Chargers News: Could LA Trade Down In First Round For Defensive Help?

Would LA really move off the No. 5 pick in the draft?

The one benefit of a 5-12 2023 season so terrible that your Los Angeles Chargers opted to clean house, firing both general manager Tom Telesco and third-year coach Brandon Staley before the year was even over? The team now possesses the fifth pick in what looks to be a loaded early portion of the 2024 NFL draft.

However, it's possible that even that may not hold true for long.

Los Angeles Chargers radio commentator Matt "Money" Smith spoke on his podcast Bleav In Chargers about why LA, now led in the front office by decorated new GM Joe Hortiz, might be open to trading down in this year's draft.

"Joe Hortiz had his presser yesterday," Smith comented. "When asked about the talent here and the group this year, he said, 'Look, wide receiver class is very deep.' [What] I read it into that is Joe saying, 'I have to take wide receiver [with the fifth pick]. I know everybody wants to give us [All-American LSU junior] Malik Nabers because we have Justin Herbert as our quarterback, but this wide receiver group is so deep, we're going to get somebody that's really, really good in the second round or in the third round. We don't have to take that at five. We could build [up] our lines.' And so I think if you trade back, you can still take the top tackle."

"We had Sam Monson [of Pro Football Focus], I was talking to him for that and he made a great point. He's like, 'To me, if you're the Chargers, you have one of the best left tackles in the league. You've got Rashawn Slater,"' Smith observed. "So if you know what's going to be a right tackle... why wouldn't you just trade back even further and Taliese Fuaga from Oregon State, who's the best right tackle in the draft? And when he puts his hands on you in the run game, it's over. You are done, you are out of the play. And so I think those are the sort of things that that they are going to start exploring."

Fuaga, a 6'6", 334-pound junior, was named an All-American First-Teamer this season, and is a two-time All-Pac-12 honoree over the course of his NCAA career. Ostensibly, trading down (assuming the team is open to waiting a round or two to add quality wideouts) could help Los Angeles accrue even more draft equity in the future.