LA Chargers: The potential cost of drafting Penei Sewell
By Jason Reed
The potential cost of the LA Chargers trading up for Penei Sewell if the Cincinnati Bengals draft Ja’Marr Chase
If the Bengals do not draft Sewell (they really should) then they are likely going to draft Ja’Marr Chase. Chase is the best receiving prospect in this year’s draft and would be reuniting with Joe Burrow.
It does not make a lot of sense from a roster-building standpoint, but the Bengals are not known for being the best roster builders.
We also are going to have to assume that the Atlanta Falcons do not select Sewell nor Chase. There are three routes the team can take: select Kyle Pitts, select a quarterback to sit behind Matt Ryan or trade the pick to a team like the Denver Broncos or New England Patriots to get a quarterback.
MORE: Selections in picks 1-12 that would help the LA Chargers at 13
For simplicities sake, we are going to assume Atlanta kept their pick and took a quarterback. So where would the LA Chagrers have to trade up to?
Miami has the sixth pick and while they also have a young quarterback, they spent a first-round pick on a tackle last year. Pitts feels like the move for the Dolphins so they can continue to surround Tua Tagovailoa with weapons.
Then we have Detroit, Denver, Carolina and Dallas. To ensure that another team does not jump ahead of the Chargers the best route would be to trade with the Detroit Lions for the seventh overall pick.
We have an identical previous trade that we can look back on. In 2018, the Buffalo Bills traded up to the 7th overall pick from the 12th overall pick in order to draft Josh Allen. In that trade, the Bills sent the 53rd and 56th pick in that year’s draft.
Current draft picks typically have more value than future draft picks. The value of the 53rd and 56th pick this year is a combined 710 points; which makes it right inbetween the value of the 25th and 26th overall picks.
There are two routes the Chargers can take. They can trade the 12th pick with the 47th, 77th and 97th overall picks. Or, the team can hope that its pick next year is in the 20s and trade next year’s first to move up to seven along with one of the team’s sixth-round picks this year, just to sprinkle in some current value.