The Denver Broncos are the best team in the AFC West and may very well be the best team in the AFC right now as well. Given how the 2025 season ended, many fairly wondered how far Denver would be able to go had Bo Nix not gotten hurt.
What Broncos fans have seen in the offseason thus far are the rivals in the division try to play catch up. The Las Vegas Raiders signed a series of defensive players, the Kansas City Chiefs just traded up in Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft for Mansoor Delane, and the Los Angeles Chargers have done some work along the offensive line this offseason.
But in Round 1 of the NFL Draft on Thursday night, the Chargers made quite the shocking pick, and honestly, Broncos fans are laughing.
Denver Broncos fans can only laugh at the player the Chargers just picked in Round 1
The Chargers took Akheem Mesidor, a pass-rusher from Miami, and the second one from the school off the board, as Rueben Bain Jr. went a bit earlier to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While Mesidor is a first-round prospect, this is a player who is already 25 years old.
Yes, he is going to be a 25-year-old rookie, which is wildly old in today's NFL. While Mesidor might end up being a solid player, age is a major concern here. Typically, a rookie who comes into the NFL is in that 21-23 year old range. Obviously, it's sometimes better to bet on the younger players, as the potential could still be brought out.
However, with a player this old, you're not only expecting them to contribute right away, which may not happen, but you've also backed yourself into a corner. By the type Mesidor would be eligible to see a potential rookie contract extension kick in, he'd be approaching 30 years old.
And that 30 number in the NFL is typically seen as an age when a decline can begin to occur. Frankly, Mesidor being 25 should have bumped him out of the first round. Nix entered the NFL as a 24-year-old, and people could not stop joking about his age.
Well, will the same energy be applied to Mesidor?
Not only is age a concern, but he doesn't have ideal length for an EDGE rusher in the NFL, and he does have a bit of an injury history. There were a ton of flags here with Mesidor as a prospect that could have bumped him out of the first round, but the Chargers took a risk, and Broncos fans are laughing.