Chargers 2026 NFL Combine Meeting Tracker: Who LA is Meeting

Indianapolis—While 40-yard dash times and bench-press reps grab the headlines, the Los Angeles Chargers are treating the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine as a clandestine job fair, using their 45 allotted formal interviews to probe the football soul of this year’s draft class.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz arrived in Indianapolis with a sizeable contingent of scouts, medical staff and assistant coaches, intent on confirming—or challenging—months of background work already compiled by the scouting department. Formal 18-minute interviews began as early as Monday and will continue through the weekend, sandwiched around on-field testing that kicked off Thursday.

The Chargers, like every club, can speak informally with almost every prospect in hallway encounters or at nightly social events, but the formal sit-downs are the chess pieces that can shape draft boards and undrafted-free-agent recruiting. Memphis right tackle Travis Burke and Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood have already confirmed they will use one of those precious slots with Los Angeles.

Burke, an 11-game starter for the Tigers in 2025, has interviews locked in with five clubs: the Chargers, Jaguars, Cardinals, Colts and one yet-to-be-revealed team. Hood’s dance card is even fuller—he met the Cowboys on Thursday night and has visits scheduled with the Steelers, Saints, Dolphins, Giants and Chargers.

Why these two? The team isn’t saying. Hortiz, schooled in the secrecy-first culture of the Ravens front office under Eric DeCosta and Ozzie Newsome, has made it clear the franchise will not tip interest levels. Both of last year’s first-round picks, Joe Alt and Ladd McConkey, later admitted they had virtually no contact with Los Angeles before hearing their names called, underscoring the franchise’s preference to keep intentions cloaked.

Formal interviews are equal parts psychological evaluation and film-room pop quiz. Coaches may diagram blitzes on a whiteboard, challenge a prospect to a competitive game, or simply ask, “How much do you really love football?” The answers, Harbaugh believes, reveal whether a player will thrive in the ultra-competitive environment he is building.

For small-school or off-radar prospects, the combine interview can serve as a first handshake that blossoms into an undrafted-free-agent deal come late April. Every conversation is archived; if the draft doesn’t break their way, the Chargers already have a relationship to leverage when the phones open for free-agent signings.

With only 45 interviews available and 32 teams vying for intel, the Chargers’ itinerary inside Lucas Oil Stadium is guarded like a playbook. Burke and Hood are the first names to surface; expect more prospects to leak their meetings in media sessions as the weekend unfolds. Until then, the Chargers will keep asking questions—18 minutes at a time—searching for the next core piece of their roster.