The twenty-eighth pick in the inaugural edition of the Cincy Jungle Mock Draft is brought to us by member BlitzAway, selecting for the San Diego Chargers. His explanation for the pick is after the jump. Thank you for your participation BlitzAway.
With the twenty-eighth pick in the 2010 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the San Diego Chargers select...
Ryan Mathews, RB, Fresno State
The Chargers are obviously a very good team as their 13-3 record obviously suggests but they are quite a few positions they could address going into this draft.
Offense:
1. OL: Starting Center Nick Hardwick is very good, but last year the line struggled when he was injured. Maurkice Pouncey is available at this point and definitely has potential to start right away but all the Chargers need at this point is depth and not a replacement for Hardwick. LT (Marcus McNeill), LG (Kris Dielman) and RG (Louis Vasquez) are in decent shape, but RG could use an upgrade but there isn't a clear 1st round prospect left on the board so the Chargers decide to wait till a later round.
2. WR: Both Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd are Restricted Free Agents and its possible that the Chargers will lose at least one of them next year but they are quite a few WRs available in the 2nd round that would be a good fit.
Defense:
1. NT: It surely has to hurt that NT Jamal Williams is now with the Broncos and the Chargers definitely need to add depth here behind Ian Scott. Terrence Cody is still on the board, and since he would not have to start right away, he has time to learn and become more NFL ready.
The most glaring need among all these is the RB position where the only player on the team for the job is RFA Darren Sproles (who needs to accept that no team will pay him feature back money). The Chargers are lucky that RB Ryan Mathews is still on the board and this guy can plant hard and run downhill, catch out the backfield, is a decent blocker and at 5-11 and 218 pounds, can be the back that carries 20 times a game. The issue with Ryan Mathews is that he's had a few injuries in his career but if the Chargers are able to get Sproles to stay to a long term deal, they'd potentially have one of the best RB duos in the league for the next 2-3 years.
Ryan Mathews Highlights:
(via DACM4N)