Speaker 1: What's up, guys. Welcome into a brand new episode of
Speaker 1: Chargers Weekly as always, joined by Matt money Smith, fresh
Speaker 1: off of a groundbreaking ceremony in El Segundo Money I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to attend, but it looked awesome and it's
Speaker 1: just a new era of Chargers football. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: when you when you roll up there, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was fortunate that the Chargers asked me to to
Speaker 1: sort of em see it and get old Mayor Chris
Speaker 1: Pimentel out there, and the guy that's running the whole
Speaker 1: show from whatever construction it is, she's now. I'm already
Speaker 1: blanking on his name, Roberts, his first name, but I
Speaker 1: don't want to call him Roberts. Seemed like he had
Speaker 1: a much more formal title than that. Dame Spanos was
Speaker 1: there obviously and spoke, and Justin derwent all out. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a heck of a celebration. A lot of folks,
Speaker 1: Jennie Buss, Linda Rambis came out, Luke Roboti came out.
Speaker 1: Of course, they're just right up the block, the King's facility,
Speaker 1: right up the block from the Lakers facility, and sort
Speaker 1: of my theme was, as I, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of opened the ceremony. You know, I've been covering sports
Speaker 1: here for twenty six years and I've spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time in El Segundo. You know, when they opened
Speaker 1: Health South as it was called in ninety nine for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, you had those back to back to back
Speaker 1: titles that immediately followed, and we're at practice every day
Speaker 1: in El Segundo and then the King's kind of get
Speaker 1: on their little mini role there. It wasn't Stanley Cup run,
Speaker 1: but you know, with the debt or lappy kind of crew,
Speaker 1: and they knock off the Red Wings in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and so Elsa Gundo was kind of a spot, you know,
Speaker 1: where where things happened and now it still is. And
Speaker 1: to kind of have I think, that support and to
Speaker 1: see Genie there and to see Luke Robotie there and
Speaker 1: and just sort of the connection between the professional franchises
Speaker 1: here in town was was really neat. And the other
Speaker 1: thing that stood out to me, Chris, was just proximity
Speaker 1: and to have a what I believe is logistical advantage.
Speaker 1: You know, we've we've traveled with the team. You know,
Speaker 1: they're in Costa Mesa, and when you're going up to Lax.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the four or five is not being too kind
Speaker 1: to you, and you can sit on that smiling because
Speaker 1: it's logistics off the rif baby again. Right, So I
Speaker 1: just think about you know, players sitting on the bus
Speaker 1: for an hour sometimes you know, hour and a half
Speaker 1: of trap. It's really bad. Even though we got the
Speaker 1: police escort. Nothing you can do. Um, this is a
Speaker 1: mile away. I mean you shoot straight up Nash and
Speaker 1: you're at the Atlantic Terminal and um or Sepulvada and
Speaker 1: you're at the Atlantic Terminal sou logistically seven miles. I
Speaker 1: think it is from so far three from Lax. And
Speaker 1: it's just a giant It is a giant parcel of land.
Speaker 1: I mean it is three full football fields and a
Speaker 1: state of the art training facility that's gonna be built there.
Speaker 1: And is you know, gonna be with these Chargers. Probably
Speaker 1: be for I would I don't know, at least a
Speaker 1: quarter century, three decades. Yeah, it's a big deal. And
Speaker 1: to your point with El Segundo man the Lakers. I
Speaker 1: worked for the Lakers for nine years. Grand Avenue, Nash
Speaker 1: were the Kings and Lakers have the facilit OLITYUM just
Speaker 1: to have that association with those teams be up closer
Speaker 1: to Inglewood, closer to Sofi. Orange County is beautiful, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, but I don't think players will mind
Speaker 1: living in the South Bay, maybe in Hermo submit at Beach.
Speaker 1: But you're right, getting to Lax is like five minutes.
Speaker 1: So logistically, if you get on the road, you hop on,
Speaker 1: you hop on, what is it century or whatever, and
Speaker 1: you're there like two minutes. Yeah, it's just your height
Speaker 1: up up, You'll you'll pull out a Hughes Way and
Speaker 1: you'll you'll head up Spulvida and you'll be at Lax.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're there. It's it's it's that easy when
Speaker 1: you can. Plus, you know, look, I know this isn't
Speaker 1: the most sizzling you know of conversations, but you come
Speaker 1: home and you land at Lax at two am, because
Speaker 1: so many of our games are on the East Coast,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's a long flight back. It's tough
Speaker 1: playing football on the West Coast. It's a heck of
Speaker 1: a lot tougher than playing in the Midwest or on
Speaker 1: the Eastern Seaboard. Those teams have so many short trips,
Speaker 1: you know, forty minutes from New York to you know,
Speaker 1: twenty five thirty minutes on a flight from New York
Speaker 1: to Philly to DC to Buffalo Chicago. You're centralized, you know,
Speaker 1: for the West Coast. You know, you wear it. And
Speaker 1: it's why when you look at the travel for all
Speaker 1: these teams year in and year out, it's either the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: the Rams, the forty nine Ers, or the Chargers that
Speaker 1: end up with the most miles traveled year in and
Speaker 1: year out. So to have a bus trip after you
Speaker 1: land at two am back to a facility that's two
Speaker 1: minutes away instead of forty five minutes away before you
Speaker 1: get in your car and you can head home when
Speaker 1: you're putting head to pillow at four am, Now now
Speaker 1: you know you get an extra hour. I think that
Speaker 1: you end up saving. Now that's going to help a lot.
Speaker 1: I think. You know, we've learned so much about you know,
Speaker 1: sort of taking care of your body and what rest
Speaker 1: does for you and things like that that that this
Speaker 1: is this is a big upright you said it. I
Speaker 1: love Orange County. You know that I've lived here for
Speaker 1: twenty two years. I love love this part of the
Speaker 1: Greater Los Angeles area. Certainly would never leave it but
Speaker 1: for the Chargers. This makes a ton of sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was. I asked for questions. One of the questions
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you know this or not. Well,
Speaker 1: the Chargers to be able to have training camp there.
Speaker 1: I know we're a couple of years out, but I
Speaker 1: means big enough for sure. Right, that's the plan, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the plan they in terms of I think they're
Speaker 1: talking about close to four hundred parking spots and the
Speaker 1: way they they talked about doing the field for training camp,
Speaker 1: it would be um, it would be fan accessible, They'd
Speaker 1: be able to build bleachers in there. They have plenty
Speaker 1: of parking where they would be able to accommodate fans
Speaker 1: come in. And so I think that is the plan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: training camp will be held on site in al Segundo.
