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Speaker 1: Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly powered
Speaker 1: by YouTube Tv. We're a week away from the NFL
Speaker 1: Scouting Combine and Indie as always, joined by Matt money Smith,
Speaker 1: who will be in Indie this year. I'm gonna hold
Speaker 1: back here in Orange County, Money, but I know you're ready. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna hold back in what is best known as
Speaker 1: the Twin City. That's why you're holding back, because because
Speaker 1: you're living in Twin City. Brother, Ain't it ain't Minneapolis
Speaker 1: at Saul Brother exactly. Now, we'll take care of you.
Speaker 1: We got you covered out there. Yeah, I'm heading out
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, March first, actually gonna be out there extended
Speaker 1: period of time because I'm back to calling the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Tournament this year for basketball, So I'm gonna end
Speaker 1: up in Indy for about ten eleven days. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I did not know that. So you're you're packing for
Speaker 1: like two weeks and so I'm yeah. So Combine, you know,
Speaker 1: combines In is on TV Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So
Speaker 1: we get in Tuesday, got our run throughs and walk
Speaker 1: throughs on Wednesday. Program starts Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Sunday night.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm from the Midwest. I'm gonna go up
Speaker 1: see my parents, uh Monday, Tuesday, and then back down
Speaker 1: to start calling games on Wednesday, right back in Indy. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah about that. It's it's a long time to be
Speaker 1: in in the Hoosier State. Back home again, Indiana. So
Speaker 1: let a stretch, dude. Well, you know, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: glad that the Combine will look somewhat normal this year
Speaker 1: and we get back to that. Is this the last
Speaker 1: year in Indie? Don't know? You know, I know, teams,
Speaker 1: teams really like it there for people that for people
Speaker 1: that don't know, like the most important thing at the
Speaker 1: combine is medical, and I guess just the way the
Speaker 1: medical is set up, the hospital, the proximity to the hotels,
Speaker 1: how easy it is for them to get what they
Speaker 1: need while they're there, the fact that it's centrally located
Speaker 1: for all these teams, because not every team gets to
Speaker 1: do the medical check they pick. I think it might
Speaker 1: be six teams. I don't know the exact number, but
Speaker 1: they do X number of medical staffs and then they
Speaker 1: each perform like their independent exam and you know, in
Speaker 1: the hopes that they catch anything that maybe another staff
Speaker 1: might miss, and then they share all that information with
Speaker 1: all of the teams. So it's so much speculation about
Speaker 1: bringing it out to LA and the NFL facility out here,
Speaker 1: but I think that I just think there'll be some
Speaker 1: pushback on that because LA is the least centralized city
Speaker 1: of any major metropolis in the nation. So I'm I
Speaker 1: think they'd be a little concerned about doing doing it here.
Speaker 1: And look, it ain't broke, you know, it's worked for
Speaker 1: years in Indianapolis. They couldn't be a more perfect city
Speaker 1: for it. All the hotels, the convention center, everything's walking distance,
Speaker 1: even if it's cold, and you got your staples man,
Speaker 1: you got your your saying Almos and you're Kilroys and
Speaker 1: and all these spots that everyone hangs out as moos
Speaker 1: Rat Skeller. Yeah, I like to go a little I
Speaker 1: like to operate on the periphery. You know, if everybody's
Speaker 1: operating there in Almos and Kilroys right there, I get
Speaker 1: outside a little bit um and he's gonna zig when
Speaker 1: everybody else is zagging. So what I like to do.
Speaker 1: That's the way I operate. Hey, let's give people kind
Speaker 1: of a peek behind the curtain. And indian obviously, you
Speaker 1: know you talk about the medical I think medical number one,
Speaker 1: probably the interviews number two. And you know, these guys
Speaker 1: are gonna have their pro days, so they're gonna do
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things. Some guys may not
Speaker 1: do everything in Indianapolis because of their pro days. But
Speaker 1: this really is the leaping off point for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two season, where a couple of weeks from free agency,
Speaker 1: this is where people start talking and figuring out how
Speaker 1: they're going to shape their team for the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: There's a lot there's a lot of business that happens
Speaker 1: at the combine. There's there's coaches that were fired, you know,
Speaker 1: because they're nine guys that got you know, the guy
Speaker 1: let go. So there's assistant coaches that are out of
Speaker 1: jobs that are maybe looking to play even a more
Speaker 1: support role than you know, like a linebacker coach or
Speaker 1: a dB coach or a tight end coach or trying
Speaker 1: to just kind of catch on. So there's those opportunities
Speaker 1: out there and maybe bringing in a new set of
Speaker 1: eyes to a team that that you just hit it
Speaker 1: off with someone while you're in in d So there's
Speaker 1: that happening on the coaching front. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: trading of information with people, just kind of checks and
Speaker 1: balances m where scouts are maybe see and I think
Speaker 1: you mentioned it, it's back to normalcy. So a lot
Speaker 1: of these scouts were able to make it out to games,
Speaker 1: to make it on campus, to get in and dive
Speaker 1: into some tape with with coaches at these universities, but
Speaker 1: not everybody, you know, we don't know kind of how
Speaker 1: everyone and every you know, franchise was operating. So a
Speaker 1: lot of times for trading information with guys just kind
Speaker 1: of making sure your eyes are seeing maybe what they saw,
Speaker 1: get another read on a player. That you're not quite
Speaker 1: sure of. And then you know, for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: think with the lawsuit that was threatened with the combine,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of uh, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: my favorite thing is Twitter, not not like more met
Speaker 1: a lot of Twitter experts pushing back about how the
Speaker 1: combine is worthless and that's just stupid. If it was worthless,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't spend the thousands of
Speaker 1: dollars each tens of thousands of dollars each franchise is
Speaker 1: spending to bring their guys out here to watch, and
Speaker 1: it's it's obviously worthwhile. There is there is, you know,
Speaker 1: there's merit to what they're doing on the field. You know,
Speaker 1: there are measurables, there are numbers, there are benchmarks that
Speaker 1: teams simply have that. If you're not a corner that
Speaker 1: measures at this. If you don't have an arm land
Speaker 1: that's at this. If you don't punch a number in
Speaker 1: the three comb that's this, you're off our board. And
Speaker 1: all of that stuff is gathering. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: want to say the name of the coach. People can
Speaker 1: figure it out for themselves. But I heard a coach
Speaker 1: that was coming to the league through his interview process
Speaker 1: with a couple of teams, basically told the front office
Speaker 1: that they're what do we need you for? I can
Speaker 1: have all my coaches scout during the season, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't, and no you can't. He says, no,
Speaker 1: you can't the NFL season, and I think he learned
Speaker 1: a very harsh lesson about why you can't do that,
Speaker 1: and a lot of things that he didn't know about
Speaker 1: the league that he thought he knew. But so a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches and a lot of you know, people
Speaker 1: are getting their eyes on these prospects for the first time.
