2024 Chargers Draft Superthread - Prospect Discussion - Draft Has Started

[Boltnut]

Pipkins is signed for the 2025 season. He becomes a FA after the 2025 season, meaning 2026.

Our guards were horrible worse than Pipkins. Sayler played OT in college. Why we moved him to OG is anyone's guess. Johnson was terrible, but a rookie and we don't
have a starting center. If want a O line you start by having a great LOT and interior line. ROT for a right handed QB is still important, but less so in the passing game
as the protection can slide to the stronger side. Let the coaches figure it out. If they go with a OT in the 1st round so be it.

CB is a highly rated position since the NFL is really now a passing league.. So I do not agree with you. There are exactly 2 CB with a first round grade, neither one is top 10.
So the way I look at it is a trade down but to top 10 we can land Edge, DL, TE or WR. If trade down below top 10 then CB comes into play. Outside of top 20 maybe Center
or some other position.

Again... if you cut Pip after the season, you save $6.75m. If you don't, you waste $6.75m.
Again... I have faith that Zion will get better. The college tape is there. The traits are there.
On the other hand, Pipkins has been here 5 years... with minimal improvement. He was another bad TT eval.
Good NFL teams have good LT's and RT's nowadays. The Chiefs spend millions every year replacing FA tackles. Both LT and RT.

I couldn't give a shit what "experts" say about the CB class... they're wrong. I have no problem with us taking a CB (2 in particular) @#10 or #11. I also have no problem with us taking an edge player @#10 or #11. If they think that BB is "generational" @#10 or #11... I'm fine with that. I'm not locked-in on any one prospect. I know the noise is loud for 1 or 2 prospects... but there are so many different ways we can go. And moving on from Pipkins is one of those ways. Have you even watched Fuaga or Alt play...? Or are you solely relying on "experts"...? Fuaga and Alt are the perfect players to fit Harbaugh/Hortiz's description of how they want to build this team. Pipkins, on the other hand, is not. Time to cut bait.

[Fouts2herbert]

No, I'm very hopeful that Harbo will be able to coach up Pip and other underperforming players so they will be solid additions to the team...notice, I'm HOPEFUL...but NOBODY can guarantee ANY result ahead of time...that's all...

If Jim can't coach them up then they won't be around, simple as that. It won't be like in the past when we kept guys based on draft slot. Sheesh, and I was called a pessimist when I didn't buy into the year of the flip bullshit? If you can't buy into what's happening now then when?

I'm not guaranteeing any titles or anything but I also don't need hope anymore, Harbaugh gets results, period. And besides, after that last string of idiot coaches I've used up all my hope already, Harbaugh is proven and he has Justin Herbert to work with, yeah nothing is guaranteed but it's okay to relax a bit and accept what's about to happen, the Chargers are going to win consistently and be a relevant team as long as Harbaugh and Herbert are in the fold...

[Icebolt]

All this talk about the Bengals.

We talk about the Ravens and the trenches. They haven’t beaten the Chiefs. They couldn’t score shit on the Chiefs.

The only team to beat the Chiefs three times and in a AFC championship conference championship game are the Bengals. They would’ve beat them in the Burrowhead Conference Championship if Mahomes wasn’t bailed out with a phantom roughing the passer penalty.

You see the Bengals. You know why the Bengals beat the Chiefs they out scored them and the Chiefs had no answers for their skill players Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. Yeah and that was Sneed.

You better get some skill guys that the Chiefs are going to be thinking about covering.

How many elite WR's does K.C. have? 0 How many elite WR's did Tom Brady have-not many. They did have 2 things in common. 1) a great QB and 2) very good OL.
Get the OL established, then you can work on elite players in later years. Rome was not built in a year

[wu-dai clan]

This is all going to get very frustrating for Charger fans.

Nabers is about to make our jaws drop in Indy. The truly explosive athleticism, including speed, acceleration and loose hips, the route running, all of this on display, is only exceeded by his deep ball tracking.

Tyreek Hill, DeSean Jackson, step aside.

It would not surprise me to see Malik go @ #1. He cannot be covered.

Well, we are about to get pissed off at Greg Roman. As clearly stated, overcoming the long standing Charger inability to run the football is job #1.

With a running attack, shoot, Herbert to Alex Erickson is capable of going over 1,000 yards.

OL all day.

[Boltnut]

Pipkins all of a sudden has the potential to become this era's Erik Williams (Dallas Cowboys) simply because many on this forum want to draft Brock Bowers or one of the wide receivers. It's amazing how good a player Pipkins becomes and how bad Joe Alt is when someone makes his case to draft Brock Bowers or one of the wide receivers.

You nailed that one!

[Boltnut]

Greg Roman while speaking to beat reporters yesterday:

Roman seeks a balanced offense

Herbert, of course, has never had an even above-average running game during his career. The truth is, no one can answer the rhetorical question Roman posed because we just haven’t seen it yet.

[/B]
This is just me, but I don't see a wide receiver in the first round. With Hortiz running the draft I think the goal will be to trade down and take an offensive lineman somewhere before the 20th pick. It's still quite early to make predictions in the first round, though.

With what Roman is saying, I think we're taking at least two offensive linemen in this draft if we don't sign a center in free agency. It could be offensive tackle in the first and center in the second or third, or it might be an offensive tackle sometime after the first round. I'm also excited to see what they're going to do about our running back situation. I hope we can get one by the third round.

The more I think about, the more I don't want to stay at five. Executing a trade down and acquiring more picks definitely feels like the best move. Fuaga, the three pass-rushers, Kool-Aid, Quinyon Mitchell, and so on...a lot of appealing options if we trade down.

https://theathletic.com/5294176/2024...er-greg-roman/

The one thing I wanted to point out in the article (and I've mentioned this a number of times before)... Herbert did have an above-average running game one year (2021) @4.3 ypg. It coincided with his best year (5,000+yards and 38 TD's).

