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Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
20 Most Important Chargers of 2025: No. 11 OL Zion Johnson
The Chargers are gearing up for the new season, which features a mix of new and returning faces within the organization. Several players are crucial to the team's success this season. Every day from now until the start of training camp, we're counting down our 20 Most Important Chargers for the 2025 season. We'll recap their 2024 season, look ahead, and hit on the biggest question facing them this year. Advertisement Next up at No. 11 is offensive lineman Zion Johnson. Background Age: 25 Position: Interior offensive lineman Experience: 4th season 2025 cap hit: $4.69 million 2024 recap Johnson started all 17 regular-season games and the lone playoff game against the Texans at left guard. While he managed to stay healthy, his play wasn't quite inspiring. Johnson's struggles primarily came in pass protection, especially when it came to picking up stunts. As a result, the Chargers declined to exercise his fifth-year option, meaning he will be a free agent after the 2025 season. 2025 outlook After playing both guard spots, Johnson is in the mix for the starting center spot alongside Bradley Bozeman and Andre James. The coaching staff has lauded his versatility and athleticism, which is why they're experimenting with him at the new position. Johnson did not play center at Boston College. He did get reps at center in the Senior Bowl in 2022. The Chargers aren't banking on getting sensational play from Johnson at center, but are hoping he is an upgrade from Bozeman this past season. Advertisement Big question: Can the potential position change to center elevate Johnson's game? We're counting down our 30 Most Important Chargers of 2025. Check back every day leading up to the start of training camp. 20. OL Bradley Bozeman 19. LB Junior Colson 18. TE Oronde Gadsden II 17. S Elijah Molden 16. RB Najee Harris 15. CB Cam Hart 14. DL Teair Tart 13. WR Tre Harris 12. EDGE Tuli Tuipulotu 11. OL Zion Johnson 10. TBA 9. TBA 8. TBA 7. TBA 6. TBA 5. TBA 4. TBA 3. TBA 2. TBA 1. TBA This article originally appeared on Chargers Wire: 20 Most Important Chargers of 2025: No. 11 OL Zion Johnson
New York Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Chargers mailbag: The rationale at interior OL, biggest camp battles and more
The draft is over and the Los Angeles Chargers' offseason program is in full swing. They will open their rookie minicamp on Friday and begin Phase Two of the program next week. In Phase Two, all coaches can be on the field with players. During Phase One, which began April 21, only strength and conditioning coaches are allowed on the field. The build toward real football is picking up speed. Let's get to some of your lingering post-draft questions on the roster build, the remaining holes, the potential position competitions and much more. You ask. I answer. It's the mailbag. What's the most rational, explainable reason why they didn't make any real changes at left guard/center? — @nadsri159342 Based on the current roster, the Chargers will enter training camp with open competitions at center and left guard. The Chargers believe they have considerable depth, experience and competition across the offensive line, including those two open spots. And I think that is the overarching rationale for their approach to left guard and center, whether you agree with it or not. Zion Johnson, Bradley Bozeman and Andre James, a free agent signing, should all be in the mix at center. Johnson, Bozeman, James, Trey Pipkins III and Jamaree Salyer should all be in the mix at left guard. Johnson has started 49 games at both guard spots in his career. Bozeman has started 94 games at center and left guard in his career, and he led the Chargers in offensive snaps as the starting center last season. James has 60 career starts at center. Pipkins has 56 career starts at tackle and right guard. Salyer has 35 career starts at left tackle and right guard. This is objectively an experienced group from top to bottom. Rookie sixth-round pick Branson Taylor and second-year former undrafted free agent Karsen Barnhart should also be considered when discussing the depth. The options at center in free agency were limited. The center draft class was equally thin. North Dakota State's Grey Zabel, the top center in the draft, went 18th to the Seattle Seahawks, four spots before the Chargers were up at No. 22. The only other center to go in the first two days was Georgia's Jared Wilson at No. 95. Perhaps the Chargers could have taken Wilson at No. 86 in the third round, but at that stage of the draft, they had yet to take a defensive player and defensive tackle was a screaming need. They took Oregon's Jamaree Caldwell to beef up their defensive interior. The Chargers addressed right guard in free agency with Mekhi Becton — at a minimal cost relative to the rest of the guard market. They waited until the sixth round in the draft to take an offensive lineman. Could they have taken a left guard option earlier? LSU's Miles Frazier was available for both of their fifth-round picks. They invested in passing-game options instead, with Auburn receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Syracuse tight end Oronde Gadsden II. Earlier in the draft, the board did not necessarily fall ideally for them to address interior offensive line. They were negotiating with the Philadelphia Eagles to trade out of the 22nd pick. If that trade materialized, they could have moved back to No. 32 in the first and picked up No. 64 in the second. Maybe they would have taken Iowa State receiver Jayden Higgins at No. 32, filling their big hole at the X position. With two picks in the second round — No. 55 and No. 64 — maybe they could have drafted a guard. They ended up using No. 55 to take receiver Tre