It’s almost time for the Chargers to welcome in the next crop of rookies, the second under general manager Joe Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh. 2025’s rookies will have a lot to live up to after Los Angeles got Joe Alt, Ladd McConkey, Cam Hart, and Tarheeb Still, among others, out of last year’s class.
With a bevy of Michigan men available at the top, here’s one way the Chargers could attack the festivities in Green Bay.
Round 1, Pick 22: Michigan IDL Kenneth Grant
Los Angeles let Poona Ford move across town to join the Rams, replacing him with Naquan Jones and Da’Shawn Hand while re-signing Teair Tart on the inside. None of those players figure to play as big of a role as Ford did last season for the Chargers. Harbaugh called Grant a “gift from the football gods” when he committed to Harbaugh’s Michigan squad, though, and the Wolverine defensive tackle has expressed how much he’d like to reunite in powder blue.
It seems unlikely that tight end Colston Loveland, Grant’s college teammate, will be available when the Chargers hit the clock. With a hole at defensive tackle and the environment – LA employs Grant’s college head coach, defensive coordinator, position coach, and strength & conditioning coordinator – he’s used to, few teams are in a better position to utilize Grant early while also developing his athletic tools into game-wrecking ability.
Round 2, Pick 55: Miami TE Elijah Arroyo
LA signed Tyler Conklin in the second wave of free agency and returns Will Dissly at tight end, so their need for an immediate contributor is slightly lower than it may seem. The Chargers need a young gun to emerge as the future from 2026 onward, however, as Conklin is only on a one-year contract. Arroyo battled a torn ACL that wiped out his first two collegiate seasons, but he emerged as one of Cam Ward’s favorite targets this season at Miami. A fluid athlete on tape who did not test during the pre-draft circuit, his measurables (6’5″, 250 lbs) are very similar to Isaiah Likely’s (6’4 1/2″, 245 lbs) coming out of Coastal Carolina.
Likely is an important point of comparison because he was not a talented blocker coming out of college. Baltimore, who employed Hortiz and current Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman in 2022, took him anyway to add a more vertical threat from the F (flex) tight end spot in Roman’s offense. Arroyo played F for Miami, isn’t currently a great blocker, but shows the type of effort the Chargers would be looking for.
Round 3, Pick 86: Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo
There are few players in this draft who embody Jim Harbaugh’s brand of football as well as Skattebo, whose entire brand is running downhill and through tacklers. His playoff run with Arizona State has elevated his draft stock to astronomical proportions, but recent insider smoke has the 23-year-old as low as the fifth round. We’ll strike the middle ground and agree with The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who has Skattebo as a 3rd-4th round player.
There are several factors working against Skattebo. He’s already 23, which gives him four or five years before he hits the traditionally understood running back cliff. He has a ton of tread on his tires, with 709 carries in four seasons, including a whopping 293 this year for Arizona State. He’s slow – he ran an official 4.65 at his pro day on the Arizona State campus. But there’s a lot in his favor, too. He’s the first FBS running back to have at least 1,500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in a single season since Christian McCaffrey. He carries many of the same traits as newly signed RB1 Najee Harris in Los Angeles. The receiving ability lessens the overlap between their skillsets and puts Skattebo in the cluster of complementary players that would fit Harbaugh’s pre-draft comments.
Round 4, Pick 125: Boston College C Drew Kendall
You can find Kendall in the bargain bin of most mock draft simulators, but offensive line is perhaps the least consistently similar position between the simulators and the actual draft. A three-year starter at Boston College, Kendall ran gap blocking schemes about two-thirds of the time for Bill O’Brien’s Eagles squad in 2024. The Chargers are among the league’s leaders in gap scheme runs under Roman. With the athleticism and strength to stay attached to any defender, however, Kendall will be able to handle either gap or zone in the league.
The Chargers sent offensive line coach Mike Devlin to Boston College’s pro day after sending him to check out the draft’s top tackles – Alt at Notre Dame, JC Latham at Alabama, Troy Fautanu at Washington, and Olu Fashanu at Penn State – last season. Devlin’s presence at a workout seems to be a fairly strong indicator of interest. While some fans may be eager to continue upgrading on the offensive line earlier than this, center is one of the few positions where starters consistently emerge from later rounds. LA is also under no pressure to start Kendall right away, which could give him valuable time to bulk up before stepping into the lineup.
Round 5, Pick 158: Illinois WR Pat Bryant
A “warrior,” according to his coaches at Illinois, Bryant has slipped a bit in this wide receiver class, primarily because of a lackluster 4.61 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine in February. That’s not a good time, but speed isn’t Bryant’s game. The Illinois receiver is more of a possession specialist, with good body control and in-air adjustment ability to repeatedly haul in contested catches. He’s an adequate threat after the catch, however, as his awareness allows him to outwit faster defenders and create his own angles.
Recently departed Joshua Palmer ran a full tenth of a second faster than Bryant coming out of Tennessee, but the two are fairly similar players stylistically. In the same way that Palmer was a decent WR2 or WR3 for LA before signing with Buffalo this offseason, Bryant could emerge as a solid sideline threat for Justin Herbert behind Ladd McConkey.
