Draft grades are one of the silliest things we do in the NFL media world. Everyone hands out grades for a draft class hours after it is conducted before the players have even practiced with their new teams. Fanbases hype the draft classes regardless of what happens and if the classes don't pan out it leads to ultimate disappointment. Just ask LA Chargers fans.
Sometimes it takes years for the jury to be out on a draft class. Sometimes it takes just one season. In some instances, fans can tell within a handful of games that the team took the wrong player(s) in the draft and will pay as a result.
That is the situation the Chargers are in. After just five games it has become abundantly clear that there are several draft picks that the team likely already regrets from 2023.
Chargers should have drafted Zay Flowers OR Jordan Addison over Quentin Johnston
Most Chargers fans were and are pounding the table for Zay Flowers, who went one pick later to the Baltimore Ravens. We are on the record here at Bolt Beat as preferring Flowers over Johnston before the selection was made, so that is the obvious choice that the Chargers would probably make in hindsight.
What makes it even worse is that another impactful rookie receiver was drafted two picks after Johnston as well. Jordan Addison has been legitimately good for the Minnesota Vikings. While fans wanted Flowers, Addison seemed like the most likely Chargers selection because of his ties to the current coaching staff.
Alas, the Chargers took a chance on the biggest boom-or-bust WR prospect who fell miles down the draft board from his initial projection and so far he has busted. Johnston has a grand total of 44 receiving yards in five games.
That is not to say that Johnston can't one day be a solid receiver. He still could turn it around. But Flowers and Addison are already solid receivers. They not only would have been better right away for a Chargers team that needs it but now undoubtedly have higher ceilings as well.
Chargers should have drafted Darnell Washington over Daiyan Henley
The most surprising pick of the entire 2023 Chargers draft class was Daiyan Henley in the third round. The Chargers are a team that historically does not prioritize linebackers and decided to use a premium top-100 pick on a linebacker after signing a veteran linebacker to an expensive one-year deal.
Henley has shown flashes and there are signs there that he can turn into a productive linebacker in the future. This isn't really an anti-Henley argument, this is more about the Chargers actually drafting for a position of need versus taking someone who has been limited to special teams this season.
The pick should have been Darnell Washington, who fell to the third round after being projected to picked in the 25-40 range. Sure, Washington had some health concerns, but the ceiling of him being a solid blocking tight end as well as a dynamic red zone threat because of his size was appealing.
Washington hasn't done much in the passing game for the Pittsburgh Steelers but he is already being used prominently as a blocker. There has definitely been a learning curve for Washington but he has still looked better as a blocker than anyone the Chargers currently have in the room.
Plus, tight end was more of a long-term need than linebacker anyway. Gerald Everett is a free agent after the 2023 season and Tre' McKitty might not even make the roster in 2024 because he has been so bad. Tight ends typically need a year to develop in the NFL so it made all the sense in the world to draft one now to be ready to have an even bigger impact in 2024.
Meanwhile, linebacker is a way easier position to backfill in free agency for cheap while actually finding an impactful player. Sometimes you can even land guys like Kyzir White or Drue Tranquill for $3 million in free agency! Find a tight end who is as good as Tranquill is at linebacker for only $3 million in free agency. You won't.
This team needed the tight end help more than the linebacker help and that is bearing itself out early on in the season.
Chargers should have drafted Ivan Pace Jr. over Max Duggan
And here it comes full circle. The Chargers could have gotten a better receiver in the first round, could have actually filled a legitimate need in the third round and could have still gotten a promising tight end in round seven.
Instead, the Chargers wasted a pick on Max Duggan essentially knowing that he was not going to make the 53-man roster. The Chargers liked Duggan enough that they wanted to secure him and keep him from signing somewhere else as a UDFA. In reality, the Chargers could have kept UDFA Ivan Pace Jr. from signing with the Minnesota Vikings.
Pace has been one of the best rookies in the entire league this season as he is putting together a very impactful season for the Vikings. He leads all undrafted rookies in playing time and has legitimately been a difference-maker. Pace has been better than the guy who Minnesota let walk, Eric Kendricks, who is now on the Chargers.
Sure, it is really hard to find an impactful UDFA like Pace and hindsight is always 20/20 but he was a prospect who was brought up as a potential target for the Chargers here on Bolt Beat before the draft.
Even if the Chargers didn't take Pace, taking Duggan still made absolutely no sense. Seventh-round picks are hardly very impactful but taking someone who would be a third-string quarterback at best is only setting yourself up to fail every single time.