Chargers first Rd pick : Offense or Defense ?

Hi everyone, this is my first post so I hope you’ll have a good read!

Let’s start the debate,  the Chargers will go offense or defense in the first round??

Well to answer that we need to take a good look at our biggest needs.

Defensive needs :

CB : Shareece Wright is a clear starter even if he is average at best at the moment. I do believe he has the potential to be a very good corner in the league, but nothing more than a good Cb#2.

Then we have Richard Marshall, Brandon Ghee, Marcus Gilchrist and Steve Williams. All of them are below average or unproven players. None of them should be counted on to be our CB #1 or #2. They are good depth players but not starters.

M.Gilchrist and S.Williams are good nickel back players and one of them will win the starting job through the preseason.

First round draft need : Very high

OLB : Melvin Ingram is a rising star and the sky is the limit for him. On the other side, we have Dwight Freeney in rotation with Jarret Johnson. Now both of them won’t be there next year so we do need a young player to develop behind them.

Thomas Keiser and Tourek Williams are serviceable but nothing more than depth. You don’t want neither of them as a starter in any game. We also have Cordarro Law from the CFL. We don’t know what he will do in the NFL and he could be cut before the start of the season.

So we do need to draft a player at that position. I see a second or third round pick on an OLB as a good fit. Don’t get me wrong we do need more pass rush but I feel like if we draft an OLB in the first rd, he will have a very hard time seeing the field in his first year so we better draft one later. (First rounders shouldn’t be bench riders)

First round draft need : Low-medium

NT : Here is a tricky one. We have Sean Lissemore who, according to Gelhken, is viewed as the starter. We also have Kwame Geathers who can become a good player. Both are average at best at the moment and need rotation.

As we all know the NT position is one of most important position in a 3-4 defense. For those of you who said that Pagano don’t use a NT often, well it’s probably because we didn’t have a good one on the roster last year. For example, when Aubrayo Franklin was here, he got plenty of playing time and everyone one around him played better (MLBs, OLBs and DEs). Pagano is being creative and trying not to use a NT often because we didn’t have a good one.

Anyway the Chargers want to let Lissemore and Geathers handle the job for this year and see what happens. It is a gamble like last year with Cam Thomas but I get why they don’t want to spend a first round pick on an injured knee (Louis Nix III).

First round draft need : High but the Chargers are looking at a different direction

Offensive needs

WR : Allen is a STAR end of the story. On the other side we have…..well no one. IFFFF Malcom Floyd is back he can start but it would be for only one year. We just can’t count on him right now. If I were the GM I would act like he isn’t coming back and if he does well it will only be a plus.

Brown is officially just a depth player. It’s the heartbreaking truth.

Royal is a beast slot player but we’ve seen last year that he is a useless outside and also is not a deep threat. Injuries are a concern and he might not be there in 2015. Others are just depth and camp bodies, no quality starter.

First round draft need : high

G : Chad Rinehart is one of our starters and a pretty good one at a decent price. Jeromey Clary and Johnnie Troutman will fight for the other spot. Don’t expect nether of them to be more than average next year.

I know that most of you want Clary to be cut, but the truth is that at this point it might be better to keep him (even if he costs a lot more than what we get on the field) and just focus on our other needs first. When heathy, the O-line wasn’t the problem last year so keeping the line intact this year is acceptable.

First round draft need : low – medium

Recap :

CB: Starter not on the roster (CB1)

OLB : Starter on the roster (need young player to rotate and to develop for next year)

NT: Starter on the roster (average at best and right now I would be surprised if the Chargers draft a NT in the draft even in later rounds)

WR : Starter not on the roster (WR2)

G: Starters already on the roster

So I come down to CB or WR in the first round. Other position are big needs but can be addressed in later rounds.

We all know that Tom Telesco made a push for Hakeem Nicks and Steve Smith, so he knows that WR is a glaring need. But why did he go after a high profile WR and not a high-profile corner when there were more corners in the FA? It’s because he doesn’t want and will not draft a WR in the first round.

Here is why : we need a deep threat player and we can find one in the second, third and even the fourth round easily. The draft is deep with big body WRs who cans stretch the field. With Gates, Green, Allen, Royal and our RBs, we have enough weapons to let the rookie WR develop. Plus I feel like Rivers can make any WR better. So a day 2 rookie would be perfect.

So why will we draft a corner instead? The corner position is deep in the draft, but it doesn’t mean that they equal talents. The corners that will get drafted in the second or third round have flaws in their game and will probably take more time to develop. We need a day 1 starter not a project player.

The Chargers will go after a top CB not another average corner that will have a hard time beating R.Marshall for the starting job.

So That’s it I think the Chargers will draft a corner in the first round. That’s my prediction. Now who will it be ? I’ll write another post about the top cornerback prospects very soon.

Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Tell me guys what you think,

Offense or defense ?