Chargers add yet another Titan to the defense with savvy Elijah Molden trade

LA Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz promised to be active in working around the roster fringes and the first-time GM has been nothing short of that. After continually bringing in new faces during training camp, Hortiz continued the trend by trading late-round draft capital for slot cornerback Elijah Molden, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

This is the second addition the Chargers have made on Wednesday after trimming the roster down to 53 players on Tuesday. Los Angeles also claimed former Michigan running back Hassan Haskins, who is bound to play a big role in Ryan Ficken's special teams.

Molden, meanwhile, will likely slide into the starting slot cornerback role in place of Ja'Sir Taylor on Jesse Minter's defense. Rookie cornerback Tarheeb Still, who is a slot corner, was not seen at Chargers practice on Wednesday. It is unclear if the two moves are related.

Elijah Molden becomes latest Titans player to join Chargers' defense

The Chargers have made a trend out of bringing in former Titans players this offseason. It started with fellow cornerback Kristian Fulton, who the Bolts signed during free agency back in March. The Chargers followed that up by signing Bud Dupree, signing Teair Tart during camp and now, trading for Molden.

Molden is on the smaller side of NFL cornerbacks but the 2021 third-round pick can certainly play. While his primary role will come in the slot, Minter will have the flexibility to move him around the defense in nickel packages to be matchup-specific.

The addition of Molden also essentially led to Woods being waived by the team. Woods was officially waived to make room for Haskins but that was a timing thing more than anything else. With Molden on the roster, there was no reason to keep Woods around despite his position change to cornerback.

The Chargers are going to have to waive another player to make room for Molden and the most likely candidate is Jaret Patterson. With Haskins on the roster, the Chargers currently have five running backs on the depth chart and Patterson is RB5.

Regardless of what roster move follows, the fact remains that Hortiz is staying true to his word of being active and looking to optimize the roster wherever and whenever he can.

This is not something Chargers fans are used to, and they certainly should appreciate it after suffering through the previous regime.