Chargers' struggling receiver Quentin Johnston could land in Carolina. A proposed trade package involves a draft pick swap, reshaping both teams' receiving corps.
The two most interesting subplots of this offseason for the Los Angeles Chargers have been:
- How are they going to replace Odafe Oweh?
- How are they going to trade Quentin Johnston before May 1st?
I have written plenty about both, including a handful of trade ideas that would send Johnston out and have Los Angeles receiving a better wide receiver in return.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell decided to use this dead time in the NFL calendar to come up with trade ideas for every pick in the 1st round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
(Before you ask, he had the Chargers at #22 trading up in the 1st round to get a speedy pass rusher to replace Odafe Oweh.)
In the process, Barnwell came up with yet another possible trade destination for Chargers WR Quentin Johnston....the Carolina Panthers. Let's go through what Bill said about this potential move:
Perennially in the market for playmakers to make Bryce Young's life easier, the Panthers could very well use another first-round pick on a wide receiver in this year's draft. I would prefer to see them address the defense, though, and this is a way for Dan Morgan's team to get out of Day 1 of the draft with both a playmaker and a new starter on the defensive side of the ball.
It's worth noting here that Barnwell has the Chargers trading Quentin Johnston and their own (#22 overall) 1st round draft pick to the Panthers in return for Carolina's 1st round pick (#19 overall) and 5th round pick.
That is.....not a lot for a guy that would immediately become the #1 WR for the Panthers. That being said, it's more than nothing and it prevents the Chargers from having to overpay Johnston and find a spot for him in the offense. They don't exactly have the leverage here.
The Panthers have targeted supersized receivers for their diminutive quarterback, and the 6-foot-4 Johnston fits the bill here. Drops have obviously been a concern, but Johnston can make contested catches and offers downfield explosiveness. He is coming off a 735-yard season in 2025, but Johnston was off to a hot start before the injuries at tackle and the ascension of tight end Oronde Gadsden limited his downfield opportunities.
The Chargers have said the right things about keeping Johnston, but the additions they made this offseason suggest that Los Angeles will be in 21 or 12 personnel more often than they were in 2025. Johnston would likely be the odd man out there, with Ladd McConkey as the lead wideout and Tre' Harris potentially running as the second wide receiver. The executives who drafted Johnston are no longer in the building in Los Angeles, and I'm not sure Joe Hortiz is as motivated to pick up Johnston's $18 million fifth-year option for 2027 as he would be for one of his own picks.
Funny enough, as I was driving around Los Angeles last week, I saw some digital billboards for Chargers season tickets. These are always interesting to me because real decisions have to be made by the team about which players they want to highlight in the marketing.
There were three players highlighted. Ladd McConkey was in the middle while Justin Herbert was off to one side. That part was weird enough and I still don't totally know what to do with that information.
On the other side of McConkey was current free agent WR Keenan Allen. Now, Allen is a Chargers legend and maybe has told the team that he's not interested in signing elsewhere, which would mean he returns on whatever inexpensive deal the team can make as they head into training camp.
However (assuming there's a defensive version of this digital ad), it was still very noteworthy to me that a WR not even on the team was picked for the marketing over the Chargers #1 WR that could be under contract through 2027 if the team wanted to take the fifth-year option.
Trading Johnston gets the Chargers out of that predicament. This deal values him as being worth about the 95th pick in a typical draft, which is toward the end of the third round. Johnston would slot in ahead of Xavier Legette as a starter in three-WR sets for Carolina. The Chargers would move ahead of the Cowboys for edge-rushing help, while the Panthers could still address safety or offensive tackle or hit the edge themselves at No. 22.
If a deal like this were to happen, with Johnston being used to move the Chargers up in the 1st round so that they can take a better defensive player, I'm going to take is as a sign that the team really loves Tre' Harris and aren't looking to add much of anything new to the receiving group.