This weekend, the Los Angeles Chargers and teams around the NFL will add players to their roster in the annual draft. In addition to that news, we also get to put bows on several trades including the 2023 deal that sent Chargers kicker Dustin Hopkins to the Cleveland Browns.
Original terms of the Dustin Hopkins trade
Browns receive: Dustin Hopkins
Chargers receive: 2025 seventh-round pick
What did the Chargers do with the pick from the Dustin Hopkins trade?
The seventh-round pick Cleveland sent to Los Angeles landed at 218, but the Chargers don’t own it anymore. Los Angeles sent it to the Atlanta Falcons for backup QB Taylor Heinicke in February 2024. So in essence, the Chargers traded Hopkins for Heinicke.
We will update here when pick 218 is made.
Original terms of the Taylor Heinicke trade
Falcons receive: Conditional seventh-round pick
Chargers receive: Taylor Heinicke
What did the Falcons do with the pick from the Taylor Heinicke trade?
The pick was originally from the Browns and sits at 218 overall in the 2025 draft. Heinicke and the Chargers did not meet the conditions that would have pushed it to a sixth-round pick instead.
The Falcons used the selection on Wisconsin OT Jack Nelson.
How was Dustin Hopkins’ performance for the Browns?
Hopkins was really good in 2023, earning a pricey contract extension with the Browns. But after going 91.7% on field goals in his first season with Cleveland, he hit on just 66.7% of his field goal attempts in 2024. He also fell from 92.3% on extra points to 85%.
How was Taylor Heinicke’s performance for the Chargers?
It’s never good when your backup QB plays and actually throws passes, and Heinicke played in four games attempting only five passes all season. He added two rushes for 20 yards (with zero kneeldowns). He took three sacks, all against the Steelers in September.
He did well enough on the field and behind the scenes in meeting rooms to sign a one-year, $6.2 million contract this offseason.