Chargers, Lions Trade Deadline Idea Simply Too Good for Jim Harbaugh to Pass Up

It’s no secret the Los Angeles Chargers should face the music and host a fire sale at the NFL trade deadline.

It is what it is at this point. The Chargers and Joe Hortiz’s middling roster-building didn’t do enough to ease in the Mike McDaniel era on offense. This has produced the worst-looking Justin Herbert to date and questions around whether anyone, Jim Harbaugh included, will even be back for 2027.

There’s time for the Chargers to turn things around on the field. But the NFL trade deadline also presents a chance for the Chargers to actually make smart decisions that put them in a good position to rebuild for 2027 and beyond.

That means selling, and some ideas are just too good to pass up.

Chargers, Lions trade deadline deal analysis

Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Donte Jackson — Donte Jackson | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Many Chargers trade ideas between now and the deadline will rightfully center on Khalil Mack. The aging future Hall of Famer deserves a chance to go compete for a championship.

That’s why a pretty appealing offer from the pack of many sticks out, courtesy of ESPN’s Bill Barnwell.

Barnwell argues in a new column that the Chargers should trade away Mack and cornerback Donte Jackson to the Detroit Lions in exchange for fourth- and sixth-round picks in 2027. It even loops in the idea that the Chargers could sweeten the draft pick pot by eating a chunk of the money Mack and Jackson are still owed.

From Barnwell: “They could alternately want to eat some of that money to add more draft capital in a potential trade and think the picks are a better use of the cash than players who would be playing out the string for a hopeless team.”

A fourth-round pick as the high point of a Mack trade isn’t sexy. But he’s 35 years old on an expiring contract, was just considering retirement and the Chargers don’t exactly have leverage at 0-6 and counting.

Jackson, also on an expiring contract, is getting up there in age and one of the true assets with real trade value for contenders looking to buy at the deadline.

Extra draft picks aren’t the only thing here. Clearing the depth chart means more reps for the future-minded players. Think, Tuli Tuipulotu and rookie Akheem Mesidor on the edge, plus cornerbacks like Cam Hart, Tarheeb Still and even Rodney Shelley.

This isn’t where the Chargers wanted to be by the bye week. But they can at least leverage their NFL trade deadline to improve their long-term outlook dramatically well before any massive changes to the coaching staff, or even to Hortiz and his staff.

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