Chargers’ 2022 season in review: Assessing the play of Los Angeles’ defensive line

The Los Angeles Chargers pass rush has been one of their most useful strategic advantages on defense, and has the power and speed to overwhelm most offensive lines across the NFL.

But that strength is mostly bolstered by their elite edge defender corps, which hosts perennial Pro Bowlers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. Their defensive line was comprised of 11 players who took snaps for the Chargers over the course of the 2022 season and accounted for just 11.5 sacks on the year.

Sixth-year lineman Morgan Fox accounted for six and a half of those sacks, leading the unit by a wide margin. Tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day notched two sacks on the season but led the team in combined tackles with 56 on the season, besting Fox by 18 in that category.

Among other key contributors up front for Los Angeles were Breiden Fehoko, Austin Johnson, Christian Covington, and Otito Ogbonnia, who combined for 71 total tackles but just one sack in the team’s 2022 campaign.

Tyeler Davison, Christopher Hinton, David Moa, and Joe Gaziano rounded out the Chargers’ depth on the line, but didn’t see much action as none in this group registered more than one sack or 10 total tackles.

Clearly, there remains a ton of room for improvement for the Los Angeles in this area, though they may find it difficult to upgrade their defensive line given the current state of their salary cap. Watch for the Chargers to look for a lineman in April’s draft, and for them to do their best to improve this group’s production in 2023.