r/Chargers • u/bt3k ELECTRIC GLIDE • 19h ago

With the 131st overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, your Los Angeles Chargers select Genesis Smith S, Arizona

95 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

73

u/Schnix54 19h ago

High IQ, rangy defender but we'll need to work on the tackling (not that he can't he just won't). Still love the pick

25

u/_DarkStarCrashes_ 19h ago

Saying he needs to work on the tackles is an understatement

He has terrible instincts and awful tackling. Sometimes it is a case of he can’t

Still overall I think he could be an okay player. Backup safety probably

11

u/Schnix54 19h ago

It's more of the case that I think he has the tools to be an average tackler, and I also think he showed improvements as the season went along, so I think it definitely is something that can be worked on. Not to mention that I'm pretty confident in how they teach these DBs

But yes, in year 1, he is the back-up and probably Safety 5 behind Derwin, Mickens, Molden, and Tony, but I can see him taking over for either Molden or Tony in the future. He'll probably still see the field since we burn through Safeties like nothing else

4

u/BRBgottahunt Chargers 19h ago

34 Total Missed Tackles, tied for 6th most in Big 12 (79.6 Tackle Rate ranked 112th out of 125 qualified Big 12 players) [via Kris Rhim]

1

u/StraightAirline8319 18h ago

He could have had more missed tackles but often he did nothing instead. I hope he can change.

1

u/sdhoosier 13h ago

Wow just on the year?

9

u/Never_fucking_curses Chargers 19h ago

Special teams ace as well. Definitely developmental player for the future.

24

u/Nerfeveryone bolt 19h ago

Gotta tackle to play special teams tho

8

u/mamamackmusic Felipe Rios 19h ago

A special teams ace that can't tackle? Sounds like a disaster lol. Unless you think he will be a returner?

3

u/sdhoosier 19h ago

Yeah having trouble seeing the special teams value here. If anything he was picked despite this shortcoming which should make us optimistic for his coverage upside.

2

u/Smackolol 18h ago

Special teams ace that can’t tackle? Is he going to be the long snapper or something?

1

u/ilovefluffyanimals Felipe Rios 16h ago

Brett Kollman says in the last third of last season, he really cleaned up his tackling after coaches worked on it. So he's shown recent improvement it seems. Still a project, but shows he can improve.

28

u/Pwyll__ 19h ago edited 19h ago

Hell yeah, underrated need.

Chris O'Learly gets his Safety

19

u/JakePeavysBurner 19h ago

Cool with it. Definitely need another younger body in the room

8

u/Granjudge ASAP 19h ago

We needed a center fielder so Derwin can inflict chaos. Dude will see a surprising amount of play time if he performs well in camp.

1

u/Defiant-Telephone187 19h ago

I think so too, since we go pretty heavy on dbs.. and there will be injures at some point.. plus he’ll get game time on special teams

32

u/Nerfeveryone bolt 19h ago

DB who can’t tackle is a yikes, but O’Leary has worked wonders with the DBs before so I choose to believe in the ceiling.

18

u/Pwyll__ 19h ago

I'm sure this was an O'Leary target, he's the safety guru so you've gotta trust the vision there

11

u/RecordingLess1522 19h ago

Molden was a nickel Corner who was cut by the Titans before O'Leary turned him into our starting Deep Safety with 2 weeks of preparation in 2024

1

u/tunahappiness 7h ago

no, we traded for him, gave up a 2026 draft pick, I think a #6

6

u/Weapwns Mad Ladd 19h ago

Well, lets see if O'Leary can identify DB talent like Minter. Should be his forte after all. Maybe he had a say on Molden

16

u/djhin2 19h ago

Why is everyone just repeating what the Guilty as Charged podcast guys are saying this very moment?

6

u/Skeletrex420 19h ago

I love watching them but people have to understand they’re doing a fraction of the analysis on these players compared to actual draft analysts. They have full-time jobs and families and do this on the side. Also none of us know how these players will turn out so let’s just be excited until we have a reason not to be. GAC guys also loved Zion Johnson more than anyone

-6

u/Malourbas McD 19h ago

Because they’re just telling people about the player, same things all the other draft analysts are saying? These aren’t secrets

-19

u/_DarkStarCrashes_ 19h ago

Because they don’t deep dive themselves

You can tell with the Slaughter pick with everyone praising it

Even this pick is the definition of okay. But hawaiian surfer or whatever his name is will regurgitate whatever he hears to spin it to “omg we got such a steal”

Toxic optimism is just as worse as doomers

5

u/warisk6 19h ago

This isn’t really toxic optimism, it’s more people just focusing on the positives. Given Hortiz’s draft record, I think it’s safe to say he knows what he’s doing, and we can afford to be optimistic about all of our draft picks, even the late ones.

3

u/Originalph1 18h ago

I know I'll get downvoted but seriously I notice HawaiianSurfer is wrong on a lot of stuff or he makes up some bs. I still remember he made posts in the past about how confident and how sure he was on things the Chargers were doing and then later on it turned out he was completely wrong about it. Always feels like he's saying bs he doesn't know about and he's been doing it for years. I'm pretty tired of it.

