Chargers should make history repeat itself with aggressive Ladd McConkey-like trade up

Roughly one year ago, the Los Angeles Chargers pulled off what ended up as a heist of an NFL draft trade when they moved up in the second round to secure Ladd McConkey.

Now history has a chance to repeat itself.

After taking Omarion Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft, the Chargers sit in the middle of the second round at No. 55 overall.

Jay Higgins, Tre Harris and Luther Burden III are just a few of the major names at wide receiver left who could come in and help out the Justin Herbert-led offense right away.

As it turns out, the Chargers have plenty of draft assets to work with during a possible trade up, too. On Day 3, they boast seven total selections they could use in an effort to move up, never mind any draft picks next year (or even players) they could be willing to use.

One could argue the Chargers don’t need to move up. They brought back Mike Williams to pair with McConkey and for all we know, the plan is to also bring back Keenan Allen after the draft, once it wouldn’t impact the compensatory pick process.

But it’s pretty hard to ignore the names at wideout left available and just how much they could help the offense. If the Chargers don’t feel like all of those seven picks would end up making the final roster anyway, perhaps they’ll work the trade phones.

After all, that trade up last year worked pretty nicely, to say the very least.

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey — David Butler II-Imagn Images

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