Following a season that saw them return to the playoffs, the Los Angeles Chargers had a strong showing in the 2025 NFL Draft. Now, the team is marching forward with a much bigger goal in mind.
General manager Joe Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh have changed the culture in L.A. after just one season on the job, but it’s all but impossible to form a perfect roster in today’s NFL and there are going to be some weaknesses. For the Chargers, the team has a weakness that the fanbase has been moaning and groaning over since the beginning of last season.
When discussing the biggest roster hole for all 32 teams, Aaron Schatz of ESPN pointed out the same thing that most of the team’s fans would point out… the center spot.
“Veteran center Bradley Bozeman ranked 29th out of 33 qualified centers with a 92.0% pass block win rate. The Chargers signed him to a two-year extension anyway, but they might have a better option behind him after signing free agent Andre James.
James has always had shockingly high pass block win rates. He was at 95.7% last year, fifth among centers, and at 96.5% in 2023, second behind the Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey”, wrote Schatz.
Fans were shocked to see the team give Bozeman an extension this offseason, but the signing of James shows that the front office is not dead set on Bozeman being the Week 1 starter. James has 60 career starts and if he can prove to be better in pass protection than Bozeman this summer, he could easily wrest the position away from Bozeman.
The Chargers have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL with Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt at the tackle positions and Mekhi Becton and Zion Johnson at guard. Having strong center play could give Harbaugh exactly what he wants… the league’s most dominant O-line.
If Bozeman and James both struggle, one idea that has been tossed around is for Johnson, the team’s former first-round pick, to try and win the center job. That would allow Jamaree Salyer to enter the starting lineup at the other guard spot and perhaps make the offensive line even better.
That would likely be a last resort as Harbaugh probably wants to see either Bozeman or James, players who are natural centers, have a strong summer and win the job.
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