Ranking Chargers' last 10 first-round draft picks

The NFL Draft is the most important roster-building tool that a front office has and unfortunately, the LA Chargers have not been able to make the most of it in recent years. While there have been great selections, the overall prospect haul has not been good enough. That is why Tom Telesco got the boot during the tail-end of the 2023 season.

The 2024 NFL Draft is the first for new general manager Joe Hortiz and he gets to start his tenure with the Bolts with a marquee selection. Los Angeles has the fifth pick in 2024, which Jim Harbaugh called the first pick because of the quarterback-heavy draft board.

With a new era of Chargers football starting this year, let's take a look back at the last 10 players the Chargers selected in the first round.

10. Kenneth Murray, 2020 NFL Draft

Kenneth Murray lasted all four years of his rookie deal with the Chargers but he still checks in as the worst first-round pick of the last 10 years because of what it took to get him. The Chargers traded a second and third-round pick in that year's class to move up and get Murray.

Murray never got his footing in LA and never even turned into being a serviceable linebacker for the Bolts. While he was a full-time starter in 2022 and 2023, he was not a good one and the Chargers could not wait for him to leave town in free agency.

9. Jerry Tillery, 2019 NFL Draft

Jerry Tillery had a worse Chargers career than Murray as he did not even last all four years of his rookie deal. That being said, the Chargers did not trade up for the Notre Dame defensive tackle and he was picked the latest of anyone on this list.

That is not a full-blown excuse for whiffing on Tillery but it is a lot easier to swallow a bad pick at 28 than it is to swallow a bad pick that is in the first half of the draft. It still would have been nice if the Chargers took Jawaan Taylor over Tillery instead of drafting a developmental tackle in the third round.