Myles Garrett Trade Just Makes Chargers’ Khalil Mack Approach Look Smarter

The Los Angeles Chargers take some deserved heat for their approach to building the roster around star quarterback Justin Herbert.

Those Chargers tend to sit near the top of the NFL in free cap space despite the need to go all-in around a franchise passer. They didn’t appear to do enough at the guard position this offseason for Herbert, either.

Alas, the Chargers aren’t exactly mortgaging the future in a big way by making blockbuster trades, either. Some of that in the new era is a carryover from general manager Joe Hortiz's built-in ways from his Baltimore days.

That’s certainly something the Los Angeles Rams did when trading for Myles Garrett.

Myles Garrett trade puts Chargers in interesting light

When the Rams acquired Garrett from the Cleveland Browns, every chip went to the middle.

The sacrificed assets:

first-round pick in 2027
second-round pick in 2028
third-round pick in 2029
Jared Verse

Granted, the Rams got a future Hall of Famer in a win-now window.

But not every team can acquire a Myles Garrett. And all of those teams without a Myles Garrett are left scrambling to find a platoon of guys that can somehow cobble together similar production.

On that front, the Chargers are doing a pretty great job. They have a future Hall of Famer of their own in Khalil Mack, a guy they keep doing roughboy $18 million deals with each year.

The Chargers also have Tuli Tuipulotu who, at the age of 23, already has 26 sacks to his name and is still ascending ahead of a likely big contract extension.

Plus, the Chargers just drafted promising rookie Akheem Mesidor. No promises there, but they did just last year trade for Odafe Oweh and get some great production from him, so there’s hope.

Not that there isn’t something admirable about the Rams going after Garrett. They’ve done similar before by tossing away picks to win now.

But that’s not how the Chargers operate. And they have all of their major assets and plenty of cap space for future moves. They also look to be in a spot to make a deep run of their own, especially with Mike McDaniel drawing up the offense now.

We’ll see who does it better in the long run, but the Chargers look pretty good for sticking to their ways right now.

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