Speaker 1: There you go and like I said, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a great place for fans to come out. You got
Speaker 1: the beach there, go to training. You can. You can
Speaker 1: do everything in a in a in an afternoon money,
Speaker 1: go to practice and then hit up Manhattan Beach and
Speaker 1: there you go go to Simsey's and call it a
Speaker 1: call it a day surfel Portal and get your aspect
Speaker 1: and have a great, great time surf s pipe. If
Speaker 1: it's January and you know, maybe contract something that you
Speaker 1: don't want. I'll say this though, you know, living on
Speaker 1: the you know, living in very close proximity to the beach,
Speaker 1: and also Gundo's no different. May be talking about some
Speaker 1: early morning practices out there because you know, the wind
Speaker 1: gets whipping so the afternoon that that win. You know,
Speaker 1: like yesterday everybody out there was like, oh I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize it got this winning. It's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's three thirty and the wind gets whipping
Speaker 1: and get layer in the morning too. We get you know,
Speaker 1: don't you don't have the set, It'll be fine, great,
Speaker 1: be good. Get used to some morning practices. Um, hey,
Speaker 1: last week was was awesome. We had a we had
Speaker 1: a great podcast breaking down the schedule. I think you
Speaker 1: guys liked it and we appreciate the feedback. Um. One
Speaker 1: of the things that they asked us, Buddy, and we
Speaker 1: just didn't have an opportunity to do it because we
Speaker 1: taped the podcast before the schedule came out. Right now,
Speaker 1: like why didn't you break down the the anime schedule release?
Speaker 1: And I felt terrible. I'm like, listen, it's not like
Speaker 1: we ignored it. Believe me, if we would have seen it,
Speaker 1: we would have talked about it. We had access to
Speaker 1: the schedule before all you foods had it. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: were able to knock it out and get that thing
Speaker 1: fired off the second it was released. Then, yes, they
Speaker 1: they had the the anime embargoed. They would not let
Speaker 1: us see it because they knew how darned excited i'd
Speaker 1: have been. And I can't keep my mouth shut. I
Speaker 1: got loose lips. There's nothing I would have been. You
Speaker 1: know therese if you haven't seen it, I'm sure you
Speaker 1: have if you're listening to this podcast, But you know,
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen it twenty times, you've likely missed
Speaker 1: something because there are so many little nuggets in there.
Speaker 1: And props to the Chargers for signing off on it
Speaker 1: and throwing shade at all their opponents. You know, nobody
Speaker 1: was safe. Everybody except forbody was safe. I think the
Speaker 1: Texans I still have not. I didn't find anything on
Speaker 1: the Texans. What about the dolphins. The dolphins seem pretty tan.
Speaker 1: You're just kind of you know, you're riding a dolphin.
Speaker 1: I guess that's yeah, there was nothing subtle. There were
Speaker 1: no subtle digs there, so but outside of that, there's plenty.
Speaker 1: Family trust. That's my favorite. Family trust. Respect was my favorite.
Speaker 1: Moving forward, there's no radar week already, there's no rivalry
Speaker 1: between the Jags and Chargers that I know of, But
Speaker 1: that was my favorite slide. Well, just incredible even at
Speaker 1: that The subtlety of that one. We know, we know
Speaker 1: who was underneath that that Jaguar mask, right, but oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the TVs had Phillips ninety yard touchdown when he's yelling
Speaker 1: at Yannick and Dockway from years ago. I mean, those
Speaker 1: are the subtleties at each slide is incredible. It was,
Speaker 1: It was Graham glad. Everybody was entertained by it. I
Speaker 1: say it repeatedly. I'll say it again. It's the best
Speaker 1: social media team and all of sports, not football, all
Speaker 1: of sports, and it's not you know, Jason and Megan
Speaker 1: and everybody that that you know, Andrew you obviously had
Speaker 1: a big part of that. Who contributed to it. Just
Speaker 1: what a heck of a job. Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 1: All right, let's push it forward and lost in I
Speaker 1: think the schedule released, Buddy, were some pretty big signings
Speaker 1: for the Chargers on defense and Bryce Callahan and Kyle
Speaker 1: van Noy, and you know, I'm looking at what this
Speaker 1: defense looks like right now. It's a completely different operation, man,
Speaker 1: it is a completely different unit. Um. There's a mix
Speaker 1: of of some guys who were here last year when
Speaker 1: you talk about the elite players and Derwin James and
Speaker 1: Joey Bosa, and you know, I think we're all hoping
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray takes that leap in year three. A few
Speaker 1: other guys in asan the CM junior Michael Davis nasattterly,
Speaker 1: but Brandon Staley made a concerted effort to get guys
Speaker 1: who he knows and who knows his system. Kyle van
Speaker 1: Noyd the exception, but a veteran who brings some versatility.
Speaker 1: Just your thoughts on those two guys specifically, and just
Speaker 1: how remade this unit is right now. Yeah, I'll start
Speaker 1: with Kyle. I do this thing with NFL Network called
Speaker 1: Broadcast boot Camp, and it's it's all the football players,
Speaker 1: some former, some current that are interested in getting into
Speaker 1: the media. And Kyle was there this year, and so
Speaker 1: I do the radio play by play and you know,
Speaker 1: they sit down and they they play the role of
Speaker 1: analysts and you kind of talk them through, you know,
Speaker 1: how you become a radio analyst and what the mechanics
Speaker 1: are of that. Kyle was one of them. And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you, man, there's a couple like Cam Hayward was another,
Speaker 1: And there's a few people that when they're next to you,
Speaker 1: you just see the size and like the way that
Speaker 1: that Kyle's built, just the heaviness of his hands, the
Speaker 1: thickness that he carries. He is. Um, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a physical player right there. Um. You know when when
Speaker 1: you see the measurables and it's you know, six three
Speaker 1: two fifty, it's like, oh, a two fifty edge, and
Speaker 1: it's like, now this guy is a brick, you know what,
Speaker 1: and he's look at thirty one. You go through his
Speaker 1: statistical measures year in and year out. It was weird
Speaker 1: that Miami got rid of him. That was such a
Speaker 1: strength because he had a heck of a year for
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. Um, I got a pulled up here him
Speaker 1: a lot of money right as, they paid him a
Speaker 1: bunch of money. But he had six sacks, They had
Speaker 1: a bunch of quarterback hits. He had a couple of
Speaker 1: forced fumbles. Uh, you know last year New England he
Speaker 1: has another five sacks, you know, three years ago six
Speaker 1: and a half sacks. Like the guy is always in
Speaker 1: that you know, three and a half to seven sack range,
Speaker 1: and he's just a game racker man, the guy is.
Speaker 1: So that's a like, I'll just start with that one
Speaker 1: because then they know, then we do the big picture
Speaker 1: of hey, I need guys that so you know that
Speaker 1: know the system that I can run and feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, we can run effectively. And so that brings
Speaker 1: you to Callahan who was with him in Chicago and Denver.
