Option 2: Trading back for Herbert or Love
I am going to preface this by saying I don’t really think trading back is going to happen, but it’s always fun to speculate. When targeting an ideal team to trade back you want to take a look at the teams with multiple first or second-round picks. Ideally, in this kind of situation you want to be in a position to still take a quarterback and also stockpile some valuable picks later on.
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Some fans are pointing the finger towards the Las Vegas Raiders or San Francisco 49ers as teams that could potentially be looking to trade up for their chance at Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb or even Derek Brown.
The 49ers likely need to use one of their two first-round picks to trade back, since they are really short on picks in this draft. The Raiders are well-positioned with their first-round picks and don’t really need to trade up. The Minnesota Vikings also have two first-round picks but are likely too far down the line to still be in range to draft a quarterback.
My favorite potential trade partner, and really the only realistic option here is the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are clearly trying to position themselves for the chance to enter the Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields sweepstakes. Going into business with them just makes sense.
As I mentioned on the previous slide, the Chargers are heading towards a very expensive offseason next year. So trading the number six pick this year along with next year’s first-rounder for the Jaguars’ two first-rounders this year would work perfectly. For good measure, they could swap some mid-round picks as well.
For the Chargers, they’d likely still have their choice of drafting either Herbert or Love at the number nine pick and be able to add an additional high-end talent like Kenneth Murray, Denzel Mims, Justin Jefferson, or maybe even Andrew Thomas.
The Jaguars would be able to get their chance at bolstering their offensive line or receiving core with the sixth pick this year and then have even more trade ammo to be able to go get their quarterback of the future next year. Win-win for both sides.
Justin Herbert @oregonfootball He has 1st rd talent as evidenced by this play. I have him rated higher coming out of college than Josh Allen @BuffaloBills I gave him to the @Chargers in my Mock Draft @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/kKGS2FwfPA
— Charley Casserly (@CharleyCasserly) March 25, 2020