{"id":693213,"date":"2026-01-21T07:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/693213\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T07:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:51:20","slug":"chargers-projected-to-take-all-american-dt-in-latest-nfl-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/693213\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers projected to take All-American DT in latest NFL mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 20, 2026, 11:15 a.m. PT<\/p>\n

With the college football season officially over following the Indiana Hoosiers thrilling 27-21 win over the Miami Hurricanes in the CFP National Championship Game, the focus for many of the nation’s top prospects shifts to the preparation for the upcoming 2026 NFL draft.<\/p>\n

As the Chargers<\/a> found themselves in offseason mode earlier than hoped this season after their 16-3 Wild Card Round exit against the Patriots, many Bolts fans have already begun pondering who the franchise will select with its No. 22 overall selection this April.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, USA TODAY Sports’ Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz revealed an update to his NFL mock draft<\/a> on Jan. 19, which projects the Chargers to select Unanimous Consensus All-American defensive tackle Kayden McDonald from Ohio State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Per the mock draft, Middlehurst-Schwartz describes the 6-foot-3, 326-pounder as a much-needed addition to the Chargers’ pass rush and suggests the former Buckeye could be an immediate impact on the team’s ability to control the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n

On both sides of the ball, Jim Harbaugh’s crew simply can’t afford to keep getting pushed around the way it was in 2025. Adding McDonald would mark a massive step toward better commanding the line of scrimmage, as defenses have to spend considerable attention and resources to ensure he doesn’t bully his way into the backfield.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Chargers are in desperate need of additions to their offensive line, Middlehurst-Schwartz appears to believe that the franchise can either select a lineman later in the draft or through free agency and instead, use their top pick on a player to bolster a defensive tackle room that will have\u00a0three key players\u00a0set to hit the market this offseason: Da’Shawn Hand, Teair Tart and Otito Ogbonnia.<\/p>\n

While the number varies depending on potential compensation picks awarded by the NFL for various reasons, the Chargers are currently expected to hold at least five picks in this year’s NFL draft.<\/p>\n

The NFL draft will take place this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from April 23-25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 20, 2026, 11:15 a.m. PT With the college football season officially over following the Indiana Hoosiers thrilling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95878,7,6,15,97083,97084,95882,96219,95930,96152,96027,99157,95893,95942,97085,95896,96758,95888,96683,95895,97666,96215,101170,95906,96071,95883,97518,95894,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-693213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-sstssportsnflchargers","13":"tag-sstsnchargers","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagbig-10-hub","16":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","17":"tag-tagcollege-football","18":"tag-tagcollege-sports","19":"tag-tagdashawn-hand","20":"tag-tagfacebook","21":"tag-tagjim-harbaugh","22":"tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagncaa-big-ten-conference","25":"tag-tagnfl","26":"tag-tagnfl-draft","27":"tag-tagnfl-hub","28":"tag-tagohio-state-buckeyes","29":"tag-tagohio-state-buckeyes-football","30":"tag-tagotito-ogbonnia","31":"tag-tagoverall-positive","32":"tag-tagsmg-timely","33":"tag-tagsports-news","34":"tag-tagteair-tart","35":"tag-tagtwitter","36":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}