Alexander Insdorf

Chargers DT Jamaree Caldwell grew into his own during his rookie campaign. After a solid preseason in 2025, Caldwell grew into a solid defensive line rotation role with the the team. As a rookie, Caldwell played 525 snaps. For comparison, the recently extended Teair Tart played just one more snap at 526. Compared to the average day two or day three drafted DT, Caldwell shouldered more of a load as a rookie.

The Chargers enter 2026 with high expectations for their EDGE rushing trio of Khalil Mack, Tuli Tuipulotu, and first-round pick Akheem Mesidor. With new DC Chris O'Leary calling the shots, racking up pressures and sacks might be even more important than it was under Jesse Minter. At 35 years old, Mack looks to replicate the level of production we saw in his first four Chargers seasons. Tuipulotu is in the midst of a contract negotiation with the Chargers and is coming off a career 2025 season.

ESPN recently released their rankings for the projected starting lineups of all 32 NFL teams in 2026. The Chargers for the most part ranked where you'd expect in ESPN's ranking. Los Angeles came in at 13th out of 32 teams in the analysis from Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz, and Seth Walder. It's not necessarily too low or high for the current group. The Chargers are coming off of an 11-6 season but went into the playoffs last year as the AFC's seventh seed.