LA Chargers Draft: Ranking the top five 2021 NFL Draft needs

LA Chargers biggest draft needs: 1. Offensive Line

Offensive tackle? Offensive guard? Both. The entire offensive line need to be a focus in the draft for quite a few reasons.

First, Sam Tevi, Dan Feeney, and Forrest Lamp are all free agents. Those are three of 2020’s primary starters right there, only leaving Trai Turner and Bryan Bulaga under contract.

Turner’s contract is rather similar to the Harris deal from the aspect that the Chargers can actually get out from under it fairly easily this offseason. By the time free agency starts, there’s a very realistic possibility than Bulaga is the only 2020 starting lineman guaranteed to be back in 2021.

I expect the Chargers to potentially go after guys like Joe Thuney, Corey Linsley, or possibly Alejandro Villanueva in free agency. Even if they get one of those guys, there has to be some urgency in finding a tackle and/or guard in the draft. Tevi might’ve been the team’s best lineman last year and he a 52.9 PFF grade.

Rashawn Slater, Christian Darrisaw, and Alijah Vera-Tucker would be great first round targets for the team. To me, there shouldn’t be many other players on their big board besides those three. On day two of the draft, the Chargers can complement the round one pick with whatever they didn’t get in round one (if it’s a guard in round 1, then tackle round 2 or 3 and vice versa).

The Chargers should’ve also learned a lesson from their big offseason O-Line moves in 2020. Grabbing Turner and Bulaga was not necessarily a mistake at the time, but what was a mistake at was not using any 2020 draft capital on the offensive line.

Offensive line is the most pressing Chargers need by far. Other than potentially cornerback, there’s not another position I’d go with in the first round instead of guard or tackle. They’ve neglected the line for a long time by waiting too long on the draft board in previous years.