Speaker 1: You know, we already talked about Sebastian, Joseph Dan now
Speaker 1: Morgan Fox, you know, and these are like, these are
Speaker 1: important signings. And I bring it up because they're not
Speaker 1: going to be listed number one. You know, Kyle van
Speaker 1: Noy is not going to start ahead of Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: or Khalil Mack on the edge. But when those guys
Speaker 1: are getting a breather, and we know sometimes Joey will
Speaker 1: take an entire series off and I'm sure they're gonna
Speaker 1: want to do that with with Khalil as well. I
Speaker 1: mean that he's on the other side of thirty now,
Speaker 1: so to be able to plug in a Kyle van
Speaker 1: Noy and now you know, Chris Rump can can perhaps
Speaker 1: be even more fresh and instead of getting three or
Speaker 1: four series, he gets one or two and he's incredibly fresh.
Speaker 1: For those like that's that's what they're doing now. They're
Speaker 1: getting valued depth signings on that interior. Lying if you
Speaker 1: feel comfortable about all those players and you can run
Speaker 1: them in waves and you can constantly rotate in the Gazianos,
Speaker 1: the Morgan Fox, you know, with Johnson, with Joseph Day,
Speaker 1: with Forrest Merrill, with Jerry Tillery. Like, freshness is important,
Speaker 1: man depth is super important, especially as the season wears on.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, that's kind of what you're
Speaker 1: seeing now, are these depth signings and and players that
Speaker 1: Brandon Staley knows have succeeded in his scheme um and
Speaker 1: for him as a coach. I think the biggest difference
Speaker 1: going into twenty twenty two versus last season was there
Speaker 1: one guy? Was there one guy on defense that was
Speaker 1: in Brandon's Stalley system before last year that played for
Speaker 1: the Chargers. I can't think you know that, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: and a victim. I guess yeah, Harris technically, but he
Speaker 1: was with Fangia. He wasn't. Yeah, I mean I think
Speaker 1: it's more of the Fangio system. Uh, you know that's
Speaker 1: where that's the foundation. You know. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: Sean McVay is, Yeah, it's Sean McVay, no doubt, but
Speaker 1: it's it's really you know, Kyle Shannon, which is really
Speaker 1: Mike Shanahan. It's really that you know, which is really
Speaker 1: Gary Kubiak, right, Like, it's you know that stuff. You
Speaker 1: can get lost in that in that maze, and I mean, heck,
Speaker 1: we can go all the way back to Air Correale
Speaker 1: when it comes to throwing the thing around and trace
Speaker 1: it all the way back to there. So um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I see what you're saying. Yeah, I don't think, um,
Speaker 1: Chris played Yeah, I think Chris did play with Chris
Speaker 1: definitely played with Brandon. I mean he was you know,
Speaker 1: the outside but yeah, outside livebackers. But I guess I
Speaker 1: guess My point is is, Okay, everybody returning has one
Speaker 1: year right under branded Staley's great point. The guys that
Speaker 1: he brought in Morgan Fox Rams had six sex under
Speaker 1: Staley his career high Uh, Troy Reader Rams Sebastin, Joseph Day, Ramps,
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack. We know that relationship, um Bryce Kyllahan. You
Speaker 1: mentioned you mentioned Bears and Broncos with Bryce Callahan. So
Speaker 1: the guys that they've brought in no branded Stanley system,
Speaker 1: and some of them have intimate knowledge of it because
Speaker 1: they were he was their defensive coordinator with the Ramps.
Speaker 1: So I just feel like there's a great deal of
Speaker 1: familiarity this year as opposed to last year, where you
Speaker 1: you got you have guys that either a maybe weren't
Speaker 1: the right fit for what he wanted to accomplish or
Speaker 1: b just didn't know it and it took time to
Speaker 1: learn it. So you know, this complete revamp slash having
Speaker 1: a year under your belt, I think is a big
Speaker 1: deal for this defense. Well, I think the comments from
Speaker 1: from Assante Samuel from I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: earlier last week, Orf, it was two weeks ago. I
Speaker 1: don't think we brought him up. But you know when
Speaker 1: he had his media day and he was asked, you know,
Speaker 1: with the difference between last year and this year, and
Speaker 1: I mean he didn't even hesitate. He's I guess not
Speaker 1: even close. It was like last year. You know, all
Speaker 1: I thought about was where am I supposed to be?
Speaker 1: And am I in the right place? I think I'm
Speaker 1: in the right place. I'm not sure, but I think
Speaker 1: he goes. Now he goes, I'm looking around the defense
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, I'm here, Hey, he's there, So
Speaker 1: you know what, he might go here, which means if
Speaker 1: he does, then I'm gonna move here. He's like I
Speaker 1: am on the three levels ahead. I'm thinking about different
Speaker 1: scenarios inside of each play and what I'm going to
Speaker 1: do based on what these other people around me are doing.
Speaker 1: Last year was just what is my single assignment and
Speaker 1: can I execute it? So to have that sort of
Speaker 1: familiar look we know, and it's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why football's, you know, the number one sport in America
Speaker 1: because it's chess. You know, it's eleven pieces moving in
Speaker 1: concert and trying to maximize their movements together to make
Speaker 1: a play successful. You know, basketball can be a one
Speaker 1: on five, or a one on three, or a three
Speaker 1: on one endeavor where other members aren't even involved in
Speaker 1: a play. We know, for the most part, baseball is
Speaker 1: a one versus one batter versus pitcher until the ball
Speaker 1: is put into play and then it might involve one
Speaker 1: or two others. But football's twenty two. I mean it
Speaker 1: is twenty two people that are involved in the execution
Speaker 1: of a play. And man, when you're trying to learn
Speaker 1: a new system and one you've never played in before,
Speaker 1: and one that is as complicated as the one that
Speaker 1: Brandon Staley runs, it can be tough. Now. I think
Speaker 1: the one thing to point to is, look, when he
Speaker 1: came in and took over for Wade Phillips, the Rams
Speaker 1: got it right away, I mean clearly. And I think
Speaker 1: that maybe speaks to what you're alluding to, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, they just had the personnel that worked out
Speaker 1: for the gap and a half that he wanted to
Speaker 1: play up front, the corners to be able to play,
Speaker 1: you know, either man or zone press or just kind
Speaker 1: of running quarters like he likes to run a lot of.
Speaker 1: So I think now that he's able to play, okay,
Speaker 1: I need guys that can play this way. You know,
Speaker 1: they couldn't do it last year, but just because of
Speaker 1: the financial situation, just the way that the team was
Speaker 1: was built, you know, by the time he arrived. So
Speaker 1: it's it's a different team, man, It's a way different
Speaker 1: team on defense. Especially, Yeah, that was a that was
Speaker 1: a Gus Bradley personnel cover. Three years, Gus play has
Speaker 1: playing Gus is going to play it in Indianapolis. It's
Speaker 1: that he is never played it in the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: last year. Absolutely right. Could not be more I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say it could not be more different still defense, but
Speaker 1: it's just it's a lot different, a lot different with
Speaker 1: what you're at it. And somebody like Michael Davis, who
Speaker 1: you know, was groomed by Ron Milis and kind of
Speaker 1: worked his way up and learned to play a specific way,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a natural adjustment. So just to have
Speaker 1: a year under his belt, I hope that he gets
Speaker 1: even more confidence in twenty twenty two. But you know,
Speaker 1: I want to give Poper credit because he tweeted those
Speaker 1: guys and basically saying that all three levels of defense,
Speaker 1: there's familiarity in the scheme with guys that they brought in.
