In Joe Hortiz’s first press conference as the Chargers General Manager, he said he liked that he was going to a team with a strong head coach in Jim Harbaugh, a strong quarterback in Justin Herbert, and strong ownership.
Hortiz also inherited a messy salary cap situation. The Chargers got a bit of a reprieve when the cap was set at over $255 million for the 2024 season, but they are still projected to be over that number when the new league year begins and they have four high-priced veteran stars who could be part of the solution.
Wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams join edge rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack with cap hits of more than $30 million and Hortiz said at a Tuesday press conference that the team is still working through the best way to handle everything.
“We’re still working through it,” Hortiz said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN.com. “Obviously, the salary cap got bumped up a little bit higher than I think everyone was expecting — a little bit more. It gives us, certainly, some flexibility a little bit. We’ll continue to talk through that over the next couple of weeks and have a plan of attack shortly.”
The Chargers have the No. 5 pick in the draft to use to bolster an area that might get weakened as they make cap cuts to put together the first roster under Hortiz and Harbaugh in Los Angeles.