Mel Kiper<\/a> believes the Bolts need an upgraded presence along the interior, it\u2019s just not the side of the ball that most fans would agree with. In his first mock of the year for the 2026 draft, Kiper has the Chargers taking Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods with the 22nd-overall pick.<\/p>\n\u201cWoods looked like a top-10 pick heading into the season, but the production dipped, and here he is outside the top 20,\u201c says Kiper. \u201dThe Chargers won\u2019t complain, though. They would love to bring in a talented 3-technique with strength and versatility. At his best, Woods can wreck an opponent\u2019s game plan. Can coach Jim Harbaugh (and maybe defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, if he isn\u2019t hired elsewhere as a head coach) get Woods\u2019 game back to that level? If so, he\u2019d be a really good replacement for free agent Teair Tart.\u201c<\/p>\n
The 6\u20194, 310-pound Woods was seen as the top defensive tackle in the draft prior to the 2025 season. However, after recording eight tackles for loss and three sacks a year ago, those numbers dropped to 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks this season which is not what you want to see from a player projected to go early on day one.<\/p>\n
A fun fact: Woods was used as a goal-line back for the Tigers in 2025, earning eight carries for 15 yards and scoring twice.<\/p>\n
New Scott Matlock 2.0? One can hope.<\/p>\n
Is this a pick you would like to see the Chargers make in April? Is offensive guard or center simply too high of a priority to consider anything else in the first round? Let us know all of your thoughts below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone and their mother knows that the Chargers\u2019 biggest need this offseason is reinforcements along the interior offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2452,38790,2453,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-694165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers-draft","13":"tag-los-angeles-chargers-mock-drafts","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers-news","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleschargers","17":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115934107351634843","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694165","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=694165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}