All of the prospects you've listed are ones I like, too. The Bowers-Only crowd took over and had their run. It's time to talk about other players now. There are multiple players that fit Harbaugh/Hortiz. Everyone wanted Harbaugh... but some didn't understand what that meant in terms of team building...

[charger1_sj]

Again... if you cut Pip after the season, you save $6.75m. If you don't, you waste $6.75m.
Again... I have faith that Zion will get better. The college tape is there. The traits are there.
On the other hand, Pipkins has been here 5 years... with minimal improvement. He was another bad TT eval.
Good NFL teams have good LT's and RT's nowadays. The Chiefs spend millions every year replacing FA tackles. Both LT and RT.

I couldn't give a shit what "experts" say about the CB class... they're wrong. I have no problem with us taking a CB (2 in particular) @#10 or #11. I also have no problem with us taking an edge player @#10 or #11. If they think that BB is "generational" @#10 or #11... I'm fine with that. I'm not locked-in on any one prospect. I know the noise is loud for 1 or 2 prospects... but there are so many different ways we can go. And moving on from Pipkins is one of those ways. Have you even watched Fuaga or Alt play...? Or are you solely relying on "experts"...? Fuaga and Alt are the perfect players to fit Harbaugh/Hortiz's description of how they want to build this team. Pipkins, on the other hand, is not. Time to cut bait.

If you cut Pipkins after 2024 you would save $4.25M not $6.75. There would be a $2.5M dead cap that we would incur. We have a new coaching staff. No telling
what they will do with Pipkins or whether he gets better or not. CB is a coveted position in the NFL. Which is contrary to what you wrote. After QB, LOT, CB and Edge
are the most important. Nobody really knows how the 3rd to 10th rated CB will do in the NFL. The point being there are more than 10 or maybe even 15-20 players
rated higher than the top CB in this class. So I don't think we will be going CB @ 5. In case of a trade down all possibilities are on the table.

[Critty]

Roman asks "Can you imagine Justin Herbert with a great running game?"

Hortiz says "We want to impose our will and dominate"

Harbaugh says " I love the O Line too. There's no other position group on the entire team that they don't rely on any other position to be good, but every other position relies on them to be successful."

However they build it.
The Offensive Line will be one of the better units.
Herbert will have wide open play action shots. Justin might sail his first one out of excitement.

[charger1_sj]

Bears traded Mack when the cap needed fixing. The cap is fixed now. Do they want him back? Is their 3rd rounder fair?

Mack will be owed over $20M. Don't think anybody is going to pay that. He would have to agree to a massive pay cut in order for a trade to happen. Plus
teams know the Chargers situation. If we don't cut him we incur a $38M cap hit, again unless he agrees to tear up his contract and take way less. Even then
we would take over $15M in dead cap plus his new 1 year salary. I will be shocked if some team steps up in a trade.

[Fouts2herbert]

Pipkins all of a sudden has the potential to become this era's Erik Williams (Dallas Cowboys) simply because many on this forum want to draft Brock Bowers or one of the wide receivers. It's amazing how good a player Pipkins becomes and how bad Joe Alt is when someone makes his case to draft Brock Bowers or one of the wide receivers.

Who in the hell has been making that claim? You're just throwing shit out there that nobody is saying to make a case on something nobody said? LOL, I've yet to read anyone making those types of claims, even those of us that like to draft O-line high like myself agree that pipkins will likely be upgraded by 2025 are getting shitted on for not wanting to make the change this year...I'm just not as in love with Alt or Fashanu or any of the top linemen this year to start them as rookies on a different side of the line just because I dislike Pip so much?...then there is the contractual stuff and the cap things to consider...do I want an All-pro RT to go with our All-pro LT? of course I do and pipkins is not that guy, I know that, but he doesn't have to be that guy for this team to have a good year in 2024, he just has to be average and give our FO and new coaches time to fill current holes elsewhere and then they can address trading or cutting him next offseason...

In any typical draft teams can find some of the better RTs in the 20-32 range of the first round or into the second round, why won't that happen for us in 2025? It's this desperation of this year or nothing that I don't understand...Yes the tackles are better than usual this year which means that guys going in day two and early day three are probably getting pushed down a bit this year, that's a good thing for us...

So even tho we agree that RT should be upgraded people like me are getting shitted on simply because we don't think it's the right time to do that this year due to the massive holes elsewhere on the roster that need to take priority...I'm all for trading clear down to the 15-20 if you guys want to take the best center in the draft and stock pile a shit load of picks in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4rth rounds to use to fill all the holes at TE, CB, IDL, RB, LB, S, and potentially Edge depending on what happens with Mack and Bosa...

[charger1_sj]

With all of the talent in the 3rd round, I'd look at later TE's. 4th or 5th round...?
(Jared Wiley) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrpGt6oZvFA
(Dallin Holker) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9
qBUsOv9AgU

Might as well sign Everett. We don't just need a blocking TE. We need a receiving threat to complement our injury prone and developing WRs.

[Duck of Death]

Granted it is a “smokey” time of year, but there have been some rumblings that MHJ takes plays off. Former NFL scout Daniel Kelly noted it about a month ago, and I’ve also spotted it elsewhere. I haven’t watched any All-22 to confirm or refute this. Is this possibly the reason why Nabers almost seems neck & neck? Although Nabers also has some skeletons in his closet (concealed weapon arrest - not charged tho). What do y’all think?

https://firstroundmock.com/2024/01/marvin-harrison-jr-doesnt-like-to-go-out-of-his-way/