The Chargers may be headed for a deadline sell-off, but Quentin Johnston looks like the kind of piece that won’t bring back much of anything.
Los Angeles has obvious names it should move, with Khalil Mack among the players who should be on the table. Tuli Tuipulotu and Justin Herbert are not in that group.
Johnston, though, sits in a trickier spot: he’s a former first-round pick who still hasn’t found his footing, and the production has been rough. He has caught only 12 of 25 targets for 202 yards and no touchdowns, continuing the drop issues that have followed him since he entered the league.
There was at least some thought that the Chargers might simply replace him when offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel arrived, with the team looking for more speed and reliability. Instead, Los Angeles doubled down and picked up Johnston’s fifth-year option.
That decision is the heart of the problem now. By doing that, the Chargers signaled they were hunting for a bargain, even though the team still has nearly $30 million in free cap space right now and had nearly $100 million before free agency. The result is a contract that makes Johnston far less movable than his draft status might suggest.
Noah Furtado of The Athletic framed the issue plainly: “Is there a team willing to eat $18 million in 2027 for an X wideout known for shaky production who comes down with fewer jump balls than he should and has unreliable hands to boot? Any deal that gets the Chargers a draft pick makes sense … for the Chargers.”
That $18 million is fully guaranteed, and it’s easy to see why another team would rather spend less on a veteran or make a different trade altogether than take on that kind of cap hit for Johnston.
So while a trade might have made sense in a vacuum, the Chargers’ timing has boxed them in. This feels like another case of the team waiting too long to move on, the same kind of delay that has lingered with players such as Bradley Bozeman.
And with McDaniel’s status beyond this season uncertain, there’s another layer of uncertainty too: even if Johnston stayed put, there’s no guarantee he would fit the next coordinator’s system.
For now, the Chargers are stuck with the consequences of trying to find a bargain. At the deadline, that’s not the kind of setup that brings back a draft pick.
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