Speaker 1: This is their introduction, and what better way to do
Speaker 1: that than to see them competing against other players at
Speaker 1: their position where you can have all You're not going
Speaker 1: to have a corner from Washington, LSU, Cincinnati on the
Speaker 1: field at the same time doing the same trills within
Speaker 1: minutes of one another, so you can see it in
Speaker 1: front of you and start to make those, you know,
Speaker 1: those evaluations. It's there's so much value in the combine
Speaker 1: for these teams. The idea that it's not valuable and
Speaker 1: we could do away with it, it's just crazy. What's
Speaker 1: interesting about that is that so many dudes are working
Speaker 1: out actually in southern California, literally just preparing for the combine.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. A couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: I did a piece on basically the prep that goes
Speaker 1: into that day of running the forty and doing the
Speaker 1: three cone. And you know, you have Justin Herbert and
Speaker 1: Jordan Love and Isaiah Simmons and aj Dillon all on
Speaker 1: the field together getting ready for this upcoming week. So
Speaker 1: if people tell you that this week doesn't matter, they
Speaker 1: don't know what they're talking about, because this is a
Speaker 1: huge process and it's not just the on field. It
Speaker 1: is the interviews and these guys go over what questions
Speaker 1: may be asked, and that's the part we don't see
Speaker 1: that's not televised. But I'll tell you what, that's such
Speaker 1: a big piece to this puzzle because executives, coaches, scouts.
Speaker 1: Scouts may have more of a relationship with some of
Speaker 1: these guys than coaches in executives at this point, but
Speaker 1: this is their their first impression for a prospect, getting
Speaker 1: to know them. If you didn't if you didn't play
Speaker 1: in the Senior Bowl, or you didn't get to interview
Speaker 1: at the Senior Bowl or some of these other Bowl games.
Speaker 1: This is a huge kind of leaping off point for
Speaker 1: a prospect to introduce themselves to all thirty two NFL teams,
Speaker 1: both on the field and in the classroom. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's so many there's so many
Speaker 1: different avenues that players take to get to the NFL.
Speaker 1: I think a perfect example is I'll just give you
Speaker 1: two two all pros perennial all pros, Toront Armstead, Khalil Mack.
Speaker 1: Toront Armstead dominates at Arkansas Pine Bluff, and when you
Speaker 1: watch the tape, you're like, Okay, this is great. He's
Speaker 1: dominating at Arkansas Pine Bluff. But what's the level of competition?
Speaker 1: What happens when you know, if you were in the SEC,
Speaker 1: what with Toron arms said looked like well, then he
Speaker 1: goes to the Senior Bowl and it's like, okay, Toron
Speaker 1: Armstead's now playing well. And then he shows up at
Speaker 1: the Combine and the guy runs like a four to
Speaker 1: five nine forty and okay, fine, we're good. Now all
Speaker 1: of my boxes are checked. I'm not worried about to
Speaker 1: Ron Armstead playing his college career at Arkansas plinebo. Same
Speaker 1: with Khalil Mack buffalo, Are we sure? I mean Genevian
Speaker 1: clowney and then Khalil Mack goes out there and puts
Speaker 1: on a freaky show, I mean a laser show through
Speaker 1: the drills, just bend and movement and explosion, and that
Speaker 1: was that. Everyone's like, all right, boxes checked, here we go. Um. Look.
Speaker 1: I think for Herbert, the combine I thought was huge
Speaker 1: for Justin Herbert, who the process was huge for him.
