There's an alternate reality where the LA Chargers did more at the NFL trade deadline than trade a future sixth-round pick for Trevor Penning. That reality may have been closer to coming to fruition than anyone realized.
It was widely reported that the Chargers were in the market for a running back ahead of the deadline. While the team didn't make a move, the reasoning was straightforward: both Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris are on IR.
Hampton is set to return after the bye week and Kimani Vidal has emerged as a true No. 2 to replace Harris. This kept the Chargers from making a move at the running back position, but it may not have kept the team from inquiring about some big names.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Miami Dolphins were fielding plenty of calls for running back De'Von Achane. Achane ultimately wasn't moved, but the Chargers very well could have been one of the teams calling about his services.
"It seems the speedy 24-year-old generated as many phone calls as anyone, with Miami settling a second-round pick and more as the price. That never came, thanks in part to Achane being in a contract year and due for a significant pay day. But there was plenty of intrigue for Achane."
Chargers may have inquired about De'Von Achane
Rapoport didn't explicitly say the Chargers called the Dolphins about an Achane trade. However, it's not hard to read the tea leaves and put two and two together.
Prior to the deadline, Rapoport was the one who reported the Chargers were in the market for running back help. Rapoport explicitly said the Chargers were calling teams about running back help, both in starters and in depth pieces. If the Chargers were calling teams about running back help, and the Dolphins received ample phone calls about Achane, it feels safe to say these two teams at least connected in some capacity.
That being said, the Chargers were never going to trade for Achane given the situation. General manager Joe Hortiz has been rather conservative both with premium draft capital and with the contracts the team gives out.
There isn't a world in which the Chargers ever would have traded a second-round pick for Achane in a contract year. The Chargers just drafted Omarion Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Even a third-round pick probably would have been too rich for the Chargers.
If anything, this just highlights why the Chargers were rather quiet at the deadline despite having multiple needs and a roster that could make a Super Bowl run. Teams in need always sacrifice leverage in trade negotiations and the Chargers clearly didn't feel like they needed to do that.
The premiums were simply too high. The market had to be inflated if Achane's price on a contract year was a second-round pick. Hortiz more than likely did his due diligence and asked around, but it's not hard to see why nothing came to fruition.