NFL Draft order if season ended today: Chargers are way higher than expected
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers were playoff hopefuls entering the 2023 season and just six games into the season a large portion of the fanbase has already turned to looking ahead at the upcoming offseason. The Chargers are 2-4 on the season, with three of the team's four losses being by one score.
The rest of the Chargers' schedule is extremely tough, which made winning early on in the season a huge priority. Even just beating a bad team like the Tennessee Titans in Week 2 could have completely changed the season as a 3-3 record is certainly manageable. A 2-4 record in the crowded AFC is not.
At this point, the Chargers are closer to the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft than they are to being in the playoffs. While there is still plenty of football left to play, the Chargers are much higher in the current 2024 NFL Draft order than fans expected.
2024 NFL Draft order if the season ended today:
- 1. Chicago Bears (via Carolina Panthers)
- 2. Arizona Cardinals
- 3. Chicago Bears
- 4. Denver Broncos
- 5. New York Giants
- 6. New England Patriots
- 7. Green Bay Packers
- 8. LA Chargers
- 9. Tennessee Titans
- 10. New Orleans Saints
- 11. Las Vegas Raiders
- 12. Minnesota Vikings
- 13. Indianapolis Colts
- 14. Washington Commanders
- 15. LA Rams
- 16. Arizona Cardinals (via Houston Texans)
- 17. New York Jets
- 18. Cincinnati Bengals
- 19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- 20. Atlanta Falcons
- 21. Buffalo Bills
- 22. Dallas Cowboys
- 23. Pittsburgh Steelers
- 24. Houston Texans (via Cleveland Browns)
- 25. Seattle Seahawks
- 26. San Francisco 49ers
- 27. Jacksonville Jaguars
- 28. Baltimore Ravens
- 29. Detroit Lions
- 30. Miami Dolphins
- 31. Kansas City Chiefs
- 32. Philadelphia Eagles
The Chargers potentially having the eighth-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft should be a huge eye-opener to the team and the fanbase. There is absolutely no reason for the Chargers to have a top-10 pick in the draft with all of the talent on the roster.
If anything, this is indicative of how bad the coaching job has been in LA. And while common sense may say that the Chargers will get better and move up the draft order, with how this season is going, this might just be a preview of what is to come next April.
Prospects the Chargers could target with the 8th overall pick:
There is still a lot of time until the 2024 NFL Draft and a lot will change when it comes to the draft big board. Trying to predict who the Chargers will take now is very hard to do but the team certainly has several options that could be potential selections if LA has the eighth overall pick. Those options include:
- TE Brock Bowers, Georgia
- CB Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama
- WR Malik Nabers, LSU
- EDGE Laiatu Latu, UCLA
Those are four names that could fill a potential position of need for the Bolts in the 2024 NFL Draft. Hopefully, the Chargers can turn the season around that way none of these names are actually tangible options in the draft.