Chargers' rookie WR is becoming the darling of camp (and not who you'd expect)

Training camp is the perfect time to buy a player's stock before it starts to soar in the preseason and the regular season. That is exactly what LA Chargers fans are already doing with rookie wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

The fifth-round pick has not even played a snap of preseason football yet and he is already capturing the imagination of Chargers fans. Lambert-Smith is turning in highlight plays in front of fans, who are expecting the rookie wideout to step up in a big way with Mike Williams retired.

Expecting Lambert-Smith to come into the league and have a Mike Williams impact may be a losing proposition for Chargers fans. However, as risky as it is to have expectations that high for an unproven rookie, it's hard not to board the hype train when highlights like this are surfacing from camp:

KeAndre Lambert-Smith is becoming the darling of Chargers training camp

Lambert-Smith was an afterthought in what appears to be a stacked draft class but that no longer is the case. With Williams' retirement fresh in Chargers fans' minds, Lambert-Smith's emphatic emergence as a legitimate X receiver candidate has taken everyone by notice.

That's not to say Lambert-Smith has been perfect in camp thus far. He actually had a costly drop on a Trey Lance-thrown pass on Tuesday that resulted in an interception. Plays like that will get you benched once the reps really start to matter.

However, even when Lambert-Smith does something negative, he follows it up by adding to the hype train. The rookie wideout spoke to reporters after practice and sounded like a 10-year NFL veteran. Lambert-Smith told reporters that when the ball is up in the air, he feels like it is his, sounding eerily similar to Williams.

Does this mean Lambert-Smith is destined for a stellar rookie season in which he racks up receiving yards? Not quite. He still has Ladd McConkey, Tre' Harris and Quentin Johnston all definitively ahead of him on the depth chart.

That being said, Lambert-Smith has proven that he can come down with big plays in big spots. While he may be a completely different player with a totally different skillset, he could be the new version of Jalen Guyton on this Chargers team.

Guyton was a player who didn't rack up the stats, but came through with big catches when the Chargers needed them. Lambert-Smith may provide the exact same thing in his rookie season with a much higher ceiling in the future.