The Los Angeles Chargers are on paper a pretty stacked team, outside of the quarterback position – particularly on the defensive side of the football. Aside from maybe linebacker, there aren’t really any question marks – at least not in terms of if there’s anybody talented enough. However, they’re about to contend with a lot of expiring contracts of star players. Depending on just how much they lose, the losses may prove to be a problem.
The 2021 Los Angeles Chargers Free Agency Conundrum
Contracts Ending
Here are some of the bigger-name players whose contracts are going to be ending in 2021: Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry (franchise tagged this past off-season), Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Mike Pouncey, Denzel Perryman, Desmond King, and Rayshawn Jenkins. That’s a lot, including two of their biggest weapons and both sides of their fearsome pass-rushing duo.
And then if you take it a year further to 2022, it doesn’t get any easier as Casey Hayward, Mike Williams, Derwin James, and some of this past off-season’s free agency additions will have their contracts up too. Quite simply, the Chargers are probably going to have some tough decisions to make. Even if it wasn’t nigh impossible to keep every single one of those players, the Chargers are simply not an organization known for spending heavy amounts of money, or for handing out mega-contracts.
Who Can (And Who Should) Be Kept?
2022 is two years off, so we’re not going to look that far ahead for now. A lot can happen between now and then. For 2021, the highest priorities should be Keenan Allen and Joey Bosa. Bosa in particular already had a contract squabble with the Chargers just for his rookie deal. A franchise tag may be required to attempt to work something out there and still get one more year. But ultimately, it seems unlikely that both Bosa and Ingram will be staying – unless Ingram takes a more team-friendly contract (which didn’t happen last time he got a new contract).
Keeping Allen is a little less worrisome. His extension back in 2016 was four years for $45 million. On a per-year basis, that already has him among the top 20 highest-paid receivers as of right now. Even with a price hike to the neighborhood of $15-17 million, it doesn’t seem out of the question for the Chargers to be able to pay him what he wants – unless he demands something in the neighborhood of $20 million a year.
After that, Pouncey should be the next priority to keep the center position stable – unless he struggles with staying healthy again like in 2019. Henry’s a high priority too. Hopefully, the team will be able to work out a long-term deal this season with him while he’s on the franchise tag. Perryman and King may both end up being a lower priority; with the addition of Chris Harris, King has become more expendable. Perryman being a team/fan favorite may help, but with his injury problems and the linebacker corps being revamped by the likes of Kenneth Murray and Drue Tranquill, he might end up being on the way out during an off-season where the likes of Allen, Bosa, and Ingram are all up for grabs.
Last Word on Chargers Free Agency
Ultimately, keeping Allen feels like the surest thing among the high-priority 2021 free agents, barring high demands from him. The likelihood of keeping both Ingram and Bosa seems rather low. The Chargers are unlikely to hand out big contracts to both of them in the off-season. It is possible, though, that whoever doesn’t get inked gets the franchise tag instead.
Henry will hopefully get inked before next off-season. But if that doesn’t happen, he may end up walking as he may be expecting a bigger deal and he just won’t be as high a priority for the Chargers as their top receiver or their pass-rusher duo. Beyond that, don’t expect to see Desmond King returning – and possibly Denzel Perryman as well. Whether Pouncey returns may depend on him staying healthy.
Of course, we must keep in mind that if any of those few top-tier players’ demands get too high for management’s liking (read: anything above $20 million a year for a non-quarterback, or anything record-breaking for any position), then they probably won’t be coming back. But hopefully, such instances will be limited over these next two off-seasons. If they lose enough significant players, it may be difficult to come back from in the short term. Regardless, the 2021 and 2022 Chargers free agency periods are likely to be interesting.
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