A-
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers fleeced the room on the phones and earned a A-.
by timroot1966 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 6 steals
· 9 reaches
The AJ Barner selection is the head-turner. The Chargers reached 64 spots for him, and it will define how this weekend is remembered. Little to argue with here, and the A- says so.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Wallace. The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped quarterback, which is a strange place to end up. The Chargers paired the rookies with proven help, Diontae Johnson leading the way.
The kind of weekend a front office frames and hangs on the wall.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get an island corner. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A quiet steal in slot 37: Troy Franklin for less than the market said. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Jermaine Burton is a better player than pick No. 58 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A reach on Audric Estime in Round 3, Pick 23; the board had better options right there. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They jumped the gun on Khyree Jackson, taking him earlier than his grade liked. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They paid a round early for Blake Fisher in the 91st overall pick, more than the board wanted. The roster fit checks out.
Steal is underselling it; McKinnley Jackson at the Round 4 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Drake Nugent at pick No. 126 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Theo Johnson in pick 135 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, AJ Barner well ahead of where he belonged. A need, and now a little less of one.
Marcellas Dial at the 183rd overall pick is a conviction pick that outran the value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Michael Barrett at No. 198 is the proof. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Circle this one: Eric Watts at Round 7, Pick 3 is a fall that decides a draft. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They reached into another round for Isaac Guerendo, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. It fills a real need, too.
Jordan Whittington in the 251st pick is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Josh Wallace at pick 256 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.