NFL Trade Deadline Rumors Finally Loop in Chargers, Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers feel like perhaps the most obvious sell candidate at the upcoming NFL trade deadline.

Harbaugh’s Chargers have fully faceplanted over the first month of the season and have yet to win a game. Historically and statistically speaking, the season is over.

Naturally, this means looking at the Chargers as sellers. The Mike McDaniel experiment was a flop and Harbaugh and his coaching staff sit on hot seats.

With aging veterans like Khalil Mack, Denzel Perryman and even Derwin James, one could see why contenders around the NFL might give the Chargers a ring about a trade or two before the deadline.

Whether the Chargers actually want to play ball on trades is another story, though, with some around the NFL finally commenting on the situation.

NFL trade deadline rumors around Chargers

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh — Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Chargers don’t usually go wild with trade deadline moves under Joe Hortiz. Last year, though, they went and got Odafe Oweh to boost the defense. That was a time of need, though, whereas this year is a disaster.

According to Fox Sports’ Eric Williams, one NFL executive said this week that there’s no expectation that the Chargers will trade away assets at the deadline.

Williams spoke with someone else who went into the why of things.

"Harbaugh has been fairly loyal to players he’s helped acquire, and I don’t think the personnel department is any different," one scout told Williams. "[Khalil] Mack just needs to retire after the season. Quentin showed inconsistent hands coming out and similar vibes to why Mike Williams wasn’t a long-term player, either.”

Sort of a weird one from the scout there. If Mack needs to retire, he might want a shot at a Super Bowl somewhere first, right?

Regardless, another executive told Ralph Vacchiano that things could certainly go the other direction, calling the Chargers the team “the most likely team to pull the plug” if things keep going poorly.

We’ll see if Hortiz and the Chargers want to build for the future if they’re sitting on an 0-6 mark by the bye, or even 0-8. And if that’s the case, the do right by the players reputation for Harbaugh could very well mean trading away some guys like Mack to a contender.

Either way, this certainly won’t be the last time the Chargers come up in NFL trade deadline rumors now that the ball is rolling on a lost season.

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