Another team will give Teair Tart an opportunity. The Titans and Dolphins have now cut the veteran since December, but a new Chargers regime will sign off on another chance.
After a Wednesday workout, the Bolts are signing the veteran defensive tackle, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. This will be Tart’s fourth NFL team. The Texans had claimed him following the Titans cut late last season. Tart did not need to clear waivers after his Dolphins exit, which will lead him to Los Angeles.
Despite the two recent cuts, Tart is coming off a season in which he registered a career-best (by a wide margin) eight tackles for loss. The former Tennessee nose tackle starter got there in just 13 games, split with the Titans and Texans, but has suddenly struggled to find his footing. The Dolphins released Tart months after he signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal. The Titans had waived him despite applying a second-round RFA tender in March 2023.
Undrafted out of Florida International, Tart started 36 Titans games from 2020-23. Shane Bowen‘s defense ranked first against the run in 2022, with Pro Football Focus ranking Tart as a top-25 interior D-lineman that season. This preceded the second-round tender, which the Titans also applied to then-center Aaron Brewer. Both players ended up in Miami, but the Dolphins — who had been pitting Tart and Benito Jones against one another for the NT gig — surprisingly moved on from the defender early and took on more than $500K in dead money.
The Chargers have not been particularly aggressive in staffing their D-line this offseason. After releasing Sebastian Joseph-Day late last season, the Bolts only added Poona Ford (one year, $1.79MM) and fourth-rounder Justin Eboigbe. Morgan Fox remains on the two-year deal he signed in 2023. Tart will attempt to carve out a role for Jesse Minter‘s defense.