LA Chargers: Five Chargers drafted in ESPN’s NFL redraft

Five players from the LA Chargers were selected in the top-128 of NFL players.

ESPN’s reporters redrafted the entire NFL under the precedent that contracts would be reset and players would essentially be free agents. In total, ESPN drafted for four rounds, taking the top-128 players in the league. Of the top-128, five were LA Chargers.

Well, it is not necessarily the top-128 players. Some positions, such as quarterback, are obviously more important, leading to some players being selected before others despite the overall talent level.

But it does give a decent estimation of how valuable each NFL player is as a franchise-building player. Of the 128 players selected, five were players on the Chargers, and the order in which they were picked as well as who was picked might be surprising.

The five LA Chargers that were selected:

• Joey Bosa, 7th overall, Carolina Panthers

The highest player from the LA Chargers was Joey Bosa, who was selected seventh overall in this re-draft. He was the second defensive player selected behind Aaron Donald and it is not hard to see why Bosa went so high in the draft.

Bosa has already made his mark as one of the best pass-rushers in the league and he is just hitting the sweet spot of his prime at 25 years old. The next four+ years are going to be even better for Bosa, who has already been great thus far in his career.

It is interesting to note that in this re-draft, the LA Chargers passed on selecting Bosa with the sixth overall pick and instead picked an offensive tackle in Ronnie Staley. I guess it is on-brand for what the Chargers have needed the past several seasons.

• Justin Herbert, 55th overall, Cleveland Browns

The next Charger that was taken was someone who has not even played an NFL snap, Justin Herbert. This definitely was a shocker as while Charger fans are optimistically high on Herbert, seeing him go this high without an NFL start, especially considering he probably won’t play much at all in his rookie season, was strange.

One of the conditions of the draft was that every fake general manager had to select one quarterback, so I guess that makes sense as to why Herbert would go earlier than other Chargers. But still, he went before the likes of Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff and Derek Carr.

• Derwin James, 62nd overall, Detroit Lions

It was not surprising to see Derwin James selected in this re-draft but it was shocking to see him selected as late as he was. Perhaps the mainstream NFL media has forgotten a tad about just how good James is after he was injured last season, but he is carving out a path to be the best safety of this decade.

He was already an All-Pro player in his first season and is one of the most versatile defenders in the entire league. He is turning 24 this year and because of his youth, he deserves to be much higher on this re-draft.

• Keenan Allen, 81st overall, Dallas Cowboys

Keenan Allen is yet again not getting the love that he deserves. Allen is arguably a top-five wide receiver in the league and is top-eight at the absolute worst and yet he was the 12th receiver selected, even selected one spot behind CeeDee Lamb, who has not played an NFL snap!

Allen was also snubbed from Pro Football Focus’ top-50 players list, so it is no surprise to see him not getting the love he deserves here, either.

• Tyrod Taylor, 97th, Kansas City Chiefs

The LA Chargers had two quarterbacks taken in the re-draft and it makes sense where Tyrod Taylor was selected. In terms of a franchise-building player, he probably deserved to go this low as while he is important as a quarterback, he is a wild-card and nobody knows how he will fare this year and moving forward.

However, it is interesting to see some of the quarterbacks that were taken so far ahead of Taylor. Jared Stidham was selected with the 71st overall pick, which is ridiculous, and the LA Chargers even selected Daniel Jones with the 70th pick.

As critical as I have been about Tyrod Taylor in the past, I would much rather have Taylor be the starting quarterback of the Chargers than Daniel Jones, that’s for sure.