Speaker 1: The late fifteen ten touchdowns. What's up, guys. We're back
Speaker 1: with another episode of Chargers Weekly, as always, joined by
Speaker 1: Matt Money Smith and Money. We're in this second wave
Speaker 1: of free Agency's still a lot to get into, morgand
Speaker 1: boxes back and as you're adterly retired from Tranquil Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler was on Chris Long's podcast, So still a
Speaker 1: lot to get into. Where do you want to start? Well,
Speaker 1: I guess we'll start with Drew because we've talked about
Speaker 1: him quite a bit, and you know, this is what
Speaker 1: we expected, is as soon as Eric Hendricks was signed
Speaker 1: by the Chargers, that that meant Drew was out. It's funny,
Speaker 1: it goes back to kind of like what I was
Speaker 1: talking about with Chenna, and it's you know, the you
Speaker 1: just at the market a lot of times it's not
Speaker 1: what you think it's going to be. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: incredibly surprised that that Drew and his agent took a
Speaker 1: one year, five million dollars deal, but certainly they know
Speaker 1: the market better. And again, you know, young ascending versus
Speaker 1: player in its peak ends up being cheaper than Kendricks,
Speaker 1: which I don't think any of us could have possibly projected.
Speaker 1: But you know, I guess I guess the way I
Speaker 1: look at it, Chris's you know, the defense has not
Speaker 1: been good the last two years, and whether or not
Speaker 1: that's Drew's fault or not, I can't say. I think
Speaker 1: he's an exceptional player, a super heady, instinctual player. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why he got the green dot for
Speaker 1: the back, you know, eight nine games of that season,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think I think he'll be missed.
Speaker 1: Now that said, you know, maybe there's something that I'm
Speaker 1: not seeing, you know that that my football brain can't see,
Speaker 1: but the coaches can, and they like the way Kendricks
Speaker 1: plays the position, perhaps more for Brandon's scheme the players
Speaker 1: that are around him than what Drew does. But just
Speaker 1: from my you know, sort of observations, he's so instinctual.
Speaker 1: Just the way he times his blitzes is as good
Speaker 1: as any linebacker in the league. I think the one
Speaker 1: issue with Drew, if you really want to nitpick a
Speaker 1: little bit, is you know, there's some there's some angles,
Speaker 1: there's some mistackles in there, there's some broken tackles sometimes
Speaker 1: in key moments, and you know that's maybe that's something
Speaker 1: that was just a little too glaring that they figured,
Speaker 1: you know, Kendricks is a little more reliable in that
Speaker 1: or those categories. But yeah, it's a bummer. It's an
Speaker 1: incredible bummer that he's going to the Chiefs. And I
Speaker 1: think we'll get into this in a little, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit more, But you know, I think the
Speaker 1: one thing the Chiefs have that people don't realize when
Speaker 1: they sign all these contracts, they have so many young
Speaker 1: players on rookie contracts that they're able to make moves
Speaker 1: like this, and you know, when you're talking about a
Speaker 1: million to two million dollars, it may seem like a
Speaker 1: really small number, but it's just it's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those every last cent is going to count, is
Speaker 1: they try to put this puzzle together. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: so the reports are one year five million, which I'm
Speaker 1: a little just taken aback in general by by the
Speaker 1: market for some of these guys, because whether it's a
Speaker 1: film room with DJ breaking down everything Drew can do.
Speaker 1: You've talked about it so many times how instinctual Drew
Speaker 1: is and to go to the chiefs of all teams,
Speaker 1: that's kind of loaded at linebacker right with with Bolton
Speaker 1: and Willie Gay, and that was surprising to me that
Speaker 1: he was going to go to the AFC West and
Speaker 1: play for the Chiefs and being a role where you know,
Speaker 1: he's not the guy as the linebacker and it's only
Speaker 1: one year, so you know, in one on one side,
Speaker 1: it's good for Drew because he gets a year to
Speaker 1: prove himself with the Chiefs and maybe he gets a
Speaker 1: big deal there or elsewhere. Another market that didn't really
Speaker 1: materialize that I was a little shocked by was this
Speaker 1: tight end market in Dalton Schultz only getting one year
Speaker 1: I think nine million to play for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on that, because we
Speaker 1: talked about Dalton Schultz last week, and you know, maybe
Speaker 1: it's something that you know, as us, you know, doing
Speaker 1: a podcast and watching the game, things we just don't
Speaker 1: see that that front offices are seeing and just seeing
Speaker 1: the landscape of some of these position groups saying, hey,
Speaker 1: we don't have to pay nine million dollars for a
Speaker 1: tight end. We can get one in the draft. Or
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen kind of the linebacker position in
Speaker 1: the running back position be devalued in the league a
Speaker 1: little bit, which is why you know, Kaiser walked in
Speaker 1: with the Philly and now he's in Arizona. But I
Speaker 1: was surprised by how much Drew got in for the
Speaker 1: little years that he got. And then same with Dalton
Speaker 1: Schultz just one year going to the Texas. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I you know, it seemed like the you know, because
Speaker 1: they had Kendricks. I think a lot of people understood
Speaker 1: the whole Drew thing. It's just you know, sort of
Speaker 1: salt in the wound for that he goes to the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: But sure, I saw a lot of traffic on social
Speaker 1: media from Charger fans about Schultz and it's one year,
Speaker 1: nine million bucks? What are you doing? How can you
Speaker 1: not reunite this guy with Kellen Moore? And so I
Speaker 1: kind of start so I dug into it for Today's
Speaker 1: pod and sort of here's what I found. Right, if
Speaker 1: you go average annual value, Yeah, Dalton Schultz is a
Speaker 1: pretty is a relative bargain. He's nine million bucks. You know,
Speaker 1: it's on the average annual value scale. It's pretty much
Speaker 1: kind of like right in it. Look, it's Darren Waller's
Speaker 1: making seventeen million bucks, George Kittle fifteen, Travis Kelsey fourteen,
Speaker 1: Dallas Goddard fourteen, Mark Andrews fourteen. You know, there's your
Speaker 1: upper echelon right then you kind of come right behind them,
Speaker 1: and you've got sort of the emerging we're betting on
Speaker 1: the come in Joku, Dawson, Knox. You know, those guys
Speaker 1: are thirteen million Hunter Henry you know that. What you know,
Speaker 1: following his rookie deal twelve and a half million, Evan
Speaker 1: Ingram got franchise. There's eleven and a half million bucks,
Speaker 1: and then you get Hurts at ten and Schultz at nine.
