The Los Angeles Chargers, obviously, aren't off to the start of the season they were hoping for.
After back-to-back losses to inferior teams in the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders, their hopes looked relatively slim heading into a matchup with the red-hot Buffalo Bills. They held their own over the course of the game, but the offense ultimately came up short. They'll now enter a stretch of matchups with the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, and Kansas City Chiefs without a single win on their record.
There's a real chance they enter their Week 7 bye with an 0-6 stain on their résumé unless the offense is able to find its footing.
For some fans, the temptation may already have arisen to start taking a look at the standings for the 2027 NFL Draft. Only two teams to have started 0-3 in the 21st century have ultimately made the playoffs—the 2018 and 2025 Houston Texans. Perhaps this is a reasonable response, and perhaps a high draft pick will ultimately be in the cards for this struggling Los Angeles team.
But this team has too much talent, and too high of expectations on both sides of the ball, to stay near the bottom of the draft order for long. While a playoff berth may seem like a far-away dream at this point, it's too soon to start hoping for a prospect like Jeremiah Smith next offseason.
The Chargers will (for better or worse) will find a way out of the bottom of the league's standings
As of now, the Chargers are playing like a bottom three team in the NFL. They have the third-worst EPA/play on the offensive side of the ball, ranking only above the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their defense, while it looked improved in Week 3, still doesn't look staunch enough to help keep the team afloat.
We always knew that this early-season slate was going to be tough, but no one could've imagined a start like this.
With how stacked this upcoming draft class is, there's certainly a section of the fanbase that will start rooting for the tank if the season truly gets out of hand. Los Angeles doesn't need a quarterback, so prospects like Arch Manning and CJ Carr are off the table. But a top edge rusher like Colin Simmons to replace the aging Khalil Mack or (more excitingly) a generational WR prospect like Smith is certainly a tantalizing thought. Both players would theoretically be within reach if the Chargers were to finish the season with a top-four pick in the Draft.
But what this team is experiencing are clear growing pains under a new offensive system—coupled with ceiling-limiting budget moves that were made this offseason to fill integral spots. This is not a playoff team right now, but by the time the Chargers emerge from their first 10 weeks, do we truly believe this still be a bottom-feeding roster? Against opponents like the New York Jets, Buccaneers, and Miami Dolphins?
This team has a baseline of performance it can achieve against some of the weaker opponents on their slate, and there's a wide gulf between a playoff berth and a top pick in the draft. Given how the season has gone so far, it seems likely that Los Angeles will fall somewhere in the middle of those two poles.
That, in many ways, is the worst outcome for this season in the third year of the Jim Harbaugh era. To miss the playoffs and avoid bottoming out (thus giving the organization an excuse not to reset the roster) is unacceptable.
But knowing this Chargers team, that's where things are likely to end up by the time their 2026 slate is complete. In short, don't get your hopes up for a miraculous shot at a prospect like Smith. This team, for better or worse, will find a way to play itself out of that opportunity.
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