Perhaps the biggest need on the entire LA Chargers is wide receiver. After trading Keenan Allen and releasing Mike Williams, the Chargers have one of the worst wide receiver rooms in the sport for one of the best quarterbacks.
The trio of Joshua Palmer, Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis headline a room that desperately needs help. Los Angeles will undoubtedly take a receiver early in the 2024 NFL Draft but that alone probably will not be enough. This team needs more help.
There are several exciting free-agent wide receivers that would seemingly make sense for the Chargers on paper but the team has not budged. This has remained a pressing need for the Bolts for months, yet LA has not added a veteran wide receiver in free agency to bolster the roster.
This inactivity from the Bolts is telling. The fact that the Chargers have gone this long without signing a wide receiver may have unintentionally revealed who the team is going to bring in to bolster the room alongside a rookie receiver.
Chargers' inactivity points the arrow directly at Tyler Boyd
Of all the receivers that the Chargers could sign, Tyler Boyd seems like the most likely considering how long it is taking the Chargers to actually make a move. Boyd has already been connected to the Bolts and the longer this takes, the more likely it is that he will come to the team.
There are several other free agents the Chargers could sign but they have something in common. The likes of Odell Beckham Jr, Michael Gallup and Hunter Renfrow were all released by their respective teams and thus, do not count towards the 2025 compensatory formula.
That is not the case with Boyd, whose contract simply ran out with the Cincinnati Bengals. If the Chargers were to sign Boyd to a deal right now then it would factor into the compensatory pick formula, resulting in the Chargers getting fewer picks next year.
There is a caveat, though. If the Chargers sign Boyd after the 2024 NFL Draft then he will no longer count against the compensatory formula. If the Chargers wanted to sign one of the other three big-name receivers then they could do so now without any kind of limitations. But with Boyd, it pays to wait.
And that might be why the team is opting to wait. Not only will Boyd not count toward the compensatory formula, but other receiver-hungry teams may address the position in the draft, reducing the market for Boyd and thus reducing the price for the Chargers.
Boyd is not someone who is going to be a WR1 for the Bolts but alongside one of the franchise receivers atop this draft class, he can be a big part in rebuilding this room. A top three of Malik Nabers/Marvin Harrison Jr, Palmer and Boyd (with a potential breakout from Quentin Johnston) can actually win some games in LA.