Dan Wolkenstein of the Chargers Unleashed podcast says that the Los Angeles Chargers don’t have enough draft capital to fill all the holes in the current roster and bolder moves must be made to churn out a winning team in 2024.
“That’s the problem if they stick and pick. They don’t have enough selections. Say they don’t do defensive line in the first four rounds. That’s not great. Say they do say they don’t put corner, that’s not great, say they don’t do tight end. No matter how you slice it, there’s only so many picks that you have.”
Los Angeles Chargers Should Rip The Bandaid Off, Move On From Bosa And Mack
The solution, according to Wolkenstein, is not an either-or scenario when it comes to Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack, but moving on from both. The two are the team’s two largest cap hits and take up 30 percent of the total cap for 2024. Simply cutting both today would turn a $35.5 million deficit into a $2.1 surplus.
Other scenarios would garner more cap flexibility. Designating Bosa as a post-August first cut would give the Chargers a $9 million surplus.
Other bold moves would benefit the Los Angeles Chargers in the same way and they have plenty of fat to cut from the roster. Eric Kendricks and Mike Williams could be cut or traded to save an astounding $27 million. Keenan Allen‘s contract can be restructured to add additional cap space. They could even be so bold as to trade back from the 5th overall pick in the 2024 draft and accumulate 2nd and 3rd rounders.
This is the approach the Los Angeles Rams took heading into the 2023 season to rebuild on the fly, move on from big contracts, and stack draft picks. They just needed to hit on a few of those picks, which they did and that comes down to a good process and a good bit of luck.
