Analyzing the Chargers cap situation after cutting Mike Williams, keeping Khalil Mack

The Chargers released WR Mike Williams on Wednesday as the new league year opened. LA became cap-compliant as a result of releasing the star WR and saving roughly $20 million. However, they still had to find roughly $7-8 million to make room for the signings of RB Gus Edwards, TE Will Dissly, and S Alohi Gilman.

However, following the release of Williams, it was announced that the Chargers agreed to a restructure to retain EDGE Khalil Mack. While a traditional restructure wouldn’t be possible on a one-year deal, LA could’ve added void years to Mack’s contract. Other possibilities include an extension or pay cut. For the time being, the Chargers have saved a pretty significant amount of money in either of the three scenarios against the 2024 cap:

Projecting two void years and max restructure on Khalil Mack’s contract, here is where #Chargers would stand with space. Including contracts for Gus Edwards, Alohi Gilman, Will Dissly.

They have green pic.twitter.com/uES1mt0M7Y

— Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) March 13, 2024

Until we get exact numbers on what Mack’s restructuring entails, it’s hard to ballpark exactly where they are on the salary cap. But they’ve certainly opened up enough money to sign their three-day, one-tampering-period agreements in free agency.

The next logical questions obviously turn to what could happen with Joey Bosa and Keenan Allen. The Chargers could, in theory, let Bosa play on his contract, but they’d be pretty tight against the cap and less able to make more depth moves in free agency. Alternatively, they could ask him to restructure, but Bosa would have to agree to it himself.

For now, I’d expect the Chargers to still look into all possible trade options with Bosa now that they are cap-compliant. They have a little more leverage on their side now and could absorb his roster bonus before trading him away.

Allen always seemed least likely to leave out of the big four and that was only emboldened with the release of Williams. In terms of lowering his current cap hit, one has to wonder if a similar restructure to Mack’s could be on the table. Or, are Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh willing to offer the Chargers’ lifer an extension to decrease his ’24 cap hit?

Should the Chargers move on from one of Bosa or Allen, they’ll have plenty of room to fluctuate in free agency. Center, linebacker, and cornerback seem like potential positions of need they could stand to add depth to. Former Ravens center Bradley Bozeman was recently released by the Panthers and would not count against the comp pick formula for 2025. That strikes me as an interesting possibility.