The time the Chargers will make their first selection in the 2021 NFL Draft

Barring any trades up or down on draft-day itself, the LA Chargers are slotted with the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Fans are going to have to wait a bit longer this year than last year to see who the team selects.

The 2021 NFL Draft starts at 8:00 p.m. EST, 5:00 p.m. PST. The draft will be streamed on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. If you do not have cable don’t stress! You can start a seven-day free trial of fuboTV to watch all three days of the NFL Draft.

Anyone who has watched the NFL Draft before knows that day one of the draft can usually take quite some time. Don’t tune it at 5 o’clock expecting to see the Chargers picking soon. Each team gets 10 minutes to make its selection.

So what time will the LA Chargers make their selection in the 2021 NFL Draft?

It is not quite 13 multiplied by 10 minutes, which would mean that the Chargers would be selecting at 7:10 p.m. Last year, it was a bit sooner than that.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded up to the 13th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and selected offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs at approximately 6:50 p.m. PST. The year before that, the Miami Dolphins selected defensive tackle Christian Wilkins at approximately 6:46 p.m. PST. Finally, the year before that, the Washington Football team selected Da’Ron Payne at 6:40 p.m. PST.

So if I were a betting man (spoiler alert: I am) I would guess that the LA Chargers are going to make their selection at the 13th overall pick between 6:40 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. PST. So if you really do not care about any of the first 12 picks, I would tune in at 6:30 p.m. to give yourself some time to get comfortable.

Of course, the first 12 picks are going to heavily influence the Chargers’ pick at 13. There are multiple draft prospects that might be available at 13 and who gets selected when is going to be extremely telling.

Not only that but there is the potential of a trade-up for the Chargers if someone they like falls past a certain point. While still a longshot, if Penei Sewell falls past the sixth overall pick then I would pay close attention as the Bolts could move up.

The first four picks really do not matter much to the LA Chargers as they are mostly set in stone. If you don’t want to tune in at the start of the draft, I would at least tune in for the fifth overall pick. Two years ago, that pick was made at 5:57 p.m. PST.

It is going to be a fun one and hopefully, the Chargers make the right decision in the first round.