Following a 16-3 Wild Card defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Chargers now turn their attention to their 22nd pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. It’s a rather skeletal draft for the Chargers, as they currently have just five selections, so let’s look at how they can maximize their efforts using PFSN’s Mock Draft Simulator.
Round 1, Pick 27 (trade with the Houston Texans): Emmanuel Pregnon, OG, Oregon
Accurately predicting trades often feels futile given the degree of human psychology in the decision-making process. Nevertheless, Houston proposed swapping first-rounders along with our 201st pick (sixth round) for their 55th pick (second round) in an effort to acquire additional premium picks.
The title of the draft is self-explanatory for anyone who has laid eyes on the Chargers this season. It’s also supported analytically: they allowed the second-highest pressure rate and the fifth-highest sack percentage per NextGen Stats, ranked 30th in PFSN’s NFL OL Team Impact Score, and had just a single interior offensive lineman crack the top-100 in NFL OL Player Impact Score.
Enter Pregnon, a personal favorite of mine, who has been a starter at both guard spots throughout his collegiate career, which ought to provide Los Angeles with a swift upgrade.
Round 2, Pick 63 (trade with the Philadelphia Eagles): Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech
Ceding draft positioning to the Eagles is a nerve-wracking move with General Manager Howie Roseman’s penchant for aggression in the pursuit of team needs (and generally good players), but such a move maintains a second-round selection and provides us an additional fourth rounder in pick 136.
Texas A&M guard Chase Bisontis went 53rd to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Had he been there just two picks later, we would’ve declined the trade and made him a Charger. Instead, we’ll stay in the trenches and flip to the other side of the ball to select the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Hunter. He tallied seven tackles-for-loss last season on his way to a CFB Defensive Tackle Impact Score of 81.9, good for 23rd in all the FBS.
Round 3, Pick 72 (trade with the Cincinnati Bengals): Jake Slaughter, C, Florida
We are some trading bandits! We were able to swap third-rounders with the Bengals, moving from pick 69 to 72, while also adding a sixth-round selection with pick 186.
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The initial desire was to select Auburn center Connor Lew with this pick, widely viewed as the draft’s top center prospect prior to his season being cut short in October due to a torn ACL. There is likely some signal in how the league views Lew, given his decision to declare despite having another year of eligibility – he very well could be the first center off the board. Slaughter feels like the safer pick as a two-time team captain and first-team All-SEC (2024-2025), having posted a CFB Player OL Impact Score of 93.1 for his efforts last season, tops amongst centers and fourth overall amongst FBS offensive linemen.
Round 3, Pick 99 (trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers): Brian Parker, OG, Duke
Our trade this time features a 2027 pick: we move back from 86 to 99 in the third round and swap our seventh-rounder the following year for the 133rd selection in the 2026 draft.
Parker logged starts at both tackle spots for Duke, primarily at right tackle, but the uncertainty surrounding his arm length makes him a prime candidate to kick inside on Sundays. His skill set resembles that of a guard: a tight-space player who relies on quality movement to outleverage opponents away from the line of scrimmage, then grapples, sustains, and defeats them with his hands once he’s there. The 91.0 CFB Player OL Impact Score he posted in 2025 placed him fourth amongst tackles and 11th overall amongst all FBS offensive linemen.
Round 4, Pick 123: Gabe Jacas, EDGE, Illinois
The first stick-and-pick selection of this mock draft is another line-of-scrimmage player at an area of need. Khalil Mack, Odafe Oweh, and Del’Shawn Phillips are impending free agents, and while there is certainly a possibility that at least one is re-signed along with any potential free agent additions, there will be a need for quality depth at this spot.
The 6-foot-3, 270-pound Jacas completed his career with 27 sacks and 35.5 TFLs, totals in both categories that have improved year-over-year in the last three seasons. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound Jacas completed his career with 27 sacks and 35.5 TFLs, totals in both categories that have improved year-over-year in the last three seasons. He’s primarily operated as a two-point defender capable of sliding inside as a 4i or a 5-Tech, tallying the FBS’ 26th-best CFB EDGE Impact Score (81.5) for his efforts. Some of the bite and anchor at the point versus the run leaves more to be desired, but the pass-rushing methods of victory are too much to pass on with a fourth-round pick.
Round 4, Pick 133 (trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers): Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech
Age and free agency are also viable threats to Los Angeles’s linebacker room to the point that I wouldn’t be completely surprised by them nabbing one before this late in the draft.
Rodriguez was one of the most unique stories in all of college football this past season; the former quarterback entered the year with essentially no NFL Draft publicity or attention. No matter. He was a force for a stout Red Raiders behind 128 tackles, 11 TFLs, one sack, four INTs, six PBUs, and an FBS-leading seven forced fumbles. He also notched two rushing touchdowns in his pursuit of the Heisman Trophy. Although he wasn’t the recipient, Rodriguez did secure the Nagurski and Bednarik Trophies for his efforts. His 90.1 CFB LB Impact Score was second only to Auburn’s Xavier Atkins.
Round 4, Pick 136 (trade with the Philadelphia Eagles): Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida
It would benefit Los Angeles to revisit the defensive line for a player like Sapp, who, despite a reduction in production between 2024 and 2025, has still stamped the reliability of his NFL projection. The 6-foot-2, 274-pounder has logged meaningful snaps both inside and outside the tackles with quality concerted efforts against both phases of offense.
Round 6, Pick 206 (trade with the Cleveland Browns): Bishop Fitzgerald, S, USC
Originally picking 186th, we were able to do business with almost all of the AFC North and move down to 206 while adding the 246th-overall pick along the way.
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The former junior college product was a revelation for the Trojan defense after two productive seasons at NC State. Fitzgerald logged 51 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, one sack, five INTs, and three PBUs despite not playing in three games, good for the 19th-best CFB Safety Impact Score (87.8) along with an East-West Shrine Bowl invitation. This helps fill a position of need by adding a player with 10 career interceptions and 14 career PBUs to his name.
Round 7, Pick 246 (trade with the Cleveland Browns): Mikail Kamara, EDGE, Indiana
After wheeling and dealing our way into four picks more than we started with, this mock draft concludes with the addition of another defensive lineman. Will they triple down on edge players? Maybe not, especially with free agency pending. But the way the board fell, in conjunction with the value placed on down players, feels worthwhile on a late seventh-rounder.
Kamara was another in the long line of James Madison-to-Indiana pipeline after four years with the Dukes. His explosion with JMU in 2023 spilled over into the following season, his first with the Hoosiers, but he has taken a slight step back, at least statistically, in 2025. You will hear Kamara labeled as “sawed-off” in that he’s short at a listed 6-foot-1. I’m not deterred, he’s a disruptor: he’s tallied 23.5 sacks, 45 TFLs, and seven forced fumbles over the last 45 games he’s played.
