Following up my post two weeks ago. Now that the initial free agent frenzy has died down, I thought it would be useful to take a look at the adjusted situation.

The Chargers currently have 55 players under contract for 2020. Here are 54 of them, along with their 2020 cap numbers, per Over the Cap:

Edge Melvin Ingram $16,625,000 Edge Joey Bosa $14,360,000 WR Keenan Allen $12,650,000 TE Hunter Henry $10,067,000 - reduced by just over $1M since my previous post; the franchise tag value changed CB Casey Hayward $10,750,000 G Trai Turner $9,000,000 LB Denzel Perryman $7,512,500 - reduced by $1M since my previous post QB Tyrod Taylor $7,500,000 C Mike Pouncey $7,250,000 WR Mike Williams $6,374,109 CB Chris Harris $5,750,000 - I mentioned him as a free agent target in my previous post but guessed at a much higher cap number DT Linval Joseph $5,500,000 - I mentioned him as a free agent target in my previous post but guessed at a much higher cap number RB Austin Ekeler $5,000,000 - I guessed at a $4.5M 2020 cap hit in my previous post RT Bryan Bulaga $4,833,333 - I mentioned him as a free agent target in my previous post but guessed at a much higher cap number TE Virgil Green $3,500,000 S Derwin James $3,378,805 CB Michael Davis $3,259,000 - I guessed at an original round tender, but they gave him a second round tender instead, pushing his 2020 cap number up by about $1.1M DT Jerry Tillery $2,595,945 LB Nick Vigil $2,400,000 - note that Spotrac has his 2020 cap hit as $887,500; I trust Over the Cap more, so going with $2.4M G Dan Feeney $2,364,158 S Rayshawn Jenkins $2,298,553 CB Desmond King $2,203,000 T Sam Tevi $2,173,451 G Forrest Lamp $2,141,288 Edge Uchenna Nwosu $1,570,794 S Nasir Adderley $1,075,480 DT Justin Jones $963,535 LB Kyzir White $913,610 T Trey Pipkins $894,269 LB Drue Tranquill $839,702 Edge Isaac Rochell $825,000 - I had understood him to be a RFA, but apparently he was an ERFA, making his cap hit at least $1.3M lower than I had expected C Scott Quessenberry $821,063 CB Brandon Facyson $753,334 TE Stephen Anderson $750,000 K Michael Badgley $750,000 RB Justin Jackson $750,000 OLB Malik Jefferson $750,000 OL Trent Scott $750,000 T Cole Toner $750,000 QB Easton Stick $744,655 OLB Emeke Egbule $714,239 P Ty Long $695,000 DT Cortez Broughton $694,580 S Roderic Teamer $675,666 WR Jalen Guyton $675,000 LS Cole Mazza $675,000 CB Quenton Meeks $675,000 WR Jason Moore $675,000 WR Andre Patton $675,000 G Koda Martin $613,000 CB Tevaughn Campbell $610,000 NT P.J. Johnson $610,000 WR Tyron Johnson $610,000 T Tyree St. Louis $610,000 TE Andrew Vollert $610,000

Some notes and assumptions about this list:

First off, TE Donald Parham is not listed, since details of his contract have not been released. He was signed by 3 different teams last season but did not play, so I assume his contract would be for the minimum, or possibly a slight amount above that in the event the Chargers were competing with any other teams to sign him. So I will assume $750K.

I'm not sure if this number for Perryman reflects his restructuring... it dropped by $1M since my last post, but both Over the Cap and Spotrac are showing the same figure for 2020 and not showing anything for 2021. I think it is possible the restructure could have further lowered his cap number, but I'm going with the currently reported number for now.

Henry's cap hit above is the franchise tag value. I assume the Chargers will sign him to a market value contract soon, which could lower his cap number. I'm not certain by how much, so I am just going with the currently reported number for now.

I assume the team will extend Bosa's contract this season, but I assume his 2020 cap hit will not change.

I have seen speculation on this site that Ingram may be traded and that Green may be released as a cap casualty. I don't think either one of those moves should or will happen.

I assume Pouncey will return healthy enough to be expected to start and play the entire season in 2020. So I will not consider him as a possible cap casualty. I also will not consider him as a candidate for contract extension, since I think he needs to prove he can stay healthy before another contract extension.

I am going to assume these players do not make the final roster: TE Anderson, CB Campbell, WR Guyton, OLB Jefferson, NT Johnson, WR Johnson, G Martin, CB Meeks, T St. Louis, T Toner, TE Vollert.

