The 2024 NFL draft is in one week and if the Chargers will trade down remains a thrilling mystery.
NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah shared his thoughts on what he believes head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz will do in their first draft with the organization.
According to Jeremiah, he thinks Harbaugh can make his first draft memorable by moving down from the No. 5 overall pick and adding more picks to fill the entirety of the roster.
“I think, in an ideal world, they’d like to get out of there,” Jeremiah said. “Trade back and get extra picks and build out as many players that fit his vision for the team.
“To me, this makes sense to be kind of a volume draft for them: come away with extra picks and continue to add guys that fit their new physical philosophy of how they want to play the game,” the NFL Network analyst added.
Several NFL draft analysts also think Los Angeles will accumulate picks and move back despite the myriad of options at No.5.
“There’s been a lot of debate… do they take a receiver? Do they take an offensive lineman? What do they do there at 5? I think the overwhelming preference would be they don’t pick at 5,” Jeremiah said. “They get out of there and find someone that wants to come up and they continue to fill out the needs on the team.
“Because while we’ve been focused so much on that side of the ball, they could use a big-time defensive tackle,” Jeremiah said. “They could absolutely use another corner. At some point in time they’re going to need to add an off-the-ball linebacker.”
Harbaugh has a challenging task ahead of him because Round 1 isn’t where the buck stops. The following rounds of the draft are just as important if they want to fill the needs of the roster.
“They’ve got a lot of things to get accomplished here,” Jeremiah added. “So for him to put his stamp on it, to me it’s more about the volume of the players they bring in that fit what he wants to do. That’s going to go long after the first round is over.”