As the 2024 NFL draft came and went, the Chargers roster now has nine new players on it. LA built their draft around their selection of Joe Alt on Day 1. As both Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh have said, they wanted to make a statement on the culture and character of the players drafted with this class.
How did they end up doing?
Round 1, Pick 5: Notre Dame OT Joe Alt
Despite rumors of picking JC Latham or a potential trade out of their selection, the Chargers stuck and picked Alt at five. He was the team’s top player on the board. If they truly believed that Alt was that kind of an impact player, there was no wide receiver or Trey Pipkins contract that was going to change their mind.
Alt allowed just five pressures and one sack last season. He was, without a doubt, the best tackle in the draft. Assuming the Chargers extend Rashawn Slater, they’ll have right and left side “tips of the spear,” as Harbaugh would say on the offensive line.
With ideal size, great functional and testing athleticism, and good tape, Alt was a blue-chip prospect. The question for the next number of years will be whether he was the right one. The Chargers passed on two dynamic wide receivers, Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze, to draft a presence like the former Notre Dame product on their offensive line.
There will also be questions about switching to right tackle. Alt has worked with Alex Boone in the predraft process about a potential conversion given that he played left tackle in college. The front office and leadership seem fairly confident that he’ll be able to make the switch.
It’s perhaps not the draft pick that immediately raises the team’s ceiling right now, but it’s a selection meant to build the foundation Hortiz and Harbaugh want on offense.
Grade: B+
Round 2, Pick 34: Georgia WR Ladd McConkey
The Chargers swapped 4th and 5th-round selections with the Patriots to make sure they got their guy in McConkey. In grading the trade first, it’s pretty good value for the Chargers. Some teams get taxed heavily or even lose a draft pick in trading up multiple spots in the late first to early second round. Hortiz did well in terms of evaluating the trade and pulling the trigger on it.
McConkey graded in the 85th percentile of PFF’s grade against single coverage last season. He runs a full complement of routes and can contribute to the team’s lead X, Z, or slot spots from day one. At Georgia, he was able to play 70% of his snaps on the outside.
There might be some size concerns for McConkey at the NFL level, but his skillset allows him to avoid major contact while also being one of the more explosive YAC players in the class.
Overall, McConkey was the best receiver on the board, and LA knew they had to address the position after Alt in the first. They did a solid job with the trade-up, as well.
Grade: A-
Round 3, Pick 69: Michigan LB Junior Colson
The Chargers continued sticking close to consensus board rankings and extracting great value here with the selection of Colson. Some NFL reporters thought Colson could potentially sneak into the back of the first or second round prior to draft night, so getting him in the third is certainly close to a steal.
Colson was the best potential Michigan player fit of the entire draft class. He knows Jesse Minter’s defense like the back of his hand and has the potential to be a true green-dot linebacker. With 80+ PFF coverage grades in recent seasons, he fixes a deficiency of the Chargers’ current linebacker group with an older thumper in Denzel Perryman possibly starting.
He’s also a physical, sound tackler. Colson’s missed tackle rate was under five percent last season, and his career average at Michigan was 6.2%.
From physicality to finesse, the former Michigan man looks to bring some stability to a linebacker unit that has become a bit of a revolving door in recent seasons.
Grade: A
Round 4, Pick 105: Alabama DL Justin Eboigbe
The Chargers missed out on the defensive tackle run that started early on day two. Given the nature of the position in Minter’s scheme, it made sense that they addressed it with their fourth-round selection early on Day 3.
Justin Eboigbe is a relentless motor defensive lineman who can play a number of spots along the line. Joe Hortiz noted that fact in his post-draft press conference. No one else in the Chargers’ defensive tackle room right now presents the versatility that the Alabama product does.
A true high-motor, high-effort player with long arms and versatility. It doesn’t feel like there’s a way to create a more on-brand Harbaugh player on the defensive line in a lab. Maybe the Chargers reached a couple of spots on the consensus board, but they got their guy (plus the day two run on DTs, as previously mentioned).
The only drawback to mention here is that Eboigbe had a spinal cord injury in his career that caused him to miss nine games in 2022. Hortiz mentioned in his press conference that the Chargers were comfortable with his medicals.
Grade: B
Round 5, Pick 137: Maryland DB Tarheeb Still
This is the pick of the draft that still (pun intended) confuses me. The Chargers doubled down on cornerback in the fifth round with Hart and Still. Relative to the consensus boards, Still was the biggest reach in the draft for LA. It was a consensus board vs. draft position difference of 116 spots.