Speaker 1: So I think that that's cool. Um. I got some
Speaker 1: questions too, money I wanted to run if you buy
Speaker 1: you with all the additions on the D line, is
Speaker 1: any of the few returning players jobs really safe? And
Speaker 1: I guess not. I mean I think that's a good question.
Speaker 1: You spoke to it. It's a very healthy rotation, and
Speaker 1: I think you have a lot of fresh bodies. But
Speaker 1: when you bring in Sebastid, Joseph Day and Austin Johnson,
Speaker 1: I assume those guys are going to play, yeah, quite
Speaker 1: a bit. Those guys will start, they'll they'll play the
Speaker 1: majority of the snaps, and I think Tillare will start,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he's going to get a crack
Speaker 1: at it, even though they didn't pick up his fifth
Speaker 1: year option and certainly his future is in question with
Speaker 1: the team. I think he shows enough flashes. But the
Speaker 1: second there's a slip up, that's the difference, you know,
Speaker 1: is now if it's if it's not Jerry, it can
Speaker 1: be you know, Fojoko, who I thought played great last year,
Speaker 1: Christian Covington who was resigned, who had great moments you
Speaker 1: know last year. You know, I feel about Forrest Merrill,
Speaker 1: about Morgan Fox, about you know, coming in. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's less. I think the snaps
Speaker 1: are less important, as weird as that sounds, because it
Speaker 1: just feels different with the depth that they have. You know,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, like you mentioned what pop are
Speaker 1: alluded to that all the guys they brought in have
Speaker 1: experience at each level. Well so do the guys that
Speaker 1: played last year. I mean, that's the thing is, like
Speaker 1: all of these guys now have a year of experienced
Speaker 1: Gaziano and Meryl and Fojoko and Covington and Hillary, they
Speaker 1: all now have. You know, the only one that doesn't
Speaker 1: really in that whole group is a Bonya, the rookie.
Speaker 1: You know, Tito so but he's it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: if he worked his way in there, I mean as
Speaker 1: well as he played for UCLA. Another point about the
Speaker 1: about the the rookie class, the dB battles are gonna
Speaker 1: be fierce, man like, they're bringing dbs in, Like it's
Speaker 1: not just Callahan and J. C. Jackson guys who are
Speaker 1: gonna start. I mean, they brought in a lot of
Speaker 1: young dbs that I think are gonna be hungry and
Speaker 1: gonna push some of these guys. Mark Webb's another guy
Speaker 1: from last year who got hurt who I think is
Speaker 1: gonna be in the mix. Yeah, and I think you
Speaker 1: know so much of that, and we've heard coach Daley
Speaker 1: talk about it repeatedly. You know, it's gonna be interesting
Speaker 1: to see which of those guys ends up making and
Speaker 1: only fifty three can make it, They're not all gonna
Speaker 1: make it somewhere gonna be practice squad guys, especially with
Speaker 1: how wide, you know, the practice squad roster is now.
Speaker 1: But he likes DBS on specialty, you know, that's what
Speaker 1: he is all about. He believes they are the best
Speaker 1: special teams players. So to me, that's kind of where
Speaker 1: because they had a number of picks, you know, the
Speaker 1: most multiple picks in the sixth and the seventh, So
Speaker 1: I think that's where you're going to see the Jeser Taylors,
Speaker 1: the Dean Leonards, those players. They're going to be battling
Speaker 1: for those final spots. You know. I think less in
Speaker 1: the defensive back rotation and a little bit more in
Speaker 1: the special teams impact that they can make, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think that goes with you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of those we talked about. Troy Reader. Is he gonna
Speaker 1: play snaps, Yeah, absolutely, but he's gonna probably be He's
Speaker 1: gonna be a core for special teams guy, and he's
Speaker 1: going to be expected to be one of the best
Speaker 1: special teams players. I think that's where where Xander Horvath
Speaker 1: is going to make the team. If he's going to
Speaker 1: make the team, is you know, their last pick in
Speaker 1: the draft, late in that seventh round. If he makes it,
Speaker 1: it's it's because he's going to be another one of
Speaker 1: those great special teams players. You know, that's going to
Speaker 1: be a battle to keep an eye on two I
Speaker 1: think between he and Gabe Game neighbors, because they're not
Speaker 1: going to carry two fullbacks. It's gonna be one of
Speaker 1: those two, I think. So that's gonna be one to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. You mentioned, you know, Mark Webb,
Speaker 1: who's I think probably going to slide behind J. T. Woods.
Speaker 1: I just I really get excited about what he brings
Speaker 1: in terms of getting a lot of snaps and playing
Speaker 1: those two high with nas and his ability to cover
Speaker 1: and just kind of keep the top on of a
Speaker 1: defense and allowing Derwin to move around a lot more.
Speaker 1: We talked about that last week or the week before,
Speaker 1: you know, following the draft. So yeah, all those I
Speaker 1: think are interesting. O Looie Gilman, who's you know, you know,
Speaker 1: what's his future? You know, again, he certainly had great
Speaker 1: flashes and moments, but is he going to be pushed
Speaker 1: out by Webb or Woods, and you know some of
Speaker 1: the players that made it his undrafted free agents a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. Come on haul the Tavan. Campbell's like,
Speaker 1: what is their future? It's hey, it's a great problem.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a great problem to have because last
Speaker 1: year was a problem, you know, and I think we
Speaker 1: saw it. We saw it in what game was at
Speaker 1: Chris That was the home game. It was the Chiefs
Speaker 1: game on Thursday night. Um, when when Tavan had to
Speaker 1: come in and immediately Patrick Mahomes is like, there he is,
Speaker 1: let's go get them. And they picked on them. Um,
Speaker 1: they picked on them all game long, and Sam with
Speaker 1: come on Hall. I think it was a come on
Speaker 1: Hall that was out there is Tavon and somebody else
Speaker 1: I can't remember who, but they had both backup corners
Speaker 1: in and it's kind of when it started slipping away
Speaker 1: from them. Yeah, that was the game where Durwin tried
Speaker 1: to go, couldn't go. Um exactly, that's what it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was Mark Webb and Tavon that that got burned
Speaker 1: on the Travis Kelsey overtime touchdown play. So for fans
Speaker 1: training camp in preseason, like the battle in the secondary,
Speaker 1: Like I'm I can't wait to watch J. T. Woods
Speaker 1: in the preseason, like like some of these young guys
Speaker 1: going against the Cowboys and the Saints, and I think
Speaker 1: it's the rams Um British boats on the road Rams
Speaker 1: Cowboys and they'll do joint practices with the Cowboys, that's
Speaker 1: no doubt. Yeah, I mean, come on, you know, occ
Speaker 1: is gonna be crazy when the Cowboys are there for
Speaker 1: joint practices for those that don't make the trip up
Speaker 1: the ox Yards. So that's gonna be a high come
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. It was fun with the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers. It's always fun, you know, sayings forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: all the players that ALDO teams we've had out, but
Speaker 1: having the Cowboys is going to be pretty darn special.
