NFL reddit user ratioed for proposing the worst Justin Herbert draft trade imaginable

The Los Angeles Chargers are going to look like a very different team in 2024. Franchise mainstays Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler, and Mike Williams are gone, and Jim Harbaugh has taken over as head coach following the firing of Brandon Staley. In these tumultuous times, Chargers fans can at least take comfort in knowing that they have one of the best young quarterbacks in the game in Justin Herbert. And after signing a five-year, $262 million extension last July, their stud QB isn't going anywhere.

Herbert and his golden arm were the siren's song that led Harbaugh to leave his alma mater after winning the national championship this past year, but one Reddit user recently suggested that Harbaugh and the Chargers could benefit from trading Herbert for three first-round picks and drafting Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy instead.

The internet is undefeated, folks, and this poster, who goes by the name Slugginator, was rightly roasted in the comment section. "Every day we stray further from gods light," one user posted in reply, and that about sums it up.

Don't worry, Chargers fans, Justin Herbert is not getting traded

Being an NFL general manager is not easy. These guys have to fill out a 53-man roster, scout and draft college players, sign free agents, make trades, negotiate contracts, and do a hundred other things, all while staying under the salary cap. Posting a half-baked idea on reddit is comparatively much, much simpler, even if it can get you savagely ratioed.

Trading Herbert, besides being a terrible move from an on-field perspective, is also completely untenable given the Chargers current cap situation, which is a large part of what led them to move on from Allen, Ekeler, and Williams in the first place. L.A. is currently about $31 million under the cap, but the roster is full of holes, and the team will have to pay its draft picks in a few weeks. Trading Herbert would bring down a cap hit that would basically make it impossible to field a full team.

Herbert's extension came with a full no-trade clause, so even if Harbaugh decided that he wanted to create "Michigan West" at SoFi Stadium, the West coast born-and-bred Herbert would veto a trade to Minnesota, New England, or anywhere else in a heartbeat.

Harbaugh has been effusive in his praise for McCarthy, which could be one reason that the former Wolverine has shot up mock draft boards, with some even projecting him to go as high as No. 2 to the Commanders. I'm sure Harbaugh does love McCarthy after the success they've had together and wants to see him succeed in the NFL, but that doesn't mean that he'd blow up the foundation of his new team just to align himself with his former signal-caller.

Herm Edwards once famously said that his advice to young athletes on the internet would be "Don't press send." If only he had gotten to Slugginator in time.