List of Los Angeles Chargers first-round draft picks

The Los Angeles Chargers are a National Football League (NFL) franchise. They began play in 1960, a charter member of the American Football League. The Chargers moved to San Diego, California in 1961, changing their name to the San Diego Chargers. In 2017, the Chargers relocated back to Los Angeles. The Chargers' first draft selection was Monty Stickles, an end from the University of Notre Dame. The team's most recent first-round selection was Kenneth Murray, a linebacker from The University of Oklahoma. The Chargers have selected the number one overall pick in the draft once. They have also selected the second overall pick three times. The University of Tennessee and the University of Texas are tied for the most players chosen by the Chargers from one university, with three selections each.

Kellen Winslow, the Chargers' 1979 first round pick and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee

Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.

Key

Table key

^	Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
*	Selected number one overall
†	Indicates the player was selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
—	The Chargers did not draft a player in the first round that year.
Year	Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.
Pick	Indicates the number of the pick within the first round
Position	Indicates the position of the player in the NFL
College	The player's college football team

Player selections

LaDainian Tomlinson was the Chargers' 2001 first round pick

Quentin Jammer was the Chargers' first round pick in 2002

Shawne Merriman was one of the Chargers' first round picks in 2005

Melvin Ingram was the Chargers' first round pick in 2012

Los Angeles Chargers first-round draft picks

Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1960	N/A	Monty Stickles	End	Notre Dame
1961	7	Earl Faison	DE	Indiana
1962	8	Bob Ferguson	FB	Ohio State
1963	2	Walt Sweeney †	G	Syracuse
1964	8	Ted Davis	LB	Georgia Tech
1965	6	Steve DeLong	DE	Tennessee
1966	7	Don Davis	DT	Los Angeles State
1967	14	Ron Billingsley	DT	Wyoming
1968	4	Russ Washington †	T	Missouri	[lower-alpha 1]
	18	Jim Hill	DB	Texas A&M–Kingsville
1969	9	Marty Domres	QB	Columbia	[lower-alpha 1]
	18	Bob Babich	LB	Miami (OH)
1970	15	Walker Gillette	WR	Richmond
1971	13	Leon Burns	RB	Long Beach State
1972	—	No pick	—	—	[lower-alpha 2]
1973	25	Johnny Rodgers	WR	Nebraska
1974	2	Bo Matthews	RB	Colorado
	15	Don Goode	LB	Kansas
1975	8	Gary Johnson †	DT	Grambling State
	22	Mike Williams	DB	LSU
1976	4	Joe Washington †	RB	Oklahoma
1977	24	Bob Rush	C	Memphis
1978	14	John Jefferson †	WR	Arizona State
1979	13	Kellen Winslow ^	TE	Missouri
1980	—	No pick	—	—
1981	24	James Brooks †	RB	Auburn
1982	—	No pick	—	—
1983	5	Billy Ray Smith, Jr.	LB	Arkansas
	20	Gary Anderson †	RB	Arkansas
	22	Gill Byrd †	DB	San Jose State
1984	6	Mossy Cade	DB	Texas
1985	12	Jim Lachey †	T	Ohio State
1986	8	Leslie O'Neal †	DE	Oklahoma State
	13	James FitzPatrick	T	USC
1987	24	Rod Bernstine	RB	Texas A&M
1988	15	Anthony Miller †	WR	Tennessee
1989	8	Burt Grossman	DE	Pittsburgh
1990	5	Junior Seau ^	LB	USC
1991	9	Stanley Richard	DB	Texas
1992	23	Chris Mims	DE	Tennessee
1993	22	Darrien Gordon	DB	Stanford
1994	—	No pick	—	—
1995	—	No pick	—	—
1996	—	No pick	—	—
1997	—	No pick	—	—
1998	2	Ryan Leaf	QB	Washington State
1999	—	No pick	—	—
2000	—	No pick	—	—
2001	5	LaDainian Tomlinson ^	RB	TCU
2002	5	Quentin Jammer	DB	Texas
2003	30	Sammy Davis	DB	Texas A&M
2004	1	Eli Manning*	QB	Mississippi
2005	12	Shawne Merriman †	LB	Maryland
	28	Luis Castillo	DE	Northwestern
2006	19	Antonio Cromartie †	DB	Florida State
2007	30	Craig Davis	WR	LSU
2008	27	Antoine Cason	DB	Arizona
2009	16	Larry English	LB	Northern Illinois
2010	12	Ryan Mathews †	RB	Fresno State
2011	18	Corey Liuget	DT	Illinois
2012	18	Melvin Ingram †	DE	South Carolina
2013	11	D. J. Fluker	OL	Alabama
2014	25	Jason Verrett †	CB	TCU
2015	15	Melvin Gordon †	RB	Wisconsin
2016	3	Joey Bosa †	DE	Ohio State
2017	7	Mike Williams	WR	Clemson
2018	17	Derwin James †	S	Florida State
2019	28	Jerry Tillery	DT	Notre Dame
2020	6	Justin Herbert	QB	Oregon
	23	Kenneth Murray	LB	Oklahoma

Footnotes

1. On August 15, 1967, the Chargers traded quarterback Steve Tensi to the Denver Broncos for the #4 overall pick in the 1968 Draft and #9 overall pick in the 1969 Draft.[1]
2. On June 23, 1971 The Chargers traded the #11 overall pick in the 1972 NFL draft to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kevin Hardy.[2]

References

General

• "San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers Draft History". Pro-Football-Reference. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
• Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection". About.com. Retrieved 2014-09-18.

Specific

1. Football Register. Sporting News. 1969. p. 229. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
2. "Pack Sends Kevin Hardy To Chargers". Playground Daily News. Retrieved 2018-08-21.