The LA Chargers are in a completely different situation with the backup quarterback position than they were at this time last year. In 2024, the Chargers had to scramble for backup quarterback help, eventually trading for Taylor Heinicke shortly before Week 1.
This year, Heinicke might once again be on the trade market as the Bolts are operating from an area of strength. Trey Lance is thriving in the preseason and has arguably already won the QB2 job. Thus, if the right team is willing to pay the right price for Heinicke, he is as good as gone.
The Dallas Cowboys might be the right team. Dallas may be desperate for a backup quarterback given Joe Milton's awful play in the preseason, and we know Jerry Jones is willing to trade late-round draft capital for backup quarterbacks.
Chargers should call Cowboys to pull off a Taylor Heinicke trade
The Cowboys traded a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft for Milton and a seventh-round pick. Milton had a remarkable game in Week 18 to ruin the New England Patriots' tanking efforts, and subsequently landed the team a fifth-round pick.
That breakout game appears more and more like an aberration, not a true breakout. Milton has struggled mightily in the preseason, likely leaving the Cowboys with buyer's remorse after trading a draft pick for him.
Ironically enough, this is the second instance in the last few years the Cowboys have done this. Dallas traded a fourth-round pick for Lance, who was awful in Dallas before turning it around with the Chargers this preseason.
Will the Chargers get a fourth or fifth-round pick for Heinicke? Definitely not. But if Milton lays another stinker in the final game of the preseason, Dallas may be scrambling for backup quarterback help. Quarterback help doesn't grow on trees, and the Chargers would be operating from an area of strength.
Even if it's just a seventh-round pick, the Chargers would essentially get back the pick they traded for Elijah Molden a year ago. Los Angeles traded a 2026 seventh-round pick for Molden shortly before the 2025 season, so acquiring any draft capital for Heinicke would essentially make Molden a free acquisition from a year ago.
The Cowboys aren't the only team that will need backup quarterback help heading into the 2025 season, but they might be the most desperate. And with Jerry Jones' track record, there may be a real opportunity for the Bolts to capitalize on Milton's disastrous preseason.