The Chargers don’t have to wait until the offseason to start thinking bigger, and that’s exactly why a trade deadline sell-off makes so much sense. With the season gone sideways, Los Angeles has a chance to use the next few days to clean out veterans, collect future picks and stop pretending this roster is closer to contention than it is.
A lot of the conversation will naturally start with Khalil Mack. He’s the obvious name, and for good reason: the veteran pass rusher still carries real value for a contender, even if the Chargers are no longer in a position to use him the way they hoped. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell pushed that idea further in a new column, laying out a deal with the Detroit Lions that would send Mack and cornerback Donte Jackson to Detroit in exchange for fourth- and sixth-round picks in 2027.
Barnwell also raised the possibility that Los Angeles could absorb part of the money both players are still owed to increase the return. As he put it: “They could alternately want to eat some of that money to add more draft capital in a potential trade and think the picks are a better use of the cash than players who would be playing out the string for a hopeless team.”
It’s not a flashy haul, and a fourth-rounder is hardly the kind of return that makes headlines on its own. But Mack is 35, on an expiring contract and was just weighing retirement. The Chargers also don’t have much negotiating power sitting at 0-6 and counting.
Jackson fits the same deadline logic. He’s on an expiring deal, he’s getting older, and he’s the kind of veteran a contender would make a move for if it wants to strengthen the secondary right now.
The payoff for Los Angeles wouldn’t stop with draft capital. Moving those players would also open the door for younger pieces to get real playing time, including Tuli Tuipulotu and rookie Akheem Mesidor off the edge, along with Cam Hart, Tarheeb Still and even Rodney Shelley at corner.
This isn’t the path the Chargers imagined by the bye week. But if they’re serious about what comes next, the trade deadline gives them a clean shot to reshape the roster and improve the long-term picture long before any bigger changes hit the coaching staff or Joe Hortiz’s front office.
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