Ian Hartitz shares an electric rundown of the team needs for the Los Angeles Chargers heading into the NFL Draft and 2025 season.

Expectations weren't overly high in Year 1 of the Jim Harbaugh era, but the Chargers went ahead and put together their best season since 2018 anyway thanks to:

Of course, the Chargers joined 30 other teams in the "We didn't win the Super Bowl” club, making their season technically a failure if you want to be a jerk about it. Their 32-12 drubbing at the hands of the Texans in the Wild Card Round certainly did leave a bad taste in the mouths of fans; just realize the future certainly looks bright thanks to plenty of cap space and a franchise QB who turns only 27 in March.

Today we'll recap some of the good and bad of 2024 before getting into potential offseason injuries to monitor as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 11-6 (8.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 23.6 (11th)
  • EPA per dropback: +0.126 (12th)
  • EPA per rush: -0.079 (18th)
  • Points per game allowed: 17.7 (1st)
  • Leading passer: Justin Herbert (3,870 pass yards, 23 TD, 3 INT)
  • Leading rusher: J.K. Dobbins (195 carries, 905 yards, 9 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Ladd McConkey (82 receptions, 1,149 yards, 7 TD)

Biggest Surprise: WR Ladd McConkey

McConkey's 1,149 receiving yards were cool and everything; kudos to the rookie for racking up the 10th-highest mark of any player in the league last season.

And yet, it was the efficiency with which the Georgia product went about his business that was REALLY astonishing.

Most yards per route run by a rookie WR since 2014 (min. 50 targets):

  1. Odell Beckham Jr. (2.75)
  2. A.J. Brown (2.68)
  3. Justin Jefferson (2.66)
  4. Puka Nacua (2.6)
  5. Ja'Marr Chase (2.51)
  6. BrIan Thomas Jr. (2.46)
  7. Chris Olave (2.42)
  8. Rashee Rice (2.41)
  9. Ladd McConkey (2.4)
  10. Tyreek Hill (2.28)

Pretty, pretty, pretty good company—and the rook also saved his best for last: McConkey's 19.2 PPR points per game from Week 8 through the playoffs was good for WR5 status behind only Ja'Marr Chase, Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Overall, McConkey's 9-197-1 Wild Card performance was good for the most yards and second-most PPR points (34.7) in a playoff game by a rookie WR in NFL history.

Increased target competition could make a bigger encore tough for McConkey in 2025, but then again, the Chargers did post a more-than-respectable +2% dropback rate over expected (tied for seventh!) once Justin Herbert was actually healthy following the team's Week 5 bye.

Also shoutout to McConkey's running mate Quentin Johnston (55-711-8) for proving to not be a total bust, as well as J.K. Dobbins for staying healthy and re-emerging as a high-quality NFL RB.

Unfortunately, the team's other RBs weren't quite as up to the task as Mr. Dobbins …

Biggest Disappointment: RB Gus Edwards and Kimani Vidal

Chargers RBs as a whole simply weren't very good in 2024:

  • 25th in tackles avoided per carry
  • 21st in yards after contact per carry
  • 21st in explosive rush rate

It was alarming how much more efficient Dobbins (4.6 yards per carry) was over Gus Bus (3.6) and Vidal (3.6) alike. The veteran had that one sick run against the Broncos as part of a season-best 68-yard, 2-TD performance, but otherwise failed to crack even 60 yards in a game. Meanwhile, the team's sixth-round rookie simply never pushed for anything close to a significant role in the offense, even losing out on sporadic goal-line work to Harbaugh's old Michigan pal Hassan Haskins.

It's not like expectations for Edwards or Vidal were that high to begin with, but this was also one of the league's single-softest RB depth charts inside an offense that we knew wanted to pound the rock. If neither back was able to get anything going in this environment, it's tough to imagine them having too much success elsewhere.

Key Injuries

The Chargers are tentatively believed to not be dealing with any major fantasy-relevant injuries ahead of next season. Hell yeah!

 

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Chargers Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Skill-Position Playmaker

In past years the offensive line was the primary problem here; either way, Justin Herbert has never exactly had the luxury of working inside an elite offensive environment. The below ranks designate the Chargers' standing in "Supporting Cast Rating," which averages every team's PFF rush, receiving, pass-blocking, and run-blocking grades (everything except passing):

Chargers rank in Supporting Cast Rating:

  • 2024: 22nd
  • 2023: 29th
  • 2022: 28th
  • 2021: 15th
  • 2020: 32nd

 

Whether it's RB (J.K. Dobbins is a free agent), WR (Palmer and DJ Chark are free agents), or TE (neither Will Dissly nor Hayden Hurst are exactly prodigies): The Chargers need some more juice on offense in some way shape or form to complement Ladd McConkey and generally make life easier on Herbert.

Team Need No. 2: Defensive line

Longtime stud Joey Bosa remains a cornerstone piece of the league's reigning top-scoring defense, although partner in crime Khalil Mack is hitting free agency, and the team has a league-low $3.2 million 2025 dollars devoted to their interior defensive linemen.

While simply bringing back all parties involved is an option, this group actually wasn't all that great at getting to the QB in 2024: The Chargers' 33.4% pressure rate ranked just 19th, and they slipped to 25th on money downs (3rd and 4th).

Team Need No. 3: Cornerback

Just five teams have under $10 million devoted to their cornerback room ahead of 2025. The Chargers are last, and it's not even close!

  • Raiders ($9.6 million)
  • Patriots ($9.4 million)
  • Steelers ($8.2 million)
  • Saints ($8.1 million)
  • Chargers ($4.4 million)

Alas, such is life with outside starters Asante Samuel Jr. and Kristian Fulton entering the open market. Bringing back both would make sense, but it also wouldn't hurt to use a draft pick on the position: Samuel represents the only corner that the team has taken with a top-100 pick across their last nine drafts combined.

This group also ranked just 22nd in EPA per dropback and 26th in yards per attempt on targets to WRs in 2024; securing more dudes in the secondary to help complement the pass rush could be a fun time for Chargers fans.