The LA Chargers have several big-name free agents who may be on their way out of Los Angeles. Wide receiver Joshua Palmer is near the top of the list after a disappointing 2024 season that saw him get lost in the shuffle.
The Chargers need wide receiver help but they need to swing for the fences, which will naturally lead Palmer to sign elsewhere. As much potential as Palmer has shown during his Chargers tenure, he has never really put it together to be a consistent producer for the Bolts.
And with the team likely bringing in a new top-tier wideout, Palmer likely does not want to return to a situation where he will be the WR3 at best, and likely the WR4.
Finding a team that has cap space to take a flier on Palmer while believing in his upside may be easier said than done. However, there is one glaring destination that makes all the sense in the world for Palmer, and it would be rather poetic.
Joshua Palmer seems destined to leave the Chargers for the Las Vegas Raiders
All the stars are aligning for Joshua Palmer to stay in the AFC West and sign with the Raiders. After all, Las Vegas has made a habit out of bringing in former players, coaches, and executives from the Chargers in recent years.
The biggest thread tying Palmer to Las Vegas is wide receivers coach Chris Beatty. The Raiders hired the former Chargers wide receivers coach to be their wide receivers coach under Pete Carroll. With Beatty in Vegas there is strong connective tissue to Palmer.
Beatty was hired by Brandon Staley ahead of the 2021 season and worked closely with Palmer during his first three years in the league. Wide receiver coaches don't make free-agent signings but they can influence where a player wants to go.
The Raiders are also in a position where they have ample cap space to spend but likely will miss out on the top-tier free agents. No top-tier free agent is going to want to sign with the Raiders given the quarterback situation if there is a similar offer on the table from a team with a better quarterback situation.
Thus, the Raiders are going to be shopping in that second and third tier of wide receivers, which is where Palmer lies. It isn't hard for the Raiders to draft a wideout early in the draft, sign Palmer, and convince themselves that they have a top-tier receiving corps with Brock Bowers also in the fold.
The Raiders are also a perfect fit for Palmer outside of the Beatty connection. Palmer should be looking to sign with a team where he can get ample targets and earn a bigger payday next time he is due for a contract. Palmer turns 26 in September, so he could definitely sign a two-year deal with the hopes of cashing out ahead of his age-28 season.
There are other teams with cap space and a spot on the depth chart to fill that may interest Palmer but no team has as strong of a case as the Raiders.