Speaker 1: As the late fifteen ten touchdown. What's up? Guys, Welcome
Speaker 1: into an NFL Combine edition of Chargers Weekly, as always,
Speaker 1: joined by Matt money Smith money raining here in southern California.
Speaker 1: All the action is in Indianapolis and our guy Daniel
Speaker 1: Popper on the scenes in pop. I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about brand at Staley and everything that's going on there,
Speaker 1: But I just saw a tweet from you regarding Keenan
Speaker 1: Allen and his status with the Chargers, and I guess
Speaker 1: we could just start there. Why don't you as a
Speaker 1: leaping off point. It's just kind of detail which you tweeted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So got to meet with Tom Salasko here at the
Speaker 1: Combine and pray he said explicitly that Keenan Allen is
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. Obviously, there was some speculation. I think
Speaker 1: it got a little bit overblown, just that's how meet
Speaker 1: it works these days. But you know, the Chargers had
Speaker 1: the possibility of cutting Keenan Allen or trading him and
Speaker 1: saving some money against the cap. Of course, we all
Speaker 1: know that they're, you know, over twenty million dollars over
Speaker 1: the cap and they're gonna have to make some moves
Speaker 1: here to get cap compliant by the new league year,
Speaker 1: so you know, people are throwing out options for how
Speaker 1: they can get there. One option was moving on from
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen. There are a lot of other options that
Speaker 1: they could go down, and it sounds like they're going
Speaker 1: to take these other avenues to try and keep the
Speaker 1: roster is close to what it was last year as
Speaker 1: they can, because they believe they have a really good team.
Speaker 1: So that's where things stand, and it's obviously good news
Speaker 1: because Keenan Allen is a fantastic player. I think we
Speaker 1: can all agree on that. You know, I think the
Speaker 1: development of what's happened with wide receiver salaries, you know,
Speaker 1: made it less likely. You know, if if wide receiver
Speaker 1: salaries are still in that you know, twelve to eighteen
Speaker 1: and the high end gets twenty, then yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it sort of started to make sense. It's like, wow,
Speaker 1: we've got the second highest you know earning wide receiver
Speaker 1: and he's on the wrong side of thirty. Should we
Speaker 1: rethink this? But looking at what it's going to cost
Speaker 1: or a place a guy in free agent and see,
Speaker 1: you know, now that it's gone north of twenty five,
Speaker 1: it's sniffing thirty per year. I think that's one component. Two.
Speaker 1: I think Herbert's a big part of this. You know,
Speaker 1: when when Keenan came back, that was his guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was all the targets again, it was all the
Speaker 1: third downs again. So I think there's that that component.
Speaker 1: And I do think, you know, there's there's an element
Speaker 1: of sort of trust that this is gonna sound crazy,
Speaker 1: but that I don't know if like they have with
Speaker 1: the other wide receivers. You know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: explicitly say Mike William's name, but I I think if
Speaker 1: you were to kind of say, hey, point blank, let's
Speaker 1: let's put him in order, I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: Keenan came in at number one, even though we know
Speaker 1: how explosive Mike is in those big plays. And I
Speaker 1: think the way they look at that wide receiver room,
Speaker 1: if you're slotting guys, I think you would probably put Keenan.
Speaker 1: I think the team, the front office would probably put
Speaker 1: Keenan one. Mike too. I just think that's the pecking order,
Speaker 1: and you don't want to get rid of your number one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I don't think anyone was arguing that Keenan,
Speaker 1: you know, is trending in the wrong direction. You know,
Speaker 1: he had a injured season last year, But what he
Speaker 1: does doesn't necessarily get valued by the outside world in
Speaker 1: the same way that maybe you know a Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: or a Jalen Waddle, guys with speed, the guys that
Speaker 1: make these explosive plays, like Keenan's really good at like
Speaker 1: converting like third and fours. You know, he's really good
Speaker 1: in the red zone. He makes a lot of big
Speaker 1: plays on money downs, but he's not this explosive receiver
Speaker 1: that's gonna show up on the highlight rail. But in
Speaker 1: terms of what teams team's value, you know, being highly
Speaker 1: productive in those key situations, being able to separate against
Speaker 1: man coverage on third down in the short and intermediate
Speaker 1: area of the field, like that's extremely important, you know.
Speaker 1: But like I think the reason it became a story
Speaker 1: is because you have to look at the cap situation
Speaker 1: and figure out, right, right, there's only so many ways
Speaker 1: you can do it. Like it's not like you can
Speaker 1: just you know, reassemble your cap sheet every single year.
Speaker 1: There's certain levers that you can pull, and this was
Speaker 1: one lever that they could pull. I think I wrote
Speaker 1: in my column about it that. You know, the cap
Speaker 1: math gets more difficult if you keep Keenan, but not impossible,
Speaker 1: and that's the direction they're going there. It's a little
Speaker 1: bit more difficult and they're gonna have to make some
Speaker 1: decisions in terms of restructuring contracts. But you know, Keenan
Speaker 1: at that number still makes sense. Like he's still worth
Speaker 1: that money. Twenty four million dollars is the Capit like
Speaker 1: that he's still worth that if he plays a full,
Speaker 1: healthy season, and I think that's what the charges are expecting.
Speaker 1: He's still a fantastic player, and it's increase real quick.
Speaker 1: I would just I would just add, like Poper or
Speaker 1: Chris if you want to ask, like, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if they restructure and they extend and they just
Speaker 1: kind of convert some of that to signing bonus and
Speaker 1: you can back end it and say, hey man, we'll
Speaker 1: cut you a check for your twenty four Now we'll
Speaker 1: tack two on the back. Whether or not you see that,
Speaker 1: you know you can play that game and at least
Speaker 1: try to take seven eight million bucks off that number
Speaker 1: and just scratch out a big check to him here,
Speaker 1: you know, before the season starts, and see if you
Speaker 1: can work it that way, and that's you know, how
Speaker 1: you can shave, like we said, because that's what you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to do. Right, it looks like they're gonna
Speaker 1: probably try to piece all this together, and I would
Speaker 1: I would guess a lot of it's by restructuring and
Speaker 1: extending and tack and on years that some of these
Speaker 1: players aren't going to see. Yeah, those are all levers
Speaker 1: that they can pull, and there's various contracts that they
Speaker 1: can do it with. You know, Joey Bosa has another
Speaker 1: contract they can do it with. But the one point
Speaker 1: I want to make is that when you do that,
Speaker 1: the money just doesn't disappear from the cap. You have
Speaker 1: to wear that eventually in future seasons. Every dollar that
Speaker 1: you know, guarantee dollar that gets paid, you have to
Speaker 1: wear on the cap at some point. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: you can curly said that about the Saints for ten
Speaker 1: years pop. That's the thing, Like every single year we
Speaker 1: say it is the year the Saints got to pay
Speaker 1: that check, and it's like every year they figure out how,
Speaker 1: no they don't. When's the last time the Saints were
Speaker 1: actually like a Super Bowl contender, I mean three years ago? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I mean, I think I think the last I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, when before when Drew Brees retired right as
Speaker 1: long as he was their quarterback for ten years, we
Speaker 1: heard how they got to pay the bill and they
Speaker 1: never same with the Rams. You know. Now, look, the
Speaker 1: Rams had to pay the bill this year because Andrew
Speaker 1: Whitworth retired right in their offensive line got completely destroyed.
Speaker 1: But I just feel like the I feel like the
Speaker 1: Chargers don't pull the levers that you're talking about, or
Speaker 1: at least haven't in the past enough. And I think
Speaker 1: this may be the year we finally see them pull
Speaker 1: some of those levels that other teams have for Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, I think you're I think you're right,
Speaker 1: But you do eventually have to wear it, like you
Speaker 1: know that, you know, the Saints had had to trade CJ.
Speaker 1: Gardner Johnson to the Eagles, Like that's a really good
Speaker 1: player that they had to offload for cap reasons. You know,
Speaker 1: they haven't been particularly in the mix in recent years.
Speaker 1: I think like you're seeing them sort of, you know,
Speaker 1: pay the bill that they kept off putting the year
Speaker 1: after year after years. So it does come around. The
Speaker 1: other part of it is that you have to have
Speaker 1: the cash to do it as well, you know, like
Speaker 1: like if you do can, if you convert you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars of base alary and designing bonus, Like
Speaker 1: that's a check you gotta pay year one versus paying
Speaker 1: it down the road. So like it's there's obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of machinations here, but like there's a reason that
Speaker 1: teams are able to massage it and get into the cap.
Speaker 1: Like it's not a huge issue. It's just like how
Speaker 1: much cash are you gonna pay up front? And then
Speaker 1: how much dead money are you willing to wear in
Speaker 1: future seasons? And those are the two questions you have
Speaker 1: to answer. If if you're willing to you know, pay
Speaker 1: that money future seasons, and you have the cash to
Speaker 1: do it, then absolutely you can pull these levers to
Speaker 1: kick the can down the road. I saw a quote
Speaker 1: this morning where Tom Telesco said that he's our Charlie Joyner,
Speaker 1: He's our Andre Reid, and you know, you could be
Speaker 1: prisoner at the moment and see, hey, he missed a
Speaker 1: lot of time this year. There was no player in
Speaker 1: the Charges franchise over the first five years in LA
Speaker 1: more consistent than Keenan Allen. He played in nearly every
Speaker 1: single game, a thousand yards seasons, one hundred plus catches,
Speaker 1: six to eight touchdowns a season, and Justin sortly missed
Speaker 1: him when he was hurt and didn't have Keenan to
Speaker 1: rely upon. So I do think it makes sense. But
Speaker 1: if you take Keenan out of the equation popper, they
Speaker 1: are going to have to make some moves. They are
Speaker 1: going to have to either restructure contracts or cut guys outright.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at the Khalil Mack contract and I
Speaker 1: just wonder what do they do with Khalil Mack? Do
Speaker 1: they try to restructure his deal? He has a big
Speaker 1: cap number. I think Matt Feiler has a decent cap number.
