Chargers could break a confounding trend with rising NFL Draft prospect

As the 2026 NFL Draft approaches, there will be a lot of eyes focused on teams' activities over the next couple of weeks.

Although the NFL Scouting Combine has already come and gone, teams will still be holding top-30 visits. At times, we can give this information outsized importance. Most teams have already done their due diligence on the players they're considering selecting. Top-30 visits, often, are meant for teams to get a closer look at prospects they have lingering questions or doubts about.

In short, just because a team hosts a prospect for a visit doesn't mean they'll ultimately be drafted by that team. Far from it, in fact.

Data analyst Kent Weyrauch recently ran the numbers on this trend, which he graciously posted to his X account:

Only nine teams have drafted a top-30 visit prospect in more than half of their drafts in the past 11 years. The Chargers, meanwhile, have only done so once, presumably when they selected Justin Herbert in the 2020 Draft after hosting him for virtual visit.

It's a rather strange trend. But given Los Angeles' need for a starting-caliber offensive guard, it's one that could quickly be broken this year. The Chargers hosted Chase Bisontis out of Texas A&M for a 30- visit, and he could certainly be a second-round (or even a first-round) target.

Chase Bisontis is an appealing enough prospect to get the Chargers to buck their 30-visit trend

Los Angeles should have a plethora of options in their draft range. Even if Olaivavega Ioane, the top guard in the class, doesn't fall to them at 22nd overall, they'll always have the option to trade back into the second round assuming they can find the right partner.

In that range, guards such as Bisontis, Emmanuel Pregnon, Keylan Rutledge, and Jalen Farmer could certainly be available. There's some buzz about one or more guards from this group sneaking into the first round once Ioane is off the board.

That alone could convince the Chargers to spring for Bisontis if they liked what they've seen so far throughout the pre-draft process. He has the quickness and agility to be immediately effective in Mike McDaniel's outside-zone heavy scheme. He competed in every drill at the Combine and tested well in most categories. He also has extensive experience at left guard, starting 22 games there over the past two seasons.

It's not as though Bisontis is the only logical selection in the draft for the Chargers. If any prospect from their list of 30-visits is going to buck this trend, however, it's likely to be him. They've been reported to have interest in Gabe Jacas, an edge rusher out of Illinois. It seems as though Caleb Banks, a defensive tackle out of Florida, would be a strong fit as well if it weren't for the injury concerns.

But given their current set of needs, it wouldn't be a major surprise if Bisontis was ultimately the player from this group to be selected.