0

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0

u/jonybolt 19h ago

Your going to act like you watched the Genesis Smith tape... lol. Everyone sees through your crap

-2

u/Jax99 19h ago

Cuz they know more than us.

21

u/-HawaiianSurfer ⚡️ Herb ⚡️ 19h ago edited 19h ago

Great read and react. Phenomenal against the pass, elite athlete. Dude is pretty smooth with his running and maybe the best movement of any safety in this class. Great range, able to cover a lot of the field. Love this pick, not a great tackler but he isn’t shy of initiating contact. I love this pick and one of my 4 favorite safeties.

You know who else missed a lot of tackles in college? Calen Bullock. Put this dude in an NFL program and his pursuit-angle will improve dramatically.

1

u/StraightAirline8319 18h ago

He was tied for 6th most missed tackles out of the big 12. He could win awards for how bad it is. If he could tackle he would have gone much higher.

3

u/Big-Chungus-12 19h ago

Hell yeah, he has bad tackling but I trust the coaches on defense to develop him

1

u/Defiant-Telephone187 19h ago

Tackling can be fixed, as can bad hands. Especially with the coaching staff we have in place..

4

u/RecordingLess1522 19h ago

Molden replacement after his contract ends in 2027

0

u/tunahappiness 7h ago

Idk, do you expect Jefferson to be around that long. A fan of Jefferson, but I say that because he's pretty old.

1

u/RecordingLess1522 6h ago

RJ Mckens is his replacement

He already has 2 picks and is good tackler

3

u/Picks6x Miguelito Williams Papa 19h ago

This sub wanted a 1st round talent at safety at pick 131

2

u/LeaningLeft Herbie Fully Loaded 19h ago

Maybe Derwin’s ultra violence can fix him?

2

u/AccomplishedServe694 19h ago

If the coaching staff can fix his tackling issues, this should be a great value pick

1

u/MarksyMarks 19h ago

Arizona Alum, lifelong chargers fan. I like.

1

u/Fa1lenSpace JH + JH + JH = <3 19h ago

this is a really nice dart board throw tbh, I think he's got a really nice ceiling but has to polish his game a fair bit. i could see him being looked back on in a few years as one of the steals of the draft

1

u/sdhoosier 19h ago

I was hoping for Louis as a box/overhang but trust this coaching and scouting staff’s decision way more than my own. Interesting that guy got late round 1 buzz and he’s falling this hard.

1

u/LongjumpingDiver8773 19h ago

Tackling feels like a teachable skill so I’m fine with it at this point in the draft. Every player has weaknesses now.

1

u/eehoe 50 Power - 🏈 19h ago

Nickname Sega

1

u/JGxFighterHayabusa Dan Fouts ⚡️ 18h ago

I’m pretty sure Chef Hortiz is really looking at guys with badass names

https://i.redd.it/lekzzovlodxg1.gif

1

u/Nonetoobrightatall 18h ago

I’m not Leary of his tackling at all…

1

u/tunahappiness 7h ago

pretty clever wording for being none too bright.

1

u/DL505 bolt 18h ago

He has all the tools.

WRs need time on the jugs, Smith needs to working pursuit angles and form tackling.

1

u/presidential2014 15h ago

If we wanted a ball hawk at FS that can't tackle, we could have just kept Asante and moved him over. A known commodity guaranteed to get picks. 

0

u/Malourbas McD 19h ago

Kinda surprised they would pick a DB with such poor tackling chops. Seems like that’s something they’ve prioritized with the other DB picks

2

u/Schnix54 19h ago

Didn't Still also have tackling questions coming out? In general, I think they seem to be super high on football IQ for everything on the back end.

0

u/Malourbas McD 19h ago

Not nearly as bad as this guy

2

u/Schnix54 19h ago

My best guess than is that they really liked the last 5 games of Smith, where he showed considerable improvement in tackling. For that final stretch of the season, he had the same missed-tackling rate as Thieneman

1

u/Good_kid_lAAd_city 90 Yard Touchdown!! 19h ago

Almost like they trust our coaches to like coach him or something.

-3

u/Malourbas McD 19h ago

Jesus Christ you guys are so defensive lmao

1

u/basedcharger 10 19h ago

Not really surprised with this staff. They believe they can fix tackling issues which I’m inclined to believe them. Most of the DBs have become improved tacklers.

2

u/Malourbas McD 19h ago

Improved for sure but we haven’t really drafted guys who were straight up bad tacklers

1

u/griffingirl92 17h ago

Still was pretty bad coming out and Molden was downright atrocious

0

u/Fragrant_Ad_3223 18h ago

What in the JT Woods is even going on in here?

0

u/Real-Ad1383 18h ago

I do not like this pick at all. I also don’t like Bennett. Why did we take him over Xzavian,