Jim Harbaugh spoke to the media at the NFL’s annual owners meetings. Asked about the Chargers’ 5th pick in April, he said:
There’s some real possibilities. Like we’re really super excited about that pick, so we’ll see how it plays out. Pick a great player at 5? There’s going to be a great player at 5. There’s talk of four quarterbacks going in the first four picks. Where if that happens, that pick really becomes like the number one pick. If four quarterbacks go in the first four picks, it’s not like the fifth pick anymore. It’s like the number one pick for teams in the draft that have a great quarterback.
The four-quarterback scenario within the draft’s first four selections has gained steam over the last month, with Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy vaulting into top-five trade-up discussions. Perhaps unintentionally, Harbaugh managed to pump his draft stock during his presser by calling his Michigan pro day “the best I’ve ever seen.”
Perhaps that scenario doesn’t end up playing out despite the intense speculation of the Cardinals trading out of the fourth pick. Harbaugh has a plan for other scenarios as well:
Maybe four quarterbacks don’t go in a row. I mean it’s unprecedented that’s ever happened. Maybe there’s still a quarterback there with the fifth pick. Again, that would be like the number pick. It wouldn’t be like the calculator for the fifth pick anymore. If it comes around to us and we’re on the clock at number five, we know we got a great player that’s going to be there for us. Have to determine who that’s going to be. It’s an exciting pick, well aware we have the fifth pick.
As Harbaugh said, the Chargers potentially maintain optionality in either getting the best non-quarterback available a five or perhaps being able to trade out of five with a quarterback-needy team. For a team entering a roster retool that already has Justin Herbert, it’s hard to ask for a better scenario.
The 2024 NFL draft rapidly approaches for Hortiz, Harbaugh, and LA. We are now less than a month from an exciting night in Detroit.
