalton Risner, G, Minnesota Vikings
10. John Cominsky, IDL, Detroit Lions
(Top photo of Mike Williams: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