Speaker 1: At British fault, who won the team needs to take
Speaker 1: the greatest leap forward this year and subsequently, who do
Speaker 1: you think will take that lead? All right? Let me think, um, well,
Speaker 1: I'll start defensively and and I'll go as well as
Speaker 1: he played last year. I think it's a sante. You know,
Speaker 1: I think you feel really good about about J. C. Jackson.
Speaker 1: I think you talked about you know, Mike Davis was
Speaker 1: was up and down, and I think, you know, if
Speaker 1: you can get that third corner settled, um, the second
Speaker 1: you know, if if the sante is going to play
Speaker 1: outside and can play outside to have he and in JC,
Speaker 1: you know, that's phenomenal. So like, that's that's one. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting for Kenneth Murray, you know, just because
Speaker 1: I know it's there. Yeah, sorry, I took good from you,
Speaker 1: So I know it's there. We just haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1: That's one. I think, you know, I'll give him multiple ones.
Speaker 1: I think Jerry Tillery or he's not gonna be on
Speaker 1: his team. You know, he's shown flashes, you know, and
Speaker 1: flashes are great because you know it's in there. It's
Speaker 1: just consistency. And I think for Jerry it's you know,
Speaker 1: not just being an up the field defensive interior defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: But you've got to be able to stop the run.
Speaker 1: You've got to be able to identify where your gap
Speaker 1: is and fill that gap. And that's been a bit
Speaker 1: of a struggle for him. And as big as he is,
Speaker 1: as long as he is, he ought to be really
Speaker 1: good at it. So I'd love to see a jumper
Speaker 1: amount of defense on offense, I think you know Josh Palmer, right,
Speaker 1: we talked about who's that third who's that third receiver?
Speaker 1: And I think between Palmer and Guiton, you know, you
Speaker 1: would just love to see a little bit of progression there.
Speaker 1: I think for everybody clamoring for receiver in the first round,
Speaker 1: Josh Palmer may have something for you in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: The way he closed the year and the way that
Speaker 1: Justin frankly found him towards the end of the year two.
Speaker 1: I think this is an offensive a set of offensive
Speaker 1: weapons for Justin that he's he's gonna find anybody who's
Speaker 1: open man. And you know, there was a question about
Speaker 1: the tight ends too, about the fact that maybe there's
Speaker 1: a little bit more speed with param and Gerald Everett,
Speaker 1: if if Justin will look more to the tight end
Speaker 1: this year, and I think it's certainly a possibility. But
Speaker 1: if you take the tight ends out of it, and
Speaker 1: you say, okay, we got Keenan, Mike Josh Jalen is
Speaker 1: the d threat in Austin coming out of the backfield.
Speaker 1: I mean there's like six or seven guys that Justin
Speaker 1: will not be afraid to throw the football too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, you mentioned Palmer and it's like, look, one
Speaker 1: of the great one of the great things about Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert and it's not the case with a lot of quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: You know, they find their comfort zone and their security
Speaker 1: blanket and that's where they're going. Just doesn't care, you know,
Speaker 1: unless you prove him the care. He I'm a fourth
Speaker 1: and twenty one who caught it. Josh Palmer, you know,
Speaker 1: doesn't care. If you're open, you're gonna get the ball.
Speaker 1: So I think to you know, to me, I think
Speaker 1: maybe it spoke a little bit to Jared Cook's age,
Speaker 1: you know, last year. But yeah, to have some athletes
Speaker 1: at that because we saw it, right, we saw it
Speaker 1: two years ago at the tight end position. Everybody eight,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody, Hunter, Henry Donald, Palum, Steven Anderson, like
Speaker 1: everybody has some actions. So i'm you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: there you go. There's another name, Trey McKitty, you know,
Speaker 1: to see him maybe blossom in more of a full service,
Speaker 1: you know, pass catching tight end because he's the best
Speaker 1: there right it's there, Yeah, I mean, he's he's incredible.
Speaker 1: He didn't get a lot of passes thrown the way
Speaker 1: that you know that Kirby ran his offense in Georgia,
Speaker 1: it was take care of the ball. The defense is
Speaker 1: gonna win us games. So there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 1: opportunities for him, you know, but he's a heck of
Speaker 1: a blocker. And if you can get yourself a full
Speaker 1: service tight end, that's you know, tied and you know
Speaker 1: that's just getting that why, that would be huge. That
Speaker 1: would be huge. But I'm anxious to see. I think
Speaker 1: with Gerald Evert, you got a little bit more at
Speaker 1: not a little bit, you had a lot more athleticism
Speaker 1: jump up there from Jared Cook. You know, he's had
Speaker 1: a heck of a career. But I do think there
Speaker 1: were some drop issues with Jared last year. I do
Speaker 1: think there might have been a little bit, a little
Speaker 1: bit of trust, you know, sort of things or just
Speaker 1: note and like we're entirely on the same page with
Speaker 1: Jared last year. So to have jar Old instead of Jared, hopefully,
Speaker 1: like you said, we'll see some of that tight end production.
Speaker 1: Because remember how you know Hunter, I'm trying to remember
Speaker 1: if it was it was one or the other. I
Speaker 1: want to say Hunter had a lot of touchdown action,
Speaker 1: but did not have a lot of third down action
Speaker 1: two years ago when Justin was a he was one
Speaker 1: of those two I can't remember. So I'm anxious to
Speaker 1: kind of, like, you know, just building on what you
Speaker 1: were saying there, you know, seeing that Errold's younger, Jerald's younger,
Speaker 1: and he's ascending. I mean each year he's gotten, he's
Speaker 1: gotten better and better and better. H he had an
Speaker 1: uneven quarterback situation last year with Russell Wilson being hurt
Speaker 1: and then Geno Smith and then Golf kind of relied
Speaker 1: on Higbee, I think more than than Evert during their
Speaker 1: first few years. But I'm one hundred percent with you,
Speaker 1: like Justin's does not care if Gerald Evert's open. Jerold
Speaker 1: ever could have a Pro Bowl type season if if
Speaker 1: Justin continues to find them. So I think that that's
Speaker 1: another guy that you know, just some of these underrated
Speaker 1: signings money, Like I talked about ESJ. We did a
Speaker 1: piece DeAndre Carter. I just I think that he's such
Speaker 1: an underrated signing and kind of gets lost in the
Speaker 1: Khalio Max and the JC Jacksons. I mean, this guy
Speaker 1: was one of the best return specialists in the NFL
Speaker 1: S year, and he's got some juice as a receiver.
