Chargers made a surprising first-round pick in the last NFL draft — this year too?

The crowd inside the ESPN Zone in Anaheim Thursday night had cameras and bright lights pointed at them while the big screens flashed to a group of rowdy football fans cheering.

Assuming it was showing them about to react to history, they erupted in cheers. It wasn’t them. The bar shown on the screens was all the way across the country.

Soon, the Chargers handed them another surprise, taking Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams with the No. 7 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

In Vance, S.C., where Williams was watching the draft with family and friends, the initial phone call with the Chargers dropped, and he said he had to silence his party so he could call back and take care of official business.

A lot like the television cameras in Anaheim, the Chargers front office threw the NFL for a bit of a head fake. After some mock-draft shredding in the first six picks, the Chargers came to the clock with Ohio State safety Malik Hooker, Alabama defensive lineman Jonathan Allen and Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore all on the board.

“The last couple weeks, we’ve had a lot of discussion,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said. “For whatever reason, it seemed like for this year, there were a lot of different ways we could go, a lot of different scenarios that could happen – who could be there when we pick, who could trade up in front of us, options of us trading back. We went through a lot of discussions, and we thought Mike was the best pick for us.”

Signs had pointed to the Chargers going defensive with their first pick, especially after general manager Tom Telesco said he thought the overall talent in the draft was better on that side of the ball. Most mock drafts had them coupled with Hooker since early in the process.

But the Chargers, much like the rest of the league, decided to address the other side of the ball. Seven of the first 10 picks in the draft were offensive players, and in Williams, the Chargers got their favorite.

“I love the pick,” Chargers Coach Anthony Lynn said. “We put in a lot of work, we like him, he was No. 1 on our board.”

With the pick, the team gets quarterback Philip Rivers a big target on the outside. At 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, Williams starred on Clemson’s National Championship team this past season, catching 98 passes for 1,361 yards and 11 touchdowns. In the Tigers’ win over Alabama in the title game, Williams caught eight balls for 94 yards and a score.

“You can’t have enough playmakers, and he made plays all throughout college,” Lynn said. “I love the way he competes, I love all his intangibles. …You just can’t have enough good players. We’ll definitely find a role for him.

Williams had a private workout with a Chargers scout last week.

“I caught all the balls, ran a few shuttles because I didn’t do them in my pro day,” Williams said.” My times were great, so I was confident they were going to pick me.”

Williams is the sixth receiver selected in the first round in team history and the first since Craig Davis got picked 30^th in 2007.

The Chargers’ receiving corps were hit hard with injuries a year ago, with Keenan Allen and Travis Benjamin both suffering knee injuries.

“I’m definitely excited for him. I’m glad we chose him,” Allen said. “Hopefully we can get better. It’s just another threat that we’ll have, and it’s definitely gonna’ take some pressure off of me.”

Williams will be introduced in a press conference at the StubHub Center in Carson Friday. The team also owns the sixth pick in the second round, No. 38 overall, and the seventh pick in the third, No. 71, in Friday’s portion of the draft.

“I think we’re in pretty good shape,” Telesco said. “If we can’t move out or we don’t move up, I think we’re in a good spot.”

Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.

daniel.woike@latimes.com

Twitter: @DanWoikeSports