With Questions at Wide Receiver, Chargers Stay Put at NFL Trade Deadline

The Chargers did not make a move ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

Nicholas Cothrel | Nov 1, 2022

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Los Angeles Chargers

The NFL trade deadline is in the books, and the Chargers did not pull off a trade to acquire a player.

Rather than add a pass-catcher to the team's most glaring need that is wide receiver, they've opted to roll with the group they have for the remaining 10 games left on their schedule.

Injuries have derailed the Chargers to great lengths this season, but no position has been banged up more than wide receiver.

Keenan Allen has battled a hamstring injury since Week 1, having played just 45 snaps this season and has yet to play a full game. Mike Williams has a high ankle sprain and is expected to miss at least four weeks. Joshua Palmer has battled a lingering ankle injury and missed the team's last game with a concussion. Jalen Guyton suffered a torn ACL in Week 3 and is out for the remainder of the season.

Ahead of the Chargers bye week, coach Brandon Staley said he would meet with General Manager Tom Telesco, Owner Dean Spanos and President of Football Operations John Spanos to determine where they believe they’re at organizationally with the trade deadline looming.

"We are always going to look for avenues to enhance our team and make it better," Staley said a week before the trade deadline. "If those avenues are possible, then we’ll definitely explore them.”

Under general manager Tom Telesco, the Chargers have never acquired a player at the trade deadline. However, the team demonstrated this offseason that they believe this is their window to win now. They spent more money on players via trade and free agency than any other offseason of Telesco's tenure.

While history shows the Chargers haven’t been very active at the trade deadline, this year felt like it could be the time to break that mold. Expectations have been raised to greater heights following an aggressive offseason, coupled with the current situation of desperately needing a wide receiver to stretch the field vertically.

Instead, the Chargers will move forward with their draft picks in hand and attempt to make the current wide receiver group work.

In totality, 20 players have moved to new teams, including a record 12 trades made on Tuesday, the most on an NFL trade deadline day in the last 30 years. Wide receivers involved in trades include Robbie Anderson, Kadarius Toney, Chase Claypool and Calvin Ridley.

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