Chargers snag G Ramon Foster in 2009 re-draft

Prior to the hiring of Tom Telesco as the team’s general manager, the Chargers had some questionable draft picks in the first round. Following the team’s 14-2 record during the 2006 season, this is what the team’s first-round draft picks looked like up until Telesco’s hiring looked like (Note: Pro Bowlers in orange):

Wikipedia.com

After his hire, the last seven picks in the first look like this:

Wikipedia.com

The proof is in the pudding that Telesco has found a groove with his drafting. Aside from the Fluker pick, it’s a pretty great haul if you also believe it’s too early to tell with Jerry Tillery. Mike Williams, while he hasn’t made a Pro Bowl yet, has an 11-touchdown season to his name that he followed up with a 1,000-yard campaign in which he also led the league in yards per catch (20.4).

So of course we’re stoked with Telesco as the team’s GM. He has yet to draft a player like Larry English, who fizzled out fairly quick with the team after being drafted out of Northern Illinois back in 2009. In Brad Gagnon’s latest re-draft exercise, the Chargers were able to undo that mistake by passing on English and using their pick instead on offensive guard Ramon Foster out of Tenneessee.

Originally, Foster went undrafted. But he still went on to start on the Steelers’ Super Bowl team in his second year and was a consistent piece of their offensive line for over a decade. The actual guard the Chargers took in this draft, Louis Vasquez, was already taken, so grabbing another long-term piece is the next best thing.

I’d like to think the majority of Chargers fans would take this scenario over reality, as English spent just five seasons in San Diego and only managed to play double-digit games in a season twice. His best season came as a rookie when he recorded a career-high 36 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, and a pair of sacks.