The NFL draft is less than two weeks away and soon, we will find out who the Los Angeles Chargers will take with their first-round pick.
Taking a player at a position of need or taking the best player on the board is always a debate, but the Chargers clearly need help at two positions going into the season. It shouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities for the team to draft multiple offensive linemen and multiple defensive linemen.
But which should be targeted first?
This is a defensive draft, at least in the first round. The argument can easily be made that the 10 best players in this draft are all on the defensive side of the ball and because of that, the Chargers should get the opportunity to select a great player to be the team’s next tackle at No. 28.
That’s why the team should address that need first.
Having a defensive-heavy top 10 could push players good enough to be drafted in the middle of the round all the way down to the bottom of the round.
Here are five offensive tackles that could be on the board when the Chargers go on the clock with the 28th pick of the first round.
- Andre Dillard, Washington State
- Jonah Williams, Alabama
- Kaleb McGary, Washington
- Greg Little, Ole Miss
- Dalton Risner, Kansas State
Now while some of those guys could be gone, there is almost no way that all five of them will, so the team should end up with one of these guys in the first round.
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Of course, Tom Telesco could go in a completely opposite direction and draft a player at a position other than offensive line or defensive line, something he has done before, but the weakness at the right tackle spot can’t be ignored.
There is also the fact that many analysts see this as a deep draft at the defensive line spot and the working theory is that the Chargers could likely get a first-round kind of talent late in the second round.
There is a serious lack of depth at the defensive tackle position, but I would be highly surprised if the team passes on an offensive tackle at 28, particularly if any of the names listed above are among the players they pass on.