Chargers
Chargers WR Ladd McConkey had a breakout rookie campaign last season with 82 receptions for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns. When appearing on the Chargers Weekly Podcast, OC Greg Roman said McConkey showed intelligence beyond his years in 2024 and they are looking forward to his continued growth.
“Ladd was such a — not a surprise — but he was such a weapon,” Roman said. “I mean, just so dependable. We were able to do things with Ladd in Year 1 that you generally don’t do with a guy until Year 3 or 4. His football IQ, a lot of different things that give him options to get open and stuff like that, graduate-level stuff, as I like to call it. We’re really looking forward to growing in that department, too, because our receiving corps right now, compared to this time last year, it’s night and day.”
Roman mentioned that they plan on moving McConkey around in their offense.
“We’re gonna move him around,” Roman said. “The guy’s got some serious talent and a serious will to get it done. Even in the playoff game, look at his production in the playoff game. He’s a guy that we’re just gonna continue to grow with. But when they double Ladd, you’ve got to play the percentages. The ball needs to go somewhere else. … So, that’s gonna open up opportunities for everybody else, and we’ve got to take advantage of those.”
Los Angeles brought in second-round WR Tre Harris and fifth-round WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the 2025 NFL Draft. Roman highly praised both rookies, along with Quentin Johnston, Jalen Reagor, Jaylen Johnson, Dez Fitzpatrick and Mike Williams.
“They’re a completely different unit now from a discipline standpoint, being on point play in and down in, down out. And I think we’ve added a lot of talent,” Roman said. “Really excited about our two draft picks. I think those guys are affording themselves well. Ladd’s gonna get better and better. Q (Quentin Johnston) is having a great spring so far, so I see him taking another step this year. And then Jalen Reagor, J.J. (Jaylen Johnson), Dez (Fitzpatrick) and obviously Mike, all these guys are gonna factor in. Love how that group’s playing right now and excited about them. The rookies, we’re just gonna keep pushing them, pushing them, pushing them to get up to par with the vets.”
Chiefs
The Chiefs doubled down on the defensive line by adding second-round DL Omarr Norman Lott and third-round DL Ashton Gillotte. Kansas City DL coach Joe Cullen had great things to say about the two rookies through their work in the offseason program.
“Well, the two are really good. I mean, when you study the draft and our scouting staff, led by our general manager, Brett Veach, they do a great job, and they were guys that we identified and had opportunities to really get around and bring them in for a visit, Zoom with them,” Cullen said, via Ed Easton Jr. of the Chiefs Wire. “They both love football, and they’re both football junkies, and they’re really good players.”
Cullen outlined both of their profiles, raving about their power and versatility to play multiple positions.
“Well, they have great motors; they’re powerful, explosive, and sudden. And both of them at their school, where they’re represented, great in their role. When you look at Omarr (Norman-Lott), when you broke down his snaps this past year, he led the NCAA and pass rush win ratio by interior tackles. And then Ashton (Gillotte) played all over the place. He played end and inside. ‘4i’ was powerful. He was explosive when he went back to his junior year. Before his sophomore year, he had 11 and a half sacks. He was playing more on the edge. This year, they moved them inside a little bit. It’s a ‘4i’ kind of like Felix (Anudike-Uzomah) did when he was at K-State. So both those guys are going to bring great energy to the room, and they’re doing that now.”
Raiders
Raiders OC Chip Kelly said fourth-round WR Dont’e Thornton is a prototypical outside receiver who has a ton of potential to become one of the league’s best.
“He’s just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There’s not a lot of humans on this planet [who] do that,” Kelly said, via ESPN. “I think if you had a draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that’s got length, someone that’s got a huge catch radius, but also has speed.”
Raiders WR coach Chris Beatty said Thornton still has a lot to work on before he can become a regular contributor offensively.
“There are a lot of things he wants to work on, as far as polishing his route running releases,” Beatty said. “For a taller guy, we’ve got to work on understanding the whole scheme, so everything slows down for him. He’s done a great job so far, but he’s got a long way to go to get where he’s going to be able to be a contributor right away.“
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