What a strange career it has already been for Mekhi Becton.

After being drafted 11th overall by the New York Jets in the 2020 NFL Draft (as an offensive tackle), Becton struggled to stay on the field. After a few years of being in and out of the lineup, he was moved from Left Tackle to Right Tackle.

When he became a free agent in 2024, he signed a one-year contract to join the Philadelphia Eagles, who did not have any starting spots at tackle and moved Becton to guard. It was a "prove it" contract and Becton did just that, staying healthy and performing well enough to help the Eagles win the Super Bowl.

Becton, who is still more than a month away from turning 27-years old, still didn't get any long-term offers after that season. He decided to sign a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Chargers, and spent his first season in L.A. struggling to stay healthy and struggling to perform at guard.

Once their season ended, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Chargers would release Becton. Doing so frees up $9.7M in cap space for 2026, and there's probably more evidence that Becton would not live up to the final year of his contract than there is evidence to the contrary.

However, the Chargers had not publicly commenting on Becton's future and there was no actual news on the matter until today, when ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that the team is planning on releasing Becton.

Now the team can officially start putting together their offseason plan to rebuild their offensive line. Here's what I imagine comes next:

I think the Chargers will use free agency to either sign (Tyler Linderbaum?) an unrestricted free agent center or trade for someone that can come in and immediately be their starting center (Cesar Ruiz or Aaron Brewer?).

Bradley Bozeman retired this offseason, and Andre James isn't likely to be re-signed after a disappointing first season as the Chargers backup center, so the team needs to acquire both a starter and a backup. They also have almost no room for error here, which is why I think they go with someone more established (Brewer and Linderbaum are among the league's best centers) as their new starting center and maybe use a draft pick for a cheap backup option.

I'm more interested to see if they use this cap space that they are saving by releasing Becton to re-sign OG Zion Johnson.

I honestly think the only reason some mock drafts don't have Olaivavega Ioane as the Chargers selection in the 1st round is because they're bored of making the same pick over and over, but it makes too much sense for the team to not do it, I think.

Here's what the 2026 Los Angeles Chargers offensive line could look like:

LT Rashawn Slater
LG Zion Johnson
C Tyler Linderbaum
RG Olaivavega Ioane
RT Joe Alt

That would be a drastic improvement over what they had in 2025, but it's also ignoring health. Some of the most important work for the front office to do this offseason is to build reliable depth on both the interior and edges of the offensive line so that one or two injuries don't make the whole thing crumble like a house of cards.

Releasing Mekhi Becton was the first step to building a better foundation along their offensive line, and now the team can proceed to their next steps.