nfl draft

Brenen Thompson is from Spearman, Texas, at the top of the panhandle, where the gusts are constant and the only tourist attraction is a collection of old windmills.

Have you checked out Thompson’s speed numbers?

Prepare to be blown away.

Thompson, newest receiver for the Chargers, ran the 40-yard dash in a forehead-slapping 4.26 seconds — a mere .04 off the NFL combine record. What the former Mississippi State star lacks in size — he’s a shade under 5 feet 10 and 164 pounds — he makes up for in an ability to almost teleport from one spot to another.

Not the biggest position of need for the Chargers, who took him in the fourth round, but a nifty weapon for new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who in the past has drawn up schemes for such scorchers as Jaylen Waddle, Travis Benjamin and Tyreek Hill.

Now, for the plodding part. OK, the Chargers didn’t race to the podium to select offensive linemen — their undoing last season — but they have remade their offensive line anyway.

First, they’re getting back Pro Bowl tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, who missed all or most of last season with leg injuries; signed center Tyler Biadasz and guard Cole Strange in free agency; and drafted Florida center Jake Slaughter in the second round, with the idea of him playing guard.

So if the plan works out, the Chargers will start five linemen who weren’t even in uniform for them for the January playoff loss to New England. Good thing, because that injury-ravaged line was a fire-drill mess last season.

In years before the Jim Harbaugh regime, the Chargers didn’t embrace the notion of trading down for more picks. But general manager Joe Hortiz likes doing that, and turned what would have been a quiet weekend — two selections on Day 3 — into a six-pick bonanza.

The club took Memphis tackle Travis Burke in the fourth round, presumably adding depth at the position because he’s not the type of player who is going to move inside to guard (and he’s almost certainly not going to unseat Slater or Alt). Depth is good at that spot, because as the Chargers were reminded last season, you’ll sooner find a stray $100 bill on the street than a capable NFL tackle.

The Chargers rounded out the draft by selecting a pair of guards in the sixth round, Logan Taylor of Boston College and Alex Harkey of Oregon. Whereas Taylor was a four-year starter, Harkey started one season at right tackle for the Ducks — he bounced from Colorado to Texas State to Oregon — and projects as an interior lineman in the pros.

Oregon’s Alex Harkey is among the four offensive linemen the Chargers selected in the 2026 NFL draft.

(Mark Ylen / Associated Press)

With the third of their four fourth-rounders, the Chargers took Arizona safety Genesis Smith. He has the cover skills and range to play the deep part of the field, and he’ll be learning from the best in All-Pro Derwin James Jr. Harbaugh is constantly saying, “Competitors welcome,” and Smith figures to be just that. If there’s trust on the back end, James can move up closer to the line of scrimmage to make plays and wreak havoc.

If a player is especially tough and violent on the field, the Chargers will affix a magnetic hammer sticker next to his name on the draft board. That’s what they did with South Carolina defensive tackle Nick Barrett, their final pick of the fourth round. The team typically carries five or six defensive linemen, and Barrett joins a group that includes Teair Tart, Jamaree Caldwell and Dalvin Tomlinson.

The Chargers already ramped up their pass rush by selecting Miami’s Akheem Mesidor at No. 22, a player widely projected to be off the board by then. Doesn’t matter the division, a strong pass rush is always essential. But having that in the AFC West, with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Denver’s Bo Nix and No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza heading to Las Vegas, turning up the heat on quarterbacks is especially important.

Mesidor, who began his career at West Virginia and finished at Miami, was among the oldest players in the draft at 25. Some saw his age as a negative.

“I’ve been doubted my whole life. I’m ready to come in and earn the respect of my teammates and my coaches and compete,” he told reporters. “The age stuff, any of the negativity that people push into the media about me, is all out the window. It does not faze me, I’m here to play football.”

In the NFL, you can never have enough good pass rushers, and the team that winds up winning the Super Bowl is often the one at or near the top in getting to the quarterback. But first things first. The Chargers have to win a playoff game, something they haven’t done in two seasons under Harbaugh and six with Justin Herbert at quarterback.

Thompson could help in that regard. The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss., told this story last year: When the future Chargers wideoout was 6, his mother signed him up for flag football in Texas.

She told her young son that she would reward him with $1 for every flag he grabbed, and $5 for every touchdown he scored. After the first game, the two had to make a trip to the ATM.

After all, who has $65 at the ready?

Ohio State tight end Max Klare speaks during a new conference at the NFL scouting combine in February.

(Eric Gay / Associated Press)

6 feet 4, 246 pounds | Ohio State | Round 2, Pick 61

Notable: Klare began his career at Purdue and played three seasons for the Boilermakers before transferring to Ohio State.

Last season: Klare caught 43 passes for 448 yards and two touchdowns for the Buckeyes, who finished 12-2.

Why the Rams drafted him: McVay at times used a tight-end heavy offense during the latter part of last season, so the Rams need reinforcements for a position group that includes veteran Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and Terrance Ferguson. Higbee is at the far end of his career and Parkinson is in the final year of his contract, and none of his salary is guaranteed, according to Overthecap.com.

Florida center Jake Slaughter gets set during a game against Kentucky in 2024.

(Gary McCullough / Associated Press)

6-4, 303 pounds | Florida | Round 2, Pick 63

Notable: Slaughter was a finalist for the 2025 Rimington Trophy, awarded to the top center in college football. He was a two-time All-American and three-year starter at Florida.