Speaker 1: So here's what Schultz did last year with Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: in one of the most high octane offenses in the league. Right,
Speaker 1: Eighty nine targets, fifty seven catches, five touchdowns, average ten
Speaker 1: yards per reception, and a long of thirty So pretty
Speaker 1: you know, like, hey, those are good numbers, you know,
Speaker 1: not great, but good numbers. What did Gerald Everett do
Speaker 1: last year? Eighty seven targets, fifty eight receptions, four touchdowns,
Speaker 1: nine point six yards per reception, and a long of
Speaker 1: twenty six. It's almost identical carbon place, it is almost
Speaker 1: identical what those two players did, and yet everyone wants
Speaker 1: to get out on Everett and get in on Schultz
Speaker 1: and you're talking about a four million dollar cap hit
Speaker 1: if you cut Gerald Everett because the signing bonus he's
Speaker 1: gonna make eight point two five million against the cap
Speaker 1: this year is salary is five point five million, but
Speaker 1: with the signing bonus in the two year deal, that's
Speaker 1: what the number is. So Dalton Schultz at nine million
Speaker 1: becomes a thirteen million dollar player if you're getting rid
Speaker 1: of Everett for the Chargers. So essentially to a team
Speaker 1: that is trying to find every last cent knowing what's
Speaker 1: coming with the Justin Herber contract. For people that think
Speaker 1: Dalton Schultz was like this Travis Kelsey or t J.
Speaker 1: Hawkinson or you know George Kittle level type Mark Andrews,
Speaker 1: he wasn't mean. He was the productions identical to what
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett did last year and would have cost you
Speaker 1: an extra five million, six million bucks to bring him in.
Speaker 1: So that's I think that's something that people don't recognize.
Speaker 1: They just get enamored with the idea, right they know
Speaker 1: it's sumps you in different the cap hitting number money
Speaker 1: that you mentioned. Now you know Dold Schultz is now
Speaker 1: a thirteen million dollar players pay because you're cutting Gerald Everett.
Speaker 1: He's got four million dollars dead calf because of signing bonus.
Speaker 1: So you know, if it's if it's George Kittle, if
Speaker 1: it's Mark Andrews, if it's you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: if Hunter Henry's released and you want to bring him
Speaker 1: back because you have that familiarity. Okay, but it's someone
Speaker 1: who's had a nice career. But he's not one of
Speaker 1: those elite level tight ends. I know. You look, I
Speaker 1: know Jerald, you know, I know Everett had some wartz um.
Speaker 1: You know, there were some pivotal drops, but let's not
Speaker 1: forget man. He was he was one of the only
Speaker 1: like solid players in both halves of that game in Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: He was a hell of a game. Was awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people want to circle, you know, the Raider game with
Speaker 1: the drop that they lost, you know in Vegas. They
Speaker 1: want to circle the Chiefs game where he tried to
Speaker 1: tap out and they didn't see it and he you know,
Speaker 1: runs a lazy route that picks six and that costs
Speaker 1: him the game. But he did a lot of really
Speaker 1: good things too, you know, and I think that's that's
Speaker 1: a huge number from you know, eight point two five
Speaker 1: against the cap versus thirteen against the cap. If you're
Speaker 1: just giving him the same one year deal for Dalton Schultz,
Speaker 1: I love it. I mean, that's that's next level analysis
Speaker 1: by Metamony Smith. And I tell you it's it's probably
Speaker 1: something that Kellen Moore saw coming here. He knows he
Speaker 1: can't bring everybody from Dallas to LA So what are
Speaker 1: the comps here? Oh, Gerald ever can be my Dalton Schultz.
Speaker 1: He had the same exact numbers, and frankly, he may
Speaker 1: be a better athlete like Gerald Everett is a really
Speaker 1: really good athlete. And you said that Jacksonville game, he
Speaker 1: was the one guy who really showed out, especially with
Speaker 1: no Mike Williams in that game. You know, Gerald did
Speaker 1: everything he could and really maximize his potential in that
Speaker 1: wildcard game. So I'm with you there. And then it
Speaker 1: still leaves open the possibility money of getting a guy
Speaker 1: like Kincaid or the kid from Notre Dame Mayre. You know,
Speaker 1: those guys are still out there, and that's a possibility
Speaker 1: in the draft get one of those tight ends on
Speaker 1: a rookie deal. So that's awesome. That's that's really like
Speaker 1: I think for fans to understand, especially the cap hitting,
Speaker 1: everything that goes into it. Nine million dollars, a nine
Speaker 1: million dollars if you have to cut a guy with
Speaker 1: comparable stats, Um, yeah, they set him and it was
Speaker 1: almost exactly the same targets, you know, two fewer targets,
Speaker 1: one more reception h five hundred. So I didn't mention
Speaker 1: the yards Schultz five hundred and seventy seven yards. Uh
Speaker 1: Gerald evert five hundred fifty five twenty two fewer yards
Speaker 1: one fear that they're identical, like in terms of the
Speaker 1: production last year, identical. So you know, again if you're
Speaker 1: adding Mark Andrews Hawkinson, you know, Kittle Kelsey, Fine, I
Speaker 1: get it, but yeah, to have to take that kind
Speaker 1: of hit, and you know you mentioned the tight end,
Speaker 1: I'm starting up. Look, I know he never does it.
Speaker 1: I get and I you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: move all over here, but it just kind of you
Speaker 1: mentioned Kincaid that we've talked about a lot, or Mayor
Speaker 1: that we've talked about a lot. I'm starting to think
Speaker 1: more and more just based on the way free agency
Speaker 1: has gone. And look, I would be all for this.
Speaker 1: I'm always for this. You know, I'm starting to think
Speaker 1: more and more that there's there's a very good possibility
Speaker 1: the Chargers trade out. I really believe that. I think
Speaker 1: twenty one, I think so. I think when you're talking about,
Speaker 1: especially now that more and more people are starting to
Speaker 1: think that hen and Hooker's a first round pick, that
Speaker 1: that he's impressing people and there may end up being
Speaker 1: five quarterbacks. You know, if you look at the draft order, Shoot,
Speaker 1: let me pull it up. I just had it and
Speaker 1: I lost it there real quick. But if you pull
Speaker 1: up the draft order, that someone may I think the
Speaker 1: Vikings are picking at twenty three that you may want.
Speaker 1: You know, DJ has Hooker going to the Vikings at
Speaker 1: twenty three that if you want to jump up, you know,
Speaker 1: you may have to do that, you know, to get
Speaker 1: ahead of some of these guys, if that's who you
Speaker 1: want to get and so and I bring it up
Speaker 1: just because of the way they've behaved in free agency
Speaker 1: and how little money they're spending, how they're restructuring to
Speaker 1: kind of open up this window. And I think one
Speaker 1: of the things you see, like if I go, um,
Speaker 1: I should have done this, you know, shows you how
Speaker 1: poor my preparation is. My apologies, there's some good alliteration.
