Mike Mayock over at nfl.com has created his top five draft prospects by position. Not too many surprises at positions of need for the Chargers, especially in the top slots. I notice he actually ranks Jason Smith out of Baylor as the number one offensive tackle in the draft; he likely won't fall to the number sixteen position as in our recent mock draft. Last year there was such a run on Tackles that the Chargers were left without a good pick for that position, it will be interesting to see if that pattern recurs this year. The two Smiths and Oher are likely to go ahead of the Chargers pick; but that should also leave one of the good ILBs or perhaps Raji available.
One interesting factor is that the top ranked running backs may drop pretty low this draft as many teams that had a strong need picked them up last year. Knowshon Moreno and 'Beanie' Wells are the top prospects. I'm doubtful the Chargers will pick one up as AJ really believes he can find good RBs in the later rounds, but you never know if he sees elite talent in one of them.
Another surprise is that at guard he drops Duke Robinson below Andy Levitre. I have more often seen Robinson as a potential first round choice, but usually saw Levitre as low as the third round. There is no doubt that people who see these guys play have the edge in evaluating them. One change in the safety picture is the assent of Louis Delmas and the dropping of William Moore; primarily based on their Senior Bowl performance. The only problem is that Moore is the SS prospect at 220 pounds, while Delmas comes in at just 197; the Bolts already have one smallish safety.