One of the biggest needs that the Los Angeles Chargers will need to address is their pass rush—especially with impending retirements and roster changes.
The Chargers have reached the most comfortable phase of roster construction, the one where the solution is always “the next draft.” EDGE is now the emergency, the priority, and—conveniently—the position group tasked with saving everything in 2026. This is being sold as planning, not panic.
The current room suggests otherwise.
Tuli Tuipulotu is the future. Bud Dupree is the present, technically. Kyle Kennard exists. Khalil Mack’s return delivered moments but did not reshape the defensive line and appears headed toward a quiet sunset. Odafe Oweh gets the benefit of the doubt, which is another way of saying the tape did not force a decision.
Drafting pass rushers is a sound process. Betting the pass rush on projections is familiar territory. The Chargers have always trusted tomorrow. Tomorrow, to its credit, keeps arriving. They need to strike quickly and luckily for general manager Joe Hortiz, he’ll have the chance to address all of this.
Round 1: Romello Height, EDGE, Texas Tech
Romello Height is the kind of prospect that makes front offices argue late into the night and fan bases argue even longer. The tape is loud. The stopwatch agrees. Height’s get-off, bend and twitch jumps immediately, and his ability to glide from one edge to the other gives him real pass-rush answers, not just effort sacks. He plays with a plan, strings moves together and understands how to stress tackles with leverage and angles. The production backs it up. Sixty-nine career pressures, including 32 in a single season, do not happen by accident.
For a Chargers defense starved for disruption, Height checks the most important box: he affects quarterbacks. He can win around the edge, counter inside and drop into zone coverage without looking out of place. That versatility matters in a league built on sub-packages, and his Nick Herbig-style profile fits what modern defenses prioritize—speed, flexibility and pass-rush efficiency over sheer mass.
Why should the Chargers draft Height?
The concerns, however, are not nitpicks. Height will be a 25-year-old rookie. At roughly 240 pounds, he can disappear when tackles get hands on him, and the run defense is inconsistent. The injury history and long college path raise fair questions about ceiling and longevity. This is not a plug-and-play three-down edge, and pretending otherwise would be malpractice.
That is where the evaluation gets uncomfortable. Height is not a savior, and he should not be drafted like one. He is a projection with a narrow margin for error, graded as a second- or third-round player for a reason. But in the right role—400 to 500 passing-down snaps, creative deployment and a serious NFL strength program—he can help immediately and grow into more.
Drafting Romello Height would say something about the Chargers. Not that they found the perfect edge rusher, but that they understand the difference between fixing everything and fixing something that actually matters.
*Top Photo: Getty Images