On Wednesday afternoon, Los Angeles Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, and among the topics covered was the buzz around the league that the Chargers were willing to move on from quarterback Justin Herbert ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft. Generally, as the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire. But in this case, according to Joe Hortiz at least, there was never even a flicker of a flame regarding a Justin Herbert trade.

“I can tell you this, I never got one call about it. I had some loose questions at the combine, they were quickly shot down. So there was no real discussion of us ever trading Justin Herbert or teams really being interested. They know what we have, and they knew where we stood, so there was no real questions. I know there was some rumors out there but I don’t know where they're coming from, they're not coming from the Chargers organization because none of us got calls,” Hortiz shared.

So, given that this was apparently the stance of the Chargers front office, it's raises a very important question: where on earth are these rumors coming from? Hmmmm!

Ooooh! Oooh! Pick me! I know the answer! 

“Don’t be surprised if, when he’s he goes [in the 2024 NFL Draft], he’s the No. 1 quarterback off the board,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said about JJ McCarthy, his quarterback at Michigan, back in February during an appearance on The Herd. “That’s my prediction right now. When people get a load of JJ and how he could throw the ball, how he spins it, his athleticism, his intelligence. Talk about it factor, he’s got it, the competitiveness that he has, and they get around him, they really start digging in, and they start talking to him, yeah, that’s an early prediction for the 2024 NFL Draft.”

But wait, there's more! 

“I think he plays quarterback the best of any quarterback in the draft. He's incredible. So, big market, small market. Cold weather, hot weather, it won't matter,” Harbaugh said about JJ McCarthy a month and a half later while at the league meeting in Orlando.

Now in fairness to Jim Harbaugh, he did win a National Championship at Michigan with McCarthy less than five months ago, and heading into the NFL Draft, the Chargers did find themselves in a position where teams who had a need at quarterback trying to trade up for McCarthy could've potentially benefitted the Bolts. However, given just how highly Harbaugh had spoken about his former quarterback, it's understandable that there would be a belief around the league, both among league insiders and within front offices, that the Chargers could possibly be receptive to discussing a deal for Justin Herbert.

How things ultimately played out were mostly uneventful in comparison to what could've been. Harbaugh was proven wrong when four quarterbacks were drafted before JJ McCarthy. The Chargers wound up standing pat with the 5th overall pick, selecting Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt. And now the rebuild of the Los Angeles Chargers officially begins.