Los Angeles Chargers, Jim Harbaugh could benefit from rare 2025 NFL draft class

The Los Angeles Chargers could benefit greatly from the 2025 NFL draft—perhaps more so than most years.

Despite major names being available and more than $90 million in cap space to play with entering free agency, the Chargers remained mostly quiet. That’s standard operating procedure for Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh, but also surely by design, especially in 2025.

After all, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network just provided this note on the 2025 NFL draft class: “I've talked to several GM's and HC's over the last week & everyone seems to agree-- this draft is a starter draft. Maybe not a ton of star power but your goal should be to come away with 3-4 solid starters. They are out there. Go find them.”

This gets reflected often in rankings before the draft. Over at Bleacher Report, a stunning 116 players received a 7.0 grade or higher, projecting them as “high-level backups or potential starters.”

It’s a downright thrilling position for the Chargers to enjoy and all sorts of possibilities await over the first few rounds. Maybe that means going with the best offensive guard available before still backing into starting-caliber tight ends and running backs in the second and third rounds.

Or, perhaps the Chargers go best-player-available in the form of a pass-rusher or skill position weapon in Round 1, only to find starters at the other spots later.

Regardless of the exact plan of attack in a live setting, this feels like a perfectly timed draft class for Hortiz and Harbaugh. Multiple starter-like players on rookie contracts added to a roster that already paid its quarterback and made the playoffs in Year 1 of a rebuild is exactly what the franchise needs to keep pace in a division including the likes of Kansas City.

I've talked to several GM's and HC's over the last week & everyone seems to agree-- this draft is a starter draft. Maybe not a ton of star power but your goal should be to come away with 3-4 solid starters. They are out there. Go find them.
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) April 8, 2025

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