LA Chargers: Watch for this potential trade target on Monday Night Football

The LA Chargers lost in ugly fashion to the New England Patriots in Week 8 and the team needs help in two ways. First, the team needs the rest of the AFC West to lose, meaning that the Bolts will be rooting for the New York Giants on Monday Night Football as they head into Arrowhead Stadium.

Second, the Chargers need some help on the trade market. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 2 at 4 p.m. ET. There are several positions that the LA Chargers could target via trade but the most prominent is defensive tackle.

And on Monday night, the Bolts could get a look at a potential trade target and hopefully, a strong performance can convince Tom Telesco to stop hoarding draft picks just so he can cut them a year later and make a trade.

The potential trade target to keep a keen eye on if you are watching Monday Night Football is New York's Austin Johnson.

Why Austin Johnson makes sense for the LA Chargers:

It is no secret that the LA Chargers need help with the run defense and that is exactly what Johnson would bring. Johnson has quietly been one of the best run-stuffers in the league and would give the Chargers an immediate boost up front.

Johnson is not elite in getting pressure on the quarterback but he is certainly good enough to play alongside Joey Bosa and hopefully get some double-teams taken off of him. According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson has generated 11 pressures on the passer in 139 pass rush snaps. For comparison, Linval Joseph has generated 11 pressures in 141 pass rush snaps, Jerry Tillery has generated 15 pressures in 222 pass rush snaps.

More importantly, also according to PFF, Johnson has generated 17 stops this season, four of which came against a team that sliced the Chargers up with the running backs, the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson has already set a new career-high in stops this season.

Johnson is not a big-name player and is not going to cost much if the Chargers were to pry him from the New York Giants. The Giants are 2-5 and are likely going to be 2-6 after Monday Night Football. They are a team that is heading towards the top-10 in the 2022 NFL Draft, not the playoffs.

The Giants should be selling off any pieces that they can and Johnson is an easy one for them to sell off. The Giants would get much more out of trading him than keeping him around. But even then, the price won't be much. At the very most the Chargers would have to give up a sixth-round pick.

This is a team that has is projected to receive four compensatory picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. They can afford to trade a sixth, maybe a seventh, to help address the run defense.

Money is not even an excuse for the Bolts to not bring in the former second-round pick. Johnson signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract before the 2021 season began. That is not restricting at all and barely cuts into the team's carry-over cap for next season.

It is a no-brainer. Tom Telesco should be calling the New York Giants as soon as Monday Night Football is over.