NFL clubs have a lot on the line when drafting players at arguably the most important position on the field.
ESPN’s Seth Walder ranked how all 32 teams have done when it comes to drafting quarterbacks. To stack the teams up, Walder used Pro Football Reference’s weighted career approximate value (AV) to measure production, stretching all the way back to the start of the common draft era in 1967.
The Chargers have had a lot of success at doing so, ranking No. 2 in the league, right behind the Patriots.
Here’s a look at Walder’s ranking for the Bolts along with the reasoning behind it:
Total drafted QB career AV above expectation: 197
Best value pick: Drew Brees, No. 32 in 2001
Worst value pick: Ryan Leaf, No. 2 in 1998I saw the Chargers at No. 2, and for a moment, I thought, “Huh?” But then it clicked. Even with the Leaf disaster, the Chargers have drafted several successful quarterbacks … for other teams. The aforementioned Brees is one. Eli Manning and Trent Green are two more.
Add in Dan Fouts, a Hall of Famer drafted with the 64th overall pick who did play for them, and it all makes perfect sense.
The Chargers have a quarterback in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Dan Fouts. The franchise could possibly have another in the near future with Philip Rivers.
Rivers wasn’t drafted by the Chargers. Instead, he was involved in the blockbuster trade with the Giants. Eli Manning was the original pick. Despite shipping Manning away, he still managed to have a productive career with New York.
The Bolts were also the ones who drafted Drew Brees, who has had a lot of success with the Saints, as well as Trent Green, who earned a Super Bowl ring with the Rams and two Pro Bowl appearances with the Chiefs.
While the franchise was victims of drafting one of the NFL’s biggest busts in Ryan Leaf, the other signal-caller’s success has outweighed the poor career from one player.
Los Angeles, who hadn’t drafted a quarterback in the first-round since 2004, is hopeful that their 2020 draft pick, Justin Herbert can pan out like the rest of the top tier signal-callers that they acquired in the past.