NFL insider reveals Chargers' intentions ahead of NFL trade deadline

Anticipation has built for the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday to see if the league's buyers and sellers truly get active. The LA Chargers are one of the teams in the spotlight and have widely been speculated to make buyer moves at the deadline given their 4-3 start.

With an opportunity to get back to two games over .500 in Week 9 for the first time since the team's 2-0 start, ESPN's NFL insider Jeremy Fowler detailed where he thinks Los Angeles currently stands entering Tuesday's deadline:

"The Chargers are what I consider 'window shopping'," Fowler wrote. "They like where they sit, but will consider options to get better over the next few days."

Chargers are considered window shoppers at the trade deadline

Los Angeles has been cited in several reports as looking around for wide receiver help. Dianna Russini of The Athletic specifically tied them to calls for Jets' wideout Mike Williams a few weeks ago, in addition to the Saints and Steelers.

While the Chargers are getting Quentin Johnston, Derius Davis, and potentially DJ Chark back this week, it shouldn't surprise anyone if they still decide to add outside wide receiver help at the deadline.

The Chargers are getting great defensive results while dealing with injuries on that side of the ball. Despite being the league's top-scoring defense, injury question marks still surround the cornerback room and EDGE rusher Joey Bosa.

Could the team pursue upgrades for Jesse Minter's unit? Following next week's Titans game, LA will go head-to-head with Cincinnati, Baltimore, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay over the next stretch of the season. Three of those five teams rank in the NFL's top 10 total offenses currently. Kansas City is just outside that group of 10 at number 11.

Another factor to consider in terms of why the Chargers may be more cautiously "window shopping" is their 2025 offseason plan. LA was unable to truly get involved in free agency this past offseason due to having to deal with the contract situations of the previous "big four" roster cap hits (Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Joey Bosa, and Khalil Mack). Gus Edwards, Will Dissly, and several vet minimum contracts were about the extent of what Joe Hortiz could do.

With about $70+ million in cap space opening up next season, do the Chargers want to take on future money with traded contracts? My personal reading between the lines is that they'd probably rather opt for expiring deals on the market given how they cleaned the cap sheet slate for 2025.

The Chargers can also open up more cap space with some of their roster cut decisions (most notably Joey Bosa) and potential extensions.

While the Chargers will still peruse their options at the deadline, it seems like they could weigh their long term future over their short term goals this year if they truly are "window shopping".