Speaker 1: So Senior Bowl, there were still a few questions coming
Speaker 1: out of Senior Bowl. You know, the Rose Bowl. He
Speaker 1: wins the Rose Bowl, but he ends up using his
Speaker 1: legs a lot. You know, it's it's not really a
Speaker 1: whole lot of working through it because that's what Cristal
Speaker 1: Ball preached and coached, and clearly he had a horrible
Speaker 1: approach for Justin Herbert. But you know, it was kind
Speaker 1: of like, if it's not there and you're not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent sure, takeoff and run. So there were still
Speaker 1: some questions about Herbert coming out of the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1: Then he gets the Senior Bowl and it still felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: he looks the part, you know, and but there was
Speaker 1: still work to be done. I think there were still
Speaker 1: people that felt like he was aiming his throws and
Speaker 1: he was a little too you know, there's there wasn't
Speaker 1: that cut it loose moment, And that happened at the
Speaker 1: combine he got I was standing on the field. I
Speaker 1: watched it happen. I saw it in front of me.
Speaker 1: I watched a coach, you know, one of the guys
Speaker 1: that was running the drills, having this conversation with Herbert
Speaker 1: and man, when he cut it loose, you could hear
Speaker 1: the gasps and the oh my god, this is this
Speaker 1: is different. You see the ball come out of his
Speaker 1: hand and Mike, and that happened. I mean that happened.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that he wouldn't have been picked sixth
Speaker 1: overall by the Chargers, but like something happened that day
Speaker 1: on that field in Indianapolis where you saw it. You
Speaker 1: saw him throwing with other big arm quarterbacks and it
Speaker 1: was close. His arm strength was just like, all right,
Speaker 1: this dude is different. And I think it's solidified. And look,
Speaker 1: there were still people that came out of that combine
Speaker 1: saying still not buying it, you know, but but I
Speaker 1: think there were enough people that were like, no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's different. That's different level stuff, and we're more
Speaker 1: than happy to get our hands on him if he's
Speaker 1: terriblely pick and Justin did everything from the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: all the way through the process Pro day. He threw,
Speaker 1: you know, and I don't I don't fall guys from
Speaker 1: maybe not wanted to throw or not wanted to run
Speaker 1: if you're gonna do it at your pro day. But
Speaker 1: he wasn't scared of doing that and really checking every box,
Speaker 1: and it really was to his benefit. I remember Tom
Speaker 1: after they drafted Justin saying that he was the number
Speaker 1: one player on their board the year before, but he
Speaker 1: didn't come out right. So it was that, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that year where it wasn't exactly what he
Speaker 1: did the year before, so it almost like he had
Speaker 1: to like prove himself all over again to everybody. And
Speaker 1: he did that, and he kind of put the exclamation
Speaker 1: point to your point at the combine. Um, yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: give you one more real quick. I'll give you one
Speaker 1: more real quick. This is this is my favorite combine story.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been doing this for ten eleven years now,
Speaker 1: I think maybe even more, I don't know, but we
Speaker 1: used to be up before the combine really became an event.
Speaker 1: We used to broadcast every single minute of every single
Speaker 1: drill on NFL dot Com. It was just a live stream,
Speaker 1: and I mean we would have at times over a
Speaker 1: million viewers around the world that would just sit and
Speaker 1: watch us. And we interviewed everybody, and we were set
Speaker 1: up right at the finish line of the forty. It
Speaker 1: was me and Bucky DJ was on there. One year,
Speaker 1: Lance Zerline was on there. We would have guests come on.
Speaker 1: But I'll never forget the Andrew Luck RG three quarterback Draft.
Speaker 1: So we're out there in the middle of the field
Speaker 1: and Russell Wilson comes over to do his interview with us,
Speaker 1: and no one's gonna throw. No, It's like it's it's
Speaker 1: this huge, like are you kidding me? We've got all
Speaker 1: these great quarterbacks and nobody's gonna throw. And Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: comes over and we interview him, and it's to this day,
Speaker 1: the best interview I've ever done with a college athlete
Speaker 1: in my life. It just it blew my doors off
Speaker 1: how good he was. Just there was something, there was
Speaker 1: a presence about him, and I remember him walking away
Speaker 1: and both Bucky and I go and do that kids
Speaker 1: that's different that kids at that special level leadership engagement.
Speaker 1: Right there, you could just feel it. And he said,
Speaker 1: I'm throwing because I don't care if I'm the only
Speaker 1: one that throws, but I ain't here to not throw.
Speaker 1: And he had to. You know, the guy's clocking in
Speaker 1: at five to eleven. You know, he's not Andrew Lucker
Speaker 1: RG three. He had to throw. So Russell Wilson goes
Speaker 1: out there and he starts going through the drills and man,
Speaker 1: for people that don't know, I'm assuming most people listening
Speaker 1: to do, Russell Wilson has a freaking host. He's got
Speaker 1: giant hands, and he has got incredible strength. So he
Speaker 1: gets out there and starts spinning it. I mean it
Speaker 1: is zipping all. Next thing, you know, Brandon Whedon, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna throw Brock Brock oswel you know what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw and it becomes this competition. And to me that
Speaker 1: became that was I think that was an indicator. I
Speaker 1: think that story started traveling around circles like Okay, we
Speaker 1: got you know, here's a guy that not only as
Speaker 1: a competitor, but has this sort of leadership quality. That
Speaker 1: led to guys whose agents said hey, you're not throwing today,
Speaker 1: being like not A he's throwing, I'm following his lead.
