On the eve of the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Rams finally reaped the kind of rewards they expected from one of the most significant blockbuster trades in recent NFL history.

Myles Garrett finally stepped back onto the field for the first time since suffering a knee injury in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, and became a one-man wrecking crew for the Rams’ defense. He was a catalyst for Los Angeles clinging for dear life to a 20-13 win over Washington.

Garrett was terrifically disruptive, sacking Jayden Daniels three times and forcing a fumble, including a timely fourth-quarter sack that forced the Commanders into a 4th-and-17 desperation situation.

This was the kind of performance and impact that the Rams flipped rising edge rusher Jared Verse and three draft picks to the Cleveland Browns to acquire.

In just 60 minutes of playing alongside Aaron Donald, Garrett now trails Byron Young by just 1.5 sacks for the Rams’ team lead. It likely won’t be long now before Garrett overtakes him.

After Sunday, it isn’t crazy to think Los Angeles may have the piece they’ve been missing to shift into overdrive with all eyes trained on a deep January run.

The Rams’ hopes of parlaying the Garrett blockbuster into a Lombardi this season may be on life support, and the Bears’ trade for Jeffery Simmons may wind up being the move we look back on as the most impactful this calendar year, but that doesn’t make what Garrett did Sunday any less meaningful.

It might just be the beginning of Los Angeles turning things around and evolving into what we expected them to be all along.

As the deadline looms, several contenders could be jockeying for positioning to acquire a difference-making weapon they hope can put them over the top.

Inside this column, we’ll explore Colts running back Jonathan Taylor’s evolving market, the trade an NFL executive tells me he believes needs to be made before the clock strikes 4 p.m. Tuesday, and recap some of Sunday’s most telling outcomes.

First, the curious situation playing out in El Segundo …

Of all the teams that should be holding a fire sale, the Chargers should have the most inventory up for grabs.

Trading All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack to a contender would fetch a premium.

Think of the Chicago Bears, the Cincinnati Bengals, or the Dallas Cowboys in their last-gasp effort to overtake the New York Giants in the NFC East. That’s the kind of bidding war that could develop, driving up his price.

After all, Mack, 35, continues to play at a high level this season, with three sacks and 16 total pressures in 167 passing defense snaps on his way to a 12.7 pass-rush win rate.

Mack would unquestionably be an infusion of veteran depth for a contender and could at a minimum fetch an early Day 3 pick for the should-be reloading Chargers.

There’s wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who is languishing in coordinator Mike McDaniel’s dizzying, stuck-in-the-mud offense, catching just 17 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown.

McConkey is averaging a healthy 16.8 yards per reception but is just 24 years old, and is one year removed from catching 82 passes for 1,149 yards with a career-high seven touchdowns as a rookie in 2024.

Los Angeles would never trade McConkey within the division to the Kansas City Chiefs, but he would be a tailor-made fit in Pittsburgh as a field-stretching boundary target opposite D.K. Metcalf as the Pittsburgh Steelers try to create some separation from the Bengals in the AFC North.

McConkey not suiting up after suffering back spasms before Sunday’s game against the Texans is some combination of yet another thing going wrong for the Chargers in this season from hell, Los Angeles soft-benching him to preserve his trade value, or another setback for a promising young receiver stuck in a dreadful situation.

Then, there’s the curious case of Justin Herbert.

Is there any doubt that the big-armed quarterback who became the fastest in league history to 14,000 passing yards, who owns the Chargers’ single-season record for passing yards (5,014) and touchdowns (38) would fetch a premium? Especially from a suddenly desperate Minnesota trying to maximize its Super Bowl-caliber defense?

Regardless of being winless, no mind for being rudderless, there’s a feeling inside the league that the Chargers are closed for business.

“Justin Herbert would fetch them at least two first-round picks,” one league source tells Between The Hashmarks, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “And they won’t even consider it.”

The reality here is that general manager Joe Hortiz and the Chargers are at a crossroads.

There’s an irrefutable seven-game sample size here that Herbert is completely miscast for McDaniel’s offense, whatever the heck that is trying to be.

If the Chargers weren’t going to fire McDaniel going into their Week 7 bye week, there’s a decent chance he lasts the season.

Sunday night, Herbert was sacked seven times in his first 27 dropbacks, and according to the CBS broadcast, was hurried 11 times by the Texans defense and knocked down five times.

By game’s end, Herbert was sacked a career-worst eight times.

Herbert has now been sacked 31 times this season. This situation is simply untenable.

Los Angeles needs to either commit to a schematic overhaul with a new coordinator going into 2027 to maximize Herbert’s skill set, aided by taking the best available wide receiver on the board when the Chargers go on the clock, likely Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith at No. 1 overall, or commit to moving off Herbert before Tuesday.

Herbert and McDaniel aren’t going to co-exist.

Herbert has a no-trade clause, but might this nightmare of a season (61.8 completion percentage, 1,591 yards, six touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 0 wins) be enough to have him wanting out?

If there’s any thought at all of moving forward with McDaniel, the Chargers must spend the next 36 hours shopping Herbert to fill their war chest with draft picks to take a quarterback who fits his system.

But, even barring a Herbert blockbuster, trading Mack, McConkey, or cornerback Donte Jackson bolsters the Chargers’ chances of infusing the roster with young talent via what’s widely viewed as a promising draft class next spring.

Yet, the Chargers are posturing publicly as if they’ll be doing exactly none of it.

For at least the past five years, ‘Chargering’ has become synonymous with squandering a massive lead to lose the game (see Falconsing, also).

Hortiz is Chargering away an opportunity to reset the roster amid a season that was already weeks ago Chargered away.