The Los Angeles Chargers finally made the playoffs with Justin Herbert in 2022. Now they need to continue to improve the weapons around him by drafting a wide receiver in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Chargers receivers, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are aging, and it is time to get some young talent in the room. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Boston College WR Zay Jones showed that despite his size, he is an NFL athlete. Here is why a Zay Flowers Chargers pick is a perfect fit.

Zay Flowers is a perfect fit for the Chargers roster in NFL Draft

Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are both excellent wideouts, but at 31 and 29, respectively, next season, they both have struggled with health.

Allen played just two games in the first 10 weeks of the season with a hamstring injury, and Williams missed four games with a high ankle sprain, then missed the Wild Card game with a scary-looking back injury.

Both WRs are still high-quality players. They both had over 1,100 yards in 2021. But counting on them to deliver 17 games of Pro Bowl-level football these days seems unwarranted.

Additionally, the Chargers need to diversify their receiving corps for Justin Herbert moving forward. Williams is a big, fast, jump-ball guy, and Allen is your prototypical veteran possession type. The team needs a slot receiver and a true do-it-all No. 1.

Zay Flowers from Boston College will immediately enter the NFL as the former, and many scouts believe that, despite his diminutive size, he could become the latter, ala Steve Smith Sr.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Flowers measured 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds. He ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash, which was ninth among wide receivers and only behind Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt (4.40) among potential first-round picks.

With his speed and size, Flowers projects as a slot receiver in the NFL. But at Boston College, he did it all. In four seasons with the Eagles, Flowers made 200 catches for 3,056 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.

The flexibility and upside Flowers will bring to an NFL team makes him a great fit for the Chargers. As a slot receiver, he has a high floor and should take some of the pressure off Williams and Allen immediately in the 2023 season. His ceiling as a dynamic No. 1 playmaker is also enticing, and why he is in the 2023 NFL Draft first-round conversation while other small slot receivers won’t go until Day 2 or 3.

Regardless of his NFL Scouting Combine measurements and measurables. The Boston College wideout’s production is hard to ignore. And he did this in Boston with Phil Jurkovec, Emmett Morehead, and Dennis Grosel as his QBs. No disrespect to those players, but Justin Herbert they aren’t.

And that is why a Zay Flowers Chargers union is so tantalizing after the NFL Scouting Combine. Flowers is a pass-catcher whose NFL.com scouting report says he “plays with unbridled energy and immense confidence.” Who better to harness that energy and take advantage of that confidence than Herbert?

Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are two incredibly talented WRs. Allen especially is criminally underrated. The five-time Pro Bowler is one of the top wideouts of his generation, but he is so unassuming that he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

And that thread runs through the Chargers offense. Allen, Williams, Austin Eckler, and even Herbert are all supremely talented, but they go about their business in such an understated way. The Chargers need more confidence, more cockiness, and more swagger in 2023, as much as they need more pass-catchers.

That’s where the Zay Flowers Chargers pick comes in.

Flowers might be 5-foot-9, but he plays the game and approaches defenses like he’s 6-foot-4. And there’s something to be said about players (like the Chargers' skill position guys) who make a great catch or score a touchdown and hand the ball back to the referee. You have to respect that professionalism.

That said, there’s also value in a guy who makes the big play, throws the ball into the stands, talks trash to the cornerback he just burned, and dances with his offensive linemen. And that is something the Chargers desperately need and that Flowers can bring if the team drafts him.

There are other WRs LA will consider at pick No. 21. However, the wide receivers in the first round of this class are incredibly similar to what the team already has. In the Keenan Allen mold, there is Jaxon Smith-Njigba from Ohio State and Jordan Addison from USC. In the Mike Williams mold, there is Hyatt from Tennessee.

The only two first-round WRs who bring something different to the table are Quentin Johnston from TCU and Flowers. Johnston will be off the board by No. 21, which is why a Zay Flowers Chargers pick in the NFL draft makes so much sense after the NFL Scouting Combine.