2026 Draft Superthread And Draft Prospect Discussion

[Velo]

I am not against WR in Round 1 - when you look at the cost of Pierce, JSN or trading for Brown in terms of draft picks PLUS contract - you would get a cheaper WR
I just am not a fan of Concepcion as I don't think he is a true X-- plus a history of drops.
Now Cooper or Boston - sure.

Concepcion would be a McDaniel pick. Speed, speed and more speed. If they were truly standing in line to give a bag to Alec Pierce, MM is looking to add another speed WR.

[CanadianBoltFan]

Hence, why I think the off-season by the organization (and I am just not blaming Hortiz, this is an organizational failure) - my grade to this point with $100m of cap space is a C-/D+ at best. More accurately incomplete/tbd

Two Edge and better solutions at IOL -- to allow the draft to be truly BPA. He is still missing LG and Edge

The problem i have with Hortiz's off season really boils down to one thing...he is taking unnecessary risk with a massive weakness on this team by going very light, and with marginal players at the guard position.

How about MM's system with good players in it? You do not have to have low quality guards just because MM's system gets the ball out quicker

I have also said when you have a league low 5 draft picks, it might be the one year you dip into a 100 million cap space a tad more...using the assets you have at your fingertips to improve the team to the level of winning a division and playoff games

[sonorajim]

Concepcion would be a McDaniel pick. Speed, speed and more speed. If they were truly standing in line to give a bag to Alec Pierce, MM is looking to add another speed WR.

Looking is likely. The Pierce story could be an intentional smoke screen. Maybe not.

[Bolt4Knob]

The problem i have with Hortiz's off season really boils down to one thing...he is taking unnecessary risk with a massive weakness on this team by going very light, and with marginal players at the guard position.

How about MM's system with good players in it? You do not have to have low quality guards just because MM's system gets the ball out quicker

I have also said when you have a league low 5 draft picks, it imght be the one year you dip into a 100 million cap space a tad more

Yes, I am really not sure what they hell the thought process was in that building. From the top to the bottom - but have to hope there is a plan

[sonorajim]

The problem i have with Hortiz's off season really boils down to one thing...he is taking unnecessary risk with a massive weakness on this team by going very light, and with marginal players at the guard position.

How about MM's system with good players in it? You do not have to have low quality guards just because MM's system gets the ball out quicker

I have also said when you have a league low 5 draft picks, it imght be the one year you dip into a 100 million cap space a tad more

I agree. That said, we won't know the quality of the OGs in McD's system until the '26 Chargers play.

[electricgold]

The problem i have with Hortiz's off season really boils down to one thing...he is taking unnecessary risk with a massive weakness on this team by going very light, and with marginal players at the guard position.

How about MM's system with good players in it? You do not have to have low quality guards just because MM's system gets the ball out quicker

I have also said when you have a league low 5 draft picks, it might be the one year you dip into a 100 million cap space a tad more...using the assets you have at your fingertips to improve the team to the level of winning a division and playoff games

When we lost games last year it was always Roman this and Roman that as the root cause...

this year Roman has been replaced by Hortiz, who just went on a rant saying you can't ignore areas or rooms of the house or the foundation becomes weak, and then he goes out and does just that with our Oline in free agency. Again. He signs one OG and zero OT's for depth, or possible starters to begin the season, and signs a cut center, and resigns players from our oline from last season that no one really liked so much, or played really well.

If we have games again where Herbert is running for his life with no time to throw and our OT's go down again. Hortiz will be the new whipping boy.

[CanadianBoltFan]

I agree. That said, we won't know the quality of the OGs in McD's system until the '26 Chargers play.

And here is the risk i am talking about.

What happens if it is just like last year and once the seasons starts the IOL just isn't good enough? Then what? Same shit for 17 games like last year?

[CanadianBoltFan]

When we lost games last year it was always Roman this and Roman that as the root cause...

this year Roman has been replaced by Hortiz, who just went on a rant saying you can't ignore areas or rooms of the house or the foundation becomes weak, and then he goes out and does just that with our Oline in free agency. Again. He signs one OG and zero OT's for depth, or possible starters to begin the season, and signs a cut center, and resigns players from our oline from last season that no one really liked so much, or played really well.

If we have games again where Herbert is running for his life with no time to throw and our OT's go down again. Hortiz will be the new whipping boy.

And if we have injuries at guard ...what we are starting Branson Taylor and Trevor Penning in a playoff game?

I know i have talked about this a lot, that is because my mind is a bit boggled that after the embarrassing debacle these guys put on the field at o line last year, and taking the high rate of o line injuries into account....I truly expected they would address the offensive line seriously and thoroughly...not roll the dice with marginal players and little depth.

[dmac_bolt]

And if we have injuries at guard ...what we are starting Branson Taylor and Trevor Penning in a playoff game?

I know i have talked about this a lot, that is because my mind is a bit boggled that after the embarrassing debacle these guys put on the field at o line last year, and taking the high rate of o line injuries into account....I truly expected they would address the offensive line seriously and thoroughly...not roll the dice with marginal players and little depth.

I wish to God we had started Penning (and James) in the last playoff game. Gro shut down any talk of that as fast as he could.

F it. all hope is lost. Rest the starters, tank for '27.

[electricgold]

I wish to God we had started Penning (and James) in the last playoff game. Gro shut down any talk of that as fast as he could.

F it. all hope is lost. Rest the starters, tank for '27.

Its not about all hope is lost! We'll be competitive etc.

Its about when you have a franchise QB and solid HC you go all in at least a little bit. Look at what the Seahawks and Pats did last off season.

Hortiz really seems to be operating under the mind set, "we won 11 games" thats pretty good" BS, acting like we are right on the cusp with what we have of winning a championship when in actuality we are no better than a one and done team, because the players Hortiz have brought in are solid value players at best, and so far he doesn't know anything about building a solid Oline.

[CanadianBoltFan]

I wish to God we had started Penning (and James) in the last playoff game. Gro shut down any talk of that as fast as he could.

F it. all hope is lost. Rest the starters, tank for '27.

Lets not get silly.

It may all work out, but as my point was, Hortiz is taking unnecessary risk by approaching the offensive line marginally instead of thoroughly....and lets be clear it has to be fixed now in the off season..once the season starts it is too late. He still has the draft but only has 5 picks..so Hortiz has left himself narrow margins. After the lesson of his previous 2 years in a GM job, it is hard to understand why.

[electricgold]

Lets not get silly.

It may all work out, but as my point was, Hortiz is taking unnecessary risk by approaching the offensive line marginally instead of thoroughly....and lets be clear it has to be fixed now in the off season..once the season starts it is too late. He still has the draft but only has 5 picks..so Hortiz has left himself narrow margins. After the lesson of his previous 2 years in a GM job, it is hard to understand why.

Let's hope we're pleasantly surprised and Hortiz turns out to be a genius who had a 3 year master plan to make us a playoff winning team!

Otherwise, I've seen enough of Hortiz and it would be nice to bring in a GM that really knows what he's doing.