Welcome back to my ongoing series, which can either be titled Finding the Chargers an X-receiver or Finding a new team for Quentin Johnston.

In this series, I attempt to solve two different problems:

First, the Chargers don't have a legitimate #1 WR that can stretch defenses deep and create opportunities underneath for the rest of the offense.

Second, the Chargers probably need to trade WR Quentin Johnston. We are a little over a month away from the team needing to make a decision on the 5th year of his contract, which would pay him about $18M in 2027. I don't think they want to pay that and I also don't think they want to let him walk into free agency.

These two problems are tied to each other in that Johnston does not appear to be the #1 X-receiver that the team was hoping that he would be when they took him in the 1st round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Now, they need a backup plan.

I understand that the team does not necessarily need to try and solve both of these problems in the same transaction, but I do actually think it could work out for them to do so. Allow me to explain by referencing two past trade ideas before bringing up a third one.

The Philadelphia Eagles either are, or were, shopping disgruntled WR A.J. Brown in a trade. 

Brown isn't exactly a downfield burner, but he's an unbelievable weapon as a team's #1 WR because of his ability to do it all. He can get open early, he can make difficult catches, and he can create yards after the catch with his size and strength.

The Eagles have paired him with DeVonta Smith, who is someone that can stretch a defense deep, which means Quentin Johnston would have a ready-made role for him in the Philadelphia offense.

In this situation, the Chargers would trade Johnston and some sort of draft pick to replace him in the Los Angeles offense with A.J. Brown.

This deal wouldn't really save the Eagles any cap space in 2026, but it seems likely they're going to trade Brown anyway due to a broken relationship between player and team.

One issue, which is probably at least partially tied to why Brown is disgruntled, is that Brown wants a new contract. The Chargers would have to be good with that part of the deal, too.

This one is pretty straightforward. The Dallas Cowboys slapped the franchise tag on Pickens because they didn't want to lose him for nothing, but they would love to get his contract off their books so that they could spend more elsewhere on their roster.

Quentin Johnston's cap hit is set to be about $23M less than Pickens' this year, and he's good enough to be effective catching passes from Dak Prescott opposite CeeDee Lamb.

The franchise tag gives the Cowboys a lot of control over how a trade would work, so this would likely be another deal where the Chargers would have to send Johnston plus a pretty good draft pick in order to acquire a legitimate X-receiver in Pickens.

You're probably sensing a theme by now. Both Brown and Pickens are on teams with more than one really good WR and motivation to move one of them.

While Tee Higgins has been overshadowed by Ja'Marr Chase in the Bengals offense (despite catching 21 TDs over the last two seasons), the two of them are each set to make about $26M this season. However, Chase's number goes up each season and Higgins would like an extension that guarantees him more money. 

The Bengals would like to spend less on their top 2 WRs so that they can dedicate a little more to their offensive line and defense, so they're not likely to give Higgins that extension.

Like the Cowboys situation above, the Bengals would save more than $20M in cap space in 2026 if they were to trade their 2nd best WR for Johnston (after June 1st).

The Chargers, who have cap space to spare, would then have an ideal X-receiver to place in Mike McDaniel's offense next to Ladd McConkey.