Speaker 1: You're you're you're throwing a mind blowing Jerald Never Dolton
Speaker 1: Shoultz comparison throughout the rip. But you give yourself some credit.
Speaker 1: I think when you look at the Chiefs, you know,
Speaker 1: with with Patrick Mahomes on a half a billion dollar deal,
Speaker 1: just start going through their roster. Trent McDuffie rookie, Legarius
Speaker 1: Need rookie, Jalen Watson rookie, Nick Bolton rookie. When I
Speaker 1: say rookie, I mean they're on their rookie contracts. You know,
Speaker 1: Derek Noddy rookie, Are Carlotti's rookie, Pacheco rookie, Tray Smith, Creed,
Speaker 1: Humphrey sky More, Kadarius Tony still on his rookie contract,
Speaker 1: Like they need more of those contracts. They need rookies
Speaker 1: on this roster. And when you go you know, so
Speaker 1: then you contrast that with the Chargers and just remember
Speaker 1: even even veteran minimum contracts, you're talking about two times
Speaker 1: what a rookie contract is in salary two three times worth.
Speaker 1: So you go through and you see Michael Davis vet
Speaker 1: contract or when James vet contract, Joey Bosa vet contract,
Speaker 1: Eric Kendricks, uh Khalil Mack, Austin Johnson, Sebastian Joseph Day,
Speaker 1: Morgan Fox, Austin Eckler. These are and I'm talking second contracts.
Speaker 1: These guys are all no longer on their rookie deals.
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett, Trey Pipkins, Corey Lindsley, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams. Like,
Speaker 1: that's that's a lot of money in vets, so in money,
Speaker 1: these are These are the guys who were on rookie
Speaker 1: deals with the Chargers. We have to be clear here too.
Speaker 1: Those weren't guys as Staley drafted, right, So you know
Speaker 1: Tom talks about drafting developed resigning. It's hard to do
Speaker 1: that when you have a new coach and you drafted
Speaker 1: a guy for a specific system. So you know, for
Speaker 1: as good as Drew was and you know we're gonna
Speaker 1: miss him around Los Angeles, you know he wasn't drafted
Speaker 1: by Brandon Staley. Um, you know Eric Kendricks comes in
Speaker 1: to replace them. So you know some of the guys
Speaker 1: you Chenna, Justin Jones, those guys, you know, you can't
Speaker 1: bring them back if they don't necessarily fit what your
Speaker 1: head coach wants to do. So now that like, I
Speaker 1: think that's a great point. You have to bring in
Speaker 1: guys that are your rookies, right, guys that you think
Speaker 1: can can fit your defensive system, Guys who can can
Speaker 1: fit what Kellen Moore wants to do offensively. And maybe
Speaker 1: you do trade out of that first round pick to
Speaker 1: get an extra pick or two to start stacking those guys.
Speaker 1: Because you said it, the Chiefs did it. They've started
Speaker 1: doing it the last couple of years, you know, with
Speaker 1: all those defensive starters and bringing the guys like Sky Moore,
Speaker 1: Pacheco and those guys contributed, Tony, they all contributed to
Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl. Yeah, Jalen Watson, you know, say
Speaker 1: and again for the Charger. So Tom's done a heck
Speaker 1: of a job and his staff drafting. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we point out, look, he's hit on damn
Speaker 1: near every first rounder. Jerry Tiller is the only one
Speaker 1: you can circle and that was a twenty eight overall pick.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you talk about Jamari Sawyer, just
Speaker 1: your Taylor, you know, Michael Dave, a undrafted Asante Samuel
Speaker 1: and I'm just kind of going through the guys, you know,
Speaker 1: Tito Abonia before he got hurt last year, Like they're
Speaker 1: getting like you get starters in the second and third round,
Speaker 1: those are starters. If you're good at drafting, those are starters.
Speaker 1: And so if you can pop out of you know,
Speaker 1: twenty one, pick up a two, you know, maybe a
Speaker 1: two and a five or something, and then get a
Speaker 1: one next year, like now you're stacking, you know, And
Speaker 1: that's what you're just gonna have to do with with Herbert,
Speaker 1: you know, likely going to be making fifty million bucks
Speaker 1: a year. So I think that's something just to think about.
Speaker 1: You know, for all the people that are trying to say, hey,
Speaker 1: is it Jordan Addison is a Dalton kincaide? Is it
Speaker 1: it could be Jean Robinson fall this far? It's it's like,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's pretty deep O line group. It's
Speaker 1: a deep corner group. It's a deep defensive end up group.
Speaker 1: And I know those are all premium positions and you
Speaker 1: tend to get runs on those players. But I think
Speaker 1: it's something and just to kind of play I'm just
Speaker 1: planting that seed and and I'm thinking when you start
Speaker 1: getting you know, when you have to contend with a
Speaker 1: fifty million dollar quarterback, contract for one player. You know,
Speaker 1: now you now you have to figure out how to
Speaker 1: fill holes and create Yeah, gol a J. T. Woods
Speaker 1: got to step up in his second year. You know,
Speaker 1: those those of the rookies that that Brandon's day has
Speaker 1: brought onto this football team. Um, one rookie, he didn't uh.
Speaker 1: Kind of surprising news before we kind of get into
Speaker 1: this upcoming season, Nazier Addeleie retiring from the game. And
Speaker 1: I give Nas a lot of credit for understanding that
Speaker 1: this was the time to do it. I wish him
Speaker 1: the best, and um, it's just it's it's I think
Speaker 1: it's a little shocking to see a young player who
Speaker 1: I think still has a lot of good football in
Speaker 1: him depending on where he was going to go, Um
Speaker 1: hang him up. But you know, he knew this was time.
Speaker 1: I wonder how much of it is recognizing that the
Speaker 1: Chargers are going to move on and just not wanting
Speaker 1: to deal with the grind. You know, by all accounts
Speaker 1: felt like Nas was someone that responded better to positive reinforcement.
Speaker 1: There was the story about his hamstring and what the
Speaker 1: team interpreted it as and what he felt like it
Speaker 1: was telling his body, and how there was maybe a
Speaker 1: disconnect between the two parties there so and again it
Speaker 1: was someone that was drafted in Gus's system. Gus's system
Speaker 1: is very simple. This is what we do. Let's execute
Speaker 1: better than everybody else. Go out and make your plays.
Speaker 1: That's not Brandon's scheme. It's one of the most complicated
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And perhaps if you feel like you're
Speaker 1: overwhelmed or you're drowning, it's a lot of stress when
Speaker 1: you go home and you're the last line of defense.
Speaker 1: You've been benched for a stretch of the middle of
Speaker 1: the season, You've essentially get benched for an entire playoff game.