Speaker 1: I'm throwing too. And it was this really cool moment
Speaker 1: where now all of a sudden, every quarterbacks out there
Speaker 1: throwing because one guy opted to do it. Twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: we all knew it was gonna be Luck in RG
Speaker 1: three one two, So you know, if they're not going
Speaker 1: to throw, that's fine. But it's similar to Herbert and
Speaker 1: there like, hey, I'm not afraid. I'm a competitor. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do everything you ask me to do. And you
Speaker 1: look back, what ten years later, Russ is an All
Speaker 1: Pro player. Kirk Cousins I believe was drafted in the
Speaker 1: third or fourth round that year. Fourth round you had
Speaker 1: Nick Foles, I mentioned Oswiler, Weedon Andrew Luck RG three. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was a it was a stacked There
Speaker 1: were just a tonic. Was that Christian Ponder too? I
Speaker 1: think maybe, um, I don't remember she was that year.
Speaker 1: There might not have been Ponder was a first round
Speaker 1: I think Ponder in EJ. Manuel was that the same year?
Speaker 1: Those guys both Yes, that's exactly right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: So let's see here we go. It was Andrew luck
Speaker 1: Griffin who went number two. I'm scrolling through it here,
Speaker 1: where are you? Here we go Tannehill. That's right. Tannehill
Speaker 1: had a screw in his foot so he couldn't do anything.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so Whedon threw Oswiler through Wilson through Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Um was the other one, and then, uh,
Speaker 1: I think I want to say that, yes, Um, I
Speaker 1: think Ryan Lindley is now a coach um if I
Speaker 1: remember right, But he was out there too, and he's
Speaker 1: a he was and I think he was one of
Speaker 1: those other guys. It was like, all right, I'm throwing anyway,
Speaker 1: there we go. It's a great story and it's a
Speaker 1: good segue into you know, we talked about the new
Speaker 1: league year starting and every year. Unfortunately the Chargers don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about the quarterback position. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: rip off some names here, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan Russell, Wilson,
Speaker 1: DeShawn Watson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz. I threw Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: in even though I don't think he's gonna go anywhere.
Speaker 1: But they all have questions, and I think where these
Speaker 1: guys end up going will kind of set the course
Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty two season. We already know Josh
Speaker 1: Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: are in the AFC. Is Aaron Rodgers gonna join the AFC?
Speaker 1: Is Russell Wilson? Is Deshaun Watson gonna leave and go
Speaker 1: to the NFC? Carson Wentz? What are the Colts gonna
Speaker 1: do at quarterback money? These are the conversations that are
Speaker 1: probably being had right now and in Indie next week.
Speaker 1: Is we kind of get into free agency? Yeah, And
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's so hard for me to
Speaker 1: envision those guys moving, just because we all know how
Speaker 1: hard it is to find a quarterback, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're the Seahawks, or you're the Cardinals or you're the
Speaker 1: Packer's like, there's just no rhyme or reason to letting
Speaker 1: go of the hardest individual position to find in all
Speaker 1: of sports. It's just, you know, that's why I can't
Speaker 1: envision it happening. You know, if Aaron Rodgers, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, nah, I'm done, and you're like, no, you're not.
Speaker 1: Here's fifty million dollars a year he's going to stay.
Speaker 1: You know that. It's it's I think what people forget about.
Speaker 1: You know, the world of professional sports is how short
Speaker 1: your career is. Imagine being told your career is over
Speaker 1: at thirty eight. You know your your profession of choice,
Speaker 1: you have, you have about a five percent chance of
Speaker 1: making it past thirty five. You got about a one
Speaker 1: percent chance of making it past thirty eight. So you've
Speaker 1: got to make all your money you possibly can in
Speaker 1: that tight window, which means every single sent matters. And
Speaker 1: these teams just aren't going to move guys because they
Speaker 1: don't want to pay them. It's been proven that it's
Speaker 1: worth it. You know that there have been so few
Speaker 1: quarterback contracts where people are like, oh, that was a mistake.
Speaker 1: I mean, the only time it comes into play is
Speaker 1: extenuating circumstances, right, injuries that were unforeseen. You know, Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz was playing at at an MVP level before he
Speaker 1: broke his leg, and then it just became this weird
Speaker 1: mess last year with the COVID stuff. And so when
Speaker 1: you take all that stuff out, for the most part,
Speaker 1: guys that get paid perform. So that's why it's hard
Speaker 1: for me to see now at the same time, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say that out of this side of my mouth
Speaker 1: and out of this side of my mouth, I say
Speaker 1: Broncos are going to have a different quarterback. You know,
Speaker 1: the Commanders are going to have a different quarterback, Like
Speaker 1: there are teams that are gonna have different quarterbacks. I
Speaker 1: just don't know if it's the group of players that
Speaker 1: are competing for those spots that you think they're gonna be.
Speaker 1: I know that this is getting some run, and I've
Speaker 1: heard this midway through the season last year. I heard
Speaker 1: that Mitch Drubisky was looking great in Buffalo, that what
Speaker 1: Daveo was doing with him, that they were really really impressed.
