Los Angeles Chargers: Trey Pipkins could start in 2019
The Los Angeles Chargers made a surprising pick of Trey Pipkins in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, but he could end up starting right away.
The Los Angeles Chargers made a somewhat surprising decision to draft Sioux Falls offensive tackle in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Pipkins was a standout at the East-West Shrine Game practices where he handled edge rushers with relative ease, just like he did at the University of Sioux Falls.
In 43 starts in college, Pipkins allowed just two sacks.
That’s dominance, but is it translatable?
"I smile a lot and laugh a lot off the field, but on the field I’m here to compete and I’ll do whatever to help the team win."
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) April 30, 2019
Coming from a D2 school, the odds were against Pipkins getting drafted in the first two days to begin with. He was the first D2 player selected in the 2019 draft and was also just the third player off the board who was a non-FBS athlete.
The Chargers selected him with good reason.
Pipkins has elite feet, athletic ability, size (6-foot-6, 310 pounds) and overall length. As general manager Tom Telesco said after making the pick, good tackles are ‘hard to find’ and this kid is a good one.
This pick hits close to home for me. Literally.
Pipkins is a graduate of the same university — the University of Sioux Falls — I personally attended.
The USF football program has an incredibly rich history, and they made the transition from NAIA to D2 while I was on campus. The transition was almost seamless and obviously along with that transition came a new level of prospect recruiting.
Pipkins is the first evidence of that.
He’s the first non-kicker to play at USF ever taken in the NFL Draft, and he was a top 100 pick at that.
Telesco talked at the time of the draft about the fact that they had seen Pipkins dominate while he was playing for the Cougars, but his dominance against better competition at the East-West Shrine practices sealed the deal.
What kind of impact can a D2 offensive tackle make in year one?
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Pipkins starting at some point at the right tackle spot. The Chargers’ line is solid, but mainly at the interior line positions. Pipkins is probably their most athletic player at the position right now and if he holds up well in camp and preseason play, it wouldn’t shock me or probably anyone else following the Chargers to see him work in with the 1s.
Pipkins moves so well for his size. He does a great job of mirroring edge players and using his length to keep them in front of him. He changes directions with ease and can get out in space in the running game.
Next. 2019 NFL Draft grades for all 32 teams. dark
Jumping from D2 to the NFL is a daunting task but Pipkins has already defied the odds to this point — why stop now?