Bradley Bozeman’s 2025 season was among the worst at his position, and the Chargers can’t ignore it. With manageable dead cap and valuable savings, moving on would create flexibility to upgrade the interior line and better protect Justin Herbert moving forward.
The Chargers are heading into one of the most important offseasons in recent memory. With significant cap space and a roster that feels close—but not quite there—every move needs to be calculated. If the goal is to truly compete for a Super Bowl in 2026, tough decisions have to be made. One of those decisions should be moving on from Bradley Bozeman.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Bozeman’s 2025 season was terrible.
He was graded as one of the worst centers in the NFL, and unfortunately, the tape backed it up. The interior of the offensive line consistently struggled in pass protection, and Bozeman was at the center of those issues—literally and figuratively. Justin Herbert faced far too much pressure up the middle, which is the quickest way to disrupt an elite quarterback. You can survive shaky tackle play at times. Interior pressure? That’s a killer.
It wasn’t just pass protection either. The run game never found consistent rhythm between the guards. There were missed assignments, a lack of push at the point of attack and too many negative plays on early downs. For a team that wants to become more balanced and physical offensively, the center position has to be a strength. In 2025, it was a weakness.
The good news for the Chargers is that they aren’t financially stuck.
They’re projected to have a ton of cap space this offseason, but that doesn’t mean they should ignore opportunities to create even more flexibility. Cutting Bozeman would come with roughly $2 million in dead cap, but it would clear approximately $6–7 million in cap space. That’s real money. That’s the kind of savings that can help land a starting-caliber interior lineman in free agency or allow the team to extend one of their own core players.
Dead cap is never ideal, but in this case, it’s manageable. You’re not eating a massive number for years to come. You’re absorbing a modest hit to move on from a player who simply didn’t perform.
And performance has to matter.
The Chargers can’t afford to be sentimental. They can’t afford to convince themselves that things will “just get better” if all the evidence suggests otherwise. If the offensive line is going to take the next step, the interior must be upgraded. Whether that’s through the draft or free agency, the team has to be aggressive. Standing pat at center after a season like that would send the wrong message.
We’ve talked a lot about what this team needs to do to win it all—bolster the interior offensive line, protect Herbert, establish a more reliable run game. Cutting Bozeman is directly tied to all of that. It’s not about piling on a player. It’s about accountability and building a roster capable of competing deep into January. The Chargers are close. But “close” isn’t good enough.
If they’re serious about maximizing their window, Bradley Bozeman can’t be handed another year as the answer at center. The cap hit is reasonable. The performance decline is obvious. The path forward is clear.
It’s time to move on.