LA Chargers: The 4 best moves of the Bolts’ offseason

1. Drafting Rashawn Slater with the 13th overall pick

Rashawn Slater was not supposed to fall to the LA Chargers at the 13th overall pick. Some team before the Chargers were going to jump at the potential Slater has to not only be a franchise left tackle but be a versatile piece that moves up and down the offensive line.

Nobody did. Other players continued to be drafted as Slater fell farther and farther down the board. Finally, the Chargers were on the clock at 13 and Tom Telesco had the easiest selection that he could have ever had.

He did not overthink it and pick Christian Darrisaw because of the size. He went with the offensive tackle that some ranked ahead of Penei Sewell in this draft. The LA Chargers snagged the guy that should be protecting Justin Herbert’s blindside for years to come.

I cannot overstate how great this move was for the Bolts. In most other years Slater would have been the consensus best tackle in the class and he might have made that leap if he did not sit out of the 2020 season. This is a guy that in most years would probably go in the top five. But with this draft being loaded, and Sewell being a franchise guy himself, he somehow fell to 13.

This is going to be the pick that NFL pundits look back on in five years and wonder how in the world he fell this far. It is like Quinton Nelson falling to the Indianapolis Colts. We all knew that selection was going to work then and it has worked out wonderfully.

The same will be said for Rashawn Slater.