Speaker 1: I mean he caught He caught quite a few balls
Speaker 1: and had three touchdowns on offense for the now Commanders.
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying he's going to get a lot
Speaker 1: of run at receiver, but he's a potential option. Is
Speaker 1: like a wide receiver five if let's say you want
Speaker 1: to keep four or in kind of lean on Carter, yeah,
Speaker 1: or you know, like we saw with Andre Roberts last year,
Speaker 1: you know, some of those creative jet sweeps motion, you know,
Speaker 1: things like that he can be used for. But look,
Speaker 1: I think for just for Carter, even if he doesn't
Speaker 1: do a lick on offense, we saw the difference when
Speaker 1: Roberts rolled in on special teams. I mean how much
Speaker 1: different this team was once he got back there and
Speaker 1: started returning kicks and could set the tone and just
Speaker 1: the juice it gives an offense when they're jogging on
Speaker 1: the field. You know, on the plus side, you know,
Speaker 1: because he's had a forty five yard kickoff return or
Speaker 1: you know, a sixty yard punt return or seven. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't score, there's just man, it just juices up
Speaker 1: the offense so much. So you know that and hopefully
Speaker 1: JK Scott's the answer, you know, at punter, because I
Speaker 1: think that's with all this talent that we've listed on defense,
Speaker 1: you know, to be able to win the field position
Speaker 1: battle pin some teams deep. When you've got Bosa and
Speaker 1: Matt coming off the edges, that's how you create serious
Speaker 1: issues for offenses. You know, they're pin deep, they're trying
Speaker 1: to be conservative because they're so far in their own
Speaker 1: you know, on their own end of the field. And
Speaker 1: next thing you know, you got a third and eight
Speaker 1: and you got Bosa and Mac flying off the edges.
Speaker 1: You know, that's that's how you get tilt games. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's an old cliche, but right,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the old game of inches. The margins
Speaker 1: are slim, and so to have you know, an advantage
Speaker 1: on special teams, you know, with Carter now coming in
Speaker 1: as the return or Scott as the punter, then that's
Speaker 1: you know, I think that's something that needs to be
Speaker 1: acknowledged as well. Yeah, and these are all the things
Speaker 1: we're talking on. I mean, this team was nine and
Speaker 1: eight last year, should have been in the playoffs. You
Speaker 1: improve the special teams, you improve field position, and you
Speaker 1: you get guys in the know the system on defense,
Speaker 1: he stopped to run a little bit better. I mean,
Speaker 1: nine wins becomes eleven wins pretty quickly. Um, So you know,
Speaker 1: these are the things that the team's trying to address
Speaker 1: a lot of questions Bunny about this right tackle solution
Speaker 1: and uh, somebody says Pip a salad death piece but
Speaker 1: doesn't see him as a starter. I think that that's
Speaker 1: where they're gonna go. We talked about this a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. Right, it's going to be a full
Speaker 1: on competition, and say, you know, that's it. It's as
Speaker 1: it stands right now. I don't see anyone else out there. Um,
Speaker 1: you know that, you know. I guess you can continue
Speaker 1: to just sort of wait it out, see if you
Speaker 1: can get a veteran minimum. I can't remember, Um, who's
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of who's out there? There's somebody
Speaker 1: out there that uh, oh, Fisher's out there. Yeah, Fisher's
Speaker 1: out there. Who was coming off? You know? But he's
Speaker 1: played solely left his entire career, so I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's interested in flipping to ride it, you know what.
Speaker 1: However old he is thirty three or something, But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're you're talking about, you know, Storm versus
Speaker 1: Pip because Sawyer's going to be a guard. They've already
Speaker 1: talked about that. With his his you know, sort of
Speaker 1: the way he moves and you know, maybe some of
Speaker 1: the issues they're concerned about with his feet at the
Speaker 1: tackle position at this level, but you know, he's proved
Speaker 1: people wrong. I've played in the SEC, had played Alabama,
Speaker 1: you know, twice, and seem to do all right there.
Speaker 1: But that to me is probably what it is. It's
Speaker 1: it's a Pipkins versus Norton. And look when you can help,
Speaker 1: you know, when it's when when you've got Slater on
Speaker 1: the other side, it's much and you have a lock,
Speaker 1: you know, and you have it locked down inside with
Speaker 1: you know, Johnson, Lindsley and Filer, then you can help.
Speaker 1: You know, you can just plant mckittie over there running
Speaker 1: back pass pro. We know how good Austin is on
Speaker 1: that front, so you can help out one tackle position.
Speaker 1: It's much easier to help out a tackle than it
Speaker 1: is a guard if you got to turns down. I
Speaker 1: think that's why they're more interested in keeping Filer there. Um,
Speaker 1: you know at left guard just you know what, that's
Speaker 1: that's a strength of this team. Why would you break
Speaker 1: it up. You know they feel great about Zion a
Speaker 1: right guard. So you've got four fifths of the line
Speaker 1: that you feel really really good about. If the right
Speaker 1: tackle is the question mark, just shade your help there.
Speaker 1: You know, you got a lot of tight end help
Speaker 1: and you got some running back pass pro over there.
Speaker 1: It's May nineteenth too. I mean, like, I remember a
Speaker 1: month ago, what are we gonna do a returner? We
Speaker 1: don't have a return right you get DeAndre Carter, So
Speaker 1: it's it's not over that. That third wave of free
Speaker 1: agencies pretty long, and you don't know what's going to
Speaker 1: happen in training camp. You pick up guys last minute
Speaker 1: and then make a big impact. Is I know there's
Speaker 1: somebody out there, Oh, Dwayne Brown's out there. I'm just
Speaker 1: going through Yeah. I was like, so, so yeah, let's
Speaker 1: just say these guys are holding out for a bigger
Speaker 1: deal and you just offer them the veteran minimum and
Speaker 1: they feel like, you know what, if I can go
Speaker 1: play tackle on an offense that's going to be one
Speaker 1: of the top five offenses in the league, and I
Speaker 1: can protect Justin Herbert maybe I get a bigger contract
Speaker 1: next year, so I'll come in and take the minimum. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's Dwayne Brown again, another another left tackle we
Speaker 1: already taught O'Reilly Reef. That's who I was thinking of.
