B+
Los Angeles Chargers
Nobody dealt better than the Chargers this weekend: B+.
by timroot1966 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 3 steals
· 7 reaches
The Chargers treated their own grade as gospel and everyone else's as noise, spending the 256th overall pick on DeMonte Capehart a full 42 spots early.
Every deal seemed to tilt their way, which is not luck. The Sainristil value carries more weight than any single miss elsewhere. They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
Good work on the whole, with quarterback the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 27 they get a bell-cow for the offense, a steep price for the projection. A real need, handled.
Jonathon Brooks at the 35th pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They paid sticker price for Tyler Guyton in pick 37, and that is fine. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A premium they did not need to pay, Zach Frazier a notch or two before his time. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They took Brenden Rice at par in Round 3, Pick 5, which is nothing to complain about. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Circle this one: Mike Sainristil at slot 105 is a fall that decides a draft. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Steal is underselling it; Caelen Carson at the 106th overall pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They paid up for Darius Robinson at Round 4, Pick 8 when waiting would have done the job. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Ty'Ron Hopper this early at the Round 5 slot. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A straight-up fair deal on Javon Baker at pick No. 183, value and slot in agreement. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Jared Wiley slipping to the 222nd pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They paid a round early for Brevyn Spann-Ford in No. 223, more than the board wanted. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
DeMonte Capehart in pick 256 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.