King Dunlap does not believe, as many inside and outside the game have proffered, that he is one concussion away from his career being over.

“I’m good,” Dunlap said recently. “As far as I’m concerned, if I have another one, that’s not the end. … I appreciate people being concerned, but I’m fine. I feel great. The ankle is good, head is good. Concussions, they happen. We play a contact sport. I’m ready to roll. Missing as many games as I did last year, I’m ready to roll.”

Dunlap has heard of Laremy Tunsil.

“Apparently, he’s supposed to be the next big thing at left tackle,” Dunlap said. “He’s got to prove it on our field. I didn’t watch Ole Miss play much. … I didn’t watch the combine. Apparently, he’s got great feet, big strong kid.”


What Dunlap thinks of the player many believe will be among the NFL’s best tackles over the next decade or so really doesn’t matter. He doesn’t make the draft picks for the Chargers. Nor do the men who do execute those picks weigh Dunlap’s opinion on such matters.

But Dunlap being the Chargers’ left tackle and being healthy and being paid like a starter ... all that does matter when considering whether the Chargers should take Tunsil on Thursday night with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft.

They really shouldn’t — not when they will have their pick among potential game-changers on defense.

The Chargers have the de facto first pick in the draft after the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles traded up to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in order to select quarterbacks. Even before it was assured by those transactions that the Chargers would have their choice of the consensus best overall players in the draft, the team did its homework on Tunsil.


Truth is, even if it weren’t the best choice, it would not be difficult to defend Tunsil as the Chargers’ choice. He is one of those rare players whom so many agree will be a top-flight contributor for a long time.

Remarkably quick and athletic at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, the 21-year-old seems so good that there is compelling reason to accept that a team with two starting tackles could fit him in.

“If you’re going to invest extra in any position,” Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco said, “I’m fine with doing it on the offensive line.”

That is especially so when trying to make sure an elite quarterback is safe and a young running back is given the best opportunity to find his way.


It would be quite an investment for the Chargers, who reworked Dunlap’s contract in March to accommodate his remaining with the team. The $3.3 million he is guaranteed in 2016 (not to mention the $13 million he already was assured as part of the pact he signed before last season) qualifies as starter money. And the $10.5 million guaranteed to Joe Barksdale in the contract he signed last month virtually assures that he is the starter at right tackle.

Given that reality, it’s difficult to fathom a team coming off a 4-12 season and in need of so much other help investing so high in the draft at a position at which they are already covered — especially when defensive back Jalen Ramsey and defensive end DeForest Buckner would appear to provide similar (if not superior) impact.

That said, it’s a good time to be as assured as possible of Dunlap’s health — and his mind-set.

A concussion that kept him out three weeks last season was his third since 2013. Some teammates — and several people around the league — expressed concern over the repetitiveness and severity of the trauma. But Dunlap, who is participating in the Chargers’ offseason program unfettered by the ankle injury that kept him inactive for six of 2015’s final eight games, mostly shrugged off the concern.


“I don’t know why everyone is concerned about that,” Dunlap said. “It wasn’t like the two I had the two years before that. … It’s still a lot, yeah. I understand why people would worry. … But my head is fine. I feel great. I’m looking forward to the season.”

In a 10-minute conversation, Dunlap four times mentioned in some fashion the desire to re-establish his value.

Beyond the worry over head trauma, there is the matter of Dunlap’s career-long injury woes. He earned his big contract on the strength of his only 16-game season, in 2014. Last year, he started seven games and finished just two.

“To go from what I did in ’14 to last year, (there are) no words,” Dunlap said. “It was awful having to sit back and watch. ... It happened. I have to move on. I’m ready for this year. I have a lot to prove.”


A team coming off a 4-12 season has a bunch of players needing to show their worth. Certainly, none more than the man who might cause the Chargers to pass on a sure thing.

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com