The 2022 free agency period is slowly approaching on the NFL calendar, and the Chargers have 21 pending free agents heading into the offseason.
Continuity is critical when it comes to roster management. Still, general manager Tom Telesco will have to be selective when it comes to deciding who’s worthy of being brought back next season.
With that, here’s a look at the top priorities when the team begins that process:
Kyzir White
If there’s one player who benefited quite a bit from playing in Brandon Staley’s system, it’s White. Given more responsibilities to play in space, White was impactful as a run defender, in coverage, and a pass rusher. Starting all 17 games, White finished with 144 tackles, seven for loss, three passes defended, and a sack. Having him back gives the Chargers their energized play-maker in the middle of the defense.
Uchenna Nwosu
It was a slow start for Nwosu. That was until Week 13 against the Bengals when he rose eyebrows with his seven-pressure, four-hurry, and two-sack performance. From that point, Nwosu made a steady impact down the stretch until the season debut against the Raiders, where he went out with a bang, finishing with seven tackles and four for loss. After setting a career-high 40 pressures, four passes defended, and five sacks and set to be only 26 years old during the 2022 season, Nwosu’s best playing days are still ahead of him.
Mike Williams
Williams will be one of the most sought-after free agents, with opinions of what the Chargers should do with him all across the board. But he proved to be an integral piece on the offense in the best season of his career. Williams’ reason for staying is keeping continuity between him and Justin Herbert, the ascend as the X-receiver, and the big-play ability and clutchness he offers. The best bet would be to franchise tag him. While it’s a good chunk of change at $19.1 million, it will allow the team more time to work out a long-term extension decision until 2023 depending on if he can replicate or top this past year’s production.
Justin Jones
The Chargers had one of the league’s worst run defenses, and while it had to do with the lack of talent up front, one player who proved to be viable was Jones. He finished with a career-high 18 pressures, 14 hurries while also adding 18 run stops, some of which came near the goal line. Now, I could also see a scenario where they blow up the defensive line altogether and use free agency and the draft to go into the 2022 season with a clean slate, but a cheap deal for Jones is well within reason.
Andre Roberts
The Chargers struggled to find productivity from their returners until the mid-season signing of Roberts, which paid off down the final stretch. On 19 kick returns, Roberts amassed 624 yards and a 101-yard touchdown. Having him back will be key to stabilizing their special teams department. Speaking of, Dustin Hopkins is another strong candidate to be re-signed after making 90% of his field goals and 93.8% of his extra points.
Oday Aboushi
Signed last offseason, Aboushi was a vital piece of the revamped offensive line before suffering a torn ACL in the season’s fifth game. In 293 snaps, he allowed just five pressures and did not surrender a single sack. Having Aboushi back would offer depth and experience at the right guard position, which would come at a relatively low price.