Speaker 1: I will not be the least bit surprised if that
Speaker 1: guy ends up in New York and his fighting Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones for that job. I won't be surprised if that
Speaker 1: word leaked out and you see him in Carolina, or
Speaker 1: you see him in Washington or even Denver. I think
Speaker 1: he's going to end up as a starting quarterback this
Speaker 1: coming season. So it may not be the Russell Wilsons
Speaker 1: and Aaron Rodgers that you're talking about. It might be
Speaker 1: another level of players. James Winston, Mitchell Trubisky that you
Speaker 1: start to see find their ways to new teams. Trubisky
Speaker 1: is very interesting because he went to the playoffs twice
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and I think everybody just thinks of just
Speaker 1: you think negativity. I don't know, maybe because of the
Speaker 1: relationship him and Watson. Yeah, yeah, exactly the lines of
Speaker 1: Watson narrative one hundred percent one percent. So I interested
Speaker 1: to see especially it's weird to say commanders, but the commanders,
Speaker 1: like what are they gonna do? Are they are they
Speaker 1: gonna go for a guy and swing for a Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson who's from for Jayla and and go all in
Speaker 1: or are they going to have to hit that second
Speaker 1: and third tier market with Jamis and Trubisky. The Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz stuff is really interesting to be because I think
Speaker 1: Chris Barinson reported that they're gonna trade or release them.
Speaker 1: So what's your plan B in Indianapolis when you have
Speaker 1: a pretty good roster all around the quarterback? I mean
Speaker 1: you do you go in house with Ellinger or or
Speaker 1: or Easton or what's what's the backup plan? In India? Really?
Speaker 1: Your plan A if you plan on moving away from Wentz?
Speaker 1: I mean, look, what was Jacob Eason. Was he a
Speaker 1: second rounder, third rounder? I mean that's a it was
Speaker 1: a mid round pick. You know, he was definitely a
Speaker 1: He was not a Hey, this is going to be
Speaker 1: a backup pick. It was a draft and developed pick.
Speaker 1: So you know, Frank Rych is supposed to be a
Speaker 1: quarter coach. I would imagine that might be land A
Speaker 1: whether or not it's a great plant. Look, sometimes it
Speaker 1: doesn't work out that way for the Steelers. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be Mason Rudolph. I don't care what they say.
Speaker 1: They've already seen enough to know that guy's a backup.
Speaker 1: You know, he is not a starter. So there's another one. Um,
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna see We're probably gonna see four
Speaker 1: quarterbacks go in the first round. Whether or not you
Speaker 1: think it's a good quarterback class or not, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think for sure you're gonna see Pickett
Speaker 1: at Corral and Malik Willis go in the first round,
Speaker 1: and you might see Sam Howe and you might see
Speaker 1: Desmond Ritter go at the back end. So you know,
Speaker 1: you could be you're talking about four spots. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're talking about three spots. Those three guys are
Speaker 1: going to go in the first round. Um Picket's gonna
Speaker 1: go first, and then either Willis or Corral are gonna
Speaker 1: go next, and then maybe Sam Howe creeps in there
Speaker 1: as well if somebody really likes him. So that's that,
Speaker 1: to me, is going to happen. So there's four of
Speaker 1: your spots right there where you then have your Bridge quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, you know whomever. It may be, a Teddy Bridgewater,
Speaker 1: case Keenum, those sort of things. The biggest thing I
Speaker 1: think for Chargers fans is to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: Denver because you're right, there's gonna be a new quarterback there.
Speaker 1: We don't know who it's gonna be, but there will
Speaker 1: be a new QB one in Denver for sure. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: A quick break to let you know that you can
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Speaker 1: terms apply. Cancel anytime Hey, I want to shift over
Speaker 1: to DJ's mock draft, and I know these are fun exercises.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have a bunch of them. But it was
Speaker 1: interesting Number seventeen Chargers Chris Alava and I think about, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's say you bring Mike Williams back, you have Keenan Allen,
Speaker 1: you have Joshua Palmer, and you still draft Chris Lave.
Speaker 1: Just the weapons on the outside for Justice Herbert. It
Speaker 1: would be fun to envision money. I don't know how
Speaker 1: how you would get the ball to everybody, but nonetheless
Speaker 1: could be interesting to see those poor dudes on the
Speaker 1: field together. I think, to me, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: pick where Mike Williams isn't back with the Chargers. You know,
Speaker 1: josh Palmer takes over for Mike. Keenan's there, and you
Speaker 1: get a Lave and that just he's gonna run in
Speaker 1: the high four twos, low four threes. So and then
Speaker 1: you get that speed element, right. Um, So, that to
Speaker 1: me is what that projection is. Um. Look, Tom and
Speaker 1: his team have always been best player available. If they
Speaker 1: think he's the best player on the board, that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's what they're gonna do. And Look, I've heard him
Speaker 1: say it. You're not drafting for twenty twenty two. You're
Speaker 1: drafting a player to be a Charger for the next
Speaker 1: ten years. You know, it's it's not about plugging in
Speaker 1: needs at that moment because you know knows and that
Speaker 1: player doesn't turn out to be great. He's not gonna
Speaker 1: be around in four years. So what does it matter?
Speaker 1: Um that he filled a hole if you don't think
Speaker 1: he's as good as someone else. Um, I look, a
Speaker 1: lot of it's great there. You know. There, there's Drake
Speaker 1: London's great there, it's a really deep class. Garrett Wilson,
Speaker 1: Jamison Williams could be there with the you know, because
Speaker 1: of the injury that he I'm sure he would have
Speaker 1: been a top ten pick if it weren't for the injury.
Speaker 1: So there's you know, it's it's interesting and it's fun.
