LA Chargers: Redrafting the 2020 NFL Draft halfway through the season

23rd overall pick: Patrick Queen, LB

I like the move to trade up into the first round to draft a linebacker. While it led to the team not having a pick on day two, the Chargers essentially traded a third-round pick to move up 16 spots and get someone that they really liked. That is a great trade-off.

However, instead of picking the linebacker that they really liked in Kenneth Murray, they probably should have picked the player that we were all expecting them to pick when the trade was announced: Patrick Queen.

Now, I want to make this clear. I like Kenneth Murray and I think he is going to blossom into a solid linebacker and have a good career with the Chargers. Queen is just a much better fit on the Chargers, especially with how they are using Murray.

Murray was a bulldozing athletic linebacker with coverage issues coming out of college. That does not mean that he won’t eventually fix those issues, but we all knew there would be issues in his rookie season.

Queen, on the other hand, is a fantastic coverage linebacker who has been really solid for the Baltimore Ravens this season.

The problem is that the LA Chargers are using Kenneth Murray in coverage under the impression that he is Patrick Queen. Did the wrong name get called on the draft card? It is bewildering that the team would select a linebacker that has holes in coverage and use him primarily in coverage.

Part of the reason why this happened is probably Drue Tranquill’s injury but still — based on the Chargers, defensive schemes, Queen was the better fit.