Football News

With the 2024 NFL Draft now only a week away from kicking off in Detroit, front of mind for Joe Hortiz in his first season as general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers is how to best utilize the team's No. 5 overall pick, and the negotiation power that comes with that high-value selection.

While the Bolts could stay where they are in the draft order and use the pick to select who they believe to be one of the five best players in this year's prospect class, Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh have not discounted the opportunity available to them to exchange it for a lucrative selection for a bevy of later picks.

However, Hortiz said Thursday in his pre-draft press conference that the Chargers won't move down for just any deal, emphasizing that to their eyes it should be an exchange that they just can't say no to.

"There's certainly, 'It's too good of a deal,' because of what you're getting back. They have to make it attractive for us to move away from those players. The whole, 'It's a fair trade, it's a wash,' I don't think that's a trade that we're interested in," Hortiz said, via team transcripts. "If we're going to trade away from great players, there has to be a reason, in terms of value, for us. Certainly, there are going to be more great players in the draft, but it has to make sense to you and it has to make sense to the team that is wanting to come up."

Adding to the intrigue and the possible value of the pick in his mind is the knowledge that if most or all of the first four picks are used on quarterbacks, as many anticipate, that No. 5 pick becomes even more desirable for teams either trying to get in on the early QB action, or interested in nabbing the best non-QB player in this year's draft class.

That could make