Speaker 1: You know, one thing just not to not to you know,
Speaker 1: kind of pull the curtain back on people taking these
Speaker 1: things seriously. Certainly DJ wants you to consume his mock draft,
Speaker 1: but he's got to do like four these things, yea
Speaker 1: for five of them, so entertainment purposes only. Let's yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, now there are I think there are some
Speaker 1: like there's some things on there that I think you
Speaker 1: can read into, you know, Like to me, I see
Speaker 1: the Giants and he's got Trevon Walker going there at
Speaker 1: five and the Giants fan are freaking out, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, know your personnel, and by personnel, I mean
Speaker 1: the people that are making the picks and what their
Speaker 1: paths has shown you as a guide to, you know,
Speaker 1: what they value. You know, when when you look at
Speaker 1: the Giant, what has Buffalo done Every year they draft
Speaker 1: D lineman, They've drafted a ton of D linemen to
Speaker 1: load up that front and that's how that that franchise
Speaker 1: was built. Well, now they're guys there they need help
Speaker 1: up front, and so that's like, I think there's certain
Speaker 1: things that that do hold. Carolina needs an old lineman
Speaker 1: desperately that their old line is a disaster. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think there's things that are in there like that
Speaker 1: that do have value and could end up sticking. So
Speaker 1: I'm with you too. I know you you're drafting for
Speaker 1: the next decade, but I think this year's Chargers team
Speaker 1: is also drafting to get to a Bowl ACEP and
Speaker 1: if Chris Elava can produce Jamar Chase numbers or Justin
Speaker 1: Jeff numbers in his rookie season like those dudes, and
Speaker 1: you put him alongside Keenan Allen. Let's say Mike Williams
Speaker 1: isn't there, or shoot even if he is there, I
Speaker 1: mean those like Jamar Chase was the difference and then
Speaker 1: getting to a super Bowl this year, so like you can,
Speaker 1: you can find a difference making playmaker. Um and you
Speaker 1: pair him with with Justin Herbert. Again, We're gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about a bunch of different scenarios over the next
Speaker 1: couple of months. But I just thought it's fun because
Speaker 1: he's he's also I think a San Diego kid, and
Speaker 1: he had twenty seven hundred yards U school record thirty
Speaker 1: five touchdowns. Alex Farkas is not going to talk. He's
Speaker 1: he's an Ohio state guy, and I know he's listening
Speaker 1: to this right now. If he wants to jump in
Speaker 1: and give me his take on these two Ohio statewide receivers,
Speaker 1: if he didn't go away from his computer, I'm happy
Speaker 1: to hear it, Alex. So I'll give you a couple
Speaker 1: of seconds if you want to jump in, but if not,
Speaker 1: no worries. But I do think Chris all there's only
Speaker 1: one way to get him into this conversation. Chris actually there,
Speaker 1: I might say, oh, I owe all right, Alex, Alex
Speaker 1: there he is. We hear your voice, Chris Olave to
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Why would it make sense, Well, you can
Speaker 1: take either Chris or Garrett Wilson. I mean, both dudes
Speaker 1: are absolute studs. I mean, Chris has been a tenured
Speaker 1: guy at a house State, played all four years there,
Speaker 1: and Garrett was really just very talented. The man's got
Speaker 1: sticky hands. If you look at that Clemson game, and
Speaker 1: I believe twenty nineteen the fiestable yeah yeah, look at
Speaker 1: that catch on the sideline in the first quarter. Really
Speaker 1: really talented. And Chris is just so smooth. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you listen to any of the calls that Gus
Speaker 1: Johnson or Joe Klatt were on, they just say he
Speaker 1: is smooth like Butter. I mean, I kid you not,
Speaker 1: that man is silky smooth. He is a very talented
Speaker 1: guy California kid like you guys said, and just gets it.
Speaker 1: And he's really talented on and off the field. I
Speaker 1: trying to remember, I'm trying to remember what Pro day
Speaker 1: it was, who we were watching? Why why we were
Speaker 1: watching Ohio State? Was it? Yes, exactly, Alex, That's exactly
Speaker 1: what it was. And uh and I remember like going, man,
Speaker 1: heck with this freaking a love is what I'm watching?
Speaker 1: Like he put on a show in the pro day. Well,
Speaker 1: when when Christmas a freshman started? One more thing, when
Speaker 1: Christmas a freshman? Thinking up right, it was when he
Speaker 1: was a freshman, Alex, what pro day was that? Why
Speaker 1: was it such a big deal? Dwayne Haskins. Probably that's
Speaker 1: exactly what it was. That's exactly what it was. It
Speaker 1: was the Dwayne Haskins pro Day. Alves a freshman, and
Speaker 1: I can remember everybody that was there saying, dude, we
Speaker 1: can't talk about this guy. We can't even look in
Speaker 1: his direction, but Olave is a freak. Yeah. Well, when
Speaker 1: he was a freshman, everyone's kind of got their mentor,
Speaker 1: like they get an upperclassman. And you know who his
Speaker 1: mentor was. It was Terry Much. Yeah, there you go. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, you've seen what Terry's done in the league,
Speaker 1: and that's how he was at Ohiose States. So he's
Speaker 1: kind of taking that leadership and applied it there. So
Speaker 1: that is exactly what it was they were there. Dwayne
Speaker 1: Haskins did not have a good Pro day alved and
Speaker 1: he was a freshman Alex. Last thing Herbert to a
Speaker 1: Lave would do you think do you think Alave would
Speaker 1: have Jamar Chase type impact on a team next year
Speaker 1: or do you think he's a tear kind of below
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase and Jefferson. Absolutely, you get any of those guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, shoot, Jamison william Jameson Williams was a Ohio
Speaker 1: State guy and then he transferred, so that wide receiver
Speaker 1: room is deep. They either one of those three would
Speaker 1: be solid. So the one the one thing I would
Speaker 1: say about Jamar and look, Jamar is a Jamar is
Speaker 1: a freak. Like he's just if you looked at his
Speaker 1: lower body, the way he's built, he's like I think
Speaker 1: if you were to talk to djum or to some
Speaker 1: of these guys that are mcshay's and Bucky and that
Speaker 1: they would probably I think take any of the top
Speaker 1: three last year over any of the receivers in this draft.