Speaker 1: What other players are we looking at here? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the timing of it's going to be pretty interesting
Speaker 1: to me. You know, they're twenty million and change over
Speaker 1: the cap right now, and they have that's the money
Speaker 1: they have to clear to get cap compliant by one
Speaker 1: pm Pacific time I'm March fifteenth. They can do that
Speaker 1: with two moves, cutting Matt file, restructuring Joey with the
Speaker 1: maximum amount of savings on the restructure that gets them
Speaker 1: cap compliant by the newly year and then they can
Speaker 1: sort of just operate and you know, make decisions and
Speaker 1: pull levers based on different deadlines. You know. I go
Speaker 1: back to like when they cut Brian Bloga last offseason,
Speaker 1: they kind of waited until they had made a bunch
Speaker 1: of moves and free agency before they felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we need a little bit more space to round out
Speaker 1: this roster. And then they made that move like three
Speaker 1: days before Brian Blog's roster bonus was due. So I
Speaker 1: think you'll sort of see the moves trickle out over time,
Speaker 1: depending on what they feel like they need to do.
Speaker 1: But you can start with those two moves, get cap
Speaker 1: compliant by you know, March fifteenth, and then and then
Speaker 1: move from there. You know. The one thing I'll say
Speaker 1: is I don't really expect them to be particularly active
Speaker 1: in free agency, Like I don't think there's any scenario
Speaker 1: where they're able to really make decisions like they did
Speaker 1: in previous seasons, like and I think on top of that,
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna have enough space to really
Speaker 1: round out the roster with veterans, like they're going to
Speaker 1: be looking toward this draft class that they're bringing in
Speaker 1: with the seven picks that they have to bolster that
Speaker 1: depth and then they might be able to find some
Speaker 1: bargains on the open market. But that's sort of what
Speaker 1: you're looking at in terms of, you know, how they're
Speaker 1: going to operate moving forward. But I would start there
Speaker 1: with restructuring Joey because you know, borrowing from the Bank
Speaker 1: of Bosa, and then you know, cutting Matt Filer, who
Speaker 1: was outstanding in his first season but took us a
Speaker 1: little bit of a step back last year. They can
Speaker 1: save six and a half million there and then sort
Speaker 1: of see what levers you want to pull moving forward
Speaker 1: in terms of restructuring, in terms of cutting other players,
Speaker 1: whether that's you know, restructuring Kalil again. I mean, they
Speaker 1: did restructure Kalil after they traded for him, so there
Speaker 1: was no guaranteed money remaining on that deal. Now there
Speaker 1: is some guaranteed money nine million dollars in dead money
Speaker 1: that they that they restructured to future seasons, so they
Speaker 1: could potentially do that again. They could restructure Sebastian Joseph Day,
Speaker 1: you know, Gerald Everett can get cutting. You can say
Speaker 1: four point two five million dollars, lot of different levers
Speaker 1: that you can put, you can pull and I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of fascinated to see which levers they decided to
Speaker 1: pull and when they decided to do them, And that's
Speaker 1: sort of what we'll find out over the coming weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Hunter, you know, it's impossible not to agree
Speaker 1: with you. They don't have the money to dip deep
Speaker 1: into the free agent pull. They did it last year.
Speaker 1: You know. Last year was their big swing. That was,
Speaker 1: you know, we feel like we have the offense, Brandon,
Speaker 1: what do you need on defense? Will go buy it
Speaker 1: and let's see if we can make the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And that's what they did. And they spent a grip
Speaker 1: of cash on Khalil Mack on JC Jackson, filled out
Speaker 1: the roster with Austin and Sebastian and look, it just
Speaker 1: didn't work, you know, and it got him a twenty
Speaker 1: seven zero lead in the first half of the playoffs
Speaker 1: and they made the playoffs, and that's certainly his success.
Speaker 1: But I think just kind of going back to is
Speaker 1: we try to figure out how they're you know, the
Speaker 1: question you ask Chris is how do they do this?
Speaker 1: Going back to Jacksonville, I do think there's you know,
Speaker 1: however you want to describe it recency by a scar tissue.
Speaker 1: You know, they couldn't get a first down and they
Speaker 1: couldn't get off the field on third down. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what they've got to figure out through the draft.
Speaker 1: Through they're going to resign through who gets to stay
Speaker 1: and who goes? And I think that's Hey, we were
Speaker 1: good enough to win ten games, probably could have won eleven,
Speaker 1: you know, depending on how they would have approached that
Speaker 1: second half of the Broncos game or how into that
Speaker 1: game they really would have been. So I do think,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't want to take nineteen or you know,
Speaker 1: eighteen games and focus on one half. But I think
Speaker 1: that's going to go a long way because it was
Speaker 1: a problem all year. You know that the pass rush
Speaker 1: had issues all year because of injury. The run game
Speaker 1: was essentially non existent on design runs when you needed
Speaker 1: to run the ball to win football games. So I,
Speaker 1: you know, Pop, as I look at it through that,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at it through that lens. You know, what
Speaker 1: what is it that they can do? Who is it
Speaker 1: that can go and can stay? You mentioned Filer. It's
Speaker 1: just seems so obvious if you can get Trey Pipkins
Speaker 1: figure that out. To kick Jamari inside he's your guard.
Speaker 1: And now you've got a whole line with you know,
Speaker 1: three rookies and two vetter and you know, that's an
Speaker 1: affordable offensive line now moving forward for the next couple
Speaker 1: of years, and a good offensive line, you know, Restructuring Bosa,
Speaker 1: you know, probably drafting two maybe three bass ructures to
Speaker 1: try to get some depth in that room. You know,
Speaker 1: makes sense keeping Khalil and hoping that Rump can get
Speaker 1: healthy and take you know, all the like. That's sort
Speaker 1: of the way I'm trying to view you know, free
Speaker 1: agents or you know, the restructuring. Who gets to say
Speaker 1: who goes and what to draft? And and you mentioned
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett. To me, that seems obvious. I just think
Speaker 1: that's and look, a lot of it is going to
Speaker 1: depend on how the draft breaks. But we've heard everybody
Speaker 1: say it. It's a great tight end draft, Chris, We've
Speaker 1: talked about it repeatedly. You know, I have not been
Speaker 1: bashful about my Dalton Kincaid Bias, haven't called that one
Speaker 1: game that it was the greatest tight end game in
Speaker 1: the history of the clubhouse guy, right exactly. I was
Speaker 1: in after I was getting on the plane home, texting Talasco,
Speaker 1: not really like, hey, I got your guy. He just
Speaker 1: absolutely destroy USC. So you know, look there's tight ends
Speaker 1: that they can draft, and I think that's an if
Speaker 1: you want to shift there or whatever. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm jumping it here, you know, when it comes to
Speaker 1: that first round pick, it it just seems like maybe
Speaker 1: it all lays out all right for them the way
Speaker 1: thish thing could break with what they have to do
Speaker 1: and what might be available. I think the other thing
Speaker 1: I'd add is injuries were such a big part of
Speaker 1: what happened to this team last year, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think I wrote it during the season. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a difference to me between explanations and excuses. I
Speaker 1: think people in the football world hate to, you know,
Speaker 1: talk about injuries because they view it as an excuse.
Speaker 1: But for me as an objective observer, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to explain what happened, like injuries were an explanation for why,
Speaker 1: you know, this team maybe didn't reach expectations throughout the season.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a feeling that, you know, the
Speaker 1: Chargers want to see this product in its complete form,
Speaker 1: and they don't feel like they really ever got to
Speaker 1: see that last year. You know, Rashaun Slater never returned.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the best left tackles inball. You
Speaker 1: had Justin Herbert battling rib injuries all ye you had
Speaker 1: Keen and out, you had Mike Williams out. JC Jackson
Speaker 1: goes down with an injury, you know, the defensive line
Speaker 1: gets cleaned out, like it's you can go down the
Speaker 1: list of all of these injuries that they had, and
Speaker 1: so they felt like they build a really really good roster,
Speaker 1: super Bowl caliber roster last year and then never really
Speaker 1: got to see it come to fruition now, like, obviously
Speaker 1: you're not going to stay fully healthy across the board
Speaker 1: all year. But I think we can all agree that
Speaker 1: last year was crazy insane, you know, And so I
Speaker 1: think that's factoring into how they're making some of these
Speaker 1: decisions too, Like, hey, if we can pull some of
Speaker 1: these levers and you know, kick the can down the
Speaker 1: road a little bit, just to see this group play
Speaker 1: together for a full season and see what they are
Speaker 1: actually capable of. I think that's a big motivation here
Speaker 1: and and sort of how they're going to build this
Speaker 1: thing and move forward. But I agree, like, you know,
Speaker 1: three positions that I would throw out, you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like they need an edge rusher, feel like they
Speaker 1: need a tight end, and I like I would add
Speaker 1: a receiver, like I think you should be drafting. You
Speaker 1: should be drafting a receiver early every single year when
Speaker 1: you have justin Herbert, because you never know what weapon
Speaker 1: is going to take the offense over the top, Like
Speaker 1: you can never have have enough weapons. So I think
Speaker 1: like tight end, wide, receiver, edge, those three. If you
Speaker 1: can add those three pieces in the early rounds, I
Speaker 1: think you're in in decent shape. If you can keep
Speaker 1: the nucleus together, you know, by managing the cap in
Speaker 1: a specific way. Popping your article, you mentioned some of
Speaker 1: the guys that are free agents that they have to
Speaker 1: take care of potentially we don't know exactly who they're
Speaker 1: going to take care of. It sounds like in you know,
Speaker 1: I don't. I was just kind of reading between the
Speaker 1: lines that did naz atonly maybe on his way to
Speaker 1: test free agency and be on another team in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three? Is that accurate? And is Drew Tranquil? How
Speaker 1: much of a priority is Drew Tranquil and bringing him back? Yeah? Well,
Speaker 1: starting with this year at I think the way a
Speaker 1: Lohee Gilman played, and more importantly, how the defense played.
