The Chargers are headed for seller mode at the NFL trade deadline, and that alone opens the door to some strange possibilities.
Los Angeles sits at 0-7 and counting, so the obvious move is to listen on veterans. Justin Herbert trade packages probably won’t matter, and they may not even show up. But players like Khalil Mack and Donte Jackson could be available for the right price, and the Chargers would also do right by Mack if he wants to land with a contender.
Then there’s Tuli Tuipulotu, which sounds like the kind of idea that should get shut down immediately. The Chargers have a 24-year-old edge rusher with 29 sacks in 57 games, so why would they move him? Because the market might be there, and because this team has already shown it doesn’t always operate in the most predictable way.
The Athletic’s Daniel Popper listed Tuipulotu as the No. 2 overall trade candidate, and pointed to the kind of teams that could jump in.
“Tuipulotu took a big step as a player in 2025,” Popper wrote. “He has sustained that performance this season. Since the start of 2025, Tuipulotu ranks 12th in pressure rate among players with at least 250 pass-rush snaps.”
That production matters even more because Tuipulotu is in the final year of his rookie deal, and the Chargers and player were unable to reach an extension over the summer.
And if you’re looking for a reason to believe anything is possible here, the Chargers have already given fans one. They traded for Odafe Oweh last year, got a breakout season from him, and still let him walk instead of re-signing him, even with nearly $100 million in cap space available. Then they drafted Akheem Mesidor, partly because he was an “older” rookie, while trying to replace Oweh’s production.
That’s the backdrop here: a franchise that can make a move, get value from it, and still leave everyone wondering what the plan was.
Tuipulotu should be a building block, especially alongside Mesidor, no matter what happens with the roster or coaching staff next offseason. The Chargers still have roughly $26 million in free cap space, but they didn’t get an extension done. That leaves the door cracked just enough for a team like the 49ers or Cowboys to make things interesting if they come in with a strong enough offer before the deadline.
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