San Diego Chargers: King Dunlap deal took care of biggest task

The San Diego Chargers had some issues on defense last season, but, by and large, they improved on that side of the ball, leaving the offensive line as their weakest positional area on the roster. Philip Rivers‘s worst games have always come when he’s been put under unnecessarily huge amounts of pressure, and that’s exactly what transpired last year. Rivers put together an MVP-caliber string of games at the beginning of the season, but as his protection waned, so too did his production.

Left tackle King Dunlap surprised us all in 2013 when he went from being an afterthought of a swing tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles in his first four seasons to becoming an unquestionably good blindside protector for the Chargers. Due to the lack of options elsewhere on the line, Dunlap immediately became one of the team’s most important players, and the new contract he inked with the Chargers yesterday reflects that.

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The Chargers have a few key impending free agents this offseason in Brandon Flowers, Dwight Freeney, and Ryan Mathews, but nobody was more important to lock up than Dunlap. Yesterday, the Chargers gave him a four-year deal worth $28 million, which nets him as much money as top 2014 free agent OT Jared Veldheer makes per season.

It’s easy to say that the Chargers overpaid Dunlap, but it’s impossible to evaluate this deal from a financial standpoint without knowing the particulars. We have to assume that Tom Telesco is a shrewd GM, since every piece of evidence we have of him during his tenure as the Chargers GM leads us to believe that he knows what he’s doing.

As such, Telesco knows that Dunlap had concussion issues in 2013, so we have to assume that there’s some sort of an “out” in his four-year contract. That “out” most likely deals with guaranteed money, since the overall dollar amount of $28 million over four seasons is meaningless if he’s cut; the guaranteed money is the most important number here.

It will be interesting to see how much guaranteed money Dunlap received from the Chargers, because $30 of Veldheer’s deal is guaranteed. I’d assume Dunlap’s contract would be a bit lower than that, but we’re left speculating until we can receive specific details from a subsequent report.

In any case, the Chargers absolutely had to get this deal done with Dunlap, because his importance to this team is incredible. Outside of Rivers and Keenan Allen, there isn’t a more important player to the Chargers than Dunlap, who might be even more important to Rivers than Allen. While Allen is a top wideout and a clear-cut No. 1 receiver, we’ve seen Rivers get the most out of Eddie Royal and Dontrelle Inman, but it’s much harder to make Johnnie Troutman look better.

Last season, the Chargers had some of the NFL’s worst pass blockers, so while Dunlap actually struggled in pass pro after dominating in 2013, he was better than his teammates and, unlike the other linemen, managed to make a positive impact in the running game. Meanwhile, Troutman looked out of place with five sacks allowed, Chad Rinehart had what was easily the worst season of his career, and D.J. Fluker had a sophomore slump with seven sacks and five QB hits allowed, according to Pro Football Focus.

$7 million per year over four years isn’t cheap, but you always have to pay premium for tackles. Basically, the fact that the Chargers other offensive linemen were among the worst at their positions last season increased the urgency for them to sign Dunlap, who has been one of their best players on offense over the past two seasons. That clearly boosted his value to the organization, and it made the 29-year-old a must-re-sign.

I mean, it’s telling that the San Diego Chargers expressed strong interest to re-sign Dunlap, met with his player rep at the Combine, and then quickly agreed to this deal. Both sides had major mutual interest in getting something done, and I have a feeling we’ll learn about some interesting incentives involved with this deal.

Re-signing Dunlap was a crucial step for Telesco and the Chargers in building a competent line for their star quarterback, but more work needs to be done. With so much work ahead of them, the Chargers knew they couldn’t afford to lose their only true piece on the line, because they already have to find at least two more options on the interior to support the talented Dunlap-Fluker bookend that will bounce back with better players around them.

Like any other position, offensive linemen are affected by how well the players around them perform, and I think that’s a reason for Dunlap allowing more pressure and two more QB hits this past season. With Rinehart playing a whole lot worse and Nick Hardwick out of the picture at center, he received way less support from the two guys next to him in 2014.

That’s a positive for both him and the Chargers going forward, and, assuming Telesco is as smart as we think he is, we should expect the $28 million to feature less guaranteed money. King Dunlap is a key part of this organization and definitely deserved to be re-signed, and I think the $7 million per year reflect the potential money he can make.

Next: Who should be the Charges top FA targets?

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