Speaker 1: When a loohe Gilman got a lot of snaps and
Speaker 1: was a starter, I think gives you a good indication
Speaker 1: of like what they're feeling about this safety group. You know,
Speaker 1: Nas always had a ton of talent and just never
Speaker 1: really read the level that I thought he was capable of.
Speaker 1: You know, we all saw the ball production that he
Speaker 1: had at Delaware, but there was just some inconsistencies there,
Speaker 1: lapses at certain times, whether that was in run defense
Speaker 1: and coverage and how he was taking angles. Never became
Speaker 1: the playmaker that I thought he was capable of. And
Speaker 1: Alo he did a lot of those things. He's not
Speaker 1: the same, you know as the sire Atalie in terms
Speaker 1: of physical talent, but he's an extremely smart player, physical
Speaker 1: and dependable, and so I think they're really comfortable rolling
Speaker 1: with Derwin and Aloe next year at safety, and then
Speaker 1: I think they're expecting a huge jump from J. T. Woods.
Speaker 1: You know, he has every tool in the toolbox. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously we saw him a little bit last year, but
Speaker 1: I think they're hoping that year one to year two
Speaker 1: there's going to be a huge jump there. So I
Speaker 1: think in terms of safety, you know, they're pretty comfortable
Speaker 1: with that, you know. For me, like, I think that
Speaker 1: Trey Pipkins is a great player, Like I really do.
Speaker 1: Like it was he finally realized, you know, it took
Speaker 1: four years, but he finally realized what Tom and his
Speaker 1: staff saw when they drafted him. And his first season
Speaker 1: was my first season covering the team he had been
Speaker 1: drafted in, you know, end of April. I'd started covering
Speaker 1: the team, you know, that July. And so I've seen,
Speaker 1: like I've seen him grow and it's just I give
Speaker 1: him so much credit for you know, making the decision
Speaker 1: to go to Dallas and working with Duke many Weather
Speaker 1: and really like molding himself in his game to become
Speaker 1: a starting caliber tackle. And like those are always the
Speaker 1: players that Tom Talesco likes to reward, you know, being
Speaker 1: tough of playing through an MCLA and still being like
Speaker 1: a starting caliber player when he had you know, three
Speaker 1: different setbacks when he kept getting rolled up on that
Speaker 1: left knee, like and before he got hurt, he was
Speaker 1: playing at a super super high level. And so like
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a guy that you'd want to resign.
Speaker 1: But again, it's all gonna you know, come down to
Speaker 1: how much space they have. And the same thing with
Speaker 1: Drew Right fourth round pick um. You know, they felt
Speaker 1: like he could develop into a real leader, vocal leader.
Speaker 1: They felt like he could develop into like, you know,
Speaker 1: an all around Mike linebacker who would be that that
Speaker 1: captain the defenses, which is what he turned into this
Speaker 1: season when he became the signal caller in Week four
Speaker 1: and held to that role. You know, there is no
Speaker 1: real weakness in his game. In my opinion. He can
Speaker 1: rush the passer, he's great in coverage. I think he's
Speaker 1: a discipline run defender. His size shows up a little
Speaker 1: bit in that area. But like if you want to
Speaker 1: knock him in one area would be that. But I
Speaker 1: think he's a really reliable player. The question is, like,
Speaker 1: can you clear enough space to bring those two guys back,
Speaker 1: Like they're both going to have markets out here, especially
Speaker 1: Trey Pipkins as a starting tackle, and so like we
Speaker 1: just have to wait and see, honestly, to see what
Speaker 1: the cap space situation is, what those guys markets end
Speaker 1: up being, and if the Chargers can fit them into
Speaker 1: the cap sheet and if they think that they can
Speaker 1: have a solution without bringing those guys back. You know,
Speaker 1: I think they could potentially have a solution for Drew.
Speaker 1: You know, they have some guys in the roster, and
Speaker 1: you know, you can play with more defensive backs and
Speaker 1: do different things to take some of the value away
Speaker 1: from the inside linebacker. But like right tackles a really
Speaker 1: important position. It's okay, Like you don't resign Trey, you
Speaker 1: kicked Jamari out there, Sallier, Does that mean you have
Speaker 1: to keep Matt Filer at left guard? That means you
Speaker 1: can't clear the six and a half million dollars in
Speaker 1: space you know they're in. Then you end up going
Speaker 1: down a rabbit hole. So but I think both of
Speaker 1: them are really good play and deserve second contracts wherever
Speaker 1: they end up. I think, you know, for me, I
Speaker 1: you know, I totally understood when Kaiser left Lush Drews
Speaker 1: like I'd get it, you know, I get it. But
Speaker 1: for me, Drew is I would hate to see him go.
Speaker 1: You know, we had a front row seat for the
Speaker 1: difference between athletic traits and instincts at that position, and
Speaker 1: you want to talk about a glaring difference. That is
Speaker 1: a position where instincts are the premium, and you better
Speaker 1: have him because if you don't wholly hell does it
Speaker 1: get ugly in a hurry, and they will attack the
Speaker 1: heck out of you. And we saw it. We saw
Speaker 1: it in that second half, and I think to be
Speaker 1: able to keep him around, you know, that's I think
Speaker 1: you can just talk about the floor of a defense,
Speaker 1: right if that the floor can drop out in a hurry,
Speaker 1: if if that position is not quick to diagnose, you
Speaker 1: can really attack it. And so, like you said, Daniel,
Speaker 1: the trick is going to be what's his market He's
Speaker 1: I would not be surprised if Drew got offered some
Speaker 1: money somewhere else and and the Chargers got to figure
Speaker 1: out how to get as close to it as possible.
Speaker 1: You know, he started his family here. I think he
Speaker 1: likes it here, and I think it's trying to find
Speaker 1: that that spot where where you can make it work.
Speaker 1: Trade to me is obvious. We've heard Tom say it,
Speaker 1: you know, there's he said it repeatedly. Almost nobody in
Speaker 1: the NFL has two starting caliber tackles. If you just
Speaker 1: go through rosters, there's almost no teams that have two
Speaker 1: good tackles. They have one and then it's like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: we can get by with this one and we'll just
Speaker 1: shade our help that way and we'll run plays away
Speaker 1: from when you can have two, it really changes the calculus.
Speaker 1: So even though you'd feel good about putting Shamari over there,
Speaker 1: I think to me it to be able to And
Speaker 1: it goes back to our conversation we had Chris about
Speaker 1: the Andrew Luck podcast and what Tom got to witness,
Speaker 1: you know, and how important offensive line is and the
Speaker 1: fact that they ignored that position repeatedly in Indianapolis or
Speaker 1: swung and miss repeatedly in Indianapolis, and what it meant
Speaker 1: like to me. Priority on get justin figured out. Priority
Speaker 1: two is make sure he's good up front. Let's make
Speaker 1: sure that we keep our guy right, especially after shoulder
Speaker 1: surgery and a rib injury. Let's when when Corey Lindsley
Speaker 1: went out of the game. Let's make sure our old
Speaker 1: line is right. So I think I think you hit
Speaker 1: it on the head, Pop. I think at nas, I
Speaker 1: just don't see it. Trey is gonna be priority one.
Speaker 1: I think Trank will be priority two. And then we
Speaker 1: got to get into you know, is it possible to
Speaker 1: bring back Morgan Fox, Kyle van Noy, like, are those possibilities?
Speaker 1: What's the market going to look like for those guys
Speaker 1: who seemed to really enjoy their time here as well.
Speaker 1: Money real quick on Trey before you answer, paper, it
Speaker 1: would be a real shame if the Chargers wouldn't get
Speaker 1: something done with Trey after develop or developing him and
Speaker 1: investing so much in him as a young raw player,
Speaker 1: right to see him flourish this year and then go
Speaker 1: somewhere else and flourish for another team on a pretty
Speaker 1: big contract. It would it would be tough, I think
Speaker 1: for the Chargers to see him somewhere else after they
Speaker 1: invested a third round pick on a small school kid.
Speaker 1: No way that it was gonna take some time. He
Speaker 1: finally figures it out, and then he goes somewhere else.
Speaker 1: That would be tough. I mean, it's it's just math,
Speaker 1: you know. Look, the Raiders are sixty million dollars under
Speaker 1: the cap and can use the right tackle. You know,
Speaker 1: if they decide they're gonna give him twenty million bucks
Speaker 1: a year, it makes it hard, you know, when you're
Speaker 1: already twenty million. That's the problem is, like I just said,
Speaker 1: teams don't have quality tackles. So Trey's gonna hit the
Speaker 1: market and Tray's gonna gonna assuming I'm not gonna get offers,
Speaker 1: no doubt that. I just say it's gonna be. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be tough, to tough, pill to swallow. Right, what
Speaker 1: are the Bears one hundred and ten million bucks under
Speaker 1: the cap or something? I mean, the Bears need to
Speaker 1: rebuild an entire offensive a ton of money, That's what
Speaker 1: I mean. So it's yeah, and he's an ascending player too, exactly,
Speaker 1: not like you're paying for a thirty year old finished
Speaker 1: product like Trays. Right, Tray's best football is still in
Speaker 1: front of him because he's playing through this injury last year.
