Speaker 1: All right, guys. Before we get started today, I want
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Speaker 1: Welcome into a very special free agency edition of Chargers Weekly,
Speaker 1: joined by Matt Mouney Smith and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: bury the lead. That T shirt is incredible. Can you
Speaker 1: please stand up and show the folks on Saint Patty's Day,
Speaker 1: first day of March Madness what you were working with.
Speaker 1: So this is a courtesy of my friend Cardona, who
Speaker 1: does individual shirts. He's got one of these cool printers
Speaker 1: that'll just knock out whatever you want. And we're doing
Speaker 1: a remote today. Petros and I out at Hollywood Park
Speaker 1: Casino right next to SOFI for Saint Patrick's Day and
Speaker 1: for tournament time and all that. So I was like, dude,
Speaker 1: we need a green UCLA shirt. I have this green
Speaker 1: Dodgers hat that we were at spring training for St.
Speaker 1: Patrick's Day and the Dodgers were playing, so they sold
Speaker 1: all this green Dodger gear and it's awesome, and I
Speaker 1: was like, we gotta get green UCLA gear. So my
Speaker 1: man Dave jumped into action. He's like, I'll come up
Speaker 1: with something for you, and so he got us the
Speaker 1: UCLA with the freaking fighting mc cronin and calls it
Speaker 1: mic madness. I mean, how does Dick not have you know,
Speaker 1: he gets a six year extension on Saint Patty's stay.
Speaker 1: He's of course a proud Irish American. So we're stoked.
Speaker 1: We're stoked that we're part of the UCLA world. You know,
Speaker 1: they're on our station along with the Chargers. So it's
Speaker 1: a good day. It's a great day for us. We're
Speaker 1: talking about all these free agent signings and we got
Speaker 1: UCLA starting their march back to the Final four. Had
Speaker 1: to get that out of the way first, because I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, Mick Madness, Mic madness, listen, uh mac madness
Speaker 1: in Coasta Mesa Khalil Mack a charger man. We have
Speaker 1: we have so many. Yeah, listen, you're a pro. Come on,
Speaker 1: you're a pro. We got we got so much to
Speaker 1: talk about, but I want to start with Khalil. His pressor, UM,
Speaker 1: I think it got a lot of people fired up
Speaker 1: because he was very understated. He said, listen, I want
Speaker 1: to show you. I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1: I just want to do it. Uh. And I can
Speaker 1: appreciate that. And I'm just so excited to see him
Speaker 1: and Joey Boso on the field together. Yeah, he joined.
Speaker 1: He joined Petrol to me after the pressor and it
Speaker 1: was great, same deal, just very matter of fact. You know,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get out there. You had him.
Speaker 1: Let me let me just say this though, because yeah,
Speaker 1: you had him cutting up. He sat down with us
Speaker 1: at CBSLA right before and he was on the phone
Speaker 1: with you guys, and he was laughing hard about something
Speaker 1: you had. You said something to him that that made him.
Speaker 1: It was it was Petros when he brought him on.
Speaker 1: He said, you know what, he's such a big star.
Speaker 1: Lebron will probably give him one of those five minute
Speaker 1: hugs if he ever sits courtside of a Laker game.
Speaker 1: And that got him going. So the one thing that
Speaker 1: you know, look, he said a lot of great things,
Speaker 1: but the one thing that really got me was and
Speaker 1: I'm sure it came up in the presser too, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if he gave the same answer because
Speaker 1: we were doing the radio show when it was happening,
Speaker 1: but we asked him about coach Daley and you know
Speaker 1: what it was like as his position coaching. He kind
Speaker 1: of walked through the connection they made immediately because and
Speaker 1: I had forgot how that trade went down to Chicago,
Speaker 1: and he's like, you know, when I got traded, I
Speaker 1: had to play the Packers. Like immediately, He's like, so
Speaker 1: Coach Daley sat down with me and we just poured
Speaker 1: over film and he got me ready and I was
Speaker 1: kind of nervous and anxious and I wasn't sure. You know,
Speaker 1: I knew how much the Green Bay Packer game meant
Speaker 1: to bear fans, and so I've got all this going on.
Speaker 1: He's like, and man, that that was our moment. Like
Speaker 1: we connected in that moment and he's been my guy
Speaker 1: ever since. He's like the first speech he ever gave
Speaker 1: in our position group room, he's like, I want to
Speaker 1: run through a door for that guy. So pretty stoked
Speaker 1: that that coach Staley. You know, I mean, look credit
Speaker 1: to Tom and his team, and no doubt, coach Staley
Speaker 1: was a big reason why because he worked with him.
Speaker 1: Khalil Max now a Charger and man, it's you've said it.
Speaker 1: I mean both on one side, Mac on the other,
Speaker 1: Holy cow, what fun that's going to be his first
Speaker 1: four years with the Raiders, second four years with the Bears.
Speaker 1: And he said, you know, obviously, when you get traded,
Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit of a surprise, and you
Speaker 1: have to process the fact that you're not going to
Speaker 1: be in a city that you poured your heart into
Speaker 1: for the last four years. But he understood that it's
Speaker 1: a it's a new administration in Chicago and the fact
Speaker 1: that Brandon Staley was his position coach and is now
Speaker 1: his head coach. You look at the pieces around him.
Speaker 1: He had a lot of really good individual pieces in
Speaker 1: Chicago around him. I venture to say, this may be
Speaker 1: the best in terms of individual pieces that he'll have
Speaker 1: around him. With Joey on one side, durwinning the secondary
Speaker 1: J C. Jackson. The one thing I asked him that
Speaker 1: I was I was curious about was just his ability
Speaker 1: to stop the run, and he's talked about you know,
Speaker 1: that's as big of a part of his game as anything.
Speaker 1: And he had this awesome quote he said, me and
Speaker 1: Coach Saley talked about the fact that you got to
Speaker 1: get bloody before you can actually start to get your money.
Speaker 1: So that means stopping the run, having that mindset that
Speaker 1: we got to do that first, and if we do that,
Speaker 1: then we can pit our ears back and get after
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And the Chargers struggles on run defense was
Speaker 1: well documented last year, and I just feel like that's
Speaker 1: the underrated part of all this is, Yes, he's gonna
Speaker 1: get after quarterbacks in the West and beyond, but I
Speaker 1: really think he's gonna help short up that run defense,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Look to me, We've talked about it. You
Speaker 1: know for years now, Joey's the best all around defensive
Speaker 1: linemen in the game. You know, not just the beensive end.
Speaker 1: He's not the best pass rusher, he's not the best
Speaker 1: edge He's the best defensive linemen in the game all around.
Speaker 1: You know, if you want to talk about years back,
Speaker 1: getting getting the quarterback off the edge, you want to
Speaker 1: talk about stopping the run. The way he tracks backs
Speaker 1: down from the backside. If they get loose and break
Speaker 1: contain on the other side, it's unlike any guy we
Speaker 1: see his side. So now you got that on one
Speaker 1: side and you have a premier pass rusher. And like
Speaker 1: Max said, that was something that was preached to him
