Why the LA Chargers should not draft a wide receiver in the first round
By Jason Reed
2. There are other MASSIVE needs on this LA Chargers roster
If the LA Chargers were a team that was spoiled in riches then sure, drafting a wide receiver in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft could be fun. But they aren’t. This is a team that has serious roster holes that are not going to fix themselves and the front office is going to have to draft really well.
The most notable one is the offensive line. The Chargers offensive line is terrible and if you want to talk about not having a long-term outlook at receiver then we really need to look at the offensive line.
Sam Tevi, Forrest Lamp and Dan Feeney are both free agents, among other offensive linemen. Trai Turner has one more year on his deal and could be cut. Bryan Bulaga has two more years and while he is solid he cannot stay on the field.
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The Chargers have been unable to field a quality offensive line during the entire Tom Telesco era. Why? He refuses to spend high draft capital on offensive linemen. His strategy has been to draft them in the mid-rounds and use established players in free agency to patch up the holes.
As we have seen time and time again, it does not work. Those established players always regress and are more prone to injuries because of the miles that they already have on their NFL bodies. It is not rocket science.
The cornerback position is also a need with Casey Hayward regressing almost to a liability at this point and the possibility of cutting both he and Chris Harris. Michael Davis has been the most promising member of the secondary but he is a free agent and absolutely could walk away.
Heck, even a position that I also don’t want to draft in the first round, defensive end, would be a smarter selection than receiver as the need is bigger.
And I already know what you are thinking. Sure, in theory, they could address those other roster needs later in the draft after selecting Chase with a first-round pick. However, I would argue that it is actually all-around smarter to pick a receiver later (if they are so inclined to do so) rather than pick Chase.