For this exercise, I was told to pick one bonafide favorite first-round lock prospect and build out the list from there. So I’ll start with the best player in the class: Marvin Harrison Jr.

In the last two seasons at Ohio State, Harrison has put up 2474 yards and 28 touchdowns. With a 6’4″ frame, dazzling route running skills, and an ability to obliterate even the most perfect press coverages, he’s the best wide receiver prospect in the last decade.

Under Jim Harbaugh, I don’t expect the Chargers to be picking at five again anytime soon. And the next five wide receiver classes may not produce a product as good as Harrison. If he’s on the board at five because the Cardinals actually do trade out, LA should not think twice about taking a bust-proof player who could change the entire trajectory of their rebuild/retooling.

I’m cheating slightly by picking another first-round lock player, but Terrion Arnold stands out to me as a potential Chargers fit when considering the trade-back scenario. The Chargers need a stud cornerback to lead the defensive revitalization, and he’d be a step in the right direction as a true blue-chip prospect.

In my view, this draft doesn’t necessarily have a Sauce Gardner/Patrick Surtain II-level prospect at corner, where teams would be set with an All-Pro lynchpin for a decade. But Arnold is the closest thing to that. He has the versatility to take on all coverages, play inside or outside, and is a more than willing run defender.

With Kool-Aid McKinstry operating opposite Arnold, opposing quarterbacks took their chances at targeting 79 times. On those reps, Arnold allowed a 50.7 passer rating while having 13 pass breakups and five interceptions in 2023.

The development of coverage traits and instincts really showed from his 2022 season to 2023 jump. Arnold is also still one of the younger corners in the class as he just turned 21 in March. In Jesse Minter’s defense under the mentorship of Steve Clinkscale, I could see Arnold getting to an even higher level.

Max Melton has shot up draft boards since the process started. Once available to be selected in the fourth and fifth rounds in mock drafts back in February, the Rutgers’ corner is now not expected to make it out of the second round.

Melton is an athletic freak, as he demonstrated at the combine. He has slot/outside versatility that teams love. He’s a smooth, fluid mover regardless of where he lines up and is very physical, particularly at the line of scrimmage.

He’s taken tough matchups and won. Rutgers’ scheme found ways to limit Marvin Harrison Jr. with Max Melton being his primary foil. As soon as Melton came out of the game with a minor injury. Harrison almost immediately scored twice as Ohio State blew the game open.

Like his brother Bo Melton a few years ago in the draft, he’s going to get attention due to his instincts, tenacity, and overall athletic profile. If the Chargers could trade back in the second round and land a talent like Melton’s, the depleted secondary would make a huge stride toward a rebuild.

At 6’3″ and 283 pounds, I’m not entirely sure Brandon Dorlus is the perfect Chargers fit. There is a correlation between Michigan and Jesse Minter having wanted their interior tackles to be close to 300 pounds or so in the past. He’s also a bit of a tweener type between EDGE and inside.

That being said, he’s just one of those talents for whom the right scheme will make it work in the league. Dorlus has had 40+ pressures in each of his last three seasons at Oregon, with 10 sacks and 54 run stops in that timeframe.

The torque that Dorlus plays with, in addition to an array of already decently advanced pass rush moves, lends itself really well to the pros. Assuming the Chargers would want him to bulk up to become a full-time 3-tech, he’s more than capable of still making an impact solely on the inside. But his optionality to run defend and pass rush from the edge as well could be a defensive coordinator’s dream in generating pass rush pressures between Dorlus, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, and Tuli Tuipulotu.

Chop Robinson is a fringe first-round prospect and surefire second-round lock at the EDGE position. From a Chargers’ standpoint, they probably just wouldn’t take him due to the fit. Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack are back on pay-cut deals, and Tuli Tuipolutu is still a factor. But if the value starts to get to the point where Robinson is sliding in the second round due to a lack of collegiate production or ideal size, all NFL teams should take the opportunity to pounce on it.

Robinson registered 90+ PFF defensive grades in each of the last two seasons with 74 total pressures. His speed off of the line, twitch, and ability to finish off plays should be very appealing pass-rush traits to teams. He’s not the ideal run defender, but Robinson has statistically fared better against the run than would be expected for his 6’3″ size.

He certainly needs to be refined in the NFL to be a more consistent down-to-down player in terms of technique. But EDGE has been a position where teams are willing to bet on traits. Just a few years ago, Joe Hortiz’s Ravens took a big first round swing on another athletic, but not fully developed Penn State EDGE in Odafe Oweh. Robinson might slide out of the first round, but his slide probably wouldn’t last too long.

Jonah Elliss’ prospect profile isn’t terribly different from the aforementioned Robinson. Speedy, slightly undersized EDGE rusher who had a great combine. Although Elliss had a technically more tangible production bump in his last college season. He had 39 pressures, 13 sacks, and 25 run stops in 2023,

Also notable with Elliss is obviously his NFL family background. His father, Luther Elliss, and brothers Kaden, Christian, and Noah Elliss have all played in the league.

Elliss’ three-cone time, an indicator of EDGE success at the next level, came in at a historically good 6.69 seconds. Even if there are some slight concerns about his weight and being able to contain the EDGE, the quality of the upside and relatively high floor here should pump Elliss up draft boards.

Ray Davis has the profile of a Day 3 running back who can do it all. He’s rushed for 1000 yards in each of the last two seasons at two different programs (Kentucky and Vanderbilt). In his last two seasons, he’s scored 19 rushing touchdowns. Davis also set career highs as a pass-catching threat out of the backfield, with 324 yards and seven scores.