Speaker 1: That's a lot. It's a lot for someone that dealt
Speaker 1: with some injuries as well. So it's it's sad, you
Speaker 1: know it does. It makes me sad. It's I like
Speaker 1: nas and I thought he was a player coming out
Speaker 1: of Delaware. Saw just having this conversation last night, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, you saw the tape from Delaware, just how
Speaker 1: good he was at tracking the ball, at catching the ball.
Speaker 1: You know you always hear, well, they're not wide receivers
Speaker 1: because they can't catch. It's why their defensive backs they
Speaker 1: tracked the ball well, they just can't catch it, naas
Speaker 1: could catch it. So to see the way he played
Speaker 1: at Delaware being available in the second round, with all
Speaker 1: that production, particularly interception production, the way he played in
Speaker 1: that forty nine ers game and that final preseason contest
Speaker 1: his rookie season, and then the injury shows up and
Speaker 1: from there it just never quite He was never able
Speaker 1: to rebound, and it's it's a bummer. I wish him well.
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope whatever it is that he seeks
Speaker 1: to do with the remainder. And that's I think what
Speaker 1: people forget about football players while they're so busy throwing
Speaker 1: the labels on him. You know, this person's a bust,
Speaker 1: and this person has let us down. This is this
Speaker 1: is a young man. This is a guy that's twenty
Speaker 1: five years old that's now got to figure out what
Speaker 1: he's going to do with the rest of his life
Speaker 1: after assuming he was going to play football for ten
Speaker 1: fifteen years, have a pension, be able to live off,
Speaker 1: you know, and invest well, and you know, essentially retire
Speaker 1: from this line of work, but have enough money to
Speaker 1: be able to do that and start. You know, now,
Speaker 1: this guy's got to start at twenty five on a
Speaker 1: you know, for four years on a second round picks salary.
Speaker 1: So I wish him well. I hope it all works out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question. Another guy that they brought back, Morgan Fox.
Speaker 1: I don't think this was surprising. This was big to
Speaker 1: pair him with Sebastian. The way Morgan played last year,
Speaker 1: he had his best year as a pro, and I
Speaker 1: think this team needs players like that to kind of
Speaker 1: lead the way. In Brandon Staley's defense. Money, I can't
Speaker 1: believe they got them for what they got them for.
Speaker 1: Just going back to your mention of of Drew getting
Speaker 1: a one year, five million dollars deal, I would have
Speaker 1: thought for sure that Morgan Fox was going to be
Speaker 1: a casual deal of them needing to save money and
Speaker 1: to get him back. Free agency period. Man, it's it's
Speaker 1: a weird free agency period to me. Don't know, I
Speaker 1: really don't. You know, there have been some big Look,
Speaker 1: Offensive Lineman got paid, right, so that's a premium position.
Speaker 1: Offensive Lineman got paid. Now. Look, you know, Tremaine Edmonds,
Speaker 1: t J. Edwards, those guys got giant contracts. So there's
Speaker 1: there's some out there, for sure, you know, but but
Speaker 1: especially Offensive. But you know, I think you you see
Speaker 1: Laramie Tunsil twenty five million, Orlando Brown got I think
Speaker 1: fifty million bucks up front, Joan Taylor got a sixty
Speaker 1: million dollars deal, Mike McGlinchey got an eighty seven million
Speaker 1: dollar deal, Trey Pipkins got his twenty five million dollars deal.
Speaker 1: So there was money thrown around, but it was thrown
Speaker 1: around very I don't want to say carefully specifically. It
Speaker 1: was an offensive line free agent year. Last year was
Speaker 1: a wide receiver free agent year. This was a linebacker
Speaker 1: free agent year. So and once you get those big
Speaker 1: contracts out of the way, we're now in that second
Speaker 1: wave of free agency. And these are the deals that
Speaker 1: you see, and these are the deals that ultimately pay
Speaker 1: off the players that are getting the giant, you know,
Speaker 1: the giant numbers. You always got to ask yourself, what
Speaker 1: are we? What are we doing here? Like? What are we?
Speaker 1: Why is this? Why is John Taylor being you know,
Speaker 1: let go at a super premium position that you never
Speaker 1: want to let go of when you're a team you
Speaker 1: draft you. DJ mentioned this on his podcast Unmoved the
Speaker 1: Sticks this week. I can't remember how he worded it,
Speaker 1: but the percentage of I think it goes like this.
Speaker 1: The percentage of first round picks that are still on
Speaker 1: the team that drafted them for a second contract is
Speaker 1: highest with quarterbacks, second highest with offensive linemen. It is
Speaker 1: draft and stay because they once you have one, you're
Speaker 1: not letting them go. So that's what's interesting about the
Speaker 1: guys that do move. And Orlando Brown is now on
Speaker 1: his third team, and that's someone and now he was
Speaker 1: not a first round pick, but he was a Pro
Speaker 1: bowler and was let go, was traded to Kansas City,
Speaker 1: and Kansas City won a Super Bowl with him, and
Speaker 1: so we're good, you can go. And now they're replacing
Speaker 1: them with a guy that's never played left tackle, maybe
Speaker 1: like a couple of snaps that they're going to move
Speaker 1: from right tackle to left tackle. And that's the kind
Speaker 1: of risk you got to take. So that's a long
Speaker 1: way to get to your point of what's going on
Speaker 1: this free agency period. There's been money out there, you know,
Speaker 1: Money's moved around in trades. Brandon Cooks, Darren Waller, some
Speaker 1: of these guys are moving in trades, and it's a
Speaker 1: lot of money. We mentioned Darren Waller seventeen million dollars salaries.
Speaker 1: So John Smith twelve and a half million bucks moves
Speaker 1: to Atlanta to reunite with Arthur Smith. So there's money
Speaker 1: moving around it just some years. It's weird, and I
Speaker 1: guess the best way to put it is this, This
Speaker 1: has been a little bit of a weird year for
Speaker 1: value and teams still don't have a lot of money
Speaker 1: to spend. Yeah, which chargers. Chargers benefit from that. Bringing
Speaker 1: Morgan Fox back and you know you talk about this
Speaker 1: right tackle, left tackle, whatever it is, getting Trey Pipkins
Speaker 1: back looks better and better when you look at the
Speaker 1: salaries that are being doled at around the league. All right, guys,
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Speaker 1: or search NFL on Location today your football experience of
Speaker 1: a lifetime of weights only with on location. One position
Speaker 1: that's always seems devalued is the running back position. Austin
Speaker 1: Eckler was on Chris Long's podcast kind of discussing his
Speaker 1: current situation, and you know, just paraphrasing, he said, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's not like I want to be out of LA
Speaker 1: I hate the Chargers because I want to be back.
Speaker 1: But he just wants to be back on different terms.
