Adam Schefter sounds off on if Justin Herbert gets traded during draft

Every team picking in the Nos. 2-7 range in the 2024 NFL Draft has been rumored at some point to potentially trade out of their selection.

The Los Angeles Chargers, who have the fifth overall pick, are no different.

However, some have questioned whether the Chargers could trade quarterback Justin Herbert during the draft in order to reunite head coach Jim Harbaugh with his former Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy — a suggestion that seemed to enrage ESPN insider Adam Schefter, who sounded off on the possibility of the situation playing out on a recent appearance on ESPN Radio’s “Unsportsmanlike.”

“They are not drafting J.J. McCarthy,” Schefter said. “… The Chargers have Justin Herbert, the new money in Herbert’s contract has not kicked in, they can’t trade Justin Herbert. So, they’re not drafting J.J. McCarthy as their first pick to create a controversial situation in L.A. about who they should start at quarterback when they’ve drafted a franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert and he’s the guy. I don’t know how the odds on that one ever got to [6-to-1].”

Per ESPN Bet’s Joe Fortenbaugh, the odds of the Chargers taking a QB with the No. 5 overall pick have rose from 15-to-1 on Monday to 6-to-1 as of Tuesday.

To Schefter’s point, if the Chargers traded Herbert, who signed a five-year, $262.5M deal last year, before June 1, they would take a $44.15M cap penalty and absorb $63.50M in dead cap, per Over the Cap.

If there’s an NFL system McCarthy could thrive in, it’s Harbaugh’s in L.A. But it’s foolish to believe just because McCarthy excelled under Harbaugh at Michigan that he would do the same playing against NFL defenses. Herbert, on the other hand, is only 26 and is already an elite, proven commodity in the NFL.

It would make no sense for general manager Joe Horitz to financially cripple the franchise to gamble on a QB some scouts aren’t convinced should even be a first-round pick.