Which Chargers undrafted free agent has the best shot at making the team?

The Los Angeles Chargers have one of the best histories in the NFL in terms of finding undrafted players who eventually make the 53-man roster.

In recent years, Adrian Phillips, Nick Dzubnar and Austin Ekeler, to name a few, have made the team after going undrafted.

Each year at Bolt Beat, we run the undrafted rookie spotlight, talking about each individual undrafted signing the team makes following the NFL draft. Though the Chargers brought in numerous undrafted rookies, it appears those players may be playing to make the practice squad.

If you were to predict the team’s 53-man roster, it’s likely you could name 48-50 of the players that will be on the team just because the Chargers don’t have many weaknesses. They will be looking for a few players to fill out the roster this summer and the rest of those who are able to continue their playing careers will do so on the team’s practice squad.

In the undrafted rookie spotlight series, I assigned a number between one and 10 as to each player’s overall odds of making the roster. Using that, the undrafted free agent most likely to make the Chargers’ 53-man roster is…

Tyler Newsome.

But that seems pretty obvious. Newsome received a score of eight on his odds to make the team but that’s because the punting competition doesn’t feature an established star. It’s between Newsome and Ty Long and you won’t find too many people picking Long, who is more of a placekicker, to win that job.

The next highest score an undrafted free agent received was six for Duke tight end Daniel Helm followed by a five for Lamar cornerback Rodney Randle. Many of the undrafted free agents received a score of two or less but that speaks more to the talent already on the roster than it does those players.

It was a bit of a surprise that the Chargers, a team without an established punter going into the draft, did not draft a punter in the selection process. But they happened upon a solid guy in the process to sign free agents following the draft.

Newsome easily has the best shot of any undrafted player to make the roster and he could be the only guy who does. If Long manages to beat him out, there’s a shot that none of this year’s undrafted rookies will make the final roster.