The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Los Angeles Chargers performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the Los Angeles Chargers?
The Good
- The Chargers ranked 31st in penalties per game. The Chargers have no real home advantage at SoFi Stadium, essentially playing a road or neutral field game every week. This makes LA one of the most disciplined teams out of necessity.
- In raw numbers, no offense averaged fewer penalties per game than the Chargers.
- False start and offensive holding accounted for 35% of the team's penalties. In raw numbers, the Chargers were below average penalized team in both of these key categories.
- In raw numbers, no team committed fewer third down penalties in 2024 than the Chargers.
- The Chargers averaged just 7.4 yards per penalty conceded, ranking them as one of the best performers in this category and below the NFL average of 8.1 yards in 2024.
The Bad
- The Chargers defense was a top 10 penalized unit in the NFL. The positive was those penalties came primarily via less impactful defensive holding and defensive offsides penalties.
Grade: A+
The Chargers were what we thought they would be in Jim Harbaugh’s first season. The focus on dominant offensive and defensive line play is the strategy, no matter where Harbaugh lands.
The Chargers drafting running back Omarion Hampton in the first round is doubling down on their intentions of being a run heavy, ball control offense.
The opening game against Kansas City provides them an immediate opportunity to make a statement and set the tone for the season ahead.
If history is any guide, Harbaugh’s second season in LA will see this Chargers team pivot from an overachiever to a legitimate AFC contender, presenting the biggest obstacle to the Chiefs’ AFC West supremacy in 2025.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
Order Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview to get penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams.
Warren Sharp’s 550+ page full-color PDF, the 2025 Football Preview, is unlike anything you have previously read. Stunning visualizations, including new heat maps, are built with the reader in mind. Innovative, next-level thought process abounds in every team chapter and article.
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Warren Sharp's book shares insights into the players, coaches, teams, and philosophies with one goal: to prepare you for the 2025 NFL season with the smartest information delivered in the fastest, most direct way possible for optimal reviewing and retention.
- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2025 games
- Coaching strategic advice for teams, play calling analysis & team tendencies
- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
