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Chargers: Round 1 - Joey Bosa, Defensive End I'll be honest, at some point I completely forgot the Chargers COULD actually draft him in my breakdown of my top picks. They did so good of a job keeping under wraps that they wanted him that I discounted it as a possibility until the day of. But when I heard it, I shouted 'HOLY poo poo' at the screen because it's still a baller of a pick. Now that all said, I'm going to say something -- any analyst who dings the Chargers on the pick of Bosa because they should've taken Ronnie Stanley or Larmey Tunsil can be safely ignored as knowing fuckall about the Chargers real needs. Getting Bosa was 100% the right call and even if he busts and washes out of the league, I can not fault the Chargers for taking him because it is THE biggest need for this team, and he's objectively one of the best and safest picks of this year's draft. Grade: A Round 2 -- Hunter Henry, Tight End I was pissed at this pick initially. Think of a slightly less angry Ross when the Bosa pick came in. But let's be real, Tight End was a serious need for this team. Ladarius Green is gone, leaving Gates as the only reliable pass-catching tight end on this roster. Gates is 36. He's not going to realistically be with this team for much longer. For the best TE in this (extremely weak) class to be there in round 2, it's a no-brainer if you really look at it. It's a risk because Center is a critical need, and one is off the board already by this point, with no guarantee that the other two really good Centers will still be available by round 3. The Chargers rolled the dice on this, but still made a good pick. Grade: B+, but only because of the pick at round 3. Otherwise it'd be a C. As a sidenote, I've seen some analysts ding the Chargers' draft for not selecting Myles Jack in round 2. Well no loving poo poo they didn't. They've done that before, his name is Shawn Merriman. A fantastic player for maybe 5 years till his leg blew out and he physically was unable to play anymore is not as attractive as it seems. gently caress that noise, I'll take a guy who can potentially be here for the next 10 years+ as a significant contributor. Round 3 -- Max Tuerk, Center It's still incredible to think that Tuerk was available in round 3. I know he had an ACL injury last year and is still rehabbing and might not be able to make it for the start of the season. But this guy is an instant upgrade at Center for this team. Trevor Robinson was the worst Center in the league last season. This isn't opinion, it's loving fact. Chris Watt, the actual starting center for this team, can't stay healthy. The backup is the literal worst. He's so bad, you can legitimately attribute some of the injuries to the left and right Guards to his terrible play. So for Tuerk to fall to round 3 and the Chargers to take him makes this quite possibly the most impactful draftee by this team. Grade: A-loving-plus Round 4 -- Joshua Perry, ILB This was an interesting pick. Not flashy, but there's a good reason for it: Manti Te'o. Joshua Perry was drafted to light a fire under Te'o's rear end and see if he can live up to his own potential. Perry is actually a teammate of Bosa and the two killed it in college. Also, Perry provides potential depth at ILB where the Chargers are frighteningly thin at. After Denzel Perryman and Manti Te'o, there's something called a Nick Dzubnar, and that's it. But more to the point, Perry has one thing going for him: he's a sure tackler, something Te'o is not. Maybe Te'o has some ~intangibles~ that the team likes, but if he can't make a goddamned tackle when he's in position, that can lose games. Perry is this team hedging its bets against Te'o being terrible. If that happens, they can let him walk this year and move on. Grade: B As an aside, this is the first time Tom Telesco, the Charger's GM, has not traded a 4th round pick and actually drafted in it instead. Round 5 -- Jatavis Brown, OLB All the information I can find about him is that he played in a small conference (the MAC, whatever that stands for), but absolutely terrorized it. If he had played at that level in the SEC, he'd be a 2nd rounder easily. He has the speed and frame to play Safety, and potentially be a drop into coverage guy, something this team generally lacks. I can see him making it on special teams or upstaging one of the rotational players at the lower end of the OLB position, but he'd have an extraordinarily hard time breaking in as a full-time starter. Grade: B- Round 6 -- Drew Kaser, P; Derek Watt, FB In round 6, finding actual starters is extraordinary. Getting good special teams contributors is completely doable, and a punter and fullback do exactly that. Mike Scifres, the previous punter, had to be let go because he wasn't the same after getting murdered by the Patriots in 2014 from a blown block by an  shithead who's no longer on the team. So, Kaser is the guy. Watt, and yes he's related to JJ Watt, gives this team new options on offense that it hasn't had before. He's here to make Melvin Gordon better and justify all that this team spent to get him last year. If he can't loving make it with a hugely improved O-Line and his old fullback from college, then call him the next Trent Richardson and we can move on. Watt gives Gordon every chance to succeed, and if that happens then spending a 6th to make this team's run game work again is more than worth it. My gripe is that I really really wanted one of the other two fullbacks, Dan Vitale or Glenn Gronkowski. Little Gronk went as a UDFA to Buffalo, so he was available. Grade: A for Kaser, B- for Watt.Round 7 -- Donovan Clark, G I don't expect a 7th round pick to be anything more than a priority UDFA choice. The team wants to check him out without other teams having a chance to get to him in the day-after frenzy. It's understandable. I haven't seen any footage of his work, so I really don't know what else to say. He's here to compete as depth for an O-Line that sorely need it with the sheer number of injuries they've sustained over the last two years. God have mercy on him. Grade: B The Bottom Line 4 immediate starters, 2 quality depth players, a fullback to give our running backs a chance is an extraordinary draft. There was none of Telesco's panic trade-ups for once, likely thanks to just being positioned so early in every round. This is the best draft by this regime since they came in at the start of 2013. For once, I don't have to justify or rationalize the picks. They're just good without any caveats or asterisks forcing a longer answer. It's a safe draft, but one I can say actually makes this team significantly better. In my opinion, if this team can't make it back to a winning season, it's past time for a coaching change because there's no reason this group of players along with their newest draftees can't succeed. They've been given what they need to make the offense, defense and special teams get going again, and with far less bullshit about moving to LA to distract. The only ding on this draft is that they didn't seriously address their need at Safety. However, addressing Center, Defensive End, Tight End, ILB, Punter and even getting a fullback just hits so many checkboxes that I can't fault them for letting that one go. And since they did add a decent safety in free agency, I think we can call this a draft. Overall Grade: A aperion fucked around with this message at 03:49 on May 6, 2016 |
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May 6, 2016 03:45
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I didn't mean to disrespect taking Merriman, and on looking back, I was a lot more harsh on that pick than I meant to be. The only takeaway I was trying to put in about Merriman is that it's really hard to knock a team for not wanting to roll the dice on someone who's got a serious injury history already and might only be around for a few years. It's a defense of not taking Myles Jack, and nothing more.
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May 6, 2016 18:00
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