That leaves this group of 45 players I expect to make the final roster:

Edge Melvin Ingram $16,625,000 Edge Joey Bosa $14,360,000 WR Keenan Allen $12,650,000 TE Hunter Henry $10,067,000 CB Casey Hayward $10,750,000 G Trai Turner $9,000,000 LB Denzel Perryman $7,512,500 QB Tyrod Taylor $7,500,000 C Mike Pouncey $7,250,000 WR Mike Williams $6,374,109 CB Chris Harris $5,750,000 DT Linval Joseph $5,500,000 RB Austin Ekeler $5,000,000 RT Bryan Bulaga $4,833,333 TE Virgil Green $3,500,000 S Derwin James $3,378,805 CB Michael Davis $3,259,000 DT Jerry Tillery $2,595,945 LB Nick Vigil $2,400,000 G Dan Feeney $2,364,158 S Rayshawn Jenkins $2,298,553 CB Desmond King $2,203,000 T Sam Tevi $2,173,451 G Forrest Lamp $2,141,288 Edge Uchenna Nwosu $1,570,794 S Nasir Adderley $1,075,480 DT Justin Jones $963,535 LB Kyzir White $913,610 T Trey Pipkins $894,269 LB Drue Tranquill $839,702 Edge Isaac Rochell $825,000 C Scott Quessenberry $821,063 CB Brandon Facyson $753,334 K Michael Badgley $750,000 RB Justin Jackson $750,000 TE Donald Parham $750,000 - guessing at this cap hit, since details are not yet available OL Trent Scott $750,000 QB Easton Stick $744,655 OLB Emeke Egbule $714,239 P Ty Long $695,000 DT Cortez Broughton $694,580 S Roderic Teamer $675,666 LS Cole Mazza $675,000 WR Jason Moore $675,000 WR Andre Patton $675,000

Now let's update the cap situation.

The 2020 salary cap has been established at $198.2M. Per Spotrac, the Chargers rolled over $4,210,448 from 2019, bumping their 2020 cap to $202,410,448. This has gone up by almost $1.3M over what was reported two weeks ago. Found money!

The cap hits for the 44 players above total to $135,589,236. Per Spotrac, the Chargers currently have $8,155,000 in dead cap space in 2020, but OTC shows $9,229,991. I trust OTC more, so will use their currently reported number. So accounting for the 45 players above and the dead cap space, the team has $25,989,146 in remaining cap space.

I am going to assume for purposes of this post that Telesco does not make any trades to alter the Chargers' current 2020 draft picks. I further assume all of those draft picks will make the final roster. Spotrac projects those picks to have a collective cap hit of $9,493,852. Deducting that leaves $16,495,294.

The practice squad will take up $2.142M in cap space. See link in previous post. Deducting that leaves $14,353,294 in remaining cap space.

But the new CBA enables teams to call up 1-2 practice squad players each week, moving their roster from 53 to 54 or 55 players in those weeks. For those games, the practice squad players get paid at the NFL level. The rules are such that I assume teams will do this only when they have more than 5 players on the active roster who are injured and cannot play, but will not go on IR. So it is necessary to set aside some number of games of minimum NFL salary. I'm going to guess that Telesco will reserve enough to cover 1 minimum salary all season - $610K. Deducting that leaves $13,743,294.

The team also needs to reserve cap space for IR replacements during the season. I will assume $4M. Deducting this leaves $9,743,294 in remaining cap space.

Now let's move on to talking about completing the roster. I identified 45 players above and also assumed all 7 Chargers draft picks will make the final roster. So that is 52 roster spots filled. So there is 1 roster spot left to be filled.

Here is what that group looks like positionally:

Offense (20):

QB (2) - Taylor, Stick

RB (2) - Ekeler, Jackson

FB (0) -

WR (4) - Allen, Williams, Patton, Moore

TE (3) - Henry, Green, Parham

T (4) - Bulaga, Tevi, Pipkins, Scott

G (3) - Turner, Feeney, Lamp

C (2) - Pouncey, Quessenberry

Defense (22):

Edge (5) - Bosa, Ingram, Nwosu, Rochell, Egbule

Interior DL (4) - Joseph, Tillery, Jones, Broughton

LB (4) - Perryman, Tranquill, White, Vigil

CB (5) - Hayward, Harris, King, Davis, Facyson

S (4) - James, Jenkins, Adderley, Teamer

Special Teams (3):

K - Badgley

P - Long

LS - Mazza

Plus 7 rookies. IMO the 8 unnamed positions need to include the following, in rough order of importance:

QBOTF - even if they don't go this route, need a 3rd QB IMO LT - could address with #6 if they don't go QB; then could move Scott to G IDL - I don't see how the coaching staff can feel comfortable with just Tillery, Jones, and Broughton behind Joseph 3rd RB WR - need a legit WR3, ideally with deep speed 1 DB 4th RB or FB 1 LB for depth and special teams

What they choose to do at QB could swing how the team addresses these needs in very different directions. I really hope they don't sign Newton. They need to address at least 1 of these needs with free agents, again assuming no draft pick trades.

With a total of around $9.7M to spend, perhaps they could sign a veteran QB to a prove it deal or sign a veteran LT. I'm not confident they can solve either of those needs outside the first round of the draft; I think they have to choose one draft pick and one veteran for these two positions.

It would be fine with me to re-sign Schofield, but I assume his price will be too high relative to the cap room the Chargers have to devote to IOL.

They could re-sign Square as one of the IDL I think they need. He was arguably the Chargers' best IDL last season, though that isn't necessarily saying much.

They could keep Pope as one of the RBs.

Otherwise, I think it's hard to say.

Thoughts?