The Los Angeles Chargers bolstered their offensive line Thursday by selecting Notre Dame's Joe Alt with the No. 5 overall pick, and he will be blocking for Justin Herbert despite reported trade interest from other teams.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings each reached out to Los Angeles to gauge the AFC West team's interest in trading him. However, they were met with "a flat no."

Schefter also explained the Chargers "would have had to take on a $63.5 million cap charge for the coming season at a time they have $32.3 million of cap space" with a trade.

"Justin who?" Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said on Thursday night, per ESPN's Khris Rihm. "No. No, at the combine I had some people ask me would we consider it, and they were quickly shot down. No, that is never an option."

That L.A. had no interest in trading Herbert comes as no surprise.

After all, he is just 26 years old and not scheduled for free agency until 2030. He is the unquestioned franchise quarterback and the cornerstone new head coach Jim Harbaugh will build around upon his return to the NFL.

Herbert has been in the NFL for four years and already has a resume with an Offensive Rookie of the Year and three seasons with more than 4,300 passing yards, including when he threw for a head-turning 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2021.

Every Justin Herbert touchdown in 2022 ⚡️ <a href="https://t.co/SVmDqQxdLC">pic.twitter.com/SVmDqQxdLC</a>

That New England and Minnesota were the ones reaching out to the Chargers doesn't come as much of a surprise, either.

The Patriots entered Thursday's draft in need of a quarterback, and Herbert would have been quite the answer to that problem. Instead, they pivoted and selected North Carolina's Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick after Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels went with the first two choices.

As for Minnesota, Kirk Cousins joined the Atlanta Falcons this offseason.

There was some speculation that the Vikings would draft a quarterback Thursday, but, like the Patriots, they would have solved any concerns at the position by trading for one of the best signal-callers in the league in Herbert.

Minnesota and New England surely hoped the Chargers would shift into a physical, run-first approach that Harbaugh showed at Michigan, especially after they parted with wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason. It was worth a call to see if part of that shift would mean moving on from the franchise quarterback.

Alas, the Chargers reportedly weren't interested at all.

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