There are a lot of rumors swirling around the 2024 NFL Draft. With the fifth pick being viewed as a fork-in-the-road selection, the LA Chargers have been at the center of many of these rumors as the team weighs its options.
Of course, because it is draft season and people have to come up with storylines to pass the time, there have been some nonsensical rumors around the Chargers and the quarterback position. After J.J. McCarthy's odds to be picked fifth overall plummeted, those in NFL media started peddling a hypothesis that the Chargers may look to reunite McCarthy with Jim Harbaugh.
As ridiculous as every Chargers fan knows this is, the idea that the team could trade Justin Herbert has actually grown some steam this offseason. Harbaugh has hyped McCarthy beyond belief, which opened the door for all of these ludicrous takes and rumors.
Thankfully, a voice of reason has emerged in ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. No one in the media is more plugged in than Schefter and he put a complete stop to any discussions around the Chargers moving on from Herbert in favor of McCarthy.
Adam Schefter throws cold water on Mike Greenberg using ESPN BET odds to push the idea that the Chargers could use their first-round pick on J.J. McCarthy and trade Justin Herbert.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 24, 2024
"You'd be absorbing the largest cap charge in NFL history to trade one of the elite young… pic.twitter.com/a5x5KHncyF
Chargers are not trading Justin Herbert anytime soon
Any speculation around McCarthy going fifth overall is solely based on the idea that the Chargers could trade the pick back to a quarterback-hungry team so they could draft McCarthy. No Chargers fan needs to hear this, but there is a zero percent chance Harbaugh switches out Herbert for McCarthy.
From a logistically standpoint it makes zero sense as Herbert would carry over a $100 million dead cap hit this season and that simply is not possible regardless of any potential restructures the team could make.
But even if the Chargers could find a way to make the money work, they obviously would never do this! Herbert is a top-five quarterback in the league and McCarthy is an unproven commodity. If McCarthy ends up being 90% as good as Herbert then it will be considered an absolute home run for whoever drafts him.
So why would the Chargers ever even entertain something like this? Spoiler alert: they wouldn't. This is a prime example of the NFL media world getting bored as the draft is coming up and creating narratives that can get social media impressions and eyes on TV screens.
Thankfully, Schefter is not playing along with this silly game and is shutting down all of these nonsensical conversations, echoing what all Chargers fans have been shouting into the ether this entire time.