Round 6, Pick 181: Oklahoma State CB Korie Black
If you’ve heard Korie Black’s name before, you’re either an Oklahoma State fan or a ridiculously ardent follower of the draft. If you’ve seen a scouting report online of him, you almost certainly sought it out on purpose. This player has received nearly zero attention in draft media before appearing with a fifth-round grade from Brugler in his annual draft guide.
All those same things could be said about Still, who Brugler had a 6th-7th round grade on last season before the Chargers bit on him in the fifth round. Los Angeles, specifically Hortiz, whose Baltimore teams seemingly always had grades on defensive backs that varied wildly from consensus, has shown an ability to find gems where others aren’t even looking. Black ran a 4.35 40 at the Big 12 conference pro day, is a strong tackler, and blocked two field goals in college while starting 38 games. Plug him in on special teams right away and see if the traits translate at corner.
Round 6, Pick 199: UNLV WR Ricky White III
LA let virtually every core special teamer that hit free agency leave the team, which points to a Ryan Ficken-led rebuild of that unit with the Chargers’ four sixth-round picks. After adding Black, a blur of a gunner, Los Angeles could easily double down with White, who led the NCAA with four blocked punts in 2024. Doubling up at wide receiver would also be in the cards in this scenario to supplement Bryant and make up for not addressing the position earlier in the draft.
White isn’t a burner either – he ran 4.5 flat at his pro day – but he’s a shiftier and burstier player than Bryant who brings the kind of mentality as a blocker that the Chargers will eat up. A two-time captain at UNLV, White has also come a long way since being suspended for violating team rules at Michigan State in 2021. (He later sued the school to have the suspension overturned before transferring.) White does have some drop issues, with 24 in 43 career games, but it’s more of a technique issue than a skill problem.
Round 6, Pick 209: Boise State EDGE Ahmed Hassanein
Pass rusher is another position fans may want the Chargers to address earlier, but there are only so many picks for a rather large handful of needs on this LA roster. Khalil Mack is back for 2025, as are Tuli Tuipulotu and Bud Dupree, a solid trio that will be plenty effective. Adding a youthful body next to Tuipulotu to dictate the future of the position is certainly a consideration, but it remains to be seen what the Chargers envision for 2024 fourth-rounder Justin Eboigbe, who split time at edge and on the interior last season.
Hassanein took a top 30 visit with LA, which last season was an indicator of interest for players further down the board. A former age group champion in CrossFit in his native Egypt, the Boise State rusher is a violent athlete who didn’t start playing defensive line until six seasons ago. He’s improved every year since then and still has room to grow, especially as a tackler and snap anticipator, but his relentless motor and toughness will be appealing traits to the Chargers.
Round 6, Pick 214: Indiana LB Jailin Walker
Are you sick of special teams contributors yet? Walker ran a blazing 4.40 40 at Indiana’s pro day with good explosiveness but poor agility metrics. That’s a special teams ace to a tee – it’s one of the only football environments where running in a straight line for more than 20-30 yards consistently is a normal request.
Walker has some developmental potential as a linebacker as well. He was a turnover magnet in college with six forced fumbles and five interceptions over his last three seasons and almost played at Yale before receiving a scholarship from James Madison. His tape held up when he transferred to Indiana this season.
Round 7, Pick 256: Montana State G Marcus Wehr
Do you think Jim Harbaugh would be interested in a kid who gained weight to play offensive line by working in his dad’s truck tire shop? Because that’s Wehr, who ballooned from 225 pounds as a high school senior to 295 at Montana State’s pro day after being asked to move to offensive line from the defensive side of the ball in 2022.
With solid hands and a consistent finishing mentality, there’s plenty to work with Wehr, whose coaches describe him as a student of the game, according to Brugler. He got better against higher-level competition every day at the Shrine Bowl and repped a bit at center. That positional flex could be what gets him drafted, and LA holds the second-to-last selection in the draft.
UDFAs to Watch
The Chargers have done a lot of homework on UC Davis LB David Meyer, a local kid who was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award (FCS defensive player of the year). Meyer was invited to the Chargers’ local pro day, and the team reportedly sent a scout to UC Davis’ joint pro day with Sacramento State and Hawaii to watch him. He’s viewed as another potential special teams ace.
Colorado State CB Dom Jones is another player LA was connected to on the pro day circuit. He ran a 4.56 40 and 6.96 3-cone drill at the Rams’ pro day. At 6’2″, 192 lbs, Jones would be a candidate to provide some depth on the outside at cornerback.
Another Aggie to watch is UC Davis RB Lan Larison, who missed the all-star circuit with an ankle injury he picked up in the FCS playoffs. The Chargers haven’t been overtly linked to him anywhere, but it’s always worth keeping an eye on locally relevant players.
USC LB Mason Cobb and Rutgers DT Kyonte Hamilton are two players the Chargers have met with leading up to the draft who could land in LA in undrafted free agency. Cobb was at a private workout headlined by UCLA LB Carson Schwesinger that linebackers coach NaVarro Bowman popped up at. Hamilton was one of the top high school wrestling recruits in the country and has several fans around the league.
A safety like Fresno State’s Dean Clark or Arizona State’s Shamari Simmons could be in consideration as well. Both have experience on special teams, an important consideration for any UDFA. Clark is a well-rounded defender who has missed ten games due to injury over three seasons and is only an okay athlete. Simmons would be more of a box safety or nickel defender but ran a poor 4.69 in the 40.
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