AFC West · 2027 Draft Class
Los Angeles Chargers 2027 NFL Draft Needs and Projected Picks
What the Chargers are working with in the 2027 draft: the needs we have researched for this cycle, the capital the projected order gives them, and which prospects are projected into their range.
Where the Chargers stand
The 2027 draft has not been held, so there are no picks to report and nothing here is a result. This page is the pre-draft picture: what this roster is missing, what the projected order hands them, and who is likely to be there when they are on the clock.
As the projected order stands, the Chargers hold 6 selections in 2027: 1 on Day 1, 2 across Day 2 and 3 on Day 3, with 3 inside the top 100. 1 of those slots is one they do not originally own, and 2 of their own picks have gone the other way.
Projected draft capital
| Round | Overall | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Own pick |
| 2 | 46 | Own pick |
| 3 | 78 | Own pick |
| 4 | 110 | Own pick |
| 5 | 142 | Own pick |
| 7 | 221 | via Rams |
Projected order. The 2027 draft order is set by the 2026 regular season and is not known until January.
Picks already traded away: No. 174 (R6, now Saints), No. 206 (R7, now Texans).
Roster needs entering the 2027 cycle
Our needs assessment for the Chargers, ordered by priority. These are not decorative: the number beside each one is the multiplier the simulator applies to a prospect at that position when this team is on the clock, so a wide receiver prospect is genuinely harder for this team to pass on than his board rank alone implies.
Team needs were researched for this class from current rosters. They predate free agency and will be revised after March 2027.
Position rankings for their top needs: Wide Receiver, Interior Offensive Line, Defensive Tackle.
Who is projected into their range
Prospects currently projected inside the 15 picks either side of No. 14, where the Chargers pick first. Restricted to positions on their needs list, ordered by how heavily that need is weighted, and capped at 3 per position so one need does not fill the table.
| Board rank | Prospect | Pos | School | Projected range | Need |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremiah Smith | WR | Ohio State | 1-6 | need 1 |
| 8 | Cam Coleman | WR | Texas | 5-13 | need 1 |
| 3 | Charlie Becker | WR | Indiana | 1-30 | need 1 |
| 16 | David Stone | DT | Oklahoma | 8-18 | need 3 |
| 32 | A'Mauri Washington | DT | Oregon | 11-35 | need 3 |
| 22 | William Echoles | DT | Ole Miss | 15-36 | need 3 |
| 4 | Colin Simmons | EDGE | Texas | 1-7 | need 4 |
| 5 | Dylan Stewart | EDGE | South Carolina | 3-8 | need 4 |
Rows are selected on the consensus projection. The range beside each one is where public mocks disagree: a prospect listed 20-45 is one whose projections genuinely span that much, and a wide range on a lightly-covered player reflects thin coverage rather than real volatility. Ranges are taken from published mock drafts where we have them and modelled from board position where we do not.
How this front office drafts
Harbaugh's relentless physicality doctrine: run the ball, stop the run, win the line of scrimmage. Hortiz provides Ravens-style analytical depth to complement Harbaugh's blue-collar culture. The Chargers need to build up front and add weapons to complement the QB.
Inside the simulator, this regime leans toward the best player available, at roughly 55 to 45 against need, and is more likely to trade back and collect picks than to move up (30 against 20). Its clearest positional preferences are offensive tackle, wide receiver, interior offensive line, which the engine applies on top of the needs list above.
Jim Harbaugh built Michigan into a powerhouse on offensive line dominance and physical running. His San Francisco teams ran the ball relentlessly. Joe Hortiz spent years in Baltimore's analytics-driven front office. Expect a Big Ten bias given Harbaugh's Michigan tenure and a premium on interior OL and physical WRs who block.
What this page is not
It is not a mock draft, and it is not a prediction of what the Chargers will do. Two of its three inputs will change before the draft is held: the order is set by a season that has not been played, and the needs list predates free agency, which reliably removes two or three items from every team's list and occasionally adds one. The board itself will move most of all.
We publish it anyway because the order-independent part is real and useful now. A front office's needs, its draft capital and the shape of the class it is drafting from are knowable months before the order is, and they are what actually drive a mock draft. Known gaps in the 2027 data: New York Jets general manager is unconfirmed.
More on the Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers franchise hub carries the current front office and every draft class we cover. The 2027 consensus big board is the full board these projections sit against.
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