The LA Chargers made a shocking and downright heartbreaking trade on Thursday, sending Keenan Allen to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick. The Chargers had already become cap-compliant with other moves so it appeared that the team was out of the water and Allen was not on the trade block any longer.
Instead, the Chargers traded the veteran receiver with one year left on his deal to free up over $23 million in cap space. Now that the dust has settled, the Chargers have about $22 million in effective cap space to spend, which factors in both the draft class pool and a potential in-season budget.
As it stands right now, the Chargers' wide receiver room consists of Joshua Palmer, Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis. Even with Malik Nabers being penciled in as the fifth pick, this wide receiver room needs a lot of help.
If the Chargers turn to free agency, here are the best options they have left (spoiler: none of them are as good as Allen).
Best wide receivers the Chargers can sign after trading Keenan Allen:
1. Mike Williams
Ironically, Mike Williams is the best-available free-agent wide receiver on the market after the Chargers released him on Wednesday. While Williams was the first domino to fall in this cap crusade, early reports indicated that the Chargers actually wanted to bring him back at the right price.
At the time that seemed impossible with the Chargers' salary cap situation but now the team has a lot more cap space to spend. Bringing Williams back on a one-year deal now makes sense and is in the realm of possibility.
Would it have been better to just keep Allen and either extend him to soften his cap hit or even get rid of Khalil Mack/Joey Bosa? Probably. But re-signing Williams so he can be part of next year's wide receiving corps is much better than anything else the Chargers can do.