A number of possibilities are on the table for the Chargers with the No. 3 overall draft pick.

That includes no selection there at all.

The team is open to the idea of trading down in the first round on April 28, a source familiar with their thinking said. To portray the Chargers as itching or actively exploring the chance to move from their highest draft slot in 12 years would be a step too far. But the team is anything but married to its third choice, planning to listen to trade scenarios that may arise.

This is not a drift from their usual draft philosophy.


If San Diego selected third, 13th or 32nd, it’d likely at least listen and internally discuss a trade offer presented to it. That goes for most, if not all, teams. Such dialogue between teams typically doesn’t heat up until a week or so before the draft.

Nonetheless, this possibility is worth nothing.

As is the Chargers’ history.

They have held a draft pick this high twice since 2001. Each time, they went on to complete a trade, stockpiling extra selections to help address their roster needs.


In 2001, San Diego shipped its first overall pick to the Falcons, who selected quarterback Michael Vick, as part of a package that net the Chargers draft compensation they used for first-round running back LaDainian Tomlinson. Veteran wide receiver Tim Dwight, a 2001 third-round pick (cornerback Tay Cody) and a 2002 second-round choice (wide receiver Reche Caldwell) rounded out the compensation.

In 2004, the team again had the top overall pick.

It selected quarterback Eli Manning only to trade him for the rights to quarterback and No. 4 pick Philip Rivers, a 2004 third-round choice (kicker Nate Kaeding), a 2005 first-round pick (outside linebacker Shawne Merriman) and a 2005 fifth-round choice it traded for tackle Roman Oben.

Collectively, those deals breathed life into the franchise, setting the table for five playoff berths in a six-year span that began in 2004. For perspective, the Chargers had seven playoff berths in their 38 seasons prior.


Any trade requires two partners.

Whether a second team approaches the Chargers with an offer they’d consider worthwhile remains to be seen. The quarterback position, which was on display Saturday during on-field drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, generally is what attracts the most trade activity early in the first round. North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and California’s Jared Goff are widely viewed as the top quarterbacks in the 2016 draft.

Nuts ‘n’ Bolts

• It didn’t take long for NFL prospects to model their game after Jason Verrett. Last month, the Chargers cornerback completed his second season and attended his first Pro Bowl. Mackensie Alexander, a former Clemson cornerback and projected first-round pick, was asked Saturday to which NFL player he compares. “I like Darrelle Revis,” Alexander said. “I think my game is similar to his game, but then I can also compare my game to Jason Verrett because of his grittiness, his size. He’s able to move around, his explosion, his quickness and stuff like that. So I’m able to match that. Revis is good, but there’s stuff in Jason Verrett’s game that Revis just ain’t got, you know what I mean? He’s flashier … and stuff like that.”


• At the combine, the wide receivers ran an average 4.56-second time in the 40-yard dash Saturday, the second-slowest mean since 2003. NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock called it the “slowest (wide receiver) class I can remember.”