Ladd McConkey continues to impress.
The former Bulldog inked a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Chargers, NFL Network reported Monday evening. The deal gave McConkey the most guaranteed money for a 34th-overall pick in NFL history and surpassed the quarterback premium for the same pick in 2023.
The deal was well-earned, as McConkey has impressed since hearing his name called on draft night. His speed and stellar route running make him an enticing target for quarterback Justin Herbert, but it is McConkey’s mind that stands out to the Chargers’ signal caller.
“It’s like he’s been a four- or five-year vet,” Herbert told the Los Angeles Times. “He understands the game. He understands leverage. He’s a smart player, and he’s very athletic. I’m really looking forward to getting him the ball.”
McConkey’s personality and intellect were on full display at Georgia, where he solidified himself as a good football player and an even better teammate.
“No one works harder than Ladd McConkey,” Kirby Smart said in March. “Nobody on our team would say there’s a better teammate than [McConkey]. I don’t know that he’s ever said a negative word about anybody.”
After turning heads on Georgia’s scout team, McConkey earned a spot in the Bulldogs’ wide receiver rotation during the 2021 season. Playing in all 15 games, he finished with 31 catches, only behind Brock Bowers, for 447 yards and five touchdowns. McConkey’s performance earned him a spot on the SEC’s All-Freshman Team to pair with his national championship ring.
“A chip on his shoulder,” Smart said of McConkey initially getting overlooked. “A young man that wanted to prove everybody wrong.”
In 2022, McConkey upped his recognition to a place on the All-SEC Second Team. He developed into a swiss army knife-type player, as offensive coordinator Todd Monken utilized the 6-foot, 185-pounder’s spacial awareness and versatility to play him all over the field. Once again, McConkey’s season ended with a national championship, but this time, he finished with two touchdowns in Georgia’s blowout win.
McConkey was hindered by injuries in his final season with the Bulldogs. However, he still finished with 478 yards, including a 135-yard performance against Florida. When returning to the state for Georgia’s Orange Bowl matchup, McConkey made a highlight-reel play by weaving through defenders to score a rushing touchdown.
Playing in what some considered a “meaningless game” stood out to those tasked with drafting McConkey.
“That says something about his commitment to compete and to the team,” Chargers’ general manager Joe Hortiz said. “You see a guy that was most likely coming out [to be drafted], and he’s playing in a Bowl game this year. That’s impressive to me.”
One of the most memorable moments of McConkey’s 2023 campaign occurred off the field when he won the Wuerffel Trophy. The award honors “college football’s most impactful community service leaders” and is a testament to who McConkey is away from the field.
“He’s just such a good kid, such a hard person to find,” Smart said. “He’s a great football player on top of that.”
On the field, McConkey was not always heralded as a star player. The former 3-star recruit only had offers from two SEC schools, Georgia and Vanderbilt. McConkey also visited his dream school of Tennessee, but the Volunteers did not offer him a scholarship.
“I probably would have committed right then if [Tennessee] would have let me,” McConkey said on the Real Talk podcast. “And they said if anything changes on signing day, we’ll call you. And I didn’t really like that, so I woke up right before school and just signed my papers at Georgia.”
The decision worked out well for both the Bulldogs and McConkey, who was selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. McConkey’s speed and playmaking ability with the ball were factors in the Chargers’ decision to trade up to take the former Bulldog.
“Love the speed, 4.38 [40-yard dash], but he plays to it,” head coach Jim Harbaugh, who got an up close look at McConkey as Michigan’s head coach, said. “He plays to that 4.38 every single play, you can see it in the way that he rages off of the ball, and once he has the ball in his hands.”
Hortiz said McConkey was “high up on our list,” while Harbaugh mentioned the Georgia-native’s yards after catch as a talent that attracted his attention.
McConkey, who some project will be Herbet’s No. 1 weapon in the fall, is ready to give his all for the team that gave him an opportunity.
“They want me,” McConkey said after the Chargers traded up to draft him. “They came up and got me, so I’m going to give everything that I have to them and make sure that it is worth it.”