Speaker 1: Chase to me as in a category to himself that
Speaker 1: nobody's close to that money. Do you remember when he
Speaker 1: had all those drops in preseason? People are freaking out.
Speaker 1: I'll talk about the rotation of the ball and it's like, dude,
Speaker 1: I've seen too much of this guy and him just
Speaker 1: wreck the sec But then I think I think teams
Speaker 1: would probably even take Waddle or DeVante Smith the head
Speaker 1: of any of the receivers in this In this group,
Speaker 1: I think people forget just how it's well. You can't
Speaker 1: forget the guy won the darn Heisman. He was so
Speaker 1: dominated at Alabama. And I think Waddle, you know, you're
Speaker 1: just starting to see Waddle because he's just coming back
Speaker 1: from that injury, but you started to see it toward
Speaker 1: the end of the year, just the explosion and the
Speaker 1: strength that Waddle has as well. So like to me,
Speaker 1: that's you know, a loves He's fast. You know, he's
Speaker 1: plenty big. He's big enough, you know, but I don't
Speaker 1: think he's quite that Jamar Chase two hundred and five,
Speaker 1: two hundred ten pounds, ragdial defensive backstyle um of receiver.
Speaker 1: And you know that's the thing, right, Like what people
Speaker 1: forget is wide receivers. They're all so different. You know,
Speaker 1: Drake London, who's who might be the first receiver taken
Speaker 1: in this draft. He's a giant. I mean he is
Speaker 1: a massive human being, which is this huge catch radius
Speaker 1: fifty fifty balls, red zone target. Um. You know you
Speaker 1: mentioned Garrett Wilson. He's this explosive athlete, a lobbas a
Speaker 1: super smooth um route runner. So like each receiver has
Speaker 1: sort of something different that they're that they're offering UM,
Speaker 1: And that's what made Chase so special is he was
Speaker 1: the whole package. Justin Herbert deep threat would be a
Speaker 1: lot of like, you know, we saw t Billy and
Speaker 1: we've seen Jalen guyton Um get loose, but having Justin
Speaker 1: aired out to a guy like alive could be awesome,
Speaker 1: Like the greatest show on turf. Here it's so Fi Stadium,
Speaker 1: all right, Hey, a few a few other notes from
Speaker 1: DJ's mock. Just guys, we've talked about money. I know
Speaker 1: Hi and Trent McDuffie. He's number twelve to the Vikings.
Speaker 1: George carlaftis, we don't know what's gonna happen with a Chenna,
Speaker 1: number thirteen to Cleveland, Derek Stingley to Baltimore at fourteen.
Speaker 1: DeVante Wyatt, the other guy from Georgia. DJ says he
Speaker 1: was a force at the Senior Bull at sixteen, and
Speaker 1: then Devin Lloyd surprisingly number twenty one to New England.
Speaker 1: These are all guys that we kind of talked about
Speaker 1: in that range at number seventeen. Yeah, and you know,
Speaker 1: in the case of Lloyd thinking he wasn't gonna make
Speaker 1: it out of the top ten, and he might not.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like I said, DJ's got to do
Speaker 1: five or six of these, so you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: have some movement just to keep it fresh. Have some
Speaker 1: new names pop in at the back end of that
Speaker 1: draft that you know that weren't there before. He's got
Speaker 1: Jordan Davis all the way down at thirty two, you know,
Speaker 1: and we were talking about him at seventeen. Now. Also,
Speaker 1: there's a lot more tape watching. No, it's hard to
Speaker 1: watch five hundred prospects and get through the tape and
Speaker 1: get through as much as you really need to. So
Speaker 1: maybe you just scratch the surface. You get a game
Speaker 1: or two in there, and then as you start to
Speaker 1: hone your board, you know, DJ's got to do the
Speaker 1: top fifty, he's gotta Bucky's got to do us top
Speaker 1: five by position, and you've got to put together your
Speaker 1: mock drafts. You start to watch more and more tape
Speaker 1: and that then kind of gives you a better evaluation.
Speaker 1: Um Like, but it's it's funny how it works. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm doing the show with Bucky and Lance,
Speaker 1: and like Bucky has Charles Cross's number one offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: You know, DJ I think's got him at number five.
Speaker 1: So it's it's funny how these evaluations work out, you know.
Speaker 1: I like when the Giants drafted Andrew Thomas, people that
Speaker 1: I have been talking to, they did not have him
Speaker 1: as their best ranked tackle. They had had him behind
Speaker 1: Jedrick Wills, behind Tristan Worse, behind McKay Beckton, but he
Speaker 1: was number one on the Giants board. Now he's starting
Speaker 1: to come around. He had a rough first go, but
Speaker 1: he had a much better year last year, so you know,
Speaker 1: that may end up panning out as being the best tackle.