Harris, who fits as in X. Alternatively, if they drafted a defensive tackle at No. 55 or 64, that could have freed them up to take an interior offensive lineman at No. 86. The hypotheticals are endless. This is all important context for how the Chargers ended up in this position. And they do have options on the roster to fill left guard and center. I have seen the Chargers in far worse shape along the offensive line at this point of the calendar. The big question now: Have they done enough to improve what was one of the biggest weaknesses on the roster last season? Only time will tell on that front. What's going to be the biggest battle in training camp, both for a starting spot and a spot on the roster? — @NauJoshua The starting center and left guard competitions are obvious answers. But I will offer a couple of other starting battles that should be interesting. Who are the two outside receivers playing with slot receiver Ladd McConkey in 11 personnel? Mike Williams, Tre Harris, Lambert-Smith and Quentin Johnston are all in the mix. Who forms the starting defensive line trio in base packages? Teair Tart, Otito Ogbonnia, Da'Shawn Hand, Caldwell, Naquan Jones, Justin Eboigbe and Scott Matlock will all be competing. Who are the two outside corners when Derwin James Jr. plays in the slot? Tarheeb Still, Cam Hart, Donte Jackson, Benjamin St-Juste and Deane Leonard are all options. As far as roster bubble competitions, I could see a pretty heated battle developing for the fourth running back spot between Kimani Vidal, Jaret Patterson and undrafted rookie Raheim Sanders. (We will get to J.K. Dobbins in a sec.) Patterson made the 53-man roster last year before spending most of the season on the practice squad. I think Hassan Haskins has a leg up on the third running back spot because of his special teams flexibility. I could also see a competition for the fourth safety spot behind James, Alohi Gilman and Elijah Molden. The Chargers re-signed Tony Jefferson. They drafted R.J. Mickens in the sixth round. I would also throw in Kendall Williamson as a dark horse candidate. At cornerback, the top six seem pretty set to me entering camp: Still, Hart, Jackson, St-Juste, Leonard and Ja'Sir Taylor. But the Chargers did draft an outside cornerback in the seventh round in Trikweze Bridges. Can you explain the UFA tender and the implications of the Chargers applying it to J.K. Dobbins? — @MattDic30847485 The Chargers placed an unrestricted free agent tender on Dobbins last week. The UFA tender is defined in the collective bargaining agreement. The deadline for this tender is the Monday following the draft for the current league year. If a team uses the tender, the tendered player is free to negotiate and sign with any other team before July 22, or the first scheduled day of training camp, whichever is sooner. (The Chargers will be opening training camp before July 22 this year because they are playing in the Hall of Fame Game.) If the player does not sign elsewhere before the first scheduled day of training camp, he can only negotiate and sign with the prior club — in this case for Dobbins, the Chargers — from that day until the Tuesday following the 10th week of the regular season at 1 p.m. PT. If the player has not signed by that Tuesday following the 10th week of the regular season, he 'shall be prohibited from playing football in the NFL for the remainder of that League Year, absent a showing to the Impartial Arbitrator of extreme Club or extreme personal hardship,' according to the CBA. According to the NFL transaction wire, if Dobbins does sign with another team, he would be eligible to factor into the compensatory pick formula. Typically, an unrestricted free agent who signs after the draft does not factor into the comp pick formula because the signing is outside the mandated comp-pick window. So that is potentially part of the Chargers' calculus. An important distinction: The Chargers would not automatically receive a comp pick if Dobbins signs elsewhere. He would simply be eligible to factor into the formula. Dobbins would have to sign for a certain amount of money to factor into the formula. His departure could also be negated by unrestricted free agents the Chargers signed earlier this offseason, such as tight end Tyler Conklin and Williams. The CBA dictates that the UFA tender must be at least 110 percent of the player's prior year salary. Dobbins made $1.49 million last season, and his UFA tender is for $1.6445 million, according to Over the Cap. That is a 110.37 percent increase. Dobbins' only option will be to play for the Chargers in 2025 if he does not sign elsewhere before the start of training camp. There are still two and a half months before that deadline, however. Of all our late-round picks (Round 5 and down, including UDFAs), who do you think has the best shot to play meaningful snaps this year? — @PalauJonat16749 I think Lambert-Smith and Gadsden, the Chargers' two fifth-round picks, have the best chance at meaningful snaps among this group. They both bring skill sets to the offense that the Chargers did not have entering the draft. Lambert-Smith has real, threatening speed on the outside to challenge defenses down the field. Quarterback Justin Herbert has not really had a receiver like this since the Tyron Johnson-Jalen Guyton offense of 2020. Gadsden has the athleticism and ball skills to be a potential seam-stretching weapon in the vertical passing game. Consider this: Among 44 tight ends with at least 30 targets last season, Will Dissly ranked 42nd in air yards per target and Conklin ranked 40th in air yards per target, according to TruMedia. Both were under 5 yards per target in that metric. Gadsden's average depth of target last season at Syracuse was 12.2, according to Pro Football Focus. (Top photo of Bradley Bozeman and Zion Johnson: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images )