Speaker 1: And he says he's outplayed his contract. He's you know,
Speaker 1: going to score twenty touchdowns this year for whoever team
Speaker 1: he plays for. And this is where it just gets interesting.
Speaker 1: And I see both sides of this man. I see
Speaker 1: the front office a side as it relates to the
Speaker 1: running back position, and I certainly see the player's side.
Speaker 1: And you know, I always feel like at some point
Speaker 1: and I saw somebody tweet this or write about it.
Speaker 1: I don't remember who it was, but it's so true.
Speaker 1: Like I think that running backs should be able to
Speaker 1: hit free agency earlier in their career because that position
Speaker 1: gets beat up and by the time you're thirty year
Speaker 1: career is done, you know, so if you want to
Speaker 1: get paid, I'll never forget. I remember twenty twelve when
Speaker 1: the now Washington Committeds drafted RG three. Right, they drafted
Speaker 1: running back named Alfred Morris in the seventh round, ends
Speaker 1: up breaking John Riggins's rushing record. Right. He was awesome
Speaker 1: for the first two or three years of his career,
Speaker 1: but he was a seventh round pick, never got paid,
Speaker 1: and by the time his contract was up, it was over.
Speaker 1: You know, he wasn't going to get that big money contract.
Speaker 1: So I see the running back side of this. As
Speaker 1: far as Austin is concerned, listen, I get his frustrations.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, there's a lot of running
Speaker 1: backs out there right now that you could plug in
Speaker 1: and they could be a you know, a one two
Speaker 1: punch or a primary runner. And I don't want to
Speaker 1: say you're not going to miss a beat, but you know,
Speaker 1: the way that the Chargers offense has constructed money. When
Speaker 1: you have Keenan and Mike and Gerald and whoever else
Speaker 1: is going to be in the backfield this year, that's
Speaker 1: still a lot of weapons. Josh Palmer is still a
Speaker 1: lot of weapons for Justin Herbert. This is where two things.
Speaker 1: One Austin could not have been more classy, and the
Speaker 1: way he answered the question and explained the situation didn't
Speaker 1: take shots at the Chargers, and he shouldn't. It's a
Speaker 1: team that put him on a roster undrafted out of
Speaker 1: Western Colorado essentially shows him over the first round pick
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon. When they gave him that four year, twenty
Speaker 1: eight million dollar extension, he got paid early. He got
Speaker 1: paid on potential what they envisioned coming. So I'm not
Speaker 1: saying he was always underpaid or always or at one
Speaker 1: moment he was overpaid, but they they gave him money
Speaker 1: based on what they thought was to come. He was.
Speaker 1: It was a it was a running back by committee
Speaker 1: to some degree. Melvin was still the lead back, and
Speaker 1: they said, you know what we're gon We're gonna give
Speaker 1: you a lot of money for a second running back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna give you twenty whatever it was twenty six
Speaker 1: or twenty eight million bucks. I don't remember what the
Speaker 1: contract was, but it was four years somewhere between those two.
Speaker 1: So I think he appreciates that. I think he recognizes,
Speaker 1: you know, this isn't just because the last two years
Speaker 1: I've severely outperformed this contract doesn't mean that that there's
Speaker 1: some sort of you know, ill will or malice directed
Speaker 1: at him from the Chargers when he asked for a
Speaker 1: new deal. I think it. So that's that's one thing
Speaker 1: I want to acknowledge, because some players they don't behave,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't shouldn't say behave, They don't present
Speaker 1: things that way. They get angry, they take shots and
Speaker 1: they forget. Let's forget what you know, where you were
Speaker 1: when this contract came. You know, you got a first
Speaker 1: round pick who's playing at a pretty decent level in
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon, and they gave you this money. So I
Speaker 1: think he recognized that. My second thing is probably didn't
Speaker 1: see and the agent probably did not find anything out there.
Speaker 1: And so now he's got a sort of regroup. Understand.
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave the Chargers. I want things
Speaker 1: to work out with them. If they found what they
Speaker 1: want that's not going to be the position. It's there's
Speaker 1: other people that value my services more in line with
Speaker 1: what I believe I should be compensated. And even though
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss the Chargers, it's time for us to
Speaker 1: each go our separate ways because clearly we're at different
Speaker 1: points in our careers and have different visions of what
Speaker 1: I'm working. You know. So my guess is he didn't
Speaker 1: find it. Yeah, reless I pursue it still, he says,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna relentlessly pursue whatever that is, whatever that team
Speaker 1: is in that contract. And it seems like you said,
Speaker 1: I've always thought that work in progress. Yeah, I've always
Speaker 1: thought this. The solution to this is going to be
Speaker 1: a short extension from the Chargers. They'll tack on a
Speaker 1: year because he look, he's gonna be twenty eight in
Speaker 1: a month or in two months, right, so he's gonna
Speaker 1: play this season at twenty eight, He'll play next season
Speaker 1: at twenty nine, and from there, that's it. You know,
Speaker 1: they just that's it. Go go look at the numbers.
Speaker 1: There are no thirty year old running backs that are
Speaker 1: still construt you know. People want to point to the
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey contract. He's two years younger, so that's a
Speaker 1: huge difference because once running backs get to twenty nine,
Speaker 1: that's when teams are just going no, not gonna do it.
Speaker 1: We's it's happened too any times when you give the extension,
Speaker 1: and do I think Austin could be an outlier? One
Speaker 1: hundred percent? He busts his tail, He's an incredible shape,
Speaker 1: but just the nuts. That's more thinking with as a
Speaker 1: fan and as a fan of Austin, as a fan
Speaker 1: of the Chargers, that's what you want to see happen.
Speaker 1: But what history tells you and what statistics tell you
Speaker 1: is it's not going to So you can't afford to
Speaker 1: tie up twelve fourteen million bucks and a guy in
Speaker 1: his age thirty and thirty one season, which is why
Speaker 1: I think what I'm guessing is he's going to be
Speaker 1: a Charger next year, whether or not. It's going to
Speaker 1: be a little acrimonious and it's a hold in and
Speaker 1: he just plays on this last year six point two
Speaker 1: five million dollar deal, you know, six point two five
Speaker 1: million that's left on his contract from the extension, or
Speaker 1: if they are able to figure something out and tack
Speaker 1: on another year, maybe bump that thing up a little bit,
Speaker 1: maybe give an extra million bucks, you know, extra two
Speaker 1: million bucks or something from the last two years of production. Asay, hey, thanks,
Speaker 1: you know, here's some extra scratch. We do appreciate you.
Speaker 1: It's just the economics of the game. It's it's the
Speaker 1: reality of the position, your situation, and what history tells us.
