The Los Angeles Chargers sent some odd messages to fans at the NFL trade deadline.
On the topic of Khalil Mack, the Chargers remained true and didn’t move him, seemingly aligning with his wishes on the matter.
But the Chargers did go out and trade away Daiyan Henley, one of the core locker room leaders and prominent personalities on the team only outmatched by the likes of Derwin James.
Not trading obvious candidates to move while rebuilding, but sending away a 50-50 to stay player seemed to align with the wishy-washy stance of general manager Joe Hortiz and the front office overall. It just creates even more questions about how they attack change next offseason.
For now, though? We know the Chargers certainly had offers on the table for Mack.
Presumably, the Chargers had more than a few deadline offers for Mack, no matter what their public posturing through leaks and otherwise said.
One team with interest was the San Francisco 49ers, according to Steven Haglund of the GAC Podcast.
Should the Chargers have fired off a trade? Such a move would’ve kept Mack somewhat local and let him go play for a 7-1 contender.
That was the crux of the discussion for Chargers fans, really. Mack pondered retirement last offseason before coming back on his latest one year $18 million fully guaranteed contract. If this is his last season, most Chargers fans would have agreed that shipping him off and letting him get a chance at a title was the right thing to do.
However…those same fans would probably agree that if Mack wished to stay with the winless Chargers no matter what, they should probably honor that, too. There are things outside of football that are important to players, believe it or not.
The Chargers were in a no-win spot here (pun intended, sorry). They were never going to get a good return for Mack. They have no wins and no leverage. If they traded Mack for a sixth-round pick or something, they would’ve been lambasted for trading away a future Hall of Famer for peanuts.
Instead, they continue to clutch that Hall of Famer on an 0-8 team while whittling away the locker room leadership around him. He’s not under contract for next season, nor is anything about the Chargers, including the entire coaching staff, guaranteed for next season, either.
All Chargers fans can do, really, is enjoy watching Mack do his thing over the back half of the season and hope this is a sign that he comes back in some capacity for one more go next year, no matter what the coaching staff looks like.
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