Welcome Tre Harris, WR, Ole Miss (R2, Pick 55) - Holdout Over

[Duck of Death]

This years draft was really weak in centers so you have a point

As I have said a few times now, 2024 draft is where they dropped the ball on the best center draft in recent memory. Tanner Bortolini, the Colts starting center already, would have been far more valuable to the Chargers in the 4th round than reaching for project Justin Eboigbe. Instead of a project you are hoping will join the DL rotation and contribute this year, you would have a young center who could be unseating Bozeman as the weakest link on the o line.

It’s likely they didn’t consider Bortolini a viable gap scheme center, esp considering he was barely 300 lbs at Combine weigh-ins. And though he fared decently while filling in for Ryan Kelly, keep in mind he only played 350 snaps in the Colts’ RPO heavy, zone based scheme. The only centers from that class that performed appreciably better than Boze last year were Zach Frazier & JPJ, both of whom were 2nd round selections. 3rd rounder Cooper Beebe had slightly better grades than Boze as well. So in retrospect, perhaps Beebe would’ve been preferable over Junior Colson, but also hard to know since he had literally never played center before. And my preference actually would’ve been Hunter Nourzad over Eboigbe, but impossible to judge that one as well since neither played more than a handful of snaps last year. In summary, sure it appears that Joe missed, but what GM doesn’t miss? Howie Roseman picked Jalyx Hunt & Will Shipley as his 3rd & 4th rounders last year, neither of whom did much. Brett Veach has had some notable recent 1st round misses in Felix Anudike Uzomah & Clyde Edwards Helaire. Those are the two best GMs in the NFL right now.

[CanadianBoltFan]

It’s likely they didn’t consider Bortolini a viable gap scheme center, esp considering he was barely 300 lbs at Combine weigh-ins. And though he fared decently while filling in for Ryan Kelly, keep in mind he only played 350 snaps in the Colts’ RPO heavy, zone based scheme. The only centers from that class that performed appreciably better than Boze last year were Zach Frazier & JPJ, both of whom were 2nd round selections. 3rd rounder Cooper Beebe had slightly better grades than Boze as well. So in retrospect, perhaps Beebe would’ve been preferable over Junior Colson, but also hard to know since he had literally never played center before. And my preference actually would’ve been Hunter Nourzad over Eboigbe, but impossible to judge that one as well since neither played more than a handful of snaps last year. In summary, sure it appears that Joe missed, but what GM doesn’t miss? Howie Roseman picked Jalyx Hunt & Will Shipley as his 3rd & 4th rounders last year, neither of whom did much. Brett Veach has had some notable recent 1st round misses in Felix Anudike Uzomah & Clyde Edwards Helaire. Those are the two best GMs in the NFL right now.

Bortolini, Nourzad, Van Pran Granger etc etc...many options in that draft

Btw I am not holding Hortiz to the standard that he has to hit every draft pick. No GM does that and he has drafted well so far.

Just seems strange as a master drafter and a very o line centric team they didn't look at the center picture the next 2 drafts when they had only signed a stop gap, Bozeman coming off a very bad year in Carolina.

[AK47]

Did people watch last year and think the run game was effective?

This regime has been no different so far. The previous regime did more to fix the run game than this one. They spent on the interior OL, bringing in a whole new interior OL and spending premium money on Linsley. They spent a 3rd on a blocking TE, it didn't work, but it was effort. This regime put in equal effort, bringing in Dissley. Both regimes bright in rotational depth pieces at RB and spent mid round picks in RBs that didn't work out. Both spent first round picks on OTs. The only difference is the previous regime focused more on IOL and this regime spent a first on a RB.

Chargers 2023: 11 rushing TD's. Opponents had 18 rushing TD's.

Chargers 2024: 17 rushing TD's on our worse rushing team under Harbaugh's year 1. Opponents had 7 rushing TD's.

If you go back and look in the entire Herbert era the Chargers always had less rushing TD's than opponents. In Harbaugh's 1st season our rush game was more effective than head to head against opponents using 2 primary backs coming off injuries and sustaining injuries during the season.

[DerwinBosa]

It’s likely they didn’t consider Bortolini a viable gap scheme center, esp considering he was barely 300 lbs at Combine weigh-ins. And though he fared decently while filling in for Ryan Kelly, keep in mind he only played 350 snaps in the Colts’ RPO heavy, zone based scheme. The only centers from that class that performed appreciably better than Boze last year were Zach Frazier & JPJ, both of whom were 2nd round selections. 3rd rounder Cooper Beebe had slightly better grades than Boze as well. So in retrospect, perhaps Beebe would’ve been preferable over Junior Colson, but also hard to know since he had literally never played center before. And my preference actually would’ve been Hunter Nourzad over Eboigbe, but impossible to judge that one as well since neither played more than a handful of snaps last year. In summary, sure it appears that Joe missed, but what GM doesn’t miss? Howie Roseman picked Jalyx Hunt & Will Shipley as his 3rd & 4th rounders last year, neither of whom did much. Brett Veach has had some notable recent 1st round misses in Felix Anudike Uzomah & Clyde Edwards Helaire. Those are the two best GMs in the NFL right now.

