LA Chargers: Three players that are getting massively overlooked
By Jason Reed
2. Trey Pipkins
Many Charger fans were shocked when the team did not select an offensive lineman in the 2020 NFL Draft. In reality, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense why the Chargers opted not to take an offensive lineman in the draft.
First of all, they were really high on Kenneth Murray and traded their third-round pick to move up 14 spots from 37 to 23. With that, the Chargers did not have another pick until the fourth round and at that point, there was no reason to take a tackle.
The team was not going to find anyone better than Trey Pipkins, who was selected in the third round last year, that late in the draft. Sure, they could have gotten depth, but with the addition of Storm Norton as well as the return of Mike Pouncey and the emergence of Scott Quessenberry, they should be fine.
Could the team still sign a veteran tackle such as longtime Philadelphia Eagle Jason Peters? Absolutely. But I am a lot higher on Pipkins than most fans appear to be and I think the Chargers would be just fine using him.
Pipkins had some struggles in his rookie season for sure, but overall as a rookie tackle, he actually did fairly well. Pipkins had a 63.3 rating on Pro Football Focus and allowed four sacks in 251 snaps (1.59 percent). Let’s compare that to the three first-round tackles taken in 2019 — Andre Dillard, Tytus Howard and Kaleb McGary.
Dillard had a 59.7 rating and four sacks allowed in 336 snaps (1.19 percent); Howard had a 59.4 rating and two sacks allowed in 488 snaps (0.41 percent); McGary had a 53.0 rating and 13 sacks allowed in 1,104 snaps (1.18 percent).
Yes, Pipkins’s sack rate was higher because he had a few ‘what are you doing?’ moments. However, overall, Pipkins was just as solid as the three first-round tackles taken last year and had a better overall PFF rating.
Now, that is not the end-all-say-all, but some Charger fans were complaining about the team not taking a young tackle in the draft, forgetting that the team already has one with a year of experience.