Count the Chargers and the Eagles among the winners in this month’s NFL free agency.
By g guard Mekhi Becton, the Chargers turned a weakness into a strength. Becton won a Super Bowl last month with the Eagles. He’s only 25. L.A. now has one of the NFL’s top right-side tandems in Becton and tackle Joe Alt.
The disclaimer is health. Entering the NFL, Becton raised weight concerns. Two knee injuries marred his four-year Jets tenure. New York got only 29 starts from him after drafting him 11th and declined to pick up his fifth-year option of $13.6 million.
The Eagles got Becton for just $2.75 million last March and moved him to guard. Looking more fit, he started 18 games at his new spot. He became an above-average guard.
Becton is listed at 6-foot-7 and 363 pounds, and it’s hard for him to maintain an ideal weight. The Eagles are much-praised for sports science expertise. Joe Banner, a former Eagles president, says those efforts correlated to the team landing among NFL leaders in health outcomes in most recent seasons.
Becton held up down the stretch, starting all three postseason games.
Under Jim Harbaugh, the Chargers have increased investments in fitness. Harbaugh’s first L.A. team had good health, a factor in the franchise’s huge leap from five to 11 victories.
One reason I regard Harbaugh as the most capable head coach in Chargers history is his track record of developing strong lines.
Harbaugh improved both lines last year. In L.A.’s first NFL draft under him and the general manager Harbaugh hired, Joe Hortiz, found gold in veteran defensive tackle Poona Ford (now with the Rams) and invested the No. 5 pick in Alt. He had a very good rookie year. The Chargers now have three above-average O-linemen: Alt, Becton and Rayshawn Slater, each one under 26.
Look for the Chargers to sign left tackle Slater, 25, to an extension. Becton got a two-year, $20-million contract, per ESPN.
The Eagles are stealth winners in free agency due to their virtual cycle of smart evaluation and development.
A few starters from their Super Bowl team have received hefty raises in ing others. In return, the Eagles will get compensatory draft picks.
With the Chargers’ g of Becton, per ESPN’s Tim McManus, the Eagles will now get 2026 compensatory picks in rounds 3, 4, 5 and 7. They already had the Jets’ third-round pick in 2026, courtesy of the Haason Reddick trade, a fleecing by Eagles GM Howie Roseman of then-Jets GM Joe Douglas, a former Eagles colleague. In the 2026 draft, the Eagles will have five of the top 100 picks, and 12 overall picks. Don’t rule out an Eagles dynasty.
This month, the Eagles lost Super Bowl standouts in defenders Josh Sweat and Milton Williams to free agency, with end Sweat ing the Cardinals and tackle Williams landing with the Patriots. That will sting.
Don’t expect Philadelphia’s defense to plummet, though.
For years now, the Eagles, more so than even Harbaugh, have proved adept at building deep lines. Great offensive lines were a bedrock to the franchise’s three Super Bowl teams in the past eight years. Last year’s defensive line was the NFL’s deepest.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter, just 23, is under team control for three years. He’ll command double teams, benefiting Eagles-drafted ends Nolan Smith, 24, and Jalyx Hunt, 24. A homegrown successor to Williams is Nigerian-born Moro Ojomo, 23. He appeared in all 20 games last year and had a sack in the Super Bowl.
Ideally for Roseman, the strength of this year’s draft class is defensive linemen.
Becton’s likely replacement, homegrown Tyler Steen, will benefit from playing alongside All-Pro tackle Lane Johnson. The Eagles drafted Johnson, too.
Roseman’s Eagles know how to stay ahead of the crowd. Under Harbaugh and Hortiz, Team Spanos is showing some Eagles tendencies.