Speaker 1: If you get like an even remotely healthy season out
Speaker 1: of him, it's gonna be even better than he was
Speaker 1: last year. He's gonna be what he was in the
Speaker 1: first four weeks of the season. Now here's an interesting
Speaker 1: one because, and look, is it fair to Tray, No,
Speaker 1: but franchise tag is not for tackles. It's for a lineman,
Speaker 1: and it averages out across the entire offensive line. So again,
Speaker 1: I don't know how he would respond to that. But
Speaker 1: you tag him and you're talking about a year at
Speaker 1: I don't know what the number is it's like maybe
Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen million bucks, and it's again not fair. Probably
Speaker 1: would not go over well in the Pipkins camp. But
Speaker 1: to me, that's like everyone's talking about franchise tag. That's
Speaker 1: one that I would would keep it. I could probably
Speaker 1: type it in right now and try to figure out
Speaker 1: what that number is, but I'm pretty sure if I
Speaker 1: remember right, I do believe that's the way the NFL
Speaker 1: franchise tag works. It is not tackle guard, center, it
Speaker 1: is offensive line. Is the franchise number. So okay either way, though,
Speaker 1: if you tag a player that salary is all cap hit, right,
Speaker 1: and they don't like you don't They don't have the
Speaker 1: space to take on a thirteen million dollar capit, a
Speaker 1: twelve million dollars for a point and eleven million dollar capit,
Speaker 1: Like they're better off extending him, give me him a
Speaker 1: four year deal, getting a four million dollar capit in
Speaker 1: year one, restructuring it in the back, you know, give
Speaker 1: them the signing back. That's the game they're playing now.
Speaker 1: Like they don't have like t the way Brown franchise
Speaker 1: here by the Chiefs. That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah no, No,
Speaker 1: Tea might get franchised again. Who knows. Yeah, with what
Speaker 1: the tyle market is, I don't know. I'm fascinated to
Speaker 1: see what trades market ends up being, you know, because
Speaker 1: they maybe we overvalue them here because we saw the development.
Speaker 1: It's very possible. Yeah, yeah, And I think, like you know,
Speaker 1: for people on the outside, it will be difficult to
Speaker 1: separate the performance from the injury. I think for us,
Speaker 1: like we know what he was dealing with, and we're
Speaker 1: factoring that context into like, Okay, yeah, he gave a
Speaker 1: couple pressures in this game, but he can barely move
Speaker 1: his left leg, and like the fact that he's playing
Speaker 1: so well in pass protection despite that is really impressive.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that context, you know, really factors
Speaker 1: in at a high level and when other teams are
Speaker 1: sort of evaluating a guy on film, but maybe maybe
Speaker 1: they do. Maybe they do that type of due diligence,
Speaker 1: so they could probably various from team to team. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like this is why you end up bringing up guys
Speaker 1: like Khalil Mack, like Keenan Allen where you have a
Speaker 1: potential to save money and save cap space because the
Speaker 1: mats starts to get very difficult when you talk about
Speaker 1: resigning some of these guys. You know, whether it's Trey,
Speaker 1: whether it's true, whether it's Kyle Van Noy, Morgan, Fox,
Speaker 1: Bryce Callan, all key contributors and starters in this team
Speaker 1: last year. How many of those guys are end up
Speaker 1: back next year? I mean, here's your you know, it's
Speaker 1: thirty one for Joey. That's an obvious restructure that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. Khalil twenty seven four, Keenan twenty one seven,
Speaker 1: Mike nineteen, JC just got signed. There's way too much
Speaker 1: dead money there unless you restructure it and you try
Speaker 1: to rebuild that things. That one is risking to me
Speaker 1: because they have no idea how he's going to respond
Speaker 1: for the century. So the one that they could do
Speaker 1: is Sebastian because that's more of a known quantity, and
Speaker 1: you feel like, yeah, nine million, he's got two two
Speaker 1: years left. At a high level, I think that's like
Speaker 1: a safer bet than saying, Okay, we're gonna restructure JC. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a race our ability to get out of that
Speaker 1: contract after next year if you come there back. You know,
Speaker 1: so what about what about mac in restructure? Do you
Speaker 1: think that's a possibility. You said there was some guaranteed
Speaker 1: money already there. Right. Yeah, again, like if they are,
Speaker 1: if they're shifting how they operate, then anything is possible.
Speaker 1: If they're really going down this road of like we're
Speaker 1: going to keep this window open. I know Tom hates
Speaker 1: using that turn, but if we're going to keep this
Speaker 1: window open with this group as long as possible, then
Speaker 1: anything's on the table, you know, from a in terms
Speaker 1: of like you know, financial responsibility, like restructuring a contract
Speaker 1: year over year a year is how you end up
Speaker 1: in a situation where you have a ton of dead
Speaker 1: money and it gives you less flexibility in terms of
Speaker 1: moving on from a player. And so in Khalil's case,
Speaker 1: you know, they restructured it last year. They spread you know,
Speaker 1: thirteen and a half million over three years. That created
Speaker 1: nine million over the final two years of the deal
Speaker 1: and dead money that they would now have to wear
Speaker 1: against their cap if they were to move on from
Speaker 1: Khalil this offseason. If they hadn't restructured it, there would
Speaker 1: have been no dead money and they could have gotten
Speaker 1: out of the deal and had had nothing charged against
Speaker 1: the cap. And so that's sort of how that works.
Speaker 1: So right now it's a nine dead my charge if
Speaker 1: they turned more base salary and to signing bonus and
Speaker 1: spread it over the final two years of the deal.
Speaker 1: They'll be even more dead money than nine million dollars.
Speaker 1: And then eventually you have to wear that money against
Speaker 1: the cap, you know, and like four apps continues to
Speaker 1: go up right like that. That's where you get the
Speaker 1: relief is you know, we just had the cap jump.
Speaker 1: It was it sixteen million this last year or something
Speaker 1: like that. Then the granted a lot of that was
Speaker 1: built into the COVID and slowly getting that escalator. But
Speaker 1: I think we have one more big money deal coming in,
Speaker 1: you know, to the league. So that's the other thing
Speaker 1: to remember is you can and that's why these quarterback
Speaker 1: numbers that are nuts. And you know if Joe, if
Speaker 1: just an average is fifty million a year, what forty
Speaker 1: eight million, that number is just going to grow. So
Speaker 1: it's not going to be as big of a percentage
Speaker 1: and as big of a concern. And that's why I like,
Speaker 1: you know, you look at the Patrick Mahomes contract and
Speaker 1: it's just like it seems so ridiculous when it was done,
Speaker 1: but now you look at the percentage of the cap
Speaker 1: and it's you end up getting away with it. So
Speaker 1: that's you know, where where it all comes in. But
Speaker 1: I think you said something earlier, Pop that that people
Speaker 1: need to remember is guaranteed money asked to go into escrow,
Speaker 1: and you've got and we know what the check is
Speaker 1: gonna look like going into escrow for Justin Herbert this offseason.
Speaker 1: You know, the Spanos family is going to have to
Speaker 1: write a one hundred and fifty hundred and whatever that
Speaker 1: number's gonna be, you know, you know, one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars. I don't know what the guaranteed money's
Speaker 1: gonna be, but it's gonna be in that range. You know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be one money. Yeah, I think I projected
Speaker 1: it like one hundred thirty five FILLI guaranteed it's signing,
Speaker 1: so that yeah, that's gotta you gotta have that. You've
Speaker 1: got to have that money. It's just the it's it's
Speaker 1: a ridiculous rule that the NFL won't get rid of
Speaker 1: because owners can hide behind it and say, well, come on,
Speaker 1: I can't give you two hundred and sixty million guaranteed
Speaker 1: because I gotta write a check into escrow. And that's
Speaker 1: how they kind of play that game. But they should
Speaker 1: lose it. The league makes waste too much money. Now
Speaker 1: that freaking Washington is going to sell their team for
Speaker 1: seven billion dollars, it's like it doesn't matter anymore like
Speaker 1: it used to. Yeah, but that's that's the reality is.
Speaker 1: You know, there are not many owners that can write
Speaker 1: a check for two hundred and fifty million dollars, you know,
Speaker 1: on Tuesday in April and just drop it into a
Speaker 1: bank and never see it again. And that's and that's
Speaker 1: the reality of the way this league operates. So that's
Speaker 1: where a lot of it gets tricky when you're talking
Speaker 1: about restructuring and converting salary into you know, bonus for
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack or Joey Bosa and as it as it
Speaker 1: you know, pairs with the signing bonus for Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: that's coming this year. Pope. I appreciate you breaking that
Speaker 1: down too, especially with with Khalil's situation what they did
Speaker 1: in the first year of his deal with the Chargers
Speaker 1: and how they kind of move some of that money around. Um,
Speaker 1: and it just kind of puts them in this current position. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about Filer, we talked about Keenan
Speaker 1: and money to your point. Look at look at some
Speaker 1: of the cap space. The Bears have ninety eight million
Speaker 1: dollars in cap space, and look at the spot check
Speaker 1: right now. Atlanta has sixty six million, The Raiders have
Speaker 1: forty six million, The Giants who are in the playoffs
Speaker 1: last year forty three million. New England has thirty six million,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati has thirty six million, Houston has thirty four million,
Speaker 1: Baltimore twenty five, Seattle twenty four. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of there's a lot of teams that well, a everyone
Speaker 1: needs to tackle at all times, right, whether it's for
Speaker 1: death purposes or to have a starter a guy like Drew.
