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San Diego Chargers 2012 NFL Draft Order

By John Gennaro

In terms of the San Diego Chargers and free agency, all is quiet on the western front. So, as any bored sports blogger would do, we turn our eyes to the draft. After receiving a compensatory 7th round pick, here is the entire Chargers draft order for the 2012 NFL Draft:

Round Pick #
1 18 (18th Overall)
2 17 (49th Overall)
3 15 (78th Overall)
4 15 (110th Overall)
5 14 (149th Overall)
6 13 (183rd Overall)
7 19 (226th Overall)
7 (Compensatory) 43 (250th Overall)

There you have it. 3 of the first 100 selections belong to San Diego, as well as 3 of the next 100. We take a glance at where the rest of the AFC West drafts after the jump.

Oakland Raiders

Round Pick #
3 (Compensatory) 32 (95th Overall)
4 (Compensatory) 34 (129th Overall)
5 13 (148th Overall)
5 (Compensatory) 33 (168th Overall)
6 19 (189th Overall)

The Raiders have just 1 pick of the first 100 (95th Overall) and that was a compensatory pick awarded to them by the NFL. The Raiders actually have more compensatory picks in this draft (3) than they do draft picks of their own (2). I guess that's what happens when you build your team through trades instead of the draft or free agency.


Round Pick #
1 11 (11th Overall)
2 12 (44th Overall)
3 11 (74th Overall)
4 12 (107th Overall)
5 11 (146th Overall)
6 12 (182nd Overall)
7 11 (218th Overall)
7 (from Patriots) 31 (238th Overall)


If I didn't know better, I'd think that Scott Pioli was paying off players to get seriously injured last year just to tank the season. Think about it. In comparison to the Chargers, the Chiefs have had the same amount of success in free agency, KC has better draft position in every round (and the same number of picks), and they're returning Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki this season.

Despite how well A.J. Smith & Co. have handled the offseason for San Diego, they had no chance at improving this team as much as the Chiefs have/will improve theirs. They also had no chance of improving the Chargers as much as Denver, who won the division, improved its team once Peyton Manning was signed. Oh yeah, the Broncos....


Round Pick #
1 25 (25th Overall)
2 25 (57th Overall)
3 24 (87th Overall)
4 (from Jets) 13 (108th Overall)
4 25 (120th Overall)
5 (from Rams) 2 (137th Overall)
6 (from Jets) 18 (188th Overall)


Welp. The team that signed Peyton Manning and a bunch of scary targets for him to throw to also happens to have, among AFC West teams, the largest number of picks in the first 200 selections (7).


Summary

Give an NFL enough time and they'll go through the cycle. They'll be bad for a few years (hopefully not too long) and then be good for a few years (hopefully not too long). The Giants, the Patriots, the Saints, the Colts....they've all gone through periods where they were among the worst teams in the league and now they're on top.

A.J. Smith and his front office has done an excellent job at keeping the Chargers sturdy after years of being one of the league's worst teams, and they were lucky enough to play in a division that seemed to be in a collective down-cycle. However, the Broncos and Chiefs have seemingly formulated and followed through on good plans (as seen by them being the last two AFC West division winners) and the Chargers are losing time to figure things out and compete with them before hitting another down-cycle.

The truth is that the Chargers have had a good offseason, but that review is one in a vacuum. In comparison to the Chiefs and Broncos, they've seemingly lost even more ground. They'll need to strike it rich on one or more of the picks in the draft if they hope to catch back up.

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