Speaker 1: Reef is out there who got hurt last year. But
Speaker 1: he's he's a career right tackle, So that maybe one
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. I mean, Melvin Ingram just
Speaker 1: signed with the Dolphins like two days ago, and he'll
Speaker 1: probably make an impact in by himyum, Hey, this is
Speaker 1: an interesting question from Beckham Browning. Uh, what or who
Speaker 1: do the Chargers need to change the culture. On balance,
Speaker 1: they have one of the best rosters, a coach going
Speaker 1: for broke, Yet people naturally have more faith than the
Speaker 1: Broncos because of their intangible culture slash franchise. I'd argue
Speaker 1: that that the culture has has shifted the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. And you know, when you have a team
Speaker 1: that buys into what coach Stanley's doing in a second year,
Speaker 1: I don't think it matters what the Broncos did in
Speaker 1: the mid two tens or I would I would just
Speaker 1: roundly disagree with that. Um. Yeah, just because of Derwin
Speaker 1: and Justin I think when you talk about both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. You've got a leader that his you know,
Speaker 1: the players on this team are ready to follow them
Speaker 1: into battle. That's how you established culture. Number one. Do
Speaker 1: you have the leaf you know in what you're trying
Speaker 1: to execute? And Derwin sets the tone on defense. I'd
Speaker 1: argue he's, you know, one of one of the best
Speaker 1: in the NFL at establishing culture on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball and having guys wanting to follow him,
Speaker 1: and as is Justin. I mean, you go out on
Speaker 1: the field with Justin You're like, we're gonna score. You
Speaker 1: know a might be me that ends up getting the
Speaker 1: ball and I'm gonna score. This guy's been here for
Speaker 1: two years. Yeah, so like to me. And then you know,
Speaker 1: I think they've established I think there's a difference between
Speaker 1: culture and identity, right, so maybe maybe they're talking about identity.
Speaker 1: It's possible. I don't know, but you know, to have
Speaker 1: Lombardi back to put together a top five offense last year,
Speaker 1: to have Justin b you know, sort of floating around
Speaker 1: in the periphery of the MVP conversation, h you know,
Speaker 1: in his second year and throwing for five thousand yards
Speaker 1: and thirty plus touchdowns and think, you know, that's that's that.
Speaker 1: I think it's identity that maybe they're trying to allude to.
Speaker 1: You know, Denver has the no fly zone and that
Speaker 1: secondary is held. They keep drafting defensive back, they keep
Speaker 1: drafting pass rushers like that. I get um so that
Speaker 1: I guess that part of it I understand. But I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, the the defensive identity can be
Speaker 1: you know, can be shown and defined this year because
Speaker 1: of a year in the system, some players were not
Speaker 1: comfortable in it last year, the free agents they brought in.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's necessarily culture. I think that's identity.
Speaker 1: You know, do you do you believe in what you're doing?
Speaker 1: Are you comfortable in what you're doing and being asked
Speaker 1: to execute um And so I think that's that's gonna
Speaker 1: that's gonna take a big step this year. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a great point too. I mean, and by the way,
Speaker 1: of all the teams, like I would say, it's the
Speaker 1: Chiefs that would have the ultimate culture and identity, you know,
Speaker 1: of any of the teams in the AFC West, it's
Speaker 1: not the Broncos. It's it's the Chiefs that have the
Speaker 1: hey Man congratulations. Just we're done fourteen. We're gonna win
Speaker 1: by seven. Like that's that's the Chiefs. You know, culture
Speaker 1: and identity and it's it's as good as any in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Yeah, Broncos starting from scratch with a new
Speaker 1: coach in a new quarterback. I mean, I know that
Speaker 1: they have a lot of pieces and you gotta put
Speaker 1: it together. But um, same with the Raiders. Brand new coach,
Speaker 1: brand new culture. And by the way, Russell Wilson is
Speaker 1: great and celebrated as he is by some polarizing heard
Speaker 1: enough stories from from players in Seattle that did not
Speaker 1: like him that just were not that that thought it was,
Speaker 1: you know, not genuine that you know, that defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball was not crazy about about Russell in Seattle.
Speaker 1: So be a little careful about you know, hey, this
Speaker 1: is this is a great culture. I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes especially when the identity of the Broncos is defense.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll see it's very similar. We'll see how
Speaker 1: that how that goes over. Yeah, that's a great point. Uh, Connor,
Speaker 1: this is a good question too. At this point, what's
Speaker 1: going to be seen as a failure for the season
Speaker 1: or really success? Should it be Super Bowl or bust.
Speaker 1: This year, I would argue going from nine to eight
Speaker 1: to maybe eleven to twelve wins and making noise in
Speaker 1: the AFC, A loaded AFC with Buffalo and Cincinnati and
Speaker 1: the Chiefs and the Colts and the Patriots, and I'm
Speaker 1: missing three or four other teams making noise. Maybe winning
Speaker 1: a game or two in the AFC playoffs I think
Speaker 1: would be a huge step in the right direction in
Speaker 1: getting to a super Bowl. Yeah. To me, it's it's
Speaker 1: less wins and you know, advancement in the playoffs that
Speaker 1: I would allude to for success, and it's more. You know,
Speaker 1: we were concerned about the offense last year. Hey we
Speaker 1: got a whole Newton that Now this is Justin's fifth
Speaker 1: new offense in five years. What are we doing to
Speaker 1: this kid? Let's please not ruin the great rookie season
Speaker 1: we had. Well, he got better. The offense was better,
Speaker 1: so to put together. You know, the offensive line was
Speaker 1: brutal his rookie year, and yet he was able to
Speaker 1: overcome the worst pressure numbers in the NFL to produce
Speaker 1: the best pressure passing numbers that we've seen in decades.
Speaker 1: So that was like the goal from for like when
Speaker 1: I think we were asked the same question on the
Speaker 1: pod last year, I was like, hey, man, let's let's
Speaker 1: see this offensive line gets fixed. Let's see you pass
Speaker 1: on time and not having to deal with it under
Speaker 1: pressure all the time, and whether or not they can
Speaker 1: take the next step. So for me, successful look, wins
Speaker 1: are weird. Wins and losses are weird in this league.
Speaker 1: You know, injuries are a big part, Attrition's a big part.
Speaker 1: Teams and players that take huge leaps from year to
Speaker 1: year and create much better teams than you had anticipated.
Speaker 1: That can lead to losses. Or guy's fallen off because
Speaker 1: they're getting old can lead to wins. So it's less
Speaker 1: about that. So for me, like a successful season is
Speaker 1: offense stays where it was top five offense. Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: is in the MVP conversation two A thousand yard receivers,
Speaker 1: you know, Austin Ekeler as sniff in fifteen hundred seventeen hundred.
Speaker 1: That's successful to me. The defense taking the jump and
Speaker 1: joining the offense as an elite unit. You know, with
Speaker 1: all this talent they have, with all the money they've spent,
Speaker 1: with the belief and knowing that Brandon Staley is an
Speaker 1: exceptional defensive coordinator because he's done it on multiple occasions.
