Hall of Famers that were almost LA Chargers: Troy Aikman
Troy Aikman might not jump off the bat as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time but he is in the Hall of Fame, does have six Pro Bowls to his name and won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys. While he was never exceptional, he was always good enough to do what Dallas needed to do to win football games.
Aikman’s NFL career ended rather early for a Hall of Fame quarterback as he was released by the Cowboys after the 2000 season and then retired and ventured into broadcasting, where he still has a prominent role today.
However, according to a piece by Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, Aikman had a desire to sign with the Chargers and it appeared as if it was going to happen.
According to the piece, the Cowboys and Chargers were always the only two teams that Aikman wanted to play for out of college and his connection with Norv Turner seemingly made him a shoo-in for the job.
However, the Chargers instead opted to sign NFL journeyman Doug Flutie, who was 5-11 as a starter that season and threw more interceptions than touchdowns.
We will never know how good Aikman could have been as there is nothing to go off of. Could he have been better than Flutie with his 5-11 record? Probably, but we will just never know.
Luckily, it soon worked out for the Chargers at quarterback as they drafted Drew Brees in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. Maybe that would have never happened, or the team getting LT at five after trading down, if the Chargers would have signed Aikman.