Speaker 1: You know, all those teams you can find a home
Speaker 1: for Drew probably among those top ten teams with cap
Speaker 1: space two. So it's an interesting offseason for the Chargers
Speaker 1: because not much turnover will happen in terms of a
Speaker 1: lot of the starters. You're really gonna have to hit
Speaker 1: on your draft picks and you're gonna have to be
Speaker 1: very selective and free agency how you use that money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think the one thing about the NFL and
Speaker 1: really any professional sports league is for fans to understand,
Speaker 1: you know that your career is fleeting. It's a capricious
Speaker 1: occupation because everything can change in one play. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: you know, loyalty, there's just that it doesn't even it's
Speaker 1: it's a word that doesn't belong in professional sports. You
Speaker 1: just you can't afford to be loyal. You know, you
Speaker 1: have to take the biggest check out there, especially in
Speaker 1: football because of the way the contracts are structured, the
Speaker 1: length of the contracts. Rarely will you find a team,
Speaker 1: you know, give you X number of years with a
Speaker 1: giant number attached to it, unless you're a quarterback or
Speaker 1: a super elite player. So for players like Trade and Drew,
Speaker 1: that's just the reality of it. You know, this is
Speaker 1: your opportunity. You have made your way to the pot
Speaker 1: of gold. You know, you've you've slid down that rainbow
Speaker 1: and I know you enjoyed the ride. But the reality
Speaker 1: is you almost never, I mean it is maybe one
Speaker 1: percent of one percent will you see a player go
Speaker 1: or stay somewhere because they really liked it instead of
Speaker 1: taking the most money. You just so that's that's where
Speaker 1: a lot of this when you're trying to kind of
Speaker 1: put odds on it, you know, they may be a
Speaker 1: little bit longer than charge your fans hope because it
Speaker 1: is you know, it's very hard. They took their swing
Speaker 1: last year, you know, and look, I credit and I
Speaker 1: think that's something too that's important to remember if if
Speaker 1: fans get upset, how can you let these guys walk
Speaker 1: You're so cheap. They were not cheap last year. They
Speaker 1: wrote giant checks last year because they felt like, we're ready,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take the swing. We think we can win
Speaker 1: a super Bowl. Let's go, you know, spend the money.
Speaker 1: And they did, and now, you know, to your point,
Speaker 1: pop to some degree, the Bills do this year because
Speaker 1: of what they did last year. You know, it really
Speaker 1: was a swing for twenty twenty two. It was a
Speaker 1: huge swing. And I think the oil restructure is a
Speaker 1: good example of that because they didn't have to do that,
Speaker 1: but they cleared another nine million in space that they
Speaker 1: ended up using to sign Gerald Everett and Conoy and
Speaker 1: Morgan Fox and Bryce Callahan. And how important were those
Speaker 1: pieces to having the necessary depth, you know, to ride
Speaker 1: through these injuries and still make the playoffs, you know,
Speaker 1: because that would be my concern about how they're building
Speaker 1: it this year is let's say, okay, we need rookie contrast,
Speaker 1: because we need cheap, cheap players to add to his
Speaker 1: cap sheet. Can you build the same kind of depth
Speaker 1: that you built last year when he made some of
Speaker 1: these really good bargain deals in the free agent market.
Speaker 1: You know, if you if you lean toward rookie contracts
Speaker 1: as your depth pieces as opposed to veteran free agents
Speaker 1: as your death pieces, there's an inherently a lot more
Speaker 1: risk there because you don't know how that players you're
Speaker 1: kind of transition to the NFL. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: Bryce had some injury, some injury history, you know, Kyle
Speaker 1: van Noy, you know, we didn't fully expect, you know
Speaker 1: what what he was gonna be able to do. But
Speaker 1: it was a little bit more of a known quantity
Speaker 1: than bringing in a fourth round draft pick to be
Speaker 1: your third edge treasure or you know, a fifth round
Speaker 1: pick to be your backup outside corner or whatever it
Speaker 1: ends up being. You know, And so I feel like
Speaker 1: it's inherently a little bit more risky to go that route,
Speaker 1: But it's what they have to do, you know, It's
Speaker 1: what they have to think the easy way to to
Speaker 1: work that exercise, Poppets, Let's just look at last year.
Speaker 1: You know. First round Zion great, Second round was Khalil great,
Speaker 1: Third round, j T. Woods didn't play a lick. Fourth round,
Speaker 1: Isaiah Spiller doesn't play a lick. Fifth round, Tito great,
Speaker 1: you know, great, depth piece started to come on, became
Speaker 1: a starter, gets hurt. Sixth round, Josh Sire you know,
Speaker 1: and Jamari you know, and you get one really giant
Speaker 1: contribution and one solid contribution, and then Dean Leonard it is,
Speaker 1: you know, and four author you know, very small contributors
Speaker 1: or you know, solid. So I think that's what you
Speaker 1: can expect from a draft, right, and that was probably
Speaker 1: really good. I think what you got out of the
Speaker 1: draft last year was probably higher than you should expect. Now,
Speaker 1: look at what the Chief scott four defensive starters, but
Speaker 1: that's ridiculous like that, you know what the Jet Scott,
Speaker 1: what the Seahawks scot that that's an outlier. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: I think sixteen starts at left tackle out of your
Speaker 1: six round pick, I think, yeah, that's a huge win. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think it's when you look at the draft
Speaker 1: this year, they're not going to get any compensation picks
Speaker 1: because of all the free agents they signed last year.
Speaker 1: So their seven picks are their seven picks. I would
Speaker 1: not be surprised in the least to see them try
Speaker 1: to add more if that's what you're talking about. Pop.
Speaker 1: I know Talsco does not trade down a lot, but
Speaker 1: you know, that's a real I think that might be
Speaker 1: a real possibility. If you're talking about trying to build depth,
Speaker 1: you want more bites at the apple. So I think
Speaker 1: this could be one of those years where hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd love to take the speed receiver here. It's not
Speaker 1: a great wide receiver class. I don't know what kind
Speaker 1: of run we're going to see. You know, do you
Speaker 1: feel like you can get that tight end by trading
Speaker 1: out of twenty one in the second round? Maybe Musgrave
Speaker 1: slides back there or something like, you know what I
Speaker 1: mean as opposed to Mayor or Kinkaid or I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if they take that approach, you know, to
Speaker 1: just to try to rebuild that depth and reset that
Speaker 1: cap number. But as you said, that's a huge gamble
Speaker 1: with how much talent they have on this team right now,
Speaker 1: the age of that talent and kind of where they
Speaker 1: see themselves in the in the pecking order in the AFC.
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Speaker 1: awaits only with on Location. So Pop, I look at
Speaker 1: Bosa and Mack and that was the plan last year,
Speaker 1: was to have those guys be together for a full season.
Speaker 1: Didn't work out that way. Khalil did play the entire season.
Speaker 1: Those guys are turning, let's say, for the sake of
Speaker 1: this conversation, both those guys return, you're still very light
Speaker 1: at edge rusher. Behind those guys, do you think it
Speaker 1: may be worth looking at edge rusher in the first
Speaker 1: round knowing that you can't get a guy in free
Speaker 1: agency that that's going to make that big of an
Speaker 1: impact with the money situation, UM, looking at what the
Speaker 1: edge rusher class looks like in that first round, in
Speaker 1: the mid to late first round, do you think that
Speaker 1: may be worth a gamble to go after a pass rusher? Absolutely? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think any anyway, with three positions in the first round,
Speaker 1: I think they can do tight end, wide receiver, edge
Speaker 1: like those are the three places that I think they
Speaker 1: can go. Um, there should be some options there. I mean,
Speaker 1: it sort of depends how it falls. As a guy
Speaker 1: like Lucas VanNess At at an Iowa fall that far. Typically,
Speaker 1: you know, when you get closer to the draft, these
Speaker 1: edge rushers end up going earlier than you expect because
Speaker 1: you know Money was saying everyone's looking for a tackle,
Speaker 1: everyone's also looking for an edge rusher, you know, and
Speaker 1: tackle right exactly, and so they end up getting I
Speaker 1: don't want to say overdrafted, but maybe they go ahead
Speaker 1: of where people expect um. So just it depends on
Speaker 1: how it checks out. But like, I think it's usually
Speaker 1: a good indication of roster health when you can say, okay,
Speaker 1: we can go any of three positions in the first round,
Speaker 1: you know, versus like we need this position, which has
Speaker 1: been the case with this team in the past, like
Speaker 1: the year they drafted rashawns Later and Assante in the
Speaker 1: first two rounds, like they had to go tackle corner,
Speaker 1: like they whatever, you know, order it ended up being
Speaker 1: those two positions they had to get in the first
Speaker 1: two rounds. We got big hits, Yeah, both big hits.
Speaker 1: I mean one of them was, you know, a five
Speaker 1: hundred foot home run and the yeah yeah, and then
Speaker 1: grand Slam bottom of the nine. Yeah. And Asante does
Speaker 1: a lot of things really well. And he's a flawed player,
Speaker 1: but you know, a lot of cornerbacks are flawed. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's perfectly fine. He's a great number two corner.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like you don't want to be in that situation,
Speaker 1: situation if you can avoid it. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of teams will always be like best player available. But
Speaker 1: it's that to me, is a myth. Like every team
Speaker 1: has needs, you're hoping that you can address any of
Speaker 1: a few needs in those early rounds and have some
Speaker 1: versatility in terms of how you go about it. Edge
Speaker 1: to me is in that conversation because you need to
Speaker 1: have a backup plan in case one of those two
Speaker 1: guys is not there, because we saw what happened last
Speaker 1: year and yeah, Kylevin I picked it up down the stretch.
Speaker 1: He played is that, you know, played outstanding football down
Speaker 1: the stretch, but it took him a while to get
Speaker 1: there and to get into his comfort zone. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you look at the season as a whole, like
Speaker 1: the pressure numbers weren't really there, especially from the edge
Speaker 1: rushing group, and so I think they have to add
Speaker 1: an edge rusher early on in this draft because you
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what Chris Rump is going to be
Speaker 1: and you need to have depth and a contingency plan
Speaker 1: at that position, you know, which I brought this up
Speaker 1: pop a couple of weeks ago, and in just watching
Speaker 1: Philadelphia that had the greatest pass rush that we've seen
Speaker 1: in thirty years, seventy sacks in it being completely nullified
Speaker 1: by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, I just don't care. I
Speaker 1: just you know if that's because you know, we talked about, Look,
Speaker 1: you've got grades on players, and the Chargers are going
Speaker 1: to go into the draft with probably seventeen or fifteen
Speaker 1: or maybe if it's a really good draft, twenty first
Speaker 1: round grades. And that's where needs come in. When you
Speaker 1: talk about best pair player available, they're going to end
Speaker 1: up having seven or eight players that have almost identical grades.
