Acquire 2021 Sixth Round Rookie Pick
February 1st, 2021: With the acquisition of Keelan Cole from the Buffalo Bills, the Chargers deemed often-injured wideout Albert Wilson expendable, and shipped him to the Chiefs, who let it be known they were looking to upgrade their wide receiver corps. In return, the Chargers obtained the Chiefs sixth round pick in the upcoming 2021 rookie draft.
"Keelan upgrades our wide receiver unit for certain," Chargers head coach Hank Sienzant said. "That said, we felt he and Albert were redundant in terms in of skill sets. Both work best from the slot, and as Keelan is younger than Albert by almost a year, it was no contest in terms of who we should move, if anyone."
Wilson has caught 11 passes for 127 yards this year and rushed once for 20 yards. Last year, appearing in nine games, he caught 24 of 547 yards and six scores, averaging 22.8 yards per reception. The year prior, his first for the Chargers, he caught 47 for 667 yards and nine scores, rushing three times for minus eight yards.
The Chargers also admitted they have been having exploratory talks in the past few days concerning rookie running back Josh Jacobs, who is fifth in the league in rushing yards with 365 and third in the league in rushing average with a 7.0 average. "It looks like Josh is staying here," Sienzant commented, admitting talks have cooled down for Jacobs. "However, that said, everyone is available for the right price. Nobody has approached Josh's yet. I'll admit the asking price is pretty high." Jacobs was acquired with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft and has been everything the Chargers imagined -- and more. But then, so has second round running back David Montgomery from the same draft. Montgomery is just behind Jacobs in rushing yards with 340 and is averaging an otherworldly 7.6 yards per rushing attempt.
The trade of wideout Albert Wilson leaves only cornerback Vernon Hargreaves and defensive end Ben Banogu left on the Chargers from the deal with Carolina a few years ago where the Chargers traded away veteran cornerback Patrick Robinson and wide receiver Josh Bellamy. Acquired as part of the deal by the Chargers was a fourth round pick from Carolina and the Chargers utilized that to acquire Banogu. They of course now also have the Chiefs sixth round selection from that deal with Carolina as a result of trading Albert Wilson to the Chiefs, so trading Robinson abd Bellamy is still paying dividends for the Chargers.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the Chargers obtained safety Tracy Walker in the Patrick Robinson trade with Carolina. That was incorrect. They obtained Tracy Walker the prior year in a separate deal with the Colts for veteran safety Antoine Bethea. In return, they acquired guard A. J. Cann and the 4th rounder which became Tracy Walker. They traded Cann a year later for failed quarterback experiment Josh Rosen in hopes of rebuilding his value.
Posted on 01 Feb 2021 by Hank-Chargers
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