Last season: Slaughter, 23, ranked 18th among FBS centers in pass block grade (84.1) and third in run block grade (80.2) in 2025, per Pro Football Focus. Over 748 snaps last season, he allowed four total pressures, one sack and one hit on his way to earning All-Southeastern conference honors.

Why the Chargers drafted him: Despite Slaughter playing as a center in college, the Chargers are confident he can compete with Trevor Penning for a starting job at left guard. The Chargers like his versatility at both guard positions and center, offering them a potential starter at either position and much-needed depth. After last season’s struggles to protect quarterback Justin Herbert in the wake of injuries to Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, it makes perfect sense Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz would use a Day 2 pick to extend their flexibility on the offensive line.

The Rams have a roster that is Super Bowl ready.

So on Thursday, with the 13th pick in the NFL draft, the Rams looked beyond the Matthew Stafford era to the future.

The Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, making him the heir apparent to the reigning NFL most valuable player.

Simpson started only 15 games at Alabama, but that was enough for coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead to determine that he could be developed into an eventual starter.

Stafford, 38, and the Rams are expected to work out an adjustment to his contract for this season, but whether Stafford intends to play beyond 2026 is unknown.

Last season, as a fourth-year junior, Simpson passed for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading the Crimson Tide to an 11-4 record.

He is the first quarterback drafted in the first round by the Rams since 2016, when they traded up a record 14 spots to pick Jared Goff with the No. 1 pick.

Fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett is the only other quarterback on the Rams roster. Free agent Jimmy Garoppolo, Stafford’s backup the last two seasons, is mulling retirement, according to McVay and Snead.

After advancing to the NFC championship game last season, and then fortifying the roster by trading for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams are expected to be a favorite to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

Star receiver Puka Nacua will fully participate in voluntary offseason workouts, the Rams are getting closer to another contract adjustment with quarterback Matthew Stafford, and coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead hope backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo decides to put off retirement and return for a third season and possible Super Bowl run.

McVay and Snead addressed those topics and the NFL draft on Tuesday during a videoconference with reporters.

Nacua led the NFL in receptions last season but also was involved in a string of off-the-field incidents the last few months, including an alleged biting incident that led to a civil lawsuit. Those situations put the brakes on any immediate discussion between the Rams and Nacua about a massive extension for the fourth-year pro.

In March, Nacua began a rehabilitation program in Malibu, but he was present for the first day of workouts on Monday.

Nacua, 24, “looks great” and is “doing really well,” McVay said. McVay declined to detail discussions he’s had with the All-Pro, who was a finalist for NFL offensive player of the year.

“He and I have a great relationship,” McVay said. “Feel really good about kind of the direction we’re going.”

Stafford, 38, led the Rams to the NFC championship game last season and is the reigning NFL most valuable player. According to overthecap.com, he is due to carry a salary-cap number of $48.3 million this season.

But Stafford has no doubt demanded, and will receive, a raise and a possible additional year in a deal that the Rams acknowledged two years ago is essentially a year-to-year situation.

“Progress has been made,” Snead said of negotiations.

There is no timeline, Snead said, “but don’t expect any drama, per se.”

Garoppolo, 34, has backed up Stafford for two seasons, and he has been invaluable.

Last year, with Stafford sidelined for training camp because of a back issue, Garoppolo ran the offense and prepped the defense with a skillset honed during a 12-year career that included a Super Bowl appearance. Stafford joined workouts before the season and remained healthy throughout, but Garoppolo was perhaps the most valuable insurance policy in the NFL.

Last season, Garoppolo played on a one-year contract and earned $4.5 million, according to overthecap.com.

McVay expressed confidence in fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett, but said he was hopeful that “when the time is right,” Garoppolo will “change his mind,” and return.

“You leave the door open,” McVay said when asked if there was a point that Rams would press Garoppolo to return. “I don’t think you want to press. What you don’t want to do is ever force a guy to play if in his mind he’s ready to move on.

“But you don’t want to minimize that, ‘Hey, if you do decide you want to play, let’s make sure it’s here with us.”

The Rams have the 13th pick in the NFL draft, which begins Thursday in Pittsburgh. They have one pick in the second and third rounds, one in the sixth round and three in the seventh.

Receiver, offensive line and edge rusher are among the positions the Rams could address with their first top-15 pick since they selected quarterback Jared Goff with the No. 1 pick in 2016.

“There’s a lot of possibilities,” McVay said. “We don’t control what happens in those 12 picks before, and so what we’ve done is a lot of contingency planning and a lot of conversations, and feel really good about that.”

Rams All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua was present on Monday when the Rams began voluntary offseason workouts at their Woodland Hills training facility.

Nacua, who entered a rehabilitation facility in March, was not among players scheduled to speak with reporters at the outset of the Rams program, which includes three phases and ends in June.

Coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead are scheduled to speak with reporters on Tuesday during a news conference as a lead-in to the NFL draft, which begins Thursday in Pittsburgh.

The Rams, who have the No. 13 pick in the draft, are regarded as a favorite to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium in February.

But they will need Nacua to make that kind of run.

Nacua, 24, was involved in a string of off-the-field situations the last few months, including an alleged biting incident that led to a civil lawsuit.

Nacua led the NFL with 129 receptions last season. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and he is eligible for an extension that could equal or surpass the deal Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba recently signed that includes $120 million in guarantees.