3 NFL Draft landing spots for Texas RB Jonathon Brooks

Los Angeles Chargers

Amid an offseason of change in Los Angeles, the Chargers are looking to turn the page after the firing of former head coach Brandon Staley. After letting go of Staley, the Chargers have also turned over a good portion of the roster on both sides of the ball, including standout running back Austin Ekeler.

Ekeler was the workhorse running back that could seemingly do it all for the Chargers throughout the early 2020s. He led the league in total touchdowns from scrimmage in 2021 and 2022 and averaged 4.5 yards per carry combined in his first four years as the Chargers starting running back.

But it seemed like the heavy workload Ekeler endured for the Chargers over five seasons as a starter led to some wear and tear on his body last season. Ekeler missed a few games due to an ankle injury early last season.

This offseason, the Chargers have tasked the rebuild of this roster to move this franchise forward to former Michigan Wolverines and San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. The run-heavy offensive style Harbaugh has become famous for will now be implemented with the Chargers in the AFC West.

An early-offseason task for Harbaugh is finding that running back who can lead the way for the Chargers' ground game in this new era for the offense in LA.

A fairly obvious move for the Chargers would be to draft Harbaugh's star running back at Michigan for the last few years, Blake Corum. The vision and power Corum possesses allowed him to consistently gash opposing defenses at Michigan, eventually helping the Wolverines and Harbaugh to a national title last season.

But Brooks is the more complete back, especially in the modern NFL, compared to the undersized Corum. Brooks is also the more explosive of the two backs, which would hypothetically allow the Chargers to open up the offense more and give Justin Herbert a dynamic weapon to rely on out of the backfield.