The story of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025 could very well be dictated by how the wide receivers perform in the passing game. Last year, a lack of a formidable attack through the air led to Justin Herbert and his team being bounced in the Wild Card round by the Houston Texans.
Heading into 2025, the Chargers have done quite a bit to get better at wide receiver. They brought back a familiar face in Mike Williams, then he retired. They used a second-round pick on Tre Harris before finding what many feel could be one of this year's biggest draft steals in KeAndre Lambert-Smith. More recently, the team brought back another familiar face by reuninting with Keenan Allen.
That gives the team a chance to have some success in the passing game in 2025 but according to Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report, it won't be enough as he still has the team's biggest priority in free agency next year being the wide receiver position.
Ballentine suggests that the team's top free-agent target will be none other than Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend Mike Evans.
"The Chargers are hoping Tre Harris is going to be able to make an impact as a second-round pick and just brought back Keenan Allen. That's the plan for filling out the receiving hierarchy outside of Ladd McConkey.
Even if Harris turns out to be an answer, it isn't going to hurt to bring in another veteran next year. Mike Evans is in a contract year where his team drafted Emeka Egbuka in the first round and also re-signed Chris Godwin. If the Bucs don't want to pay for Evans, then the Chargers would be a logical landing spot.
A starting trio of Evans, Harris and McConkey would give Justin Herbert plenty to work with", wrote Ballentine.
Evans, a first-round pick in 2014, has been nothing short of incredible in Tampa Bay. He has at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of his 11 seasons with the team, to go along with 105 career touchdown catches and six trips to the Pro Bowl.
He will turn 32 years old in just over one week which would mean he would be 33 years old if he played with the Chargers next season. But that's the same age Allen is now and there hasn't been any signs of Evans slowing down.
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While the idea of adding a guy like Evans brings some exciting talks, it doesn't seem like a move the Chargers would make unless they became pretty desperate, and that would mean that Harris had a rough rookie season and Allen is just a shell of his former self. While those things could happen, the Chargers may not look at a guy like Evans even if they did.
It will be interesting to see what this season brings for the Chargers receiving corps and Evans in Tampa, but it seems like a lot of stars would need to align in order for this marriage to take place.
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