When you turn on the tape, there are some positives with Still. He’s a good tackler who can trigger downhill in the run game. In this draft class, he’s also one of the better corners when it comes to zone coverage.
But when it comes to man coverage, there’s certainly a need for Still to improve at the NFL level. Last season, he allowed a 65.9% reception percentage when targeted. For his career at Maryland, Still allowed over 1600+ yards and committed 20 penalties. We’re not talking about a player who walks into the slot role unchallenged on Day 1. He’s raw from a coverage standpoint.
Linebackers coach NaVorro Bowman spent time at Maryland as a defensive analyst in 2023. He would be the voice in the coaching staff familiar with Still’s game.
Clearly, there are attributes the Chargers that the Chargers feel they can mold with the 21-year-old. But with the quality of players available in round five, Still is a project that feels like Hortiz’s lone reach in the draft to me.
Grade: C
Round 5, Pick 140: Notre Dame DB Cam Hart
Hart was one of my favorite fifteen players in the draft, which I wrote about for Chargers Wire. He’s a big, rangy corner who could brilliantly fit Minter’s vision. Minter had previously spoken about the demand for bigger, athletic corners on the outside at the NFL level.
Hart had a high 9.00 RAS score and one of the highest man coverage grades on PFF last season amongst the class (81.0). In zone coverage, he scored 73.9.
He wasn’t afraid to take any matchup that was thrown his way. Hart had one of his better games on tape last season when he matched up against Marvin Harrison Jr. vs. Ohio State.
The Chargers’ cornerback room was in desperate need of an injection of size and athleticism on the outside. Hart should be a contender to start immediately opposite Asante Samuel Jr.
There is a slight injury concern here. Hart has two surgically repaired shoulders as a slightly older corner, hence the slight fall on draft boards. But for the potential value here and how good the tape is, I think the Chargers were smart to take the chance here.
Grade: A
Round 6, Pick 181: Troy RB Kimani Vidal
For anyone who read my predraft articles on here, Vidal was also one of my favorite prospects in this class. I had him graded as my eighth-best running back, while analysts like Brett Kollman had as high as fifth-best in the class. Vidal can “carry the rock” as Hortiz said in his post-draft presser. He pounded the aforementioned rock to the tune of 1349 yards last year and 866 of those came after contact.
More absolutely bananas Vidal numbers: he has forced 141 missed tackles in the last two seasons, 81 of which came in 2023. While he doesn’t have bonkers athleticism in terms of in-game speed, he makes up for it by being arguably the most elusive back in the class. He’s almost a more athletically juiced-up Blake Corum, as demonstrated in his RAS testing at the combine.
Vidal probably won’t have much volume in year one as a runner behind Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. But that’s where his ability to do the dirty work comes in. He’s a ferocious blocker despite his size as Hortiz mentioned in his press conference. While he didn’t play special teams at Troy, he has the profile of someone who could instantly have a role in Ryan Ficken’s unit.
He is the best running back left on the board in the sixth round, which bolsters the team’s depth. He can have an impact on plays even when rushing the ball himself.
Grade: A
Round 7, Pick 225: USC WR Brenden Rice
I’m maybe a little lower on Rice compared to his consensus third or fourth-round draft value, but he is an absolute steal in round seven. He’s a physical blocker that will operate that way in a physical Jim Harbaugh offense. On special teams, it’s easy to see a path to him contributing on Ryan Ficken’s unit.
To some extent, Rice fell because I think it’s hard for teams to peg him in a certain role for their offense. A lot of late round receivers have a similar trait: good at a lot of things, but master of none.
Rice is not an ideal route runner at this stage of his career and could be considered a little slow on his releases relative to some other names in this class. But it’s easy to see a path to improvement with how much he did improve at USC. There are some standout games for him from last season against UCLA and Arizona State where he showed what he was capable of.
Take the physicality in the seventh round and worry about his ability to develop all of the necessary skills later. Considering how early he was projected to go, I think you have to consider this pick a win. Also, NFL bloodlines are what they are.
Grade: A-
Round 7, Pick 253: Michigan WR Cornelius Johnson
Much in the same vein as the Rice selection before it, Harbaugh and Hortiz took the profile over the panache here. Johnson does have some drop issues and skills he needs to work on in terms of his route-running fluidity. But he was a hard worker at Michigan, both productive on offense and in the kicking game. In 2021, Johnson led Michigan in both receiving yards and punts blocked.
For a Chargers’ roster that doesn’t have many vertical deep threats on it, Johnson could end up playing that role decently early in LA as well.
Grade: A
Overall class grade: A-
