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Chargers new general manager Joe Hortiz (above) and new coach Jim Harbaugh have a vision for the roster. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The move was easily the most jarring of Joe Hortiz’s short stretch so far as Chargers general manager.
Trading the most productive wide receiver in franchise history also was something else in the context of the team’s sorely needed roster rebuild:
Inevitable.
When the Chargers and Keenan Allen failed to reach an agreement on a reworked contract last week, the six-time Pro Bowler was dealt to Chicago for a 2024 fourth-round pick.
“We kind of went down every path,” Hortiz said Thursday in his first public comments since the trade. “In the end, this is the one that fit us best and fit him best.”
Allen still could be a Charger today had he been willing to accept a 2024 pay cut or another option that would have afforded Hortiz the financial flexibility the rookie general manager considers vital to assembling a consistent contender.
The Chargers were able to keep edge rushers Joey Bosa (left) and Khalil Mack. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Veteran edge rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack recently agreed to deals that cost them money this coming season in exchange for other future assurances. Both remain Chargers.
But the talks with Allen turned in another direction, leaving Hortiz little choice but to move a player coming off perhaps his finest season for the sake of constructing a more complete roster with greater depth and less bulk at the top.
The Chargers, facing significant salary-cap issues, entered the offseason knowing they had to find solutions relating to Allen, Bosa, Mack and wide receiver Mike Williams, who was released.
“The possibility existed of keeping three out of four if things went differently,” Hortiz explained. “But they didn’t go that way. So we had to make decisions, with the idea of not just this year but next year and the year after that.”
The financial wrangling has the Chargers with…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/gm-joe-hortiz-says-lack-220012164.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-03-21 22:00:12
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