Huge prospect reveals the Chargers savagely deceived him prior to NFL Draft

The debate around who the LA Chargers should take with the No. 5 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft centered around wide receiver Malik Nabers and offensive tackle Joe Alt. However, there was a third prospect in the mix who was convinced he was heading to Los Angeles.

Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham, who was ultimately taken by the Tennessee Titans with the No. 7 overall pick, thought he was California-bound. In an appearance on Bussin' With The Boys, Latham revealed that Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh made a promise to him before the 2024 NFL Draft.

Chargers convinced JC Latham that he was going to be picked

It's not uncommon for a coach to tell a prospect that they are going to draft them. Latham alludes to that in this response and it was something he was prepared for throughout the NFL Draft process.

However, this was obviously more than just Harbaugh being polite to Latham during the pre-draft meeting. With national reporters on the scent and those in the building saying it was going to be Latham, it really looks like the Bolts were considering this.

So what does this mean for the team's actual pick, Joe Alt? The most likely explanation is that Alt was the pick all along and this was classic smoke-screen management from the Chargers.

While it was unlikely any of the top four in the draft were trading down because of who was on the board, the Chargers may have done this to deter any teams below them from trading up to take Alt. By making it seem like the team wanted Latham, the Chargers gave any team who liked Alt a reason to stay put behind pick No. 5.

There is also the trade-down element that may have been discussed. There was real talk leading into the draft about the New York Giants potentially trading up, or another quarterback-hungry team trading up to usurp the Giants.

That ultimately happened later in the first round when the Minnesota Vikings traded up to take J.J. McCarthy. By pretending the team had no interest in Alt, the Chargers could have tricked a team in the top-four to move down thinking it was going to get Alt at the new spot only for the Chargers to pick him anyway.

Of course, that was never going to happen given the top-four prospects in that draft class but it is clear the Chargers were preparing for that reality.

All in all, with no disrespect to Latham, this appears to have been an excellent smoke screen job by the Chargers. Alt was always the No. 1 tackle in this class and if the Chargers actually wanted to take Latham, they would have just done it.