Chargers offense dramatically changes in Mel Kiper's first 2025 NFL mock draft

The Los Angeles Chargers feel like one of the more predictable teams in the upcoming 2025 NFL draft.

Those Chargers, after all, could lose big names like Khalil Mack to free agency. Other big names like J.K. Dobbins are free agents and Joey Bosa is a possible cut candidate.

But the big, flashy offensive needs tend to command the spotlight and that’s the case in the first 2025 NFL mock draft from ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., where the Chargers go with the familiar Colston Loveland out of Michigan.

“How about a seam-stretching tight end for quarterback Justin Herbert? Loveland is a tough matchup for defenses -- he's 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, and he has some speed. He had 56 catches, 582 yards and 5 TDs this season despite middling play from Michigan's quarterback room. He played for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, too, so there's a built-in connection.”

Kiper does go on to admit that wide receiver is a major need for the Chargers, too, but that the remaining wideouts on the board at the pick just aren’t worth the reach – unless they go on a massive stock jump between now and the draft.

Realistically, the Chargers could always splurge on a top-end wideout to pair with Ladd McConkey while planning to take a top tight end early in the draft. There’s a reason an NFL exec has already predicted they might swing a massive trade for D.K. Metcalf.

While it would be just as easy to see Jim Harbaugh and Co. prioritizing the trenches again first, it would be pretty hard to complain about Loveland at a position that figures to dramatically open up the rest of the offense in a hurry.

Michigan tight end Colston Loveland (18) walks off the field after 38-17 loss to Oregon atMichigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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