3 potential Chargers trade candidates entering 2024 training camp

3. Alex Leatherwood

There was a time when the Las Vegas Raiders were so high on Alex Leatherwood that they drafted him 17th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, despite most teams having a Day 2, if not a Day 3 grade on the Alabama product.

Now granted, much of that could have come down to the outside-the-box decision-making of Mike Mayock, with the Raiders opting to release him from his contract the following January, but still, despite his pedigree, Leatherwood lasted just one season in Las Vegas and claimed off of waivers by the Chicago Bears for the 2022 season.

With the emotional weight of being a team’s first-round failure no longer impacting his career, Leatherwood ended up appearing in four games with no starts for the Bears before being released once more in August of 2023. From there, Leatherwood landed on Cleveland’s practice squad in 2023 and then with the Chargers in May of 2024, where he is currently fighting for a reserve spot on the roster.

Could Leatherwood figure it out, find a spot on the team moving forward, and rehab his career as either a guard or a swing tackle? Potentially so, but it’s just as likely that the Chargers could ship Leatherwood to another team willing to take a chance on the 25-year-old and hand over a conditional Day 3 selection to avoid having to fight for his services on the waiver wire.

2. Trey Pipkins III

Keeping things on the offensive line, when the front office drafted Joe Alt over Rome Odunze and Brock Bowers at pick six, it effectively put Trey Pipkins III on the clock in the blue, yellow, and white.

A former third-round pick out of Sioux Falls, Pipkins III proved his worth as a member of the Chargers since making his debut in 2019, appearing in 69 games with 41 starts while serving as the team’s top right tackle over the past two seasons, earning a three-year, $21.75 million extension to serve as the team’s long-term starter.

Would the Chargers have been fine with Pipkins as their starter opposite Rashawn Slater? Sure, fans spent months debating the decision to draft Alt fifth overall versus the other options on the board and will likely continue to do so, like the Ja’Marr Chase-Penei Sewell debate that’s still going strong in Cincinnati to this day.

And yet, with Alt locked in as the team’s new right tackle, Pipkins III is now a very expensive reserve on the bench.

If a player like Foster Sarell or even Leatherwood is able to prove they can be counted on as quality backups for Slater and Alt, who knows, maybe the Chargers could look to trade Pipkins III to a team in need.

1. Donald Parham Jr.

After bouncing from Antonio Gates to Hunter Henry, Jared Cook, and ten Gerald Everett, the Chargers found themselves with a relatively young tight ends room at the start of the league year, with Donald Parham Jr. Herbert’s most reliable target at the position.

Fortunately, the Chargers decided to tackle the position heavily in free agency, signing former Seattle Seahawk Will Dissly and and Hayden Hurst from the Carolina Panthers and now find themselves with agruably the deepest room in the AFC, especially with especially with Stone Smartt bringing up the back of the group.

While normally having such a deep group is a good problem to have, if one of the Chargers’ tight ends has become expendable, it’s probably Parham Jr., as he’s on a very reasonable contract and has a good amount of experience on his resume.

With his contract set to expire at the end of the season, who knows, if Parham isn’t going to earn much playing time, maybe some other team would be willing to give up a Day 3 pick for his services and take their shot at employing the 6-foot-8 pass catcher before he leaves for free next spring.