The Chargers’ WR has been traded to the Bears, who are in need of receivers.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Dontrelle Inman has been dealt to Chicago this afternoon prior to the upcoming trade deadline.
Chargers traded WR Dontrelle Inman to the Bears for a seventh-round pick, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 25, 2017
There are a few ways to look at this trade in my opinion. First, let’s look at this from the Chargers’ perspective.
The Chargers have some of the best depth at wide receiver in the league. Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin, Tyrell Williams and 2017 first-round pick Mike Williams will now make up a pretty great receiving corps. It became pretty clear that Inman fell out of the offensive scheme drastically this season due to having too much depth.
Inman, 28, had two receptions for nine yards this season and was a healthy scratch the last two games. Now, we’ll likely see Mike Williams get some more reps and targets since there’s one WR less on the depth chart, which will be good to see as he has gotten healthier.
For the Bears, it’s very clear that they desperately needed wide receivers with the departure of Alshon Jeffery, as well as the plethora of injuries to their receivers. They need receivers, and Dontrelle Inman demonstrated the ability to be a No. 1 or No. 2 option last year with the injury to Keenan Allen which forced him to step up. He also provides rookie Mitch Trubisky with actual talent at the WR position.
I’ve really liked what the former CFL standout has done in his short time with the Chargers. He fell out of the offense this year, but he provided some exciting moments last season when he played more and got more snaps following a load of injuries to the offense. I also wanted more of a mid-round (fourth or fifth) pick with the talent he brings, but the Bears are very short on picks after what they had to give up for Trubisky last year. So, a seventh is better than nothing I suppose. Plus, this move was purely to free up the depth chart for the Chargers. They also had better hope no one gets injured, or this move could end up looking bad. But I don’t expect that to happen.
This will not be too much of a shakeup for the Chargers, but we’ll have to watch how Williams now develops with more reps and more snaps in Inman’s absence. It should be interesting to watch how the receiving corps plays in New England this Sunday against a somewhat mediocre Patriot secondary.