Why a La'el Collins trade doesn't make sense for the LA Chargers

2. La'el Collins's contract doesn't really make sense for the Chargers

The Chargers have been very aggressive with bringing talent in and they have certainly utilized the cap space they had heading into the season. Not only have the Bolts been utilizing the current cap space, but they have taken advantage of the projected jump in cap space over the next two years in how they structure deals.

While the Chargers have spent big thus far, bringing in Collins might be one step too far as his contract comes at a lucrative price. While it is not a massive contract by any means, it is not one that the Chargers should really be in the business of acquiring at this point in time.

Collins would carry a $10 million cap hit in each of the final three years of his deal and the Chargers could get out of the deal theoretically unscathed in the third year if needed. They could also try and restructure his deal to make it more cost effective than the $10 million, but that would tack on more money on the backend.

Regardless, the Chargers do not have much space and would either have to restructure Collins or restructure other players. It is possible for the team to do, but again, that only pushes off cap hits at a later date and that could conflict with giving new contracts to next year's free agents (most notably Derwin James and Nasir Adderley).

While the salary figures of Joseph-Day and Johnson are not yet official, Daniel Popper of The Athletic maps out $6.8 million in spending space for the Chargers. Considering the team also needs a starting right guard and depth in multiple areas, essentially spending it all on Collins might not be the best move considering...