Diggs, Cooper and Allen: Chargers still have free-agent options at WR

The Los Angeles Chargers settled for a fallback plan at wide receiver in free agency, re-signing Mike Williams as opposed to making huge blockbuster moves.

But as far as fallback plans go, Williams is a uniquely great one—he’s got literal thousands of reps with Justin Herbert already and knows the program in Los Angeles, so his impact is obvious.

That’s not to say the Chargers must be done in free agency at wide receiver, though, especially with names like Stefon Diggs, Amari Cooper and Keenan Allen still out there on the open market.

In fact, this might be what the Chargers planned all along—get a known factor like Williams back in the building, then roll the dice a little bit by reaching for some upside with a veteran.

Each has a red flag (or two). Diggs is 31 years old, yet coming off a short season in which he still averaged 1.99 yards per route run, raked 33rd.

Cooper is 30 and just split time between Cleveland and Buffalo last season, not doing much in either stop. But he still averaged nearly 15 yards per catch over eight games in Buffalo.

And Allen is 32, yet scored seven times in 15 games last year on a struggling Chicago team.

None of these guys are going to get big-money contracts at this stage of free agency. All could be looking for possible contenders to link up with on the back end of their careers for shots at rings. The Chargers certainly qualify after last year’s playoff berth and top-10 quarterback.

Maybe the Chargers stay all the way away from risks like these guys. But they’re not exactly hurting for cap space and adding another veteran to run with Williams and Ladd McConkey would free up the draft process quite a bit.

Given how the Chargers approached the market earlier with Williams, perhaps this just means linking back up with Allen, too. Given his experience with Herbert already, that’s easily the safest bet of the three, should the Chargers make a move at all.