Chargers' top draft target gets glowing review from rival coach

The Los Angeles Chargers constantly come up in mock drafts as the team selecting Michigan Wolverines tight end Colston Loveland.

No wonder. Beyond the super-obvious Jim Harbaugh connection, Loveland is one of the best players in the class outright and happens to play a position that is one of the worst spots on the depth chart for the Chargers.

So no, it’s no great shock to see that the Athletics’ Bruce Feldman mocks Loveland to the Chargers in his latest effort.

What’s interesting, though, is that the mock collects thoughts from coaches about each pick. On Loveland, a rival Big Ten coach had some very interesting things to say:

“It was also a little hard to tell how good he was because Michigan’s QB play this year was so bad, and they didn’t have good wide receivers. He was the guy everyone paid attention to. He’s rangy, and he moves real well. He’s a good receiver, but he feasted on really bad college safeties, and I think that’s one of the positions with the biggest difference between college and the NFL. Safety play in college is so bad. In the NFL, it’s very good, and these tweener guys can get locked up a lot.”

So there’s a give and take there—Loveland had rough quarterback play, but took advantage of typical college defenses.

From a Chargers perspective, it’s hard not to love the analysis. Loveland would get to catch passes from a top 10 pro quarterback in Justin Herbert. And a ground-based offense with space-creators like Ladd McConkey and Mike Williams (perhaps a Keenan Allen return, too) could mean he’s running free and targeted often against even the best pro defenses.

Harbaugh connection aside, these types of angles on the Loveland outlook just make it seem even better as a Round 1 outcome for the Chargers.

Michigan tight end Colston Loveland — Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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