6. Chargers draft Derwin James
The logic for the team drafting Derwin James is similar as the team drafting Justin Herbert. When it was time for the Chargers to make their selection in the 2018 NFL Draft there was a very obvious best player available staring them right in the face.
That being said, it was much more likely that the Chargers would pass on James in 2018 than it was for the Chargers to pass on Herbert in 2020. Telesco and the Chargers could have talked themselves into Derwin's injury history in college and instead drafted someone like Mike Hughes.
However, James was still a first-round pick and was the most obvious pick at the time, so it is hard to rank him any higher than sixth.
5. Chargers sign Corey Linsley
It is always nice when a team spend a lot of money on a specific player and resets the market in the process and that player ends up working out. There have been a lot of examples of the Chargers paying big money for players to flop and Corey Linsley is not one of them.
Linsley has been elite in his two seasons with the Chargers thus far and as long as he can stay healthy, there are no signs of him slowing down any time in the near future.
A savvy move in which a team gets a big-name player by a lesser means is more impressive than signing an already great player to a record-setting contract. But that does not mean that it isn't one of Telesco's best moves.