The Los Angeles Chargers get another veteran option in the backfield if this three-team trade were to go down.
The Los Angeles Chargers are ready to take the field in 2025 with one of the best offensive backfields in the NFL. That is, if Najee Harris is ready to go.
Harris has yet to practice with the team this summer while nursing an eye injury stemming from an incident on the Fourth of July. There is currently no timetable for his return. Though Harris is expected to return soon and be a big part of the team's plans, it is a bit concerning, considering the main thing the Chargers liked about him was the fact that he's never missed a game in the league.
The team still has an exciting option in first-round pick Omarion Hampton, but could the team be considering adding more firepower? Seth Walder of ESPN, taking a look at some deals that should take place during training camp, proposed that the Chargers help pull off a rare three-team trade.
Three-team trades are commonplace in the NBA, but pretty much unheard of in the NFL. However, they are fun to discuss and there is no reason that the league won't see one at some point in the future.
In this deal, also involving the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Walder proposes the following:
Bears receive: RB Rachaad White, 2027 seventh-round pick (from Chargers)
Chargers receive: RB D'Andre Swift, 2026 sixth-round pick (from Bears)
Buccaneers receive: 2026 fifth-round pick (from Bears)
D'Andre Swift, a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, is coming off a strong season in Chicago, where he rushed for 959 yards and six touchdowns. He's not likely to be a featured back much more in the NFL, but he would be a terrific addition to a strong Chargers backfield under a head coach who loves to run the football.
Walder went on to say this:
"Just because we almost never see three-team trades in the NFL doesn't mean they can't happen. Plus, they're just fun to project.The major impetus for the deal here is the assumption that Bears coach Ben Johnson will place a similar emphasis on the running game as he did in Detroit, and that Swift simply isn't good enough to carry that load.
Swift posted a remarkably poor negative-174 rush yards over expectation, per NFL Next Gen Stats, which was the worst total of any player last season. It marked the third season out of the past four in which Swift recorded negative rush yards over expectation; he posted negative first downs over expectation in all four of those seasons.
White, in contrast, added 48 rush yards over expectation on 144 carries last season in Tampa Bay. And he's elite in the pass game, with the second-best overall receiver score over the past three seasons combined -- behind only Christian McCaffrey and one spot ahead of Austin Ekeler. That sounds like the kind of player
That sounds like the kind of player Johnson could employ to great effect -- like he did with Jahmyr Gibbs in Detroit. White is a useful player for Tampa Bay, but Bucky Irving took the starting job from him and is a strong receiver in his own right. With Sean Tucker also on the Bucs and White in the final year of his deal, the latter becomes a logical trade candidate.
The tricky part about making this deal is that Swift is owed $7.9 million in cash ($7.4 million of which is fully guaranteed) this season, more than he's worth based on his production history. Thus, the Bears would find themselves on the wrong end of a sixth- and seventh-round pick swap to deal him to the Chargers.
For Los Angeles, Swift would provide veteran depth behind first-round rookie Omarion Hampton and another option in general while Najee Harris recovers from an eye injury. Plus, it would allow the Chargers to pick up a little draft capital in exchange for a bit of their cap space war chest. No team has more combined cap space between this year and next than the Chargers, per OverTheCap.com.
I almost scratched this deal when the Chargers signed Nyheim Hines , but his last NFL appearance was in 2022. Swift would be a more logical veteran backup in the event Harris missed some time."
Swift is still just 26 years old and could have plenty left in the tank to help the Chargers pound opponents in the running game this season and going forward. With a three-headed monster of Hampton, Harris and Swift, Harbaugh would be licking his chops on the sideline.
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But the Chargers did sign Nyheim Hines, and though he hasn't played in two full seasons, he can bring the kind of experience to training camp that the team needs, giving advice to Hampton, Kimani Vidal and Raheim Sanders.
It's a fun trade idea to discuss, especially with three teams involved, but it's not likely to become a reality.
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Category: Football
