Winners and Losers of the Trai Turner Trade

Winner: Trai Turner

Trai Turner is the overall winner from this trade at this moment, as it is unknown if any draft capitol is involved. Turner is one of the best guards in the league, a five-time Pro Bowler. He is also durable. He has only missed seven games, all of which came during his rookie season.

Turner comes to a Charger team that is truly a couple of pieces away from being a contender. They have a loaded defense, and Turner shores up yet another spot on the Chargers, in a position of dire need for them.

Loser: Carolina Panthers

This move makes no sense from the Carolina side of things. Carolina has struggled to protect the quarterback since 2011. Getting rid of a 26-year-old with five Pro Bowls in his first six seasons is a baffling move, especially considering the returns of the trade.

The Panthers are getting a 31-year-old Left Tackle with only one complete season in his entire career (2016). This is unacceptable despite two Pro Bowl appearances. Russell Okung, however, is solid in pass protection, only giving up 28 sacks since 2010. This will provide the Panthers with the best tackle they have since Jordan Gross retired.

This is not a long term solution however, as Carolina has a lot of questions still to answer, offensive tackles included.

Winner: Chargers’ New Quarterback

The Los Angeles Chargers will have a new quarterback in 2020. Whoever that is will benefit from a young Pro Bowl guard protecting him. This is an incredibly deep offensive tackle draft pool. This means options for the Chargers with the sixth overall pick in the draft.

There are also a number of good quarterbacks for the Chargers to choose from in both free agency and the draft so the possibilities truly are endless for them. It also helps the 16 million dollars in cap they will be saving.

To make a long story short; the Chargers got away with highway robbery in this trade. There was no upside for the Panthers to make this trade, but kudos to the Chargers for taking advantage.

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