Pros and cons of Chargers picking Georgia football's Ladd McConkey in 2024 NFL Draft

Ladd McConkey from Georgia football is officially an NFL rookie after being picked by Los Angeles Chargers in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft. He was selected 33rd overall and the second pick of the round.

Here's what McConkey brings to the Chargers, based on our own observations from the wide receiver's tenure at Georgia:

What Ladd McConkey brings to the Los Angelese Chargers in 2024 NFL Draft

It's fair to say that Ladd McConkey was an underrated part of Georgia's back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Georgia had other big-play weapons on the outside (AD Mitchell and Jermaine Burton) and a budding superstar in tight end Brock Bowers, yet McConkey blew away his recruiting ranking and all of those schools that never offered a player who weighed 165 pounds his senior year of high school at North Murray High in Chatsworth, Ga. He became a key cog for an NFL offense coordinated by current Ravens coordinator Todd Monken and then Mike Bobo.

Ladd McConkey's highlights, strengths, weaknesses at Georgia football

The 5-foot-11 1/2, 186-pound McConkey (no relation to former NFL wide receiver Phil McConkey) is one of the best route runners in this draft and showed off his speed at the NFL combine by running a 4.39 40. McConkey can score by taking a pitch on an end around or even on a trick play that he was supposed to pass on in the Orange Bowl that he took 27 yards for a touchdown. He'll have to show his durability at his size on the next level after missing the first four games of last season with a back injury and then dealing with an ankle injury late last season.

Ladd McConkey stats at Georgia football

119 catches for 1,687 yards and 14 touchdowns, 216 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns, 13.3 yards punt return average

Ladd McConkey player comparison (or potential) in NFL

The lazy comparisons might be to Puka Nacua or Hunter Renfrow. The NFL Network at the combine compared McConkey to 2022 draft pick Garrett Wilson who had similar size and speed with each having a 36-inch vertical jump. The 10th overall pick was the offensive rookie of the year two years ago.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Chargers draft Ladd McConkey in 2024 NFL Draft: Pros, cons of pick