The Chargers’ 0-6 start has changed the conversation around Quentin Johnston fast.
What looked in the spring like a patient wait on a former first-round receiver now sounds a lot more like an exit ramp. Los Angeles is reportedly ready to listen on Johnston before the trade deadline in early November, a turn that would give both the player and the team a clean break heading into an offseason that already feels pivotal.
That kind of about-face is notable given how publicly the Chargers defended him just a few months ago. General manager Joe Hortiz brushed aside trade buzz in April, and then the team doubled down by exercising Johnston’s fifth-year option. That decision locked in a fully guaranteed salary north of $18 million for 2027 and signaled that the organization still saw him as part of its long-term plan.
There was at least some reason for that confidence. In 2025, Johnston turned in the best season of his career, finishing with 735 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He led the Chargers in scores for the second straight year and, for stretches, showed the kind of big-bodied vertical ability Los Angeles had in mind when it drafted him 21st overall out of TCU in 2023.
But the promise has never fully matched the production. This season, Johnston has only eight catches for 165 yards and no touchdowns.
The drop problems that have shadowed him since his rookie year have resurfaced, and he has also missed time because of a chest injury. None of it has helped an offense that has struggled to find any kind of rhythm under new coordinator Mike McDaniel.
Johnston is not the only reason the passing game has sputtered, of course. The entire unit has been stuck in neutral during the 0-6 opening. Still, a receiver in his fourth season is supposed to be helping steady the offense, not fading into the background.
That is why a trade now makes sense on both sides. Johnston never really settled in Los Angeles, beginning with a difficult rookie year under a different coaching staff and then moving through two scheme changes that never quite brought out what the Chargers hoped they had.
A fresh start could help him reset. And for the Chargers, the benefits are obvious too. Moving Johnston would remove that large 2027 guarantee from the books, while opening the door for younger receivers like KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Tre’ Harris to get a longer look in the offense.
With the season going off the rails, the focus has already shifted toward what comes next. Los Angeles could be looking at a top pick in next spring’s draft, and if Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh combine that with added cap flexibility, they’ll have a better shot at reshaping the offense around Justin Herbert instead of waiting on a breakout that may never come in powder blue.
In Other News...
Jim Harbaugh Just Got Public Backing As Chargers Pressure Mounts
The Chargers 0-6 start has left little room for patience, but Jim Harbaugh still has at least one prominent believer in his corner. Biff Poggi spoke up in support of the head coach, backing Harbaugh to steady a team that has been hit by injuries and has had almost no margin for error through the opening weeks.
The timing of that vote of confidence matters because the schedule does not ease up after the Week 7 bye. Los Angeles is headed into a rough stretch that could put even more pressure on a team already trying to dig out of an early hole, with the next few games offering little in the way of relief for a roster looking for any kind of reset. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Trade Deadline Could Force Joe Hortiz To Admit The Obvious
The Chargers enter the Week 7 bye in a familiar but uncomfortable place, still winless and staring at a November 10 trade deadline that could force the front office to confront what the season has already made plain. If the record keeps pushing the team toward a sellers stance, Joe Hortiz will have to weigh whether a roster built to compete now is better served by moving pieces that could still bring meaningful value back in return.
That conversation naturally puts veterans and younger standouts alike into view, with names such as Khalil Mack, Derwin James Jr. and Quentin Johnston circulating in the broader discussion about what comes next. However the Chargers choose to frame it, the question is no longer whether the deadline matters, but how much of the present they are willing to sacrifice in order to reshape the future. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Face A Khalil Mack Decision That Could Define This Rebuild
The Chargers 0-6 start has them in a hole almost no NFL team has ever climbed out of, and it has pushed every roster decision into the spotlight. Khalil Mack is right in the middle of that conversation, not because of anything he has done wrong, but because a veteran edge rusher on a winless team naturally becomes one of the first names floated when the talk shifts from trying to salvage a season to mapping out a future.
Mack has remained publicly steady through the speculation, even as the possibility of a trade hangs over the teams rebuilding outlook. For a Chargers front office staring at the long odds of a turnaround, the question is no longer just about one players value on the field. It is about whether keeping a proven veteran around is worth more than turning him into future draft capital and accelerating what comes next. [Read more 🡒]