Not every draft pick is going to work out. As great as LA Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz has been at drafting, even he has had some misses over the last two years. Thankfully, his misses come closer to Mr. Irrelevant than they do to the first round.
There are several Chargers draft picks who are staring a roster cut right in the face three games into the preseason. Some of these players were recently selected by Hortiz and just never lived up to expectations. One has defied the odds by holding onto a roster spot this long in the first place.
There is nothing these Chargers draft picks can really do to earn a spot on the 53-man roster with one more preseason game left. Instead, they should be aiming for a practice squad spot with the hopes they can eventually make an impression.
3 Chargers draft picks who will definitely be cut after the preseason:
1. Brenden Rice
The Chargers selected the former USC Trojan in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft and the hype was off the charts. Rice was projected to be taken in the fourth round of that very same draft, causing many Chargers fans to proclaim that the Bolts landed a huge draft steal.
More often than not, it's pretty telling if a player is projected to be a mid-round pick and falls all the way to the seventh round. Heck, if the Chargers viewed him that highly they would have taken him earlier in the draft.
Rice has been a good reminder to keep expectations at bay for seventh-round picks, even if they are related to the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. Rice failed to make any real impression in his rookie season and it has only gotten worse in his sophomore year.
The Chargers have gotten much deeper at wide receiver, giving Rice a real uphill battle to make the roster in the first place. Instead of improving to throw his name into the mix, Rice has performed worse. He might be the 10th wideout on the depth chart, and may even miss out on a practice squad slot.
2. Ja'Sir Taylor
Ja'Sir Taylor has somehow clung onto a roster spot a year longer than anyone would have expected. To be fair, the Chargers' roster was in a worse spot a year ago and the Bolts had to keep Taylor around to produce on special teams.
Now, the Chargers have more options to play special teams and Taylor's holes in coverage are still glaring. Taylor was torched yet again in coverage on Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams, allowing a deep touchdown pass to a wide receiver nobody has heard of.
Taylor simply has not gotten better since the Chargers took him in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. His tools have always just been that: tools. And Talyor, unfortunately, does not know how to use them.
Cornerback is wide open due to injuries and a lack of quality depth at the top, so Taylor could sneak his way in if one more injury hits the room. However, every Chargers fan would rather see a UDFA get a shot, or see the team make an upgrade externally before the start of the season.
3. Trikweze Bridges
Speaking of cornerback being wide open, 2025 seventh-round pick Trikweze Bridges has not capitalized on his chance to defy the odds and make the Chargers roster this season.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Bridges, who was selected with the second-to-last pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Bridges was essentially a UDFA and the expectations for him should reflect that. Sadly, he has failed to live up to even the lowest of expectations.
A lot of the clips from Chargers training camp of the wideouts torching the defense in coverage have come at Bridges' expense. That has translated to gamedays, as Bridges has been pretty woeful in the preseason.
The former Florida Gator has allowed 10 receptions on 13 targets for 190 yards and a touchdown just in the last two preseason games. Quarterbacks have a 143.7 passer rating when targeting him in coverage, per Pro Football Focus, and he's even missed three tackles to go with it.
It' safe to say that's not good enough to make the Chargers' 53-man roster in 2025.