Chargers News: Did Bolts Whiff On Buy-Low Trade Opportunity For WR?

Could they have used his skills?

The Chargers sorely missed two of their best offensive weapons despite winning their week 4 contest against the Raiders by seven points. 

A second-half offensive stall meant a victory too close for comfort thanks to absences from both Austin Ekeler and Mike Williams due to ankle and ACL injuries respectively. 

Concerns remain for targets around Keenan Allen and Justin Herbert's struggles made many wonder if LA could've traded for a recently dealt young target from the NFC North. 

Trade! The Chicago Bears are trading WR Chase Claypool to the Miami Dolphins, per league sources. It will be a 2025 6th from Miami for Claypool and a 2025 7th from Chicago. https://t.co/Rqt3k5LjPw

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) October 6, 2023

Claypool showed promise in his first few seasons with the Steelers, but his attitude issues caused friction for Mike Tomlin and the rest of his teammatfirst-round

Pittsburgh dealt away the young receiver for what turned out to essentially be a first round pick at no. 32 overall in the 2023 draft to the Chicago Bears. 

As a Bear, Claypool's struggles continued and his effort dipped alongside his role in the offense to the point where Chicago told the disgruntled target not to show up to the facility in the past two weeks. 

Coincidentally, Chicago's offense took off without the Notre Dame product as they earned their first win earlier this week on Thursday night against the Commanders. 

DJ Moore's emergence led to Claypool's services being unnecessary and the 25-year-old was dealt to the Dolphins for some late-round picks. 

Though his attitude and effort remain concerns, Charger fans are right to wonder what role he could have played in their offense without Williams for the rest of 2023. 

Kellen Moore's creative system surely would have found a role for the talented, albeit troublesome receiver but he'll now be a part of the dynamic Miami offense under Mike McDaniel. 

Allen isn't getting any younger and last Sunday proved that if you could contain him, you could temper the Bolts' dynamic offense. 

Perhaps GM Tom Telesco will find another trade target in the coming weeks, but we can't help but wonder if an opportunity was missed with Claypool now being a Dolphin. 

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