We'll see how it plays out with Justin Egboigbe, but I'm not losing sleep over not selecting Tanor Bortolini in the fourth round last year. I'm sure we can eventually find someone better than that as our long-term center. Same with left guard. We're only in the second year of the Hortiz-Harbaugh regime. They're cleaning up the mess and putting together a roster much better than the general manager-head coach combos we were previously used to under the Spanos family ownership.

[gzubeck]

We'll see how it plays out with Justin Egboigbe, but I'm not losing sleep over not selecting Tanor Bortolini in the fourth round last year. I'm sure we can eventually find someone better than that as our long-term center. Same with left guard. We're only in the second year of the Hortiz-Harbaugh regime. They're cleaning up the mess and putting together a roster much better than the general manager-head coach combos we were previously used to under the Spanos family ownership.

Defense is the least of our worries...cleaning up the interior oline is job #1 in my book...

[DerwinBosa]

Defense is the least of our worries...cleaning up the interior oline is job #1 in my book...

That's how it looked after the Houston game, but we'll see how the season plays out. We have two young interior defensive linemen who were drafted in the third (Caldwell) and fourth (Egboigbe) rounds. Our edge rushers are Tuli (currently set to be a free agent in 2027), Mack (probably in his last year), Dupree (32 years old), and Kennard (fourth-round pick). Unless one of the young guys shows that he's a future star, I think defensive line is a very high priority next offseason.

[sonorajim]

Defense is the least of our worries...cleaning up the interior oline is job #1 in my book...

I would have agreed prior to FA and draft signings. Now we have a bunch of new players and have close to no experience with them as Chargers.
I like to think that Hortiz and Harbaugh have a clue. I gotta see the '25 team on the field. Training camp and preseason games will be interesting.
Beating KC in Brazil would be more interesting. That's our primary opponent and win or lose, we need to make a statement. Winning is better..

[sonorajim]

That's how it looked after the Houston game, but we'll see how the season plays out. We have two young interior defensive linemen who were drafted in the third (Caldwell) and fourth (Egboigbe) rounds. Our edge rushers are Tuli (currently set to be a free agent in 2027), Mack (probably in his last year), Dupree (32 years old), and Kennard (fourth-round pick). Unless one of the young guys shows that he's a future star, I think defensive line is a very high priority next offseason.

We were #1 D at preventing scoring in reg season and got our butts kicked vs Hou. IMO because we had very little offense (other than Ladd) and the D spent too much time on the field.
Moving forward, I gotta see the '25 D on the field. They look good on paper. So does the projected run offense. Idea being we can control how long and when the D has to step up.

[jubei]

True.

30 of 32 second round draft picks in the NFL are unsigned. You can thank the Houston Texans for that. The Texans gave Jayden Higgins the first ever guarenteed contract for a 2nd rounder in NFL history and now all thier agents want that. Cleveland followed suit. No one else has signed.

browns did that with their qb and now with their 2nd rd pick? that org is run by some serious dimwits!

[Highboltage]

Bortolini, Nourzad, Van Pran Granger etc etc...many options in that draft

Btw I am not holding Hortiz to the standard that he has to hit every draft pick. No GM does that and he has drafted well so far.

Just seems strange as a master drafter and a very o line centric team they didn't look at the center picture the next 2 drafts when they had only signed a stop gap, Bozeman coming off a very bad year in Carolina.

He had rookies on both sides of him that last year in Carolina, one a 4th rounder and the other an UDFA.

[CanadianBoltFan]

He had rookies on both sides of him that last year in Carolina, one a 4th rounder and the other an UDFA.

Excuse for his bad play in 2024?

[AK47]

That's how it looked after the Houston game, but we'll see how the season plays out. We have two young interior defensive linemen who were drafted in the third (Caldwell) and fourth (Egboigbe) rounds. Our edge rushers are Tuli (currently set to be a free agent in 2027), Mack (probably in his last year), Dupree (32 years old), and Kennard (fourth-round pick). Unless one of the young guys shows that he's a future star, I think defensive line is a very high priority next offseason.

Lets not forget QJ had ZERO catches. Will Dissley with 16 yards was our second best target. A season declining Dobbins only had 9 carries. These 3 weapons got exposed.

Our run defense gave up 168 yards which is the bigger concern imho. I think if Herbert had better weapons and better RB play we would've score more points.