Los Angeles Chargers Draft Review

[Pumph]

No fancy graphics. We spent all of our money on scouting.

 

Round 1, Pick #22

ILB, Nathan Burke, LSU

Would have ideally liked to have traded up to grab a player or two that we saw falling, but being unavailable for the draft, I am glad to have come away with a player at a position that had great scarcity. Linebacker, in general, was hard to come by this offseason, so we did well to add Burke to pair with Chris Pratt in the middle of our defense. Burke has decent athleticism, but where he really excels is the mental part of the game. His instincts and intelligence (40 Wonderlic) will help him make plays that other linebackers cannot.

 

Round 2, Pick #11

OG, Diego Johnson, Florida

We dipped into the SEC again to nab who we felt was the best remaining offensive lineman. We had needs at Guard, Tackle, and Center, and felt that taking the best available player at these spots would result in the best possible outcome for us. Johnson should start immediately at the right guard spot.

 

Round 3, Pick #22

C, Kyle Dickson, Western Kentucky

We continued to stock the offensive line by grabbing the player we had ranked as the second-best center in the draft. Dickson has good skill, but also a lot of room to grow with his good potential. He'll start immediately, and along with Johnson, should hold down the interior for quite some time.

 

Round 4, Pick #5

OT, Austin Iglesias, Wisconsin

We traded a third round pick in 2023 to secure this selection, but having offered teams a 3rd and a 6th to try to get a late third round pick to select Iglesias, giving up just a 3rd to take him in the fourth round (and pay him a 4th round contract too) feels like an even better deal. Iglesias was the last tackle on the board that I felt could step in and start for us, and I wanted to grab him before he was gone. Having three young offensive linemen who will gel together as they mature should bring about some cohesion up front, and some superior play as they compete to challenge each other to get better.

 

Round 4, Pick #11

DE, Gabriel Campbell, Marshall

A very high upside body to stick on the defensive line, opposite one of the league's best defensive ends, Campbell will get a chance to learn up front with little pressure to be "the man". The team will be asking him to set the edge and occupy blockers in the short term, which are things he currently excels at.

 

Round 5, Pick #22

RB, Drew Reed, East Carolina

We needed a back badly, and saw Reed's versatility in run game, receiving game, and ability to be a pass blocker as someone we could work with. He may not be a workhorse, every down back that you hand the ball off to 25 times, but with a QB who is as good of a runner as anyone in the game, Reed will not be asked to do that. He also has a lot of upside, so he seems to fit the mold for what we were looking for. As a late fifth round pick, we are thrilled with Reed.

 

Round 6, Pick #11

WR Josh Aquino, Arkansas State

We were surprised that Aquino was still on the board. Sure, he does not possess the speed that many receivers drafted before him exhibit, but Aquino excels at catching the ball and route running. I would look for him to be a guy that will move the chains while working the middle of the field as a fourth or fifth option in our passing game.

 

Round 7, Pick #22

OLB Eli Escobar, Florida State

The last remaining position where we had not brought in a player to replace or compete with the 50-something rated pool players, Escobar gives us a young player with decent potential to develop. As mentioned before, linebacker was a thin position to address this offseason, and Escobar barely addresses it. We'll see what we have, but I am not expecting him to be a world-beater.

 

Round 8, Pick #11

CB, Matt Kelly, Washington

I am actually pretty excited to make this pick, as Kelly has good athleticism, and very strong man coverage skills from the combine scores. He would not be asked to be more than perhaps a nickel or dime corner, but I think he has the ability to be a pretty good one.

 

 

 

Players we missed on:

One player I really wanted to try to trade up to get was TE Josh Hawkins, who went to Cincinnati at the start of the 7th round. I saw him as a dangerous target with great potential. I tried for most of the 6th round to get a pick, and just could not. I also had tried to get a pick earlier to take TE Isaiah Albuquerque. I did not want to draft players that would be backups or package-specific, like 2 TE sets, unless I added picks to take them. Not able to trade for extra picks, I had to see them go off the board.

I was eyeing both Gerald Murphy and Sinorise Callahan when both receivers were taken in the middle of the 5th round.

When we took Dickson in the 3rd round, the toss-up decision was to take him or OT Josh Holloway, who I really liked. I liked Holloway more, but just saw more tackles available than centers that I liked, so I decided to go with Dickson, hoping that Holloway might still be there when the snake draft came back around from the bottom of the 3rd to the top of the 4th. He was taken immediately with the next pick.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Pumph