Smoke and Mirrors: Why Chargers’ Pre-Draft Visits Aren’t What They Seem

The Los Angeles Chargers are deep in final draft preparation with only one month before the first round kicks off on Thursday night, April 23rd. Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz has imported the Baltimore Ravens philosophy to Los Angeles in terms of how the front office operates around the draft process.

The Chargers are usually tight-lipped when it comes to who they are targeting and who they have interest in leading up to the draft. Occasionally, news will become public about who the Chargers are hosting or who they are seeing at pro-days around the country. The shroud of secrecy was something the Ravens famously deployed in Baltimore and they were known for setting smokescreens with the information that became publicly available.

Joe Hortiz has brought the top-secret clearance required approach to Los Angeles. In Hortiz's first draft with the Chargers, a pre-draft meeting made headlines when the Chargers brought in wide receiver Malik Nabers for a visit. On the opposite side, the Chargers had little to no contact with top offensive tackle Joe Alt, whom they drafted at fifth overall, in the lead up to the draft.

What are private pre-draft visits?

The NFL allows up to 30 private pre-draft visits per team leading up to the draft. These visits have garnered the name "Top 30 visit" from many media sources. However, the visits are not intended for the top players on a team's draft board and over the past few years, the name "Top 30" has begun to die.

These visits can be used for any reason but are generally used for further medical checks and additional character evaluations. One of the biggest underlying uses for pre-draft visits are for selling a team and program to potential undrafted free agents who will be faced with choosing their destination quickly on the third day of the draft.

It may be easy to see publicly known private pre-draft visits as a wish list for the Chargers, but if Hortiz is truly following the Ravens philosophy, the more likely scenario is the Chargers are engaged in the same deception game the Ravens are notorious for. Part of the draft is the game of poker that goes on amongst the teams in maneuvering around the draft board.

#Chargers GM Joe Hortiz came up with Ravens GM Eric DeCosta under Ozzie Newsome. Listen to DeCosta talk about how Baltimore operates and remember that both Joe Alt and Ladd McConkey mentioned they didn't hear much from LA during the pre-draft process.
Something to remember as we… pic.twitter.com/AyVb2LAZ84
— Thomas Martinez (@BoltsDraftTalk) February 6, 2025

From publicly known private pre-draft visits, the Chargers under Hortiz, have never drafted a player brought in for a private pre-draft visit with the exception of Junior Colson, a prospect the Chargers coaching staff already had four years of experience with.

Local visits

Southern California Trojans wide receiver Makai Lemon hurdles UCLA Bruins punter Will Karoll as linebacker Scott Tay pursues — Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Every team in the NFL is allowed to host an unlimited number of local prospects for private visits. Prospects who are either from the local area to a team's headquarters or attended college at a school within the 50 mile radius are eligible for private pre-draft visits that do not count towards the otherwise 30 allotted visits.

For example both Tuli Tuipulotu and Daiyan Henley would be considered local prospects due to both of their hometown's being close to the Bolt, the Chargers training facility in El Segundo. Prospects from schools such as USC and UCLA would also count as locals. The Chargers typically will host a local pro-day as well, usually intended for prospects who may not have been given a combine invite or perhaps locals who attended a school that did not have a pro-day. The local pro-day has traditionally been an excellent opportunity to find additional camp invitees.

Combine interviews

At this point of the draft process, prospects are constantly doing interviews with various forms of media. One of the most common questions they are asked is regarding the teams they have spoken to or have visits scheduled with. Most of the prospects that were present at the NFL combine met with every team either for a formal interview or informally throughout the week. While it is exciting that a prospect may mention a meeting with a team as standing out or going well, in the grand scheme there is not much to decipher from information regarding combine interviews.