Eric Weddle Wants to Sign with Super Bowl Contender

San Diego Chargers safety Eric Weddle has already conceded that he won’t be back in powder blue for 2016. The next step for the ball hawking defensive back is to field some offers from excited prospective employers in free agency, and Weddle has made his list of priorities clear in choosing a suitor.

“In the next three or four years, are they going to be competitive?” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Are they going to be division winners? Are we going to have a chance at the Super Bowl?”

Despite all his personal accomplishments as a football player, Weddle, 31, has never come close to the championship game. He made the playoffs four times in nine years with the Chargers; a period that included three AFC West titles and five All-Pro selections for Weddle. Now, it sounds like he is putting a potential big bucks contract on the backburner in favor of retiring with a ring.

Weddle’s intentions appear to rule out a team like the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite having a ton of cap space, a desperate need to get better at safety and a team that is generally headed in the right direction, the Jags strike fear in the hearts of exactly zero heavyweight contenders.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Carolina Panthers may not stick around with 33-year-old strong safety Roman Harper for much longer. The “Super Bowl contenders” proviso won’t be an issue either, with many expecting Carolina to pick up right where it left off in 2016.

The upwards-trending Pittsburgh Steelers may also have a claim to Weddle’s services. The team is likely to cut 34-year-old Will Allen and without a suitable replacement on the depth chart, is not afraid to fill gaps in the secondary through free agency.

Even the Oakland Raiders have an outside shot, though the team is mostly full of “potentials” at the moment: a potential franchise quarterback in Derek Carr, a potential #1 receiver in Amari Cooper and a potential future DPOY in Khalil Mack. That sort of uncertainty may trouble Weddle, but one thing is certain: whoever lands him will boast a better defense for it.