Chargers exploit QB-needy team in fresh mock draft trade idea

Chris Roling | Apr 2, 2025

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The Los Angeles Chargers are all over the place in mock drafts lately, whether it’s trading up in the order to get a can’t-miss prospect or staying put and taking one of several different Michigan Wolverines prospects.

Other mocks choose to go with the trade-down route, which might mesh better with the approach we’ve seen from Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz so far. 

Perhaps the best example just came from CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso, who has the Chargers trading out of the first round in a deal with the Cleveland Browns. 

Those desperate Browns move all the way up to No. 22 for quarterback Jaxson Dart out of Ole Miss: “The Browns get who they believe can be their quarterback of the future, and make sure they don't miss him, moving from No. 33 to this spot to get him.”

RELATED: Chargers draft projection includes shocking trade, loops in Ravens' Mark Andrews

Some Chargers fans might balk at the idea of exiting the first round. In the two picks after No. 22, Michigan prospects Kenneth Grant and Will Johnson come off the board, too. 

But picking up droves of draft assets while moving down 11 spots seems like something the Chargers would do. Drafting at No. 33 and No. 55 in the second round, in addition to eight other owned picks, plus whatever else the Browns send over, would be a strong way to reinforce the roster across the entire depth chart. 

Beyond a big infusion of high-upside talent molded around what Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh want, it’s an easier trade to accept after remembering these same decision-makers found Ladd McConkey in the second round last year, never mind names like Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart in the fifth.

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