Projecting the Chargers starting offense in 2026

There are still plenty of veteran free agents left on the market and plenty of time this offseason for the Chargers to make more moves prior to the start of the 2026 regular season.

But now that the 2026 draft has come and gone, let’s take a look at what the current projected Chargers offense could look like with who is currently on the roster.

Quarterback: Justin Herbert

The 2026 season will be a defining one for Herbert. He has the best offensive coordinator of his career (pending how you felt about Kellen Moore) and it’s sure starting to feel like if this isn’t one of the best statistical seasons of his career, plus a postseason victory, the boo birds will never stop chirping that he isn’t among the elite at the position.

McDaniel is looking to be the antithesis of Greg Roman. He’s going to make Herbert’s life as easy as possible while still taking advantage of his arm strength and high-processing speed. I think 4,000+ passing yards should be the expectation, a number that he hit in all of the first three of his pro seasons.

Injuries got in the way of Hampton having a much more productive rookie season. In nine healthy games (and six starts), Hampton had 737 total yards of offense with five touchdowns. If you extrapolate that to a full 17-game schedule, Hampton would have been on pace for 1,392 yards of offense and nine total touchdowns (behind THAT offensive line!).

Yeah, I think the Chargers got a good one. He’ll be the team’s RB1 while Keaton Mitchell figures to have a role as a changeup in the backfield.

The Chargers made sure to not only get a real fullback this offseason, but the one who played under the McDaniel for the past four seasons in Miami. Ingold is an athletic lead-blocker who fits perfectly in this system that will feature him getting out into space and clearing a path for the team’s best playmakers.

I really like this receiver room if it ends up being the final starting trio at the start of the 2026 season.

After Johnston was able to replicate his 700+ receiving yards and eight touchdowns for a second consecutive season, I’ve become a believer that that is what his yearly contribution should settle around. Those are solid WR2 numbers. The one worry is how some of his games were fairly boom-or-bust. Johnston had four games with 89 yards or more while also posting two games of zero yards and one with eight yards. Johnston’s next step should be being able to show up weekly for his quarterback.

Speaking of replicating numbers — or lack thereof — McConkey was not able to repeat his record-setting 2024 rookie season in year two. His 789 yards still led the team, but they fell far short of his 1,149 the previous season. My prediction is that McConkey gets back to pushing for 1,000 yards under McDaniel.

Lastly, barring a Keenan Allen return to the Chargers, Harris should figure in as the team’s third wideout who also happens to be their best run blocker. He made a number of clutch plays, with or without the ball in 2025, and that has got to be rewarded with a much bigger role this season. It would not shock me at all if Harris overcomes Johnston in the pecking order by the end of the season.

Tight End: Ordonde Gadsden II

Gadsden went from 2025 fifth-round pick to budding young stud at the position with an impressive rookie season that very few would have expected. He finished fourth on the Chargers in receptions (49), receiving yards (664), and receiving touchdowns (3) and showed that he has the ability to be a game-changing weapon when he puts it all together.

The hope is that Gadsden becomes a more consistent run blocker to help round out his game so that he isn’t stuck ceding all run snaps to Charlie Kolar and a potential third tight end added between now and the start of the season.

While not entirely made up of first-year Chargers, this projected offensive line would be a complete overhaul of the group that they trotted out for most of the 2025 season. We all know what the return of both Slater and Alt do for this unit. Those two being back on the field may be the biggest thing that fans are looking forward to this year.

The biggest question in this group is obviously the guard spots. For all we know, Slaughter does not start right away and his transition to guard does not go smoothly. Strange could be very underwhelming and not much of an upgrade from 2025 starter Mekhi Becton. The other options on the roster are Trevor Penning and Kayode Awosika. Both have starting experience yet remain huge unknowns on how they’ll fare in McDaniel’s system. For all we know, those spots could end up starting a duo of players not currently be highlighted at this point in the offseason.

Getting a massive upgrade at center is debatably the second biggest. That’s how poor of a performance they got out of Bradley Bozeman. Every single person who watched the Chargers last year should have gotten so incredibly sick of watching Herbert get peeled off the turf each and every week. Barring what would be the worst luck for a NFL franchise in recent memory, the 2026 season should be a lot more enjoyable to watch, regardless of how their win total shakes out in the end.

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