LA Chargers: The most successful draft order locations in team history
By Jason Reed
Some draft picks do better than others and for the LA Chargers, some locations in the draft order are historically better than the rest.
The LA Chargers have the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and it will be the first time in franchise history that the team has selected sixth in the NFL Draft. We had all intentions of doing a ‘greatest sixth overall picks in team history’ but that cannot be done without any history.
Thus, we decided to take a look at the picks that the Chargers have made throughout franchise history to determine which spots in the NFL Draft have performed the best for the team. It sounds trivial, but while looking at it, there are three specific draft order locations that have been much more fruitful historically than any other locations.
Here are the three locations where the team has had the most success.
3. The 15th overall pick
- Players drafted at 15: Anthony Miller (1988), Melvin Gordon (2015)
The LA Chargers have selected two Pro Bowlers with the only two picks that the team has made 15th overall. Gordon was the result of a trade-up with the San Fransisco 49ers while Miller was a product of the team actually owning the 15th overall selection.
Gordon’s tenure with the Chargers might be up but it would be doing a disservice to ignore what he brought to the team. When he was healthy and at his best, Gordon was one of the five best running backs in the league and he was a crucial part of the offense when the team went 12-4 in 2018.
Gordon was more than a two-time Pro Bowler with the Chargers. Since 2016, he is only one of four running backs in the league with at least 4,000 rushing yards and 45 combined touchdowns.
Miller played for the Chargers for six seasons and was a Pro Bowler four times before adding a fifth Pro Bowl with the Denver Broncos, which is ironically the same team that Gordon signed with this offseason.
Miller finished with 1,000 yards receiving three times and is one of six players in franchise history to average at least 60 receiving yards per game with at least 50 games played.