C-
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers won the night they stopped Torrence from sliding. Grade: C-.
by Hehe12341234 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 20 picks
· 18 steals
· 0 reaches
The board owed the Chargers one, and it paid up: Ro Torrence, the No. 179 name on the board, sitting there at the 256th overall pick like a gift left on the doorstep.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher.
The Chargers paired the rookies with proven help, Puka Nacua leading the way. They left with interior defensive lineman solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
If Joe Alt and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 18 they get protection for the quarterback, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
In the 31st pick they get a sticky cover corner, outstanding value to boot. Exactly the need they had to hit.
A clean, defensible pick in Round 2, Pick 5 with a little surplus value in Troy Franklin. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They will replay Xavier Legette at the 63rd overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. at pick 69 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Junior Colson in the Round 3 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Roman Wilson in slot 105 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Somehow Bucky Irving was still sitting there in pick No. 110, and they pounced on premier running back value. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Taking DJ James in pick No. 124 is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They robbed the room for Will Shipley here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They barely believed it either: Matt Goncalves still on the board at pick 149. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Steal is underselling it; Beau Brade at the 174th pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Dallin Holker at No. 176 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The roster fit checks out.
Fabien Lovett at Round 6, Pick 6 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Kitan Oladapo in the 203rd overall pick is a gift, value that borders on unfair. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Ty'Ron Hopper in slot 225, plain and simple. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
A linebacker of that caliber at pick No. 237 is the definition of value, full stop. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
Value with a capital V on Michael Barrett in Round 7, Pick 27, a genuine coup. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Circle this one: Jha'Quan Jackson at No. 253 is a fall that decides a draft. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
You do not let a cornerback like Ro Torrence reach slot 256 and blink. They did not. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.