Draft Preview: Los Angeles Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers were considered a super bowl-bound team after their 12-4 record in 2018. Fast forward to the start of the 2019 season and their star running back Melvin Gordon holds out in hopes of receiving a new contract until week 5 where he would return to the team.

The Chargers would finish the season with a record of 5-11 after hopes of the playoffs prior to the season. The Chargers may be better than what their record shows as they lost 8 of their 11 games by one possession. The Chargers have a total of 7 picks in the draft and here are some positions they could look to address in the draft.

Quarterback

The Chargers have parted ways with long time quarterback Phillip Rivers after 17 years of Rivers being the starter. With  Rivers out of the picture, the Chargers could look to move in a direction where they select a quarterback with their 6th overall pick.

A prospect to look out for is Justin Herbert who is coming off a year where he led Oregon to a Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. Herbert has one of the best arms in the draft and with underrating athleticism he showed during the Rose Bowl game, he could help the Chargers immensely. Herbert could look to be the starting quarterback as soon as week 1 of the 2020 season with the other quarterback being 11-year veteran Tyrod Taylor who has served the past two years as a backup.

Offensive line

If the Chargers are looking for a new quarterback this year they must get that quarterback some protection. The offensive line only gave up 34 sacks which are only the 11th fewest in the league. That isn’t the bad part of the o-line that is actually the best part the bad part is they can’t block for an extended period of time. The Chargers gave up 93 quarterback hits which is one of the most in the league meaning Rivers had no time to throw the ball or ended up throwing the ball away.

A prospect to look out for is Josh Jones, a 6’5 311 lbs tackle out of Houston. Jones had a solid year during his final season at Houston. Something he shined in was his pass blocking ability, something the Chargers currently don’t have. Jones does have some room for improvement that could take him to a great level but as of right now he has the ability to become a starting offensive tackle in the NFL. With the Chargers weak o-line they could take all the help they can get.

Defensive tackle 

The Chargers did well on the offensive side of not allowing sacks but they failed to get sacks on the defensive side. The Defense only tacked up 30 sacks for the whole season ranking 5th worst amongst all teams. Defensive end Joey Bosa led the team with an impressive 11.5 sack season along with Bosa defensive end Melvin Ingram carried the workload with 7 sacks. Between Bosa and Gordon, they had over 50% of the teams’ 30 total sacks. The Chargers could look to add someone to the d-line to take some pressure off Ingram and Bosa to create a 3 headed monster on the line.

A prospect to look out for is Neville Gallimore who impressed many with his one on one drills at the combine. Gallimore is coming off a season with Oklahoma where he had 4.5 sacks and 2 force fumbles for the season. Gallimore’s best success comes from when he is playing in a 4-3 defense which is perfect for the Chargers because that’s all they run. Gallimore would thrive in that same formation and could look to make a bigger impact now having Ingram and Bosa on each end.