Speaker 1: And that's how needs come into play. Right, So technically
Speaker 1: they can still say, yeah, we're taking the best player available,
Speaker 1: but we had all of these guys lined up very
Speaker 1: very close to one another, and we need the edge,
Speaker 1: or we need the receiver, we need the tenants. We
Speaker 1: plucked that particular player. But I said, I would just
Speaker 1: load up on offense. I think, you know, I like
Speaker 1: to me, I would much rather with what they have
Speaker 1: on offense with Herbert, with the offensive line, with Keenan
Speaker 1: and Austin Eck. Just give me more offense, give me
Speaker 1: absolutely yeah, give me an up unstoppable offense versus trying
Speaker 1: to plug this hole on defense that I know ultimately
Speaker 1: is probably going to be taken advantage of because of
Speaker 1: the rules and because of Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: and Josh Allen quarterbacks that you're gonna have to go through.
Speaker 1: It's gonna it's almost impossible to build a defense to
Speaker 1: stop them. Like, I just that that's sort of the
Speaker 1: way I feel the NFL has shifted and the way
Speaker 1: the game is gone. It is so hard to slow
Speaker 1: these elite quarterbacks down that I would rather make sure
Speaker 1: the offense has every single weapon available to just freaking
Speaker 1: heavy way fight heymaker it out and see if you
Speaker 1: can win that game like the Chiefs did with your
Speaker 1: opponent's scoring thirty in the Super Bowl, you know. Like
Speaker 1: to me, that's I just think with Burrow and Mahomes
Speaker 1: and Allen and all of these guys in this conference, Like, honestly,
Speaker 1: how realistic is it that your defense is going to
Speaker 1: is going to keep all of them like they, Oh,
Speaker 1: you're gonna build a defense to slow those guys down
Speaker 1: round after round after round. To me, I'd rather just
Speaker 1: build the offense. That's like, hey, let's go, let's just
Speaker 1: see how this plays out. Roll the ball out, and
Speaker 1: let's see what we can do. Yeah, you know, she's
Speaker 1: also lost Super Bowl because they couldn't protect bat you Mahomes,
Speaker 1: so right, you know, friends, that's what I mean, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I see what you're saying. I still I mean maybe
Speaker 1: it was me, you know, growing up watching those Giants
Speaker 1: teams with us see you and your Michael Strahan, and
Speaker 1: that was how I go. Yeah, but I like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I forty nine ers got there, but ultimately, you know,
Speaker 1: they ended up losing, you know. And and yes, the
Speaker 1: two years ago Mahomes got destroyed by that Tampa front
Speaker 1: in the in the Super Bowl. But how explosive was
Speaker 1: that offense with Tom Brady? You know, I mean that
Speaker 1: thing was paired with an offense that was a wrecking machine.
Speaker 1: And you know, I like, and that's not me saying
Speaker 1: ignor the defense. I'm just saying, Hey, if I'm sitting
Speaker 1: at twenty one and I'm Tom and I see you
Speaker 1: know either, hey, we really here's here's our first round grades.
Speaker 1: We've got a first round grade on Kincaid. We've got
Speaker 1: a first round grade on Breefe or whatever edge is there.
Speaker 1: We've got a first round grade on Addison. Give me
Speaker 1: the offensive player. I would just much rather take the
Speaker 1: offensive player there and try to find that defensive player
Speaker 1: in the next round. I like to me, I'd rather
Speaker 1: make the offense ye whole as possible. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: you're making points. What's your take on? Hold on, let
Speaker 1: me say this very quick. Go for it money. Make
Speaker 1: your case to the uh, the defensive play calling head coach,
Speaker 1: and let me know what he says about about that strategy. Um, honestly,
Speaker 1: like you know what I would say, Hey, man, coach
Speaker 1: him up, coach him up. You know, offense wins in
Speaker 1: this league. Defense is expected to be coached up. And
Speaker 1: you see it, right, look at look, here's my case
Speaker 1: to it. Here's my coach case to coach Staley. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's look at Seattle. You know where where was Tarik
Speaker 1: wool And drafted? You know, and he ends up getting coach.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the the Chiefs. You got four starters
Speaker 1: on defense, and yeah, two of them were first rounders,
Speaker 1: but they're late first rounders, and Carloftis and McDuffie and
Speaker 1: and then you had a guy in a sixth round
Speaker 1: that's starting a secondary They figured out how to coach
Speaker 1: him up. You know. Let's let's let's go to Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: like coach him up, dude, because you know I'll give you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you an offense. That's if I give
Speaker 1: you an offense, that's it's it's almost like the Big twelve. Right, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you an offense that can score X
Speaker 1: number of points. You know what I need out of you?
Speaker 1: I need two stops. That's all I need. If you
Speaker 1: can give me two stops, we're gonna win a game.
Speaker 1: And um, I know DJ's been talking about it a lot,
Speaker 1: and I remember here, I was sitting at the table
Speaker 1: when he said it. You know, going into that Chief's game,
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley said, if we can hold him to seven
Speaker 1: a quarter, we got a chance to win. That's saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give up twenty eight points to the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna feel good about that because we got
Speaker 1: justin Herbert and I expect our offense to score thirty one.
Speaker 1: And I think that's like, to me, that's just a
Speaker 1: very realistic approach to Now, you have to defeat the
Speaker 1: king of the King of the hill, the king that's
Speaker 1: in your that's they always say draft like that, that
Speaker 1: it's impossible. Like Tom says, this all the time when
Speaker 1: he's asked, when he's interviewed. When he was with the Colts, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we drafted for our division and teams drafted to stop us.
Speaker 1: So if you're drafting for your division, what do you
Speaker 1: think the right like I'm asking. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: my answer is right. I'm just saying, if you're drafting
Speaker 1: for your division, what do you think is the right
Speaker 1: approach to knock the Chiefs off the perch? Is it
Speaker 1: more defense or is it making Herbert more lethal? Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know that yet. That's my opinion what the
Speaker 1: answer is. I don't know what yours is. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the right answer is. Yeah, my opinion, I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I think you invest offensively and just keep
Speaker 1: getting as many weapons, whether that's weapons to protect us
Speaker 1: and Herbru on the offensive line, or weapons to attack
Speaker 1: downfield in the passing game. But I think you have
Speaker 1: a head coach who believes that if he has the
Speaker 1: right pieces and the right game plan, that he can
Speaker 1: stop the Chiefs, and so I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be a factor in how they make decisions here as
Speaker 1: far as like drafting or building a team to play
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. Sorry, Chris, that's his
Speaker 1: scheme though, right he believes in his scheme. Yeah, yep, exactly.
Speaker 1: So scheming up coach scheme it up popa as would
Speaker 1: be a running game. Yeah, okay, my answer would be
Speaker 1: a running game besides Austin Ekeler, Like what a pacheco
Speaker 1: do in the playoffs? Like, where do you find that guy?
Speaker 1: Do you find him in the first round? Do you
Speaker 1: get if the kid from Texas is there at twenty one?
Speaker 1: You'll do it? Never in a million years, So I
Speaker 1: drafted running back in the first round. I apologize to
Speaker 1: Austin and all running backs out there. I enjoy watching
Speaker 1: you guys play, But if I'm running a team, I
Speaker 1: would never, ever, ever, ever who's the answer running back
Speaker 1: in the first round? I'll make a counterpoint to that. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: what do we talk about with Jackson? Though Austin Eckler
Speaker 1: rush for negative three yards, Jean Robinson is a special player.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is we're not talking about, Hey, this
Speaker 1: is the number one running back on the board. We're
Speaker 1: talking about Sequon Barkley. We are talking about Zeke Elliott.
Speaker 1: Like that's the level of this guy coming out of college.
Speaker 1: You know, so if you feel like you're there, like
Speaker 1: if if you feel like, hey, we're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to bring back Trey. We've got this offensive line now,
Speaker 1: Slater is going to be healthy, Slater, Sawyer, Lindsley, Zion,
Speaker 1: Trey is upfront. We've kept all three receivers. We feel
Speaker 1: good about getting a receiver in the second round. I
Speaker 1: am now going to drop in a three down do everything,
Speaker 1: hammer between the tackles, catches the ball out of the backfield,
Speaker 1: wiggle when he gets into open space. Like that's that's
Speaker 1: where it comes into the conversation. If it's by the way,
Speaker 1: it makes your franchise quarterback even more lethal. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: like to me, Pop, the reason you do it is
Speaker 1: if you believe it's the final piece, Like we've got
Speaker 1: everything else. Yes, so let's drop Robinson in there and
Speaker 1: so like that's I think that's where maybe you can
Speaker 1: make a case if a top across the board, everybody
Speaker 1: you ask says this is a top five player in
Speaker 1: the draft. Did the talent wise, like this is the
Speaker 1: best running back we've seen come out? Probably? I mean
Speaker 1: since say que like that's how talented he is? Like
Speaker 1: there there has not been anyone that's been remotely close
Speaker 1: to this talented. He's all Popper's board. No, it's not
Speaker 1: that he's I agree with what Money's saying. If you
Speaker 1: feel like you're a running back away, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: This roster's not a running back, then that's that's the end.
Speaker 1: That's not you know, like they have to be able
Speaker 1: to block at tight end for running back to have
Speaker 1: any sort of impact like that, to me is a
Speaker 1: more important position to draft than than running back. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe, but they also drafted a running
Speaker 1: back in the fourth rond last year, who's the youngest
Speaker 1: player in the draft, and they're so waiting to see
Speaker 1: what he's going to be, right, we should have seen
Speaker 1: him in Week eighteen. And you know, I personally think
Speaker 1: that that Josh Kelly is an ascending player, Like I don't.
Speaker 1: I just don't feel like they're they're running back away.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that a running back individually can
Speaker 1: affect the game without help like you need, Like you
Speaker 1: can be the most counted running back in the world,
Speaker 1: but if you can't block chargers, do the chargers have
Speaker 1: that help help? I don't know. I don't I'm not
Speaker 1: confident in how they can block it tight end. We
Speaker 1: don't know if Trey Pipkins is going to be back.
