Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chargers have no interest in 'fair' trade involving No. 5 pick

If the Los Angeles Chargers are going to move off of the No. 5 pick, it is going to take an offer that gives them a clear win in the transaction. 

First-year general manager Joe Hortiz made that very clear this week in his predraft news conference, strongly indicating that he is not looking for a "fair" trade where everybody is a winner. He needs to be blown away to move that pick.

"That's going to be the reason because we've got really good players, great players that we're going to be staring at," Hortiz said, via the Chargers website. "So if we're going to trade away from great players, there's got to be a reason in terms of value for us. Certainly, there's going to be more great players, but it's got to make sense for you and it's got to make sense for the team that wants to come up."

"There's certainly, 'It's too good of a deal', in terms of what you're getting back. They have to make it attractive to us for us to move away from those players. The whole, 'It's a fair trade, it's a wash'. I don't think that's a trade we're interested in."

The Chargers are in an interesting spot because their pick could be enormously valuable to a team that needs a quarterback. That is especially true depending on what happens with the Arizona Cardinals in the No. 4 spot.

If quarterbacks go in the top three spots as expected to Chicago, Washington and New England, all eyes would be on the Cardinals' No. 4 pick for teams that have an interest in potentially making a move for Michigan's J.J. McCarthy. 

But if the Cardinals do not get a deal they want and end up taking one of the draft's top wide receivers, the Chargers could then become the pick that quarterback-needy teams start calling. 

But as Hortiz added, if it turns out that somebody does jump ahead of them to take a quarterback at No. 4, the Chargers would then be viewing their pick as the No. 1 overall pick because they would be getting the best non-quarterback in the draft and that would be difficult to move on from. With Justin Herbert in place, quarterback is the one position the Chargers do not need.

That No. 5 pick could end up landing one of the draft's elite wide receivers — a major need after that position group was significantly overhauled this offseason — including Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze. 

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