The Los Angeles Chargers are ready to embark on the 2025 NFL season, looking to build upon their Wild Card berth from a season ago.
The team still has Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh, considered by many to be one of the game's best coaches, but they still play in a difficult division and a tough AFC conference. Looking at the landscape of the NFL as the season gets set to start, where would you rank them among the league's 32 teams?
Josh Kendall of The Athletic has them right about where they finished last season, at No. 12. But it sure doesn't feel like there is a ton of confidence in this year's team and those who do these rankings are likely ready to knock the team down several pegs.
"The most devastating training camp injury of the preseason came in Los Angeles, where Rashawn Slater was lost for the year to a knee injury. The two-time Pro Bowl left tackle protected Justin Herbert’s blind side and helped power a run game that Los Angeles will lean on heavily this season. The Chargers also had the offseason’s weirdest injury, a fireworks mishap that damaged free-agent running back Najee Harris’ eye and kept him out of practice throughout the preseason. He is available for Week 1, but his readiness for the season is a question mark", wrote Kendall.
Not a lot of positives in there, which is indicative of a writer/ranker ready to put the Chargers down much lower. You have to wonder what a loss in Week 1 to the Kansas City Chiefs will do to their ranking.
That's a result that many expect. On Kendall's list, the Chiefs come in at No. 5. That's fair, as they are the three-time reigning AFC champions, but should the Cincinnati Bengals or Houston Texans be ahead of the Chargers? Most would agree that the Texans — who eliminated the Chargers from the playoffs last year — should be ahead of them, but it's questionable as to whether or not they are the better team.
READ: Chargers bring back former offensive lineman
But that's why they play the games. These rankings are not official and are only opinions, but they provide a good look into what many feel the current pecking order in the NFL is. How high (or low) will the Chargers be on this year's list?
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