The Chargers are bringing back one of their top special teams players.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that they have agreed to a one-year deal with defensive back Deane Leonard. No financial terms have been reported.
Leonard joined the Chargers as a 2022 seventh-round pick and he’s appeared in 46 regular season games over his four seasons with the team, but injuries led to stints on injured reserve the last two years.
Leonard has recorded 46 tackles, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery since joining the Chargers. He also has three tackles and an interception in three postseason appearances.
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After arriving in Los Angeles just before the trade deadline last season, Chargers offensive lineman Trevor Penning will stick around in 2026.
The Chargers announced today that they have reached an agreement on a new deal with Penning, who hit free agency and was free to agree to terms with any team.
Last year the Chargers sent a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Saints for Penning, and he started four of the final games of the season for the Chargers. He’ll compete for a starting job this year as well.
Penning was originally a first-round pick of the Saints in 2022, and although he didn’t quite live up to expectations, the Chargers are optimistic that he can become a big part of protecting Justin Herbert this year.
Free agent cornerback Benjamin St-Juste is on the move to Green Bay.
St-Juste has agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Packers, according to NFL Network.
The 28-year-old St-Juste was originally a 2021 third-round pick of the Commanders. He played in Washington for four years before signing a one-year contract with the Chargers last year.
St-Juste provided depth in the secondary for the Chargers last year, playing about one-third of snaps on defense while also being one of their top contributors on special teams. The Packers likely see him in a similar role in 2026.
The Chiefs, who have lost several defensive backs in recent days, have added one.
Via NFL Media, Kansas City has agreed to terms with Ravens safety Alohi Gilman. It’s a three-year, $24.75 million deal, with $15 million fully guaranteed.
Gilman was a sixth-round pick of the Chargers in 2020. He was traded to the Ravens during the 2025 season, as part of the Odafe Oweh trade.
Gilman, who played college football at Notre Dame, started five games for the Chargers last year, and 12 for the Ravens. For his career, he has 85 regular-season appearances and 51 starts.
He agrees to terms on the same day former Chiefs safety Bryan Cook agreed to terms with the Bengals.
A former Dolphins offensive lineman will be joining his former head coach in L.A.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, Cole Strange has agreed to terms with the Chargers. It’s reportedly a two-year, $13 million deal.
A first-round pick of the Patriots in 2022, Strange was released not long before the start of his third season. He landed on Cleveland’s practice squad before being signed to Miami’s active roster in September.
Last year, Strange appeared in 14 games (all starts) in Miami.
Strange started all 17 games as a rookie in 2022. In late 2023, he suffered a torn patellar tendon. The next year, he wasn’t ready to play until late in the season.
Edge rusher Odafe Oweh is on his way to Washington.
Oweh has agreed to a four-year deal to join the Commanders as a free agent when the new league year opens on Wednesday. Multiple reports peg the total value of the deal at $100 million with $68 million in guaranteed money.
Oweh, who was No. 38 on PFT’s list of the top free agents in the league, was traded from the Ravens to the Chargers during the 2025 season. He had 7.5 sacks in 12 appearances for the AFC West team and added three more in their playoff loss to the Patriots.
The Ravens drafted Oweh in the first round in 2021 and he had 25 sacks in 72 appearances with the team.
Running back J.K. Dobbins wants to be a “Bronco for life.” He’ll be a Broncos for at least one more year, maybe two.
Via Zac Stevens of DNVR Sports, Dobbins and the Broncos have agreed to a two-year deal.
Dobbins had 772 rushing yards in 10 games for the Broncos last year; a Week 10 foot injury ended his season.
When healthy, he’s effective. He averaged 5.0 yards per carry in 2025. For his career, his per-carry average is 5.2 yards.
The issue has been staying healthy. He played 15 games as a rookie in 2020.
The second-round pick spent four years with the Ravens. He suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the first game of his final season in Baltimore.
He gained a career-high 905 rushing yards with the Chargers in 2024, before joining the Broncos for 2025.
The agreement will couple Dobbins with RJ Harvey as the one-two punch in the backfield for the Broncos.
The Chargers are signing tight end Charlie Kolar to a three-year, $24.3 million contract, NFL Media reports.
Kolar leaves one Harbaugh for another, having spent his first four seasons in Baltimore with John Harbaugh.
Kolar, 27, entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick in 2022.
He has played 47 games with 13 starts in his career, totaling 30 catches for 409 yards and four touchdowns.
In 2025, Kolar made 10 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
As of last Monday, the word on veteran pass rusher Khalil Mack was that he planned to explore all options in free agency. On Saturday, he agreed to terms on a one-year deal to stay with the Chargers.
So what happened to exploring free agency? Since the negotiating window doesn’t open until noon ET on Monday, how could he have explored all options?
The obvious answer is tampering. Everyone does it, and it’s getting more and more rampant.
By the weekend before the official opening of free agency, the players know what’s behind Door No. 1, Door No. 2, and Door No. Whatever. They can make an informed decision about whether to stay where they are.
In a situation like this, tampering helped the Chargers get a deal done. Mack was able to explore his options and then decide to accept his current team’s best offer.
It also helped the Chargers avoid having to find a replacement in free agency. Their one-year, $18 million offer to Mack surely was made after they explored who else would be available, and what their agents were looking for.
But that’s why so many players have been re-signing with their current teams so close to free agency. They didn’t get cold feet about testing the market. The tests were already conducted before the offers from their current teams were accepted.
The Chargers have agreed to terms with veteran fullback Alec Ingold on a two-year, $7.5 million deal, NFL Media reports. The annual average of $3.75 million puts Ingold in a tie with San Francisco’s Kyle Juszczyk for the NFL’s highest-paid fullback.
The Dolphins released Ingold last week as he was scheduled to make $3.55 million in 2026 with a cap hit of more than $5 million.
Ingold follows Mike McDaniel from Miami to Los Angeles, as the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator uses a fullback more than 30 percent of the time.
Ingold played three seasons for the Raiders and four with the Dolphins. In 2025, he 363 plays — 37 percent of the offensive snaps — in 17 games and he had 10 touches for 61 yards and five first downs.
He made the Pro Bowl in 2023.