Speaker 1: And then I also feel like, listen, Jamari saw you
Speaker 1: was did a commendable job last year. We have not
Speaker 1: really seen him play guard. We saw it a little
Speaker 1: bit in training camp. And it's not like he was
Speaker 1: like an all pro player at left tackle either, And like, listen,
Speaker 1: super commendable job to be able to be a functional
Speaker 1: player at left tackle as a six round pick when
Speaker 1: no one expected it from you. I give him a
Speaker 1: ton of credit, but it's not like he was this excellent,
Speaker 1: excellent player out there. He was. He was serviceable, right,
Speaker 1: And I think we've gotten ahead of ourselves in terms
Speaker 1: of what he actually was out there. Like he did
Speaker 1: have some issues against faster rushers with his movement skills,
Speaker 1: the stuff that people said, hey, we don't think this
Speaker 1: is like, this is why we don't think he can
Speaker 1: play tackle in the NFL. He proved a lot of
Speaker 1: that wrong with just his positioning, his strength and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But I don't think it's a shoe.
Speaker 1: And to be like, Okay, you throw Jamari at at
Speaker 1: left guard and bring Trey Pipkins back, and this is
Speaker 1: gonna be like an elite run blocking unit. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously having Rashaan back is a big deal. But I
Speaker 1: don't know because of some of those concerns, I don't
Speaker 1: know if this offense and this team in general is
Speaker 1: like one star running back away from being like, you know,
Speaker 1: a super Bowl team. I'm like I said, I was
Speaker 1: just asking, yeah, But to me, that's that's where the
Speaker 1: value of Robinson comes in. Yeah, if you drop him
Speaker 1: onto a team that's ready, he's he's going to be
Speaker 1: a lethal weapon. Is it has to be addressed. It
Speaker 1: has to be addressed at some point this year because
Speaker 1: because the first two years Brett has been the head coach,
Speaker 1: they have not been able to run the ball effectively
Speaker 1: outside Austin neck CLOrk. So you know, we we spent
Speaker 1: all that first year saying, is it gonna be Justin Jackson?
Speaker 1: Is gonna be Josh mcklly. These guys have been hurt
Speaker 1: this past year, you know, you know, Josh got hurt,
Speaker 1: but Josh had some nice moments. We didn't see Isaiah
Speaker 1: Spiller at all, so we don't really even know what
Speaker 1: he is right now as an NFL player, Um, they
Speaker 1: have to figure out something. So if it's not a
Speaker 1: superstar in the draft, do you get a guy in
Speaker 1: the third or fourth round like you've done the last
Speaker 1: couple of years or the last you know, maybe like
Speaker 1: two out of the last five years. Or do you
Speaker 1: get a veteran like a Leonard Fournette who was just
Speaker 1: released or you know, a Tony Pollard who is coming
Speaker 1: off an injury. Like what do you do? Because Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore has proven that he can run a really effective
Speaker 1: offense with two running backs and get the ball down
Speaker 1: the field. Yeah, I mean, I I'm maybe, yeah, we
Speaker 1: might be far apart on this, but I'm pretty comfortable
Speaker 1: with the running back group. Like I don't look at Okay,
Speaker 1: they couldn't run the ball last year, it's because of
Speaker 1: the running backs. Like, I think Austin's a really special player.
Speaker 1: I loved what I saw from Josh Kelly. And you
Speaker 1: have a really young player and Isaiah Spiller that you
Speaker 1: know they're hoping will make some huge jump from year
Speaker 1: one to year two, which I think is seven yards
Speaker 1: seven yards in the second half of a wildcard playoff
Speaker 1: game is unacceptable. Yeah, yeah, But pinning that exclusively on
Speaker 1: the running backs is I don't think fair to them,
Speaker 1: Like a lot of it's blocking. A lot of it
Speaker 1: is like the committee runs that were not successful all
Speaker 1: year long. Like that's so that's where look Popper Again,
Speaker 1: I was making more of a general argument for when
Speaker 1: you would draft the running back in the first round,
Speaker 1: as opposed to saying the Chargers should draft him at
Speaker 1: twenty one. I think it'd be interesting because if in fact,
Speaker 1: it'd be a great opportunity for Tom Talesco to prove,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, we are a best player available team, because
Speaker 1: I can promise you if he is there at twenty one,
Speaker 1: there is not going to be a player that is
Speaker 1: considered better than him at twenty one. It's just not
Speaker 1: going to happen. So that'll put that to the test.
Speaker 1: I would much rather see a Dalton Kincaid there, a
Speaker 1: Jordan Addison there, if they're available one hundred percent, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the edge rushers there, if one hundred percent,
Speaker 1: like not not even close, is but but I would
Speaker 1: that would certainly put it to the test. Is if
Speaker 1: he's let's just say there's Nolan Smith, Jordan Addison, Dalton
Speaker 1: Kincaid and Jehan Robinson are there Okay, well, now now
Speaker 1: we're really putting that to the test. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you drafted the best player available. I suppose you
Speaker 1: drafted for need. Yeah. I think I think they feel
Speaker 1: like in terms of the running game, that Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: is going to be able to schematically and design wise
Speaker 1: get that thing going in a way that I agree
Speaker 1: that Joe Lombardi was never able to from a commitment standpoint,
Speaker 1: play calling standpoint, how they're preparing, like all of that
Speaker 1: stuff was a big issue, um with Joe, and it's
Speaker 1: a big reason why they moved on from him. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna look different, there's gonna be a different commitment
Speaker 1: to it. And they're putting a lot on Kellen Moore's
Speaker 1: taking this offensive coordinator job as to why they think
Speaker 1: the running game you know, will improve and you know,
Speaker 1: having Rashaan Slater back at left tackle will help too.
Speaker 1: I think, Helse, do you think, hey, do you think
Speaker 1: Isaiah Spillard can be the guy? It's Austin not the guy.
Speaker 1: This guy's go twenty touchdowns and back to back. He's
Speaker 1: talking about a Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: for aust guy, I'm talking about what I'm talking about
Speaker 1: a guy who can compliment Austin consistently so he's healthy.
Speaker 1: At the end of Josh can be that guy. Do
Speaker 1: you guys not think Josh can be that guy? I do?
Speaker 1: I do? I look, like I said, my big issue, like,
Speaker 1: I just don't understand what I don't know how many
Speaker 1: games we had Larry round treactive like that. That's something
Speaker 1: that'll never make sense to me. Never like the fact
Speaker 1: that Isaiah, especially in week eighteen. I just that that's
Speaker 1: one thing I cannot reconcile. I just I'll never understand
Speaker 1: the thinking behind that. And I know they keep saying, well,
Speaker 1: we didn't know the outcome of that game, you know
Speaker 1: when we had to turn in you know, our rosters.
Speaker 1: But they were up by ten with like six minutes
Speaker 1: left when you had to turn in your inactives. Yes,
Speaker 1: games can get weird or they were up by like
Speaker 1: fourteen or something. And it's like, I need to see
Speaker 1: what Isaiah Spiller can do, man, I need to see something.
Speaker 1: This is a perfect opportunity to get that and to
Speaker 1: keep Austin healthy. So I think, like, to me, it's
Speaker 1: not I look, it'd be ridiculous to doubt Austin. We've
Speaker 1: talked about it all the time, the fact that he's
Speaker 1: not an all pros asinine, but you know, like to me,
Speaker 1: it's keeping him healthy for and I think that's what
Speaker 1: even Austin has talked about. He's like, hey man, I
Speaker 1: need one of these guys to raise their hand because
Speaker 1: he gets the crap kicked out of them, you know.
Speaker 1: And and he we say it all the time, right,
Speaker 1: he refuses to go down in first contact, so he
Speaker 1: really gets beat up through the course of a season.
Speaker 1: And you need to have a Tony Pollard Zeke Elliott
Speaker 1: kind of deal I think with Austin to even make
Speaker 1: him more effective. Not to mention, if you're Kellen Moore,
Speaker 1: you think you've got to believe he wants to have
Speaker 1: him freaking set up in the slot or outside wide
Speaker 1: of the numbers if he can have a hammer back
Speaker 1: there and now you're really affecting the math. I would
Speaker 1: love to see more of that, like we saw with Shane.
Speaker 1: I remember Shane would do it all the time and
Speaker 1: it was awesome. You know. You see that that linebacker
Speaker 1: trot out there with Austin, It's like, oh, you're dead,
Speaker 1: you know, and it was I think you need to
Speaker 1: see some more of that. But I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: think it's on. I just don't think they know you
Speaker 1: know that, Like, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: they it's the like to me, Chris to your point,
Speaker 1: I don't think the answers in the third round or
Speaker 1: the fourth round. They've already got enough of those guys.
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly's that guy. Isaiah Spiller could be that guy.
Speaker 1: To me, it's it's, hey, do we believe we're close enough?
Speaker 1: Holy kle how did this guy fall into our lap?
Speaker 1: You know, that's where the conversation would come in. That's
Speaker 1: that's the only one. To me, I think this conversation
Speaker 1: would be a little bit different if Josh hadn't, you know,
Speaker 1: sprained his mcl on the kickoff return blocking in a
Speaker 1: week five and then missus four weeks Cleveland game, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I really have a lot of belief in
Speaker 1: him as a player from what I've seen, and then
Speaker 1: and then you can expect dramatic improvement from Isaiah Spiller,
Speaker 1: the youngest player in the draft, who now is a
Speaker 1: full offseason to get bigger. Like That's one thing Joe
Speaker 1: Lombardi talked a lot about when they draft him like
Speaker 1: it's gonna take some time for him to fill into
Speaker 1: his body because he's twenty years old, you know when
Speaker 1: they drafted him. And so I'm I'm more comfortable with
Speaker 1: it than I think you guys are. Like, I think
Speaker 1: they have a decent room, and I think they've got
Speaker 1: a lot of potential in that room as well, where
Speaker 1: like you know, drafting another running back doesn't make a
Speaker 1: whole ton of sense to me. But and you know what, Chris,
Speaker 1: you asked about Pacheco, Like Timmy, that's Josh Kelly. You know, Pacheco,
Speaker 1: straight line, straight line speed power. You're just gonna run
Speaker 1: you over. You know, you're not gonna not a lot
Speaker 1: of wiggle there, but you know, tell him where the
Speaker 1: hole is. You're gonna hit it and it's gonna be painting.
