Chargers' bewildering offseason decision has created a massive problem

While the Los Angeles Chargers are still widely viewed as one of the top teams in the AFC heading into the 2025 NFL campaign, they did not exactly have a banner offseason.

In spite of entering free agency with ample cap room, the Chargers failed to make any truly significant moves, and perhaps their biggest mistake was not re-signing one of their own players: breakout defensive tackle Poona Ford.

Los Angeles' decision to allow Ford to walk was certainly puzzling, and it has created a rather significant problem along the interior of the Chargers' defensive line for both 2025 and the future.

As a matter of fact, in a piece where Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus outlined one area each NFL team should already be aiming to repair in the 2026 NFL Draft, he highlighted the defensive trenches for Los Angeles.

"Da'Shawn Hand, Teair Tart, Naquan Jones and Otito Ogbonnia are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in 2026, and the Chargers lost Poona Ford, the league's fifth-highest-graded interior defender in 2024, this past offseason," Sikkema wrote. "That’s basically their entire interior defensive line outside of rookie Jamaree Caldwell. Los Angeles will be making more than one addition to their interior defensive line next offseason."

Ford racked up 39 tackles, three sacks, an interception and five passes defended in 2024, registering a terrific 85.1 overall grade at PFF. He signed a three-year, $27.6 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams, a deal that the Chargers absolutely could have matched.

You really have to wonder what exactly Los Angeles was thinking when it didn't make an effort to re-sign Ford. Perhaps it feels that Hand and Jones — its two free-agent additions at defensive tackle — can help fill that void, but surrendering ford to the other LA team may come back to bite the Chargers.

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