The Kansas City Chiefs are back from their bye and staring down a Week 6 meeting with the winless Los Angeles Chargers, a game that gives them a shot to add to an already ugly start for a division rival. Kansas City is also in a position it wasn’t in last year: after bouncing back from a 6-11 2025 campaign, the Chiefs are being viewed as buyers with the trade deadline approaching.
That’s why one possibility has started to stand out - and it would be a rare one. On Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay floated the idea of an intra-AFC West move that would send Chargers pass rusher Khalil Mack to Kansas City.
“Although the Chiefs don’t have much financial wiggle room to make blockbuster trades, Mack is surprisingly affordable. He’s on a one-year, $18 million contract that included a $10 million signing bonus, which means he would only be owed a shade over $6 million if he were dealt at this point in the campaign. That one-year deal, coupled with the Los Angeles Chargers’ 0-5 start, makes an intra-AFC West trade more realistic.”
Mack is 35 and clearly beyond his peak, but he is still producing enough to matter. He had 5.5 sacks last season and has three so far this year. That matters for a Chiefs defense that sits dead last in sacks, tied with the Miami Dolphins at four apiece.
The Chargers were expected to be in the race for the AFC West title. Instead, they’re 0-5 and heading in the wrong direction fast. At this point, the reset button would not be hard to understand, even if it means moving on from stars such as Justin Herbert and Mack.
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Chargers Add New Justin Herbert Insurance At A Brutal Time
The Chargers have added another quarterback to the room, signing former Bengals backup Jake Browning, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero. For a team built around Justin Herbert, it is the kind of transaction that usually flies under the radar, but at this point in the season every depth move carries a little more weight than usual.
Browning brings some game experience with him, having appeared in 17 career games and thrown for 2,702 yards with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. What the Chargers do with him next is still being sorted out, since it is not yet clear whether he will land on the active roster or the practice squad. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Herbert Questions Grow After Chargers Make Sudden QB Move
The Chargers are making a quick quarterback addition ahead of Sundays game against the Chiefs, signing veteran Jake Browning as they try to steady the position for the immediate future. Browning arrives with NFL experience from his previous stops with the Vikings and Bengals, giving Los Angeles another arm on the roster as the matchup with Kansas City approaches.
The move has only added to the questions around Justin Herbert, whose 2026 season has been well below the standard expected from the teams franchise quarterback. Still, a team source said the organization has never even discussed trading Herbert, which keeps the focus on how the Chargers plan to navigate the short term rather than on any wholesale change at the top of the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Injury Crisis Is Forcing A Search They Couldn't Avoid
An 0-5 start has already put the Chargers in a corner, and the injury situation has only made the climb steeper. With 18 players on the injury report heading into their Week 5 matchup against the Broncos, the roster has been stretched thin enough that the team has started surveying the market for help, including multiple receivers and quarterbacks with varying degrees of NFL experience and familiarity with the staff.
The searches underscore how quickly the season has turned into a depth test in Los Angeles. The Chargers do not have the luxury of waiting for reinforcements to simply heal in place, so they have been bringing in options to keep the roster functional while the injury list keeps growing. For a team already tied for the worst record in the league, even the most routine workout can carry real weight. [Read more 🡒]