It's safe to say that Ole Miss WR Tre Harris will go down as LA Chargers fans' favorite pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Chargers drafted Harris with the No. 55 pick after passing on wide receiver Matthew Golden in favor of Omarion Hampton in the first round.
Many expected Harris to go early in the second round and the fact the Chargers landed both Hampton and Harris is exceptional. The Chargers have officially added two dynamic weapons with Harris being perceived as the better value.
There is no doubt the Chargers were counting down the picks until they were on the clock in the second round. In fact, Chargers GM Joe Hortiz revealed after day two of the draft how the NFL Draft broadcast nearly robbed the Bolts of the Harris pick.
Hortiz and Co. were legitimately worried that all of the Jaxson Dart highlights after he was taken in the first round by the New York Giants would result in Harris being drafted before the No. 55 pick.
Chargers GM Joe Hortiz: "With Tre (Harris), when they kept showing Jaxson Dart highlights yesterday, it's like 'oh my God, he's in every one of these highlights'. It's like stop showing Jaxson Dart highlights. So all those plays stood out in my mind yesterday."
— Alex Insdorf (@alexinsdorf99) April 26, 2025
Jaxson Dart could've indirectly kept Chargers from drafting Tre Harris
You can't blame Hortiz for being paranoid about all the Dart highlights when the team clearly loved Harris and wanted to take him in the second round. The more Dart highlights that played, the more often teams saw Harris on their screens while he sat there on the board.
This was more than just paranoia from the Chargers' brass. In fact, Hortiz said that he and Jim Harbaugh were such big fans of Harris that they considered trading up for him in the second round.
Thankfully, it worked out for the Chargers and they landed a legitimate offensive weapon without having to spend more draft capital to move up. Hortiz and Harbaugh showed patience, even with their Dart-related concerns, and it paid off.
It's unclear how the Chargers would have pivoted if these highlights results in Harris getting drafted. Jack Bech was the next wide receiver taken (three picks later) but he is a completely different receiver than Harris (and isn't as exciting).
Now, the hope is that Harris can turn in just as many highlights catching passes from Justin Herbert. Nothing against Dart, but the ceiling is much higher with Herbert throwing passes than it was with Dart in college.