Los Angeles Chargers: Signed S Marcus Maye to the practice squad

Josh Kaltenberger's cut earns a D+ Contract Value Index (CVI), reflecting a low-cost release with minimal cap consequence but also the reality that a $885K center wasn't solving the Chargers' interior line problems. At that salary point, Kaltenberger was operating as a depth piece — the kind of roster filler you cycle through when you're searching for answers along the offensive line. The CVI penalty here isn't about overpaying a star; it's about the inefficiency of the transaction itself: the team paid to evaluate him, found him insufficient, and had to move on. From a cap standpoint, this is clean surgery — no dead money, no penalty, just a sunk evaluation cost. For a club sitting at 11-6 and holding the AFC West's seventh seed heading into the regular season, releasing a below-average starter at center signals either desperation or honest roster triage, neither of which inspires confidence in the line's stability going forward.