Roster cutdown day is always brutal, but this one came with a plot twist. Instead of just waiving a player they couldn't keep, the Chargers found a trade partner for a guy who'd actually earned buzz all camp. Avery Smith, an undrafted rookie corner out of Toledo, is headed to Seattle.
Trade! The Chargers are sending rookie CB Avery Smith to the Seahawks for a 2027 sixth-round pick, per sources. A former Toledo standout, Smith can play nickel and now gets an opportunity in Seattle.
Tom Pelissero broke the deal: Chargers send Smith to the Seahawks for a 2027 sixth-round pick. Not exactly a haul, but for an undrafted free agent who wasn't a lock to make the 53, getting anything back beats losing him for nothing on waivers.
Kris Rhim's report fills in why this one stung a little. Smith wasn't just a camp body — he was flashing 'sticky coverage and PBUs throughout,' the kind of tape that gets a UDFA noticed.
The Chargers traded CB Avery Smith to the Seahawks, a source confirmed. Smith, a UDFA out of Toledo, had a been a star of training camp, with sticky coverage and PBU’s throughout.
The catch is the Chargers simply had too many good corners. Per SI's breakdown of the deal, Smith was competing in a crowded room that included fellow undrafted standouts like Rodney Shelley and Eric Rogers, and L.A.'s depth chart reportedly had him buried at fourth-string. On a roster an SI writer called an 'embarrassment of riches' at cornerback, even a player good enough to make somebody's 53 can end up on the outside looking in.
That's the cruel math of cutdown weekend — talent alone doesn't guarantee a job when the depth chart is stacked ahead of you. So instead of cutting Smith loose and hoping he clears waivers to land somewhere else, the Chargers turned his camp tape into a future asset.
For Seattle, this is a straightforward bet on upside. Smith can play nickel, and a team always looking to reinforce its secondary just landed a player who was reportedly one of the best stories of another team's training camp — for the cost of a Day 3 pick two years down the road. Now it's on him to prove the buzz travels.