As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the winless Los Angeles Chargers as six-point home underdogs for their matchup against the 2-5 Houston Texans this coming Sunday.
One would think that a Chargers team that may be months away from hitting a figurative reset button could make edge-rusher Khalil Mack and other veteran players available ahead of the NFL trade deadline, which arrives at 4 p.m. ET this coming Tuesday, if Los Angeles falls to 0-8 on the season.
For a piece published on Thursday, Ralph Vacchiano and Eric D. Williams of Fox Sports “surveyed people around the league to find out where some of the top players on the market will end up” before the deadline. Such conversations led Williams to believe that a San Francisco 49ers team that has been linked with multiple pass-rushers will acquire Mack after the weekend wraps up.
Could 49ers go all-in ahead of trade deadline?
“A team like the San Francisco 49ers will make a play for Mack,” Williams explained. “Even with the potential return of Nick Bosa from a calf injury, San Francisco could use more pass-rush help and is in position to chase a Super Bowl. Also, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has experience with plugging elite pass-rushers into his system midseason. He executed a similar situation when the Los Angeles Rams traded for Von Miller and won the Super Bowl after the 2021 season.”
A recent story suggested that the 49ers could attempt to acquire Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, in part because San Francisco needs to keep up with the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears after those two teams made all-in moves with a trip to Super Bowl LXI in mind. That said, Mack would more so fill a need for a San Francisco side that already has Christian McCaffrey in its backfield.
Why Khalil Mack may stay put
That all said, it was reported this past Wednesday that multiple other teams “don’t get the sense that Los Angeles is eager to enter teardown mode” this fall. Thus, Vacchiano thinks that head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz will keep Mack even if the Chargers lose to the Texans.
“I think the Chargers are crazy and they’re not going to trade him,” Vacchiano wrote about Mack. “If they do, I think the Bears make the most sense. But I really get the feeling that they would rather keep their awful, winless team together as long as possible. Never mind that Mack will be a free agent in March. I’m sure the Chargers have a plan.”
It remains to be seen how long Harbaugh and Hortiz will remain employed to execute that plan.
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