Keenan Allen named as player Chargers should trade before 2023 season

Chargers probably aren’t hoping their teams stays put on changes to the current roster ahead of the the 2023 season. Everyone knows the team could always make at least one more move to get better and until that salary cap number gets dangerously close to zero, they’ll expect something to happen before officially September arrives.

Aside from signing another free agent, the Chargers could end up making a trade. That would seem a bit less par for the course in terms of how Tom Telesco usually goes about team-building, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the chance of that happening is completely zero.

Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently put together a list of 32 players (one from each team) that could and/or should be traded before this upcoming season. Austin Ekeler likely comes to mind right away for the Chargers, but I’m here to tell you that Knox actually chose someone else on the roster.

In his opinion, Knox believes the Chargers should make a deal to send veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen to another team in order to clear up their books and gather some more future draft capital.

“While Allen’s contract runs through the 2024 season, his time in Los Angeles probably won’t extend beyond that. The Chargers just used a first-round pick on TCU receiver Quentin Johnston, and he and Mike Williams are likely to be L.A.’s receiver tandem of the future.”

“Moving Allen now could help the Chargers because A.) it would net them something of value in return and B.) it could set them up for a palatable 2024 offseason.”

“The Chargers are projected to be $73.9 million over the cap next offseason. Getting under the cap will be tricky, and that’s without factoring in Herbert’s inevitable contract extension. Trading Allen would save just $1.2 million in cap space this year but would clear $23.1 million off of next year’s books.”

Obviously fans will have to get used to the idea that Allen’s tenure with the Chargers isn’t going to last much longer past this season, if at all, but I’d be whole-heartedly surprised if the team were to move on from him before this upcoming season. Allen has been pivotal to Justin Herbert’s early career success and I doubt the front office is considering any course of action that revolves around separating the two before they absolutely must.

Similar to a farewell tour in the NBA, the 2023 season might be the last time we see Allen in the powder blues. If that’s the case, I sincerely hope it’s his best campaign yet.