Speaker 1: Who knows. So it's just important to remember that, you know,
Speaker 1: for people that are looking at mock drafts and and
Speaker 1: you know, top fifty overalls and stuff, that may not
Speaker 1: be what the Chargers have. You know, their board. Everybody's
Speaker 1: board is different. Um it's you know, and some kind
Speaker 1: of need more than overall talents. So don't get too
Speaker 1: caught up. If the Chargers draft someone that was all
Speaker 1: the way down at number twenty eight in your favorite
Speaker 1: guys mocked draft, and don't freak out and think somebody
Speaker 1: fell the you know because he was at number eight
Speaker 1: in your favorite guys mocked draft. You know that each
Speaker 1: team evaluates these players differently, no question about it. All right,
Speaker 1: as we wrapped this up, so we'll hear from Tom
Speaker 1: and coach Steey next week. First time we hear from
Speaker 1: coach since the season ended, and Tom was a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks after the season. These are pretty matter of
Speaker 1: fact talking about the draft. Anything. You want to hear.
Speaker 1: What you're expecting from from Tom and coach? Well, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, probably the most important thing really, it's just
Speaker 1: free agency. You know, we'll be a week in two
Speaker 1: will be when they talk. It'll be a week since
Speaker 1: you could apply the franchise tag. Um. You know, they're
Speaker 1: not going to show their hand for anything. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think you know, probably hear about the remaking of
Speaker 1: the coaching staff again and you know, and a new
Speaker 1: special teams coach, new offensive line coach, you know, new
Speaker 1: offensive consultant. Um. You know, maybe some more self reflection
Speaker 1: when you get further away from the season, recognizing you know,
Speaker 1: what you liked, what you did well, what you need
Speaker 1: to improve. I think it's going to be a lot
Speaker 1: of that. UM. And you know what I really hope
Speaker 1: we hear is, Hey, we've held some What I'd like
Speaker 1: If you're asking me what I like to hear, I'd
Speaker 1: like to hear we had really productive talks with Chenni's people,
Speaker 1: and we feel really good about that. That's what I
Speaker 1: would like to hear. You know, we feel really good
Speaker 1: about the conversations we're having with with Chenna and Mike
Speaker 1: Williams people. We feel really good about that. Going for
Speaker 1: that would be UM. That would probably be the thing
Speaker 1: I'd like to hear most, no question about that. And
Speaker 1: I hope we get some of those guys back that
Speaker 1: did fit what coach wants to do. Defensively, I think
Speaker 1: Chenna fits really anywhere, and he really proved that towards
Speaker 1: the end of the year. Um, what are you going
Speaker 1: to be doing for NFL network so we can we
Speaker 1: can mark our calendars and set our DVRs money. Yeah? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, because I because I connect with the kids
Speaker 1: so much. My platform is digital, which is what the
Speaker 1: kids love. So all of my stuff is on the
Speaker 1: NFL YouTube channel, it's on the NFL app it's through
Speaker 1: NFL dot com. We are doing the pre show every day,
Speaker 1: So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we're going to do the
Speaker 1: hour before the combine gets going. And I'm doing it
Speaker 1: with Bucky, who you know is former scout for the
Speaker 1: Panthers the Seahawks. And I'm doing it with Lance, whose dad, Lanzerline,
Speaker 1: who's the guy that writes up all six hundred bios,
Speaker 1: so he's got to watch more film than anybody else
Speaker 1: at NFL Network. Lance's dad, for people that don't know,
Speaker 1: a long time, well respected offensive line coach in the
Speaker 1: NFL for about fifty years. So Lance, Bucky and Me
Speaker 1: and I are going to get after it and that'll
Speaker 1: be what is it three to four Eastern so noon
Speaker 1: to one Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and I think Sunday might
Speaker 1: be a little bit earlier. I think Sunday might be
Speaker 1: eleven twelve if I remember right, because that's the day
Speaker 1: everybody gets out of the town. I can't wait for that.
Speaker 1: Um it. We'll have you from Indie next week. We'll
Speaker 1: get some guests as well, um, we'll figure out a
Speaker 1: good time to make it work. But we'll have you
Speaker 1: cover Charge dot com. We'll be there in Indie. Um,
Speaker 1: get all the personalities from around the combine talking about
Speaker 1: the Bolts as we get to the twenty twenty two season,
Speaker 1: looking forward to a brother can't wait enjoy Southern California.
Speaker 1: I think it's like one degree in Indianapolis right now.
Speaker 1: So dude, it's a listen, it's cold here. It's it's
Speaker 1: core and I know that. Let's if you're a Charger's
Speaker 1: fan that it's not in California right now, you're like,
Speaker 1: all right, relax, it's not cold. It's cold. It's cold cold.
Speaker 1: I went, yeah, I went surfing this morning and it's
Speaker 1: easily the coldest that it has been in the water
Speaker 1: and probably a year and a half since it's been
Speaker 1: at least a year and a half since I've been
Speaker 1: that cold. I think it was thirty nine when I
Speaker 1: got out of the car this morning. Uh, there was
Speaker 1: an offshore wind. Water was cold, and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is what are you doing? You dope? Um? But hey,
Speaker 1: and it ended up being all right. I'm like fifteen
Speaker 1: years removed from the East Coast so I'm I'm I'm sorry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got at thirty years, thirty years I've been here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, that's gonna go for us. Uh. We're powered
Speaker 1: by YouTube TV charges weekly for Matt money Smith. I'm
Speaker 1: Chris Harry