Speaker 1: He asked to bring him down. And that's what Pacheco was.
Speaker 1: It's not like he was some sort of dynamic runner.
Speaker 1: You know that. You can't believe everybody missed on until
Speaker 1: the seventh round. The Chiefs used him perfectly for what
Speaker 1: they needed. And I think I'm with you, Poblok. I
Speaker 1: have no problems with the running back room. I just
Speaker 1: wish I knew more about it. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: wish I That's that's my only issue that too. You know,
Speaker 1: I was so high on Isaiah Spiller just looking at
Speaker 1: what he did at A and M, you know, and
Speaker 1: and the fact that we didn't see him this year
Speaker 1: was disappointing because now you go into year two and
Speaker 1: you're like, well, why why didn't he get more run? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, especially if they had trouble running the football?
Speaker 1: Why didn't he get more run last year? So you
Speaker 1: know a lot of this offseason Pop is just gonna
Speaker 1: be kind of projection when it comes to um Spiller.
Speaker 1: But I'm with you, like, like we saw in Money,
Speaker 1: and I sat down with Josh in training camp and
Speaker 1: he looked like a different dude. He was joking that
Speaker 1: he dropped the raising canes and you know, changed his
Speaker 1: diet and everything, and you could definitely see that, Yeah
Speaker 1: that was all real. He was not joking like he
Speaker 1: did all like he himself. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: I think injuries basically the charges. They need to figure
Speaker 1: out what that plan is though week one and make
Speaker 1: sure that that's a successful plane. Pop, let's just say,
Speaker 1: you know, not being ridiculous, you know Jalen Carter's not
Speaker 1: fall into twenty one, but just give us a name,
Speaker 1: like who would you like to see it, like realistic, realistic,
Speaker 1: Who would you like to see a twenty one that
Speaker 1: you think could be there? Jordan Addison, Yeah, that's the guy.
Speaker 1: Like I'm I'm with you money, Like like the case
Speaker 1: you were making about just add weapons, Just give me weapons,
Speaker 1: just invest in this offense. Because they tried to run
Speaker 1: this run the thing back year over year. They didn't
Speaker 1: really make a ton of changes. You know, they added
Speaker 1: Zion and Gerald Everett, but that was pretty much it.
Speaker 1: Like if you have a quarterback that's that good and
Speaker 1: you're in a division with Patrick Mahomes, like, just get weapons,
Speaker 1: elite weapons, and if the you know a lot of
Speaker 1: people have him as the top receiver on the board,
Speaker 1: if you can get him at twenty one, like got
Speaker 1: some big playability, can make some plays after the catch,
Speaker 1: like create some explosivity with your offense. Here's one you know,
Speaker 1: that's what that's the direction. Now would go Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: Chris Kincaide and Addison are both available at twenty one.
Speaker 1: Now I'm taking the tight end, right, I think I'm
Speaker 1: taking kincaide. Yeah right, I get my own, give me,
Speaker 1: give me my own Kelsey exactly. And look, it's stupid
Speaker 1: to say he's Travis Kelsey, whos arguably be going to
Speaker 1: go down as the greatest pass catching tight end of
Speaker 1: all time. But I'm with everybody talked about, oh what
Speaker 1: are you gonna do with Tyreek Hill? Gone, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can't cover Travis Kelsey. You can't. It's not possible. And
Speaker 1: I think, um, but I just don't know if he's
Speaker 1: gonna Yeah, there there is a case for him to slide, right,
Speaker 1: he's what twenty four, I think he's twenty four, twenty
Speaker 1: five had the injuries. But man, you look at that
Speaker 1: production and it's eight touchdowns, eleven touchdowns, eleven touchdowns, like
Speaker 1: sixteen touchdowns year after year after It's crazy what the
Speaker 1: production is. It's so Kelsey ask but I'm I'm with you,
Speaker 1: two pop. I think Addison of all the guys. You know,
Speaker 1: people are excited about the speed of Hyatt. It's little
Speaker 1: bit too much of a one trick pony. I'd be
Speaker 1: a little worried about that. And it's a one year deal.
Speaker 1: You know. The look if Lane Kiffin was still the
Speaker 1: head coach at at USC Addison would have had two
Speaker 1: hundred catches for six thousand yards. That's the way they
Speaker 1: can fend him, you know. But but Lincoln is more
Speaker 1: of a coach that's fine with just telling Caleb Ay
Speaker 1: just wherever the open guy is, that's where you're gonna
Speaker 1: put it. So he didn't have that season, and I'm
Speaker 1: hoping that leads him to get pushed down. I think
Speaker 1: Kim Kaid ends up getting drafted inside the top fifteen.
Speaker 1: I just I there's too much Travis Kelsey to his
Speaker 1: game for that to happen. But I think you're right
Speaker 1: on Addison. I think that's I think that's a realistic
Speaker 1: fusibility that and a lot of it's gonna depend on
Speaker 1: what he runs. You know, if he runs in the
Speaker 1: low four fours, then zero chance. Um if he ends
Speaker 1: up being that high. You know, if that low four five,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe maybe watch out for tight end though
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a big part of this this offense
Speaker 1: that Kellen Moore is building thinking which they had in Dallas.
Speaker 1: So like they need they need all like legit, all
Speaker 1: around tight ends that can play as run blockers, pass catchers,
Speaker 1: like that's gonna be a big point of emphasis while
Speaker 1: they build this offense. Guys, what's the drop off? What
Speaker 1: do you think to drop Maybe not drop off because
Speaker 1: there's kind of two different players, but Mayor from Notre
Speaker 1: Dame versus Kincaid, You know what would your Mayor is
Speaker 1: the full tight end Kincaid's he does the Kaids Travis Kelsey.
Speaker 1: Mayor is more your Hackinson Um. You know, if you
Speaker 1: watch Mayor, he's he's great, but like it just it
Speaker 1: doesn't look like Kinkaid Kincaid. There's separation, there's no receivers,
Speaker 1: there's nobody around him, and they're trying to stop him,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden you just it's like Kelsey.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, that's the guy you have to stop,
Speaker 1: and yet why is he wide open? Because that's just
Speaker 1: how good he is. That's how Kincaid's been at Utah. Mayor,
Speaker 1: you know, you put him on the edge and he
Speaker 1: can block, but when he catches the ball, there's guys
Speaker 1: around him and there's not that suddenness, and it's just
Speaker 1: he's still great. Hockinson is great. You know, he's a
Speaker 1: great player. I just think that's at least that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I would classify it is. I think that's
Speaker 1: you're talking about. If you want to say, what's their ceiling,
Speaker 1: I think it's Hawkinson Mayor and you know Kelsey Kincaid.
Speaker 1: Those are the more of the style of tight we're
Speaker 1: talking about, and that's again ceiling. That's best case. It
Speaker 1: all works out perfectly for these first round tight ends.
Speaker 1: I just think that's the style that you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Pop will get you out of here on this. We're
Speaker 1: not there in Indy. You are beyond the combine. Just
Speaker 1: where are you eating? Are you doing a hops with pop?
Speaker 1: You have a special Indianapolis beer that you're going to
Speaker 1: break out, like what's been going on at night in Indianapolis?
Speaker 1: That's where all the fun happens. Yeah, just you know
Speaker 1: you're schmoozing, well Prime forty seven Action, well, uh, Saint
Speaker 1: Elmo's action. Too much steak, too much mashed potatoes. I
Speaker 1: need a salad. Someone please send me a salad. I
Speaker 1: forgot your lead beer guy. I mean, like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: I but that's just that's that's just I like I
Speaker 1: like to have. Yeah, I'm not like a snobby like okay,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll yeah, I like I drink bud light, Okay,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it, you know, so I'm not
Speaker 1: like that snobby like, you know, but I like a
Speaker 1: good I PA. You know, there's a the best IPA
Speaker 1: in my opinion or in the conversation in the world,
Speaker 1: is based in Indiana. It is UH. And they cannot
Speaker 1: ship UH domestically. They can only stay in states that
Speaker 1: touch Indiana. So you can only get it if you're
Speaker 1: you know, in Indiana or Kentucky or Illinois or Ohio
Speaker 1: or Wisconsin or Michigan. You get the point. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: three floyds and it's called Zombie Dust. So I've had
Speaker 1: while your while you're you've had it, I'm appreciate. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would. I would imagine you could while you're or
Speaker 1: Alpha King if you want to get something a little
Speaker 1: bit heavier, if you like the heavier ip and the
Speaker 1: Alpha king is they're heavier. Zombie Dust is there kind
Speaker 1: of straight down the middle IPA Alpha kan Is they're
Speaker 1: a little heavier. All right, I'll keep an eye out
Speaker 1: for it. And you know what, space Station middle Finger
Speaker 1: also very good. That's another indie beer. That's another They're
Speaker 1: all three floyds, they're on a Monthster Indiana, Northwest Indiana.
Speaker 1: All right, great, great stuff. I'll look it after that, huh.
Speaker 1: I will partner Popper best in the business, buddy. We
Speaker 1: appreciate you. It's been in an hour with us, my goodness. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no problem. We had to catch up. We had a
Speaker 1: lot to get to and I'm sure we'll do it
Speaker 1: again soon. And guess what, we still don't know anything.
Speaker 1: We don't know what. Yeah, best time of the year
Speaker 1: to speculate until you're until you get a horse from
Speaker 1: yelling about different things, and then you're not gonna know
Speaker 1: until Marsh fifteenth anyway. So yeah, it's great, all right
Speaker 1: from Indie for money, I'm Chris. This is has been
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