Los Angeles Chargers: A trade to consider with the Buffalo Bills

The Los Angeles Chargers may have to explore trades for Melvin Gordon and the Buffalo Bills could be possible suitors to take on Gordon.

The Los Angeles Chargers find themselves in a sticky situation with running back Melvin Gordon. Wanting to get paid what he thinks he is worth, Gordon is holding out from preseason activities and will continue to hold out until something happens.

The two sides were engaged in trade talks and Gordon’s agent reportedly requested a trade from the Chargers. The number that the Chargers would not move from was reportedly around $10 million per year, which would have made him the fourth-highest paid running back in teams of average annual salary.

That does not mean that the relationship is completely tarnished as Gordon would likely agree to return to the team if they met his requests.

However, it is completely understandable if the Chargers do not want to give him a contract worth more than $10 million per year. We all know the stigma around running backs and instead could try and find a suitor that would be willing to extend him to get something decent out of a Gordon trade.

I have been on the record for saying that a Gordon trade just doesn’t make sense as there really is not any realistic suitors. However, there is a potential trade with the Buffalo Bills that is conceivable, if the Bills wanted to extend Gordon.

The idea here is that the Buffalo Bills would be flipping one year of LeSean McCoy for several years of Melvin Gordon. McCoy is already losing the preseason starting job to Frank Gore, who certainly is no longer in his prime either.

Having an elite, young running back to pair with Josh Allen is something that should interest the Buffalo Bills and trading for him now, and including McCoy, would make the price not-so-bad and give the Bills the early guarantee to work out an extension.

They have $23 million in cap space this season and would open up $2 million more in this trade, giving them plenty of space to pay Gordon this year. With $50 million in cap space next year and the following years, they have room for Gordon.

They could sign Gordon to a four-year contract that starts this year that would line up perfectly with when Allen’s rookie contract is up.

Meanwhile, this makes sense for the Los Angeles Chargers on two levels. First, the Bills are not an immediate playoff threat and they would not be trading to a team that they could see in the AFC Playoffs (although anything can happen).

Second of all, they get another back in return that is only signed this season that can take some of the load off of Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson. As good as they could be as a tandem, adding a veteran like McCoy to the rotation could be great for all three guys.

It only gives the Chargers more flexibility and allows McCoy to play on a playoff-contending team with a lesser workload in order to stay fresher later in the season. It is as much of a perfect fit for McCoy as it is for Gordon.

And to top it off, the Chargers should try and get some sort of draft stock out of Gordon. Moving up from a sixth-round pick to a third-round pick would be great for the upcoming draft, where they could draft a running back.

What do you think of this potential Los Angeles Chargers-Buffalo Bills trade? Let us know in the comments down below.