Chargers News: Former LA QB Warns Bolts Not to Waste #5 Pick on SEC Playmaker
Former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Chase Daniel is warning the team against selecting Georgia tight end Brock Bowers fifth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Chargers have been linked to Bowers as one of the players they could select. However, Daniel believes that the tight-end position does not merit such a high selection.
"There is no way the Chargers waste pick #5 on a TE (Brock Bowers) and don’t pick Malik Nabers instead," Daniel said on X. "Nabers is crazy special. Him and Herbert for the next decade."
Of course, Bowers is no ordinary tight-end prospect. A unanimous All-American, two-time national champion, and two-time John Mackey award winner as the best tight end in college football, Bowers is special. For many, Bowers is a generational type of talent at the position.
However, the case against Bowers is that Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts was held in a similar vein coming out of college. Pitts was a former John Mackey award winner drafted fourth overall in 2021. Though Pitts has not had a bad career by any means, he has not put up the level of production that many teams would want from a top-five overall pick through this point of his career.
This does not necessarily mean that Bowers is destined for the same fate as Pitts, but that the position is a riskier one to take with such a high pick.
Instead, Daniel recommends LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers. Like Mackey, Nabers is a unanimous All-American. Nabers is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons for the Tigers. He finished second in college football in receiving yards last season with 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns off of 89 receptions.
Though wide receivers are more highly regarded than tight ends in the draft, there could be a similar argument made that the Chargers should not draft a receiver so high.
The Chargers already have strong receiving talent with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, though Williams is coming off a torn ACL. Additionally, the Chargers just drafted a first-round receiver a season ago in Quentin Johnston. It could be hard to justify drafting receivers in the first round in back-to-back seasons with their current talent.
Ultimately, the Chargers would be bringing in an explosive weapon for Justin Herbert if they drafted either Bowers or Nabers. Neither position is the highest on their needs list, but both would provide an exciting pick.