Speaker 1: Let's see that the show up and then made the
Speaker 1: wins and losses fall where they do, because you know,
Speaker 1: if the defenses is ready to take that jump, that's
Speaker 1: a successful year to me. Yeah, then they'll be in
Speaker 1: the playoffs because I do think, I mean, you got
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs right with this, with this talent
Speaker 1: on both sides of the football. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that next step for Justice, especially in year three, getting
Speaker 1: to the postseason and and then let the chips fall
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of good teams, but I think
Speaker 1: Justin can score with anybody. And hopefully this defense, this
Speaker 1: revamped defense can stop a lot of offenses. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think back to last year. You know,
Speaker 1: the Colts go down to Jacksonville and get whooped, you know,
Speaker 1: and and they don't make the playoffs, you know, and
Speaker 1: they have just so many weird games that year, the
Speaker 1: overtime loss to the Titans, Like you know, in the
Speaker 1: Colts defensively, and I know Carson Carson Wentz did not
Speaker 1: have a terrible year for whatever reason. He was just
Speaker 1: a culture you know, it was a bad culture fit
Speaker 1: for him. Well, it's twenty seven and seven. I think
Speaker 1: he had twenty seven and seven, pretty good numbers. There
Speaker 1: was weird, Yeah, they were weird. You know. COVID situations
Speaker 1: with him is on willingness to get vaxed, missing games
Speaker 1: there players are getting pissed off at him for that,
Speaker 1: Like that's a but I just bring it up because
Speaker 1: that's just how weird wins and losses are. The Steelers
Speaker 1: had no business being in the playoffs, but they had
Speaker 1: a weird tie and they had a couple odd wins,
Speaker 1: and so they sneak in, you know, But I don't
Speaker 1: think by any stretch they would say, hey, it was
Speaker 1: a successful year. We made the postseason. No, they got
Speaker 1: destroyed in the first round of the playoffs and they
Speaker 1: did not have a good year. So like that to
Speaker 1: me is why I just always sort of hesitate to
Speaker 1: do the Is a divisional round? Is a championship round?
Speaker 1: Is it a super Bowl? But I don't know. I
Speaker 1: just want to see the team. Look, I want to
Speaker 1: see the units play well. Yeah, and also tell me
Speaker 1: who's healthy in December? Right, who's healthy? And who's rolling?
Speaker 1: Last question, money, I've been a Chargers fan my whole life.
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like there's been this much energy surrounding
Speaker 1: the organization since the lt Gates era. Do you guys
Speaker 1: feel like this is our year? Does this feel different
Speaker 1: to you the our year? We don't know, right, but
Speaker 1: it does kind of feel different. Right. This is the
Speaker 1: most sizzle I've felt since I've been working with the Chargers,
Speaker 1: you know, so going back to their first year here,
Speaker 1: you know, in twenty seventeen, right within eighty unite ye
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, this is easily the most sizzle that I felt,
Speaker 1: you know, and the most hype BI felt surrounding them.
Speaker 1: You know, even following the year, you know that they
Speaker 1: went twelve and four and won a wildcard game in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: That following year, it just didn't feel the same. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, that was a lot of close games
Speaker 1: they wonted weird fashion, and you know it's so this
Speaker 1: feels different. This feels like on paper, this is one
Speaker 1: of the best rosters in the league. The offense is
Speaker 1: performed as one of the best units in the league.
Speaker 1: And if the like I just I keep repeating myself,
Speaker 1: if the defense can can match, you feel really good.
Speaker 1: About what this team can do. But it's a stacked conference,
Speaker 1: it's a stacked division. It is not going to be easy.
Speaker 1: It will not be easy. But that's kind of what
Speaker 1: we laid out at the top is this defense is
Speaker 1: completely different. And I think that's that's a good thing
Speaker 1: when you talk about the players that they brought in,
Speaker 1: the deficiencies they had stopping the run. And you know,
Speaker 1: one other player I want to talk about that we
Speaker 1: talked a little bit about with Dane, but I think
Speaker 1: is going to make a really big difference this year
Speaker 1: is Isaiah Spiller. I really think Isaiah Spiller in terms
Speaker 1: of controlling the clock, another weapon out of the backfield
Speaker 1: who can catch the ball for Justin and somebody who
Speaker 1: can consistently spell Austin Eckler and let Austin be Austin
Speaker 1: keep him as fresh as possible throughout the course of
Speaker 1: a seventeen game season. We said it a few weeks
Speaker 1: ago that that twenty eighteen class with Derway and Justin
Speaker 1: Jackson and you Chennau, that draft class was a large
Speaker 1: reason why they got to the playoffs and they won
Speaker 1: a game. And I just feel like, you know, guys
Speaker 1: like j T. Woods and perhaps Isaiah Spiller could be.
Speaker 1: And well, of course Zion Johnson a plug and play guy.
Speaker 1: It's like we're we've already assumed he's the plug and
Speaker 1: play guard for the next ten years. But I really
Speaker 1: feel like this draft class is going to contribute. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're and they're gonna have to, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: especially Zion who's been drafted to be the starting right guard,
Speaker 1: you know, and it looks like and you know, and
Speaker 1: talking to everybody around the team, he's, as advertised, you know, mature,
Speaker 1: ready to go, ready, whatever you throw at him. He's
Speaker 1: going to be a blue absorbit. He's a real smart
Speaker 1: guy and and someone that you know has proven it.
Speaker 1: Now he's got to slip from left to right and
Speaker 1: that's going to take a second, as he said, just
Speaker 1: to kind of get a little more comfortable and mirroring
Speaker 1: your footwork and stuff. But outside of that, um, I'm hopeful.
Speaker 1: You know, we've been saying it. We said we said
Speaker 1: it last year with Round Tree, we said it the
Speaker 1: year before with Josh Kelly. So I'm hopeful that Spiller
Speaker 1: is that guy, you know, or one of those other two,
Speaker 1: or for whatever reason, if it clicks for Josh or Larry.
Speaker 1: As long as one of those three or two of
Speaker 1: those three are ready to take some of the load
Speaker 1: off Austin, that's gonna be a huge win for the Chargers.
Speaker 1: As like you said, you know, Austin gets beat up
Speaker 1: because of all the contact he's willing to take and
Speaker 1: how strong he is pound for pound with never going
Speaker 1: down on first hit. You know, he ends up getting
Speaker 1: worn out and misses a couple of games here or there.
Speaker 1: So to be able to drop his snap count, you know,
Speaker 1: by twenty five percent, would be huge for this team
Speaker 1: to keep him fresh for all seventeen in the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talked about the the dB competition at training camp
Speaker 1: in preseason, the running back competition as well, um seeing
Speaker 1: Stiller and Roundtree and Kelly. I'm not going to carry four,
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be it's gonna be. Uh, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting, all right, brother, that's it May May nineteenth.
Speaker 1: We still got a ton to talk about. Huh. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Now two weeks we'll be talking about training camp right
Speaker 1: so or whatever it is or our first first camp exactly,
Speaker 1: all right, they'll do it for us. Always love doing
Speaker 1: this with you, man, and I will see you next
Speaker 1: Thursday is charged weekly, wh