The 2019 NFL draft is officially history. The Chargers stood pat for every one of their seven selections and added a player that has value to the team.
Here are six big takeaways from Los Angeles’ draft class.
Tom Telesco went against the norm
For many, general manager Tom Telesco was viewed as one that only selected players that had a clean track record. Defensive tackle Jerry Tillery was a commonly mocked player to the Chargers, but people crossed the idea off because even though it met a positional need, Tillery had some questionable incidents early on in his career.
With the No. 28 overall selection, Los Angeles took Tillery, which left many in shock since it didn’t seem a “Telesco selection”. We had no doubt that the questions surrounding Tillery’s character were not going to be a concern since it was so early on and the player itself would’ve overruled everything.
Telesco stuck to his words
Telesco stated earlier this offseason that the linebacker position was going to get a lot of attention after the group was hit with three season-ending injuries in 2018. The Chargers’ general manager did not lie one bit.
After the re-signing of Denzel Perryman and signing of Thomas Davis, Los Angeles added Drue Tranquill in the fourth round and Emeke Egbule in the sixth round.
Even though none of the two are likely to be starters to start the 2019 season, they serve as key depth players along with Jatavis Brown and Kyzir White. At the moment, the linebacker room is looking promising with Perryman, Davis and Nwosu the starting three.
The offense didn’t get that much love
Just a year ago, the Chargers shifted the attention to the defensive side of the ball. One year later, Los Angeles did the same thing, ending up with five defensive players and two offensive players in this year’s draft class.
Adding to the offensive line, wide receiver and tight end position were some of the areas that L.A. could’ve looked to address, but they only came out with an offensive tackle with Trey Pipkins and quarterback in Easton Stick.
On paper, the offensive line is questionable at the moment, as Pipkins is a developmental offensive tackle who needs refinement and time to catch up to NFL speed. This could be the year that Forrest Lamp finally earns his spot back as the starter he was supposed to be prior to the injury.
The Bolts appear to roll with the receivers that they had prior to the draft. It will be Keenan Allen and Mike Williams leading the pack, with Geremy Davis, Dylan Cantrell, Artavis Scott and Travis Benjamin fighting for the No. 3 and 4 spots.
Finally, a free safety!
The Chargers haven’t had a true, reliable free safety in quite sometime. Tre Boston’s time was short-lived and the Jahleel Addae experiment turned out to be a dud, which resulted in him getting released.
Los Angeles finally found the free safety of their dreams with the small-school standout in former Delaware product Nasir Adderley. Adderley had been mocked to L.A. since the start of the pre-draft process, but it was always in the first round.
As the Bolts’ selection neared at the backend of the second round, the board revealed Adderley as an option with other top-ranked safeties sitting there. It was a no-brainer for Telesco at that given moment.
Adderley should be able to step in right out the gate and bring his playmaking skills to create a formidable duo with Derwin James.
The interior defensive line looks good, but not finished
Prior to the draft, we mentioned how the Chargers had to be aggressive in addressing the defensive tackle position. What we meant by that was that Los Angeles needed to look to upgrade the group in within the first two days of the event.
The selection of Jerry Tillery in the first round was a home run for Los Angeles, but they waited six rounds later to bring in another player at the position. L.A. drafted former Cincinnati product Cortez Broughton with their seventh round pick.
There’s no doubt that Broughton could become a key player in the near future, but for a team that still thin at the position, you might’ve thought they would’ve went with one Day 2, instead of reaching on Pipkins, who could’ve been found on Day 3.
Better than Wednesday
The Chargers entered the 2019 NFL draft with needs to fill, but they weren’t as big as other teams in the league. Many were wondering the direction that the sneaky Telesco was going to do, but he left those very happy with the outcome of the seven selections made.
On Wednesday, they looked good. But at the end of Saturday, they now look great.