There’s one small issue: Davis is the oldest running back in this class and will turn 25 during his rookie campaign. That shouldn’t necessarily be a dealbreaker when talking about running backs, but there has been a statistically high inverse correlation between running back production in the league and age.

That being said, Davis has tested decently enough from a pre-draft perspective to ward off some of the age-related concerns. A 4.52 40 time certainly wasn’t bad at the combine.

If Gus Edwards is your bell cow back for the next two years anyway, maybe one could make the argument that the age-related reasons to doubt Blake Corum or the aforementioned Davis aren’t as significant. The Chargers can use them as change-of-pace tapes relative to the hulking, big-bodied Edwards. His ability as a third-down back at Kentucky with good enough speed has won me over enough to warrant a selection on him despite some red flags. He has solid vision as well.

The Chargers need to beef up their interior and leave the draft with a true Top 100-ish presence at the defensive tackle spot. That’s how Jesse Minter’s scheme works. Quite frankly, don’t rule out a scenario where they trade back in the first round and take Texas DT Byron Murphy II.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, DeWayne Carter is a prospect I like a lot in the late third—to fourth round range. Carter is a force on the interior with a lot of power behind his frame.

Looking at the measurables, Carter has a similar frame to that of Michigan DT Kris Jenkins with both being about 6’2.5″ and 300 pounds. Jenkins has 34-inch arms, while Carter has 33. Jenkins had a higher RAS score but also opted not to run the three-cone.

As a run defender, I don’t think Carter is as good as Jenkins on tape. But if you think about Carter as the 4th round version of Jenkins they could get with one of their two picks that round, it’s not a bad selling point to kick off the interior rebuild of Minter’s defense. Carter packs quite the punch as a feisty pass rusher.

Cade Stover just feels like the perfect type of Greg Roman tight end for the Chargers to run out onto the field in 12 personnel formations. Stover was highly dependable at Ohio State in putting up a career-high 576 receiving yards.

His efficiency was also off the charts in 2023. Stover reeled in 60% of his contested catch attempts and didn’t drop a single pass on 51 targets. For his career, he’s only dropped 2.4% of his targets.

As an original OLB convert to TE, there are still intricacies of playing tight end that Stover is working on himself. But it’s particularly telling that he’s already this good this fast after really only playing the position for three years. The Ohio State product also put up a higher-than-expected 8.22 RAS score with a higher percentile 40 times for his size.

Cam Hart is a souped up athletic corner with size that is perfect for a Jesse Minter scheme running a decent amount of zone. Hart has terrific footwork and really plays the position with a great feel for leverage.

He tested like a tall, lengthy, rangy corner should at the combine, with a 9.00 RAS. Hart is someone Minter can stick at outside corner on day one of the season and potentially have their next half-decade set.

Luke McCaffrey’s NFL bloodline is well known. He’s the son of Ed McCaffrey and brother of a running back who some consider to be the best in the league right now.

But I find his own profile and path to the NFL draft particularly interesting. Luke converted to wide receiver from quarterback after playing the position at both Nebraska and Rice. In just his second year of playing the position, McCaffrey put up 992 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in addition to 117 rushing yards from scrimmage.

The Rice WR convert also managed to be a slightly more impressive athletic tester than his brother Christian McCaffrey. Luke McCaffrey beat him with a 4.47. From an RAS standpoint, he actually tested nearly a whole point better with a 9.44.

With a lack of total career production and questions about his role at the next level, McCaffrey probably won’t go before the fifth or sixth round. But he’s demonstrated that he knows how to play wideout really well. From the slot in the NFL, it just feels like there’s another level for him to hit after just scratching the surface of his new position in college.

From my Chargers mock draft 3.0 section Jalen Green:

Green was one of the nation’s most productive pass rushers before a knee injury prematurely ended his 2023 campaign. Still, Green put up 15.5 sacks and 56 pressures in nine games.

Green is a bit of a size outlier at 6’1″, 245 at EDGE in the NFL. That, combined with his injury, may give teams pause. The bend and leverage consistently seen in his highlights are not like those of many pass rushers, though.

He’ll probably be a special teams guy to start out, but the vision for him is a developmental special teams player in year one who could grow into a pass rush specialist based on the down going forward.

From my Chargers mock 1.0 on Kimani Vidal:

Despite his small 5’8″ stature, Vidal is one of the most athletic running backs in the class. He has great lateral quickness and breakaway speed. For his size, he’s also a better-than-average blocker. Vidal holds the Troy school rushing record.

In 2023, Vidal averaged 5.6 yards per carry with nearly 20 carries of 15+ yards. He grades out amongst the top running backs in this class in any elusiveness statistic as well.

He runs like a bowling ball that was shot out of a tank.

Hunter Nourzad is a former Ivy League Cornell transfer to Penn State who wasn’t phased by the Big 10. From his athletic fluidity in the game to his array of pass-blocking techniques, he really comes across as one of the interior guys late in this draft with a chance to start for several years in the league.

From my Chargers mock draft 2.0:

Jordan Magee earned the second-highest athleticism score at last week’s NFL Combine. The Chargers need bodies at linebacker regardless of when they come this offseason. Particularly up close near the line of scrimmage, Magee is very instinctive and picks his moments to explode in pursuit of the quarterback or ball carrier. He’s more than likely not a starter out of the gate, but going as late as he usually does on consensus boards and mocks doesn’t make much sense to me.