LA Chargers: 10 sleeper draft prospects that fit the team

RB Lamical Perine, Florida

Admittedly, my evaluation on Lamical Perine at the next level is generally higher than the draft consensus on him. Most analysts have him pegged as a sixth-round pick, and his combine performance didn’t really help his stock. He only ended up running a 4.62, which was a little less than expected.

Perine doesn’t have great awareness, which is something that’s important on the next level. At the same time, he doesn’t really have a lot of pressure on him to start out of the gate if he were to be drafted by the Chargers. Austin Ekeler and Jackson will obviously carry the bulk of the load. It’s not hard to see Perine being the bowling ball running back the LA Chargers currently miss though.

Perine is the same height as Jackson, but has about 20 pounds on him. He’s obviously bigger than Ekeler is as well. Where Perine could be valuable for the team is the red zone. Ekeler, in particular, has struggled on the goal line because of his size, and it might be good to have a big running back who’s able to power through near the red zone.

That’s what his role would be on the team in 2020. Going past his rookie year though, there’s such great acceleration that’s hard to ignore. There will be draft analysts who will talk about the fact that Perine never became the lead back at Florida, and that’s true. It’s hard to deny his acceleration and pass-catching ability in space though. His physicality could be useful in a post-Melvin Gordon era.

He may not be the most complete running back right now, but he also doesn’t have to be as a sixth-round pick the Chargers can stash and bring up over time. Jackson was a seventh-round pick with question marks before he got the chance to play and impress.