Speaker 1: You know what, when we use history as a guide,
Speaker 1: what it looks like. And that's unfortunately for Austin at
Speaker 1: this age, at twenty seven this year, turning twenty eight
Speaker 1: in May, and then twenty nine next year, that's that's
Speaker 1: typically it and then it's all going to be proven deals. Sobody,
Speaker 1: what do you think the mindset of the Chargers in
Speaker 1: tom to let's go in the front office is at
Speaker 1: this point because you did you granted him permission to
Speaker 1: seek a trade and to talk to other teams. As
Speaker 1: far as you know right now, he's probably still doing
Speaker 1: that and you know, trying to figure out what the
Speaker 1: landscape is. At the same time, you have to take
Speaker 1: care of your team, not knowing if Austin's gonna go
Speaker 1: somewhere and get a deal that that he likes and
Speaker 1: the Chargers like what do you do as the general
Speaker 1: manager as far as the running game is concerned. Are
Speaker 1: you good with the guys you currently have? Do you
Speaker 1: sign a Veteran's a lot of them out there right now,
Speaker 1: there's no votes. No. It goes back to what we
Speaker 1: were talking about, how they need more rookies on rookie
Speaker 1: contracts for depth. So my guess is the compensation that
Speaker 1: they would consider trading Austin for If I had to guess,
Speaker 1: there's no way it's anything less than a two. It's
Speaker 1: got to be a two. And my guess is that's
Speaker 1: where they fill the running back. They draft Charbonnet in
Speaker 1: the second or something along those lines, it would be
Speaker 1: another rookie. So that's and otherwise Austin's coming back, we'll
Speaker 1: get a team's two. We'll have our one, we'll have
Speaker 1: two twos. We can figure something out. And if Robinson's
Speaker 1: there at twenty one, take him because now you've got
Speaker 1: the extra second to fill another position. There's your two
Speaker 1: that you don't have to trade out of, right, So
Speaker 1: that's that's what I figure they would do, is it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a rookie or it's gonna be Austin. You know,
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly Isaiah Spiller a rookie or Josh Kelly Isaiah
Speaker 1: Spiller Austin Eckler are the two options. Yeah, moving forward,
Speaker 1: that's my guess. Yeah, And that's the name. The name
Speaker 1: of Isaiah Spiller is the one that we're still just
Speaker 1: you know, wait, wait and see, and you hope that
Speaker 1: that's the guy that pops right. I mean, no idea,
Speaker 1: We have no clue, no idea, no clue, no idea.
Speaker 1: So I would draft a running back every year though,
Speaker 1: That's what I would do. I would take one every
Speaker 1: single year. I would draft offensive lineman every year. I
Speaker 1: would drop two offensive linemen every year. I would draft
Speaker 1: a running back every year. I drafted a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: We've had this conversation. My team doesn't play defense. As
Speaker 1: a general manager, I don't I figure that out. Whatever,
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about defense. I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: in an advision with Patrick Mahomes. He can't be stopped
Speaker 1: speaking of that. Speaking of that, are you comfortable with
Speaker 1: Easton Stick? Is your number two? So a couple of
Speaker 1: things there. One selfishly, yes, he's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: players on the roster. He says he could have a
Speaker 1: dude he's the best guy. And the reason I bring
Speaker 1: that up after I think last week we discussed the
Speaker 1: emotional You don't want to get caught with these guys.
Speaker 1: So the reason I bring that up is that's a
Speaker 1: huge part of his role is what is your disposition?
Speaker 1: What kind of person are you? You're the backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: You're here to support Justin. You're here to do everything
Speaker 1: you can to make him the best quarterback he can be,
Speaker 1: not be ready if your numbers called, but you're here
Speaker 1: to support him. Easton's you want to be around him.
Speaker 1: He's just a great dude. And I think he and
Speaker 1: Herbert are very similar guys North Dakota, Oregon. They both
Speaker 1: are outdoorsman, so I think that goes a long way
Speaker 1: is to have that connection. It was Philip and Kellen Clements.
Speaker 1: There was just a level of comfort there and that's
Speaker 1: why this guy, you know, is in our room. Easton
Speaker 1: is incredibly smart, incredibly smart, so that helps too. Justin
Speaker 1: comes off the field. Easton's the type of player that
Speaker 1: processes lightning fast. So when Justin comes off and immediately
Speaker 1: comes to the sideline, and you know there's Doug nus
Speaker 1: Meyer's quarterback coach, and and Easton, what did you see?
Speaker 1: Bang bang bang? Easton saw it all right away. That
Speaker 1: that's the asset. The second thing is something we brought
Speaker 1: up a couple of weeks ago. Does Kellen Moore want
Speaker 1: to bring Cooper Rush with him? Much like Joe Lombardy
Speaker 1: brought Chase Daniel? So it also tells me what kind
Speaker 1: of guy Kellen Moore is that because I'm sure they're
Speaker 1: making the same money. Any you know, Cooper could be
Speaker 1: his you know, if Kellen's upstairs, Colin plays Cooper's down
Speaker 1: there for Kellen next to Justin to be an extension
Speaker 1: of Kellen, for Kellen to recognize, No, we're fine. You know,
Speaker 1: Justin likes this guy. I'm not going to force my
Speaker 1: guy on Justin. I want Justin Herbert to be comfortable,
Speaker 1: so I want him to have his guy. I think
Speaker 1: that says a lot about the type of coach that
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore is that, instead of shoving his guy on
Speaker 1: him like Joe did, No, you need you need Chase
Speaker 1: Daniel in that room. I need to have Chase here
Speaker 1: all right now? We got to carry three quarterbacks because
Speaker 1: Justin really likes Easton, but Joe really likes Chase, there
Speaker 1: goes a roster spot. It's a complete waste of one
Speaker 1: point eight million bucks in my opinion for Chase Daniel.
Speaker 1: And you know it's a double whammy. Now you can
Speaker 1: get away with Carrie in two quarterbacks instead of three,
Speaker 1: and Kellen and Justin and are totally good with the
Speaker 1: quarterback room. Yeah, the question mark is obviously listen, I always,
Speaker 1: I always subscribe to this. We spend so much money
Speaker 1: on quarterbacks in the NFL, and this is a very
Speaker 1: violent sport. You know, knock on would if anything happens
Speaker 1: and you're down your first string quarterback for a month,
Speaker 1: you have to ask yourself, can can my backup hold
Speaker 1: down the fort for a month? Right? Can they win?
Speaker 1: Can they go two and two? Can they go three
Speaker 1: and one? And I'm not saying Easton can't because I
Speaker 1: think that he really hasn't gotten that opportunity to show
Speaker 1: what he can do like I would have. I would
Speaker 1: have liked to see Easton as the number two quarterback
Speaker 1: last year. So you run into this kind of dilemma
Speaker 1: where all right, there's veterans out there, Um, they're gonna
Speaker 1: cost money, but is that money worth it to have
Speaker 1: an insurance policy of a of a veteran who's won games,
Speaker 1: who you can say, hey, if my guy goes down
Speaker 1: for a little bit, this guy is. This guy can
Speaker 1: come in and do his thing. So, like I go
Speaker 1: back and forth, especially with a quarterback as elite as
Speaker 1: justin I feel like the better quarterback that you have money,
Speaker 1: it's like you almost have to you almost have to
Speaker 1: get a guy you can never equal it. But but
Speaker 1: a veteran who you would be comfortable with for a
Speaker 1: month without your number one, and I hope he's in.
Speaker 1: Is that guy? I really do because we love him.
Speaker 1: But I'm just not sure. And I don't know where
Speaker 1: do you fall on that, because I do think that
Speaker 1: that backup quarterback I would invest a lot if I
Speaker 1: was a GEO. So you make a great point, except
Speaker 1: I'll disagree with you in one aspect of it, And
Speaker 1: that's the window if if your starter is down four games,
Speaker 1: you're probably screwed. It's just the reality in the NFL
Speaker 1: with how much, like you said, with how much money
Speaker 1: quarterbacks make, you're probably screwed. Now, Cooper Rush did it
Speaker 1: last year for Dak Right. It worked and they ended
Speaker 1: up making we thought season and Cooper Rush plays great. Typically,
Speaker 1: and this is just me interpreting what I've heard about
Speaker 1: front offices. They want the backup quarterback to win a half.
Speaker 1: If my guy's got to go out and we got
Speaker 1: to lead at halftime and you now have to play
Speaker 1: the third and fourth quarter, can we maintain that lead?
Speaker 1: Can we win the game? That's what I need you
Speaker 1: to do, and worst case scenario, I need you next week.
Speaker 1: Six quarters is typically what they're looking at. Can my
Speaker 1: guy go out and win six quarters of football? So yes,
Speaker 1: I think Easton can do that, and I know he's
Speaker 1: shown very little that would lead the people listening to believe, like,
Speaker 1: why would you say that? For me, it's just something
Speaker 1: that we talked about with Drew. Instincts, processing smarts, understanding
Speaker 1: the system, and Easton's athletic you could make You could
Speaker 1: cut the field and half have him do a bunch
Speaker 1: of rollouts, designed runs. You know, he's an athlete. Easton
Speaker 1: could be a Taysom Hill like player. I believe he's
Speaker 1: not quite as big or as thick, but he's big
Speaker 1: enough and he's enough that he could end up doing
Speaker 1: something like that. So that's that's kind of the way
Speaker 1: I look at it. Can you win six quarters, and
Speaker 1: I think Easton can do that. And for me, the
Speaker 1: more important part of it is how how is he
Speaker 1: in the room. What does he do to make Justin
Speaker 1: a better quarterback? And by all accounts for those that
Speaker 1: work with him and are around the team a lot,
Speaker 1: Justin really likes having him in the room. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing. But I think the one,
Speaker 1: the one thing that'll go overlooked, I'll just repeat it
Speaker 1: real quick, is what Kellen Moore, how his role in
Speaker 1: this was and why I really appreciate that compared to
Speaker 1: the guy we had last and the player that he
Speaker 1: wanted on this roster in order to execute what his
Speaker 1: vision was. I really appreciate that Kellen is comfortable with
Speaker 1: whatever Justin's comfortable with and not insisting upon having a
Speaker 1: guy as a backup to somehow interpret what he's trying
Speaker 1: to convey, no doubt. You know. The one example I
Speaker 1: Jacoby Brisset last year. He had the Browns in every
Speaker 1: freaking game, man, and really those losses really were not
Speaker 1: on him. I mean the defense faltered. See that's a
Speaker 1: different backup, Chris, you know, like that's a different backup.
Speaker 1: Now you're spending and they paid him in accordingly. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be a half season starter, so we're gonna give
Speaker 1: you ten million bucks. And that's when you look at
Speaker 1: is the ten million worth it? Because we expect Justin
Speaker 1: to play seventeen games. So Andy Dalton we knew was
Speaker 1: gonna challenge Jamis. They weren't sure if Jamis was the guy.
Speaker 1: We knew that Mitch Trubisky was gonna was gonna probably start,
Speaker 1: and you know, Kenny Pickett was going to be the
Speaker 1: backup to start, and the hope was Mitch's the starter
Speaker 1: all year. That's a different backup than you know Jared's.
Speaker 1: Here's this is the interesting one. Jared Stidham sean payer
Speaker 1: coming in like, hey, I don't know, Russell, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I hope you're the guy, but I don't know. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring Jared Stidman at four and a half
Speaker 1: million bucks a year, a big number when your quarterback's
Speaker 1: making forty eight million bucks, because I don't know. You know,
Speaker 1: if you know, then it looks like Chad Henny at
Speaker 1: thirty eight years old behind Patrick Mahomes. That's that's the difference.
Speaker 1: When it's Cooper rushed behind Dak Prescott. It's Mahasselbeck with
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck exactly. It's you know, that's what it looks.
Speaker 1: Curtis Painter behind Peyton Manning, Jim Sorgi behind Peyton Manning.
Speaker 1: That's what it looks like. So this is in step
Speaker 1: with having I don't even know who Joe Burrow's backup is.
Speaker 1: I was trying to wrap it was Aj mccaren, I
Speaker 1: think for a second, but I don't know who it is,
Speaker 1: Like hit the XFL baby, Yeah, so that this is
Speaker 1: what the backup looks like. When you have a Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: you expect him to play seventeen games. You've built your
Speaker 1: team for him to play seventeen games, and if he
Speaker 1: goes down, oh boy, yeah, we'll wrap on this. Pro
Speaker 1: days all around the NFL. Man, And this isn't really
Speaker 1: charged related, but I guess it is applicable because there
Speaker 1: could be five quarterbacks taken before twenty one. Man, the
Speaker 1: hooker thing is is fascinating because if he does get selected,
Speaker 1: he'll probably the fifth quarterback. And the Chargers, you know,
Speaker 1: we worked to the sixteen essentially. What are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on what the Panthers may do at number one overall.
Speaker 1: I think they have like fourteen people at Stroud's Pro
Speaker 1: day today. So I still think Bryce Young's the best quarterback.
Speaker 1: I'm biased, of course, He's my day kid. I watched
Speaker 1: what I thought was some of the best high school
Speaker 1: football I've ever seen in my life when he was quarterbacking.
Speaker 1: You could see it at that level, and obviously you
Speaker 1: saw it at Alabama. Everybody says the same thing, and
Speaker 1: it's it's foolish to say because it's just not the case. Yes, obviously,
Speaker 1: if Bryce Young is six foot two, two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifteen pounds, he's in the conversation with Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: Trevor Lauren as one of these elite players that you
Speaker 1: are so lucky you've got the number one pick in
Speaker 1: the draft. But because he's five foot ten and he
Speaker 1: is small, I know he weighed in at two hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: but he's just a slight player. He's not He's not
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, he's not Russell Wilson. These guys that are
Speaker 1: short but they're stout. That's not Bryce. He's slight and
Speaker 1: he's short, but man, is he good. And every quarterback
Speaker 1: has flaws, every single one of them. That. You know, CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud isn't athletic enough. Will Levice a year wasn't that great?
Speaker 1: Was it because he was injured? Was he behind an
Speaker 1: offensive line? Anthony Richardson is super athletic, but is incredibly raw.
Speaker 1: Accuracy issues some real stinkers, Uh did not have a
Speaker 1: winning record, all that sort of stuff going ahead of
Speaker 1: those guys. I can't see that. I can't see him.
Speaker 1: You can, I can. I can see it just because
Speaker 1: of how ridiculous it is. It is. He's a physical
Speaker 1: freak complete it is when he's he's sort of not
Speaker 1: like he's not joking in terms of the physical profile.
Speaker 1: When he calls himself Cam Jackson, you know, or Lamar Newton,
Speaker 1: he's that fast, he's that big, he's that strong. The
Speaker 1: problem is Mark Jackson won the Heisman, Cam Newton won
Speaker 1: a national championship. Anthony Richardson has done nothing but post
Speaker 1: to losing record in his one season full season as
Speaker 1: a starter. So there's the issue. So each what I'm getting,
Speaker 1: as each of them have issues, I'm going to take
Speaker 1: the best guy and cross my fingers that the issue
Speaker 1: that the issue with Bryce Young being too small doesn't
Speaker 1: show up. I'm gonna invest heavily on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: heavily in a run game. I'm going to protect the
Speaker 1: heck out of him. And that's that's what I would do.
Speaker 1: There's people that, Yeah, Thomas Davis old friend alert on
Speaker 1: NFL work says he thinks it's Anthony Richardson that he
Speaker 1: thinks they want to they want to try to recreate
Speaker 1: that cam frenzy that really had Panthers fans frothing at
Speaker 1: the mouth and helped take him to a super Bowl
Speaker 1: and one an MVP, and that they want to they
Speaker 1: want that again, and that Richardson would be the guy
Speaker 1: at number one. So yeah, if it were me, would
Speaker 1: be Bryce. And I also hear not yeah, I was
Speaker 1: gonna say. You also hear whispers that Frank Reich likes
Speaker 1: big quarterbacks and you know, Josh McCown's quarterback coach, big guy.
Speaker 1: He said, not necessarily, Um, I don't know the way
Speaker 1: shrouded through at the combine. And just like you said,
Speaker 1: Bryce is just just put on the tape, right, just
Speaker 1: put on the tape like those two guys. I think
Speaker 1: he's the best quarterback. Yeah. Yeah, Like that's the thing
Speaker 1: is there's a there's a gap there is a gap
Speaker 1: between Bryce Young and everybody else in terms of what's
Speaker 1: on tape. So for me, I would just again, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of draft capital to give up to go
Speaker 1: up to number one, but I would rather take the
Speaker 1: risk that I can keep the best quarterback healthy as
Speaker 1: opposed to I can get CJ. Stroud to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more athletic, because you've got to be able
Speaker 1: to move in this league. And that Will Levis was
Speaker 1: a product of his environment and a beat up old
Speaker 1: line in the SEC and myriad injuries that prevented him
Speaker 1: from playing at an incredibly high level. And I'll bet
Speaker 1: on those physical tools or just the raw the high
Speaker 1: high high ceiling and low low low floor of Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 1: I'd rather take the Bryce Young risk. Yeah, agreed, Hey,
Speaker 1: speaking of old friend alert that are linebackers Denzel Perriman
Speaker 1: going to the Texans? Oh about that? So there we go,
Speaker 1: goinge that play me go physical tough guy, Paraman, physical
Speaker 1: tough guy, smart player, one of my favorite Chargers. Just
Speaker 1: again in that same lane of couldn't stay healthy, and
Speaker 1: it's it's unfortunate now that his not staying healthy was
Speaker 1: a product of the way he plays football. Chris Manny
Speaker 1: makes you pay when you come to meet him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I remember doing a podcast with him and Casey Hayward
Speaker 1: and Casey just heav he died just talking about the
Speaker 1: way that Denzel plays. He's like, oh, not today, Denzel
Speaker 1: knocking your knocking your block off man. When he was
Speaker 1: at Miami and coming out for the draft, and Bucky
Speaker 1: and I were doing the draft podcast before DJ showed
Speaker 1: up to do move the Sticks and all that, we
Speaker 1: had Denzel in he was making the rounds as a
Speaker 1: you know, incoming college player. He showed up into the
Speaker 1: studio in a sleeveless shirt and I just remember him
Speaker 1: walking and I was like, how do you even escape
Speaker 1: those arms? Like, once those arms get around you, it's
Speaker 1: just you're over. It's done. This guy's gonna have zero
Speaker 1: mistackles because once he makes contact, you're done. He's so
Speaker 1: good for him. I hope he got a big number
Speaker 1: and he keeps the career going because he's he's one
Speaker 1: of my favorites and a very likable person too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I miss that guy. All right, money, we'll wrap it up,
Speaker 1: I get We'll go draft heavy. You know, we got
Speaker 1: a month away till till the first round, and as
Speaker 1: these pro days come pouring in, we'll get a draft experts,
Speaker 1: or maybe we get dj on before before the Chargers pick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if he'd agreed to
Speaker 1: do it, and he's tough guy to track down. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe he's a he's a busy man though,
Speaker 1: you know. So I don't know if we're on the
Speaker 1: top of the docket, but maybe we can get him.
Speaker 1: I think he's he's done. He's he's got to get
Speaker 1: everything done by the combine. Once he gets past the combine,
Speaker 1: and he's already done all these guys. He's great at um.
Speaker 1: He's got it all laid out. There's now he's just
Speaker 1: pounding the pavement and working the phones and try, oh
Speaker 1: get some answers, you know. So his his heavy lifting
Speaker 1: of watching all that tape and preparing for six hundred
Speaker 1: guys and stuff like that. He's already got that squared away.
Speaker 1: The hay is in the barn for Daniel Joe. There
Speaker 1: you go, all right, guys, I appreciate you listening and watching.
Speaker 1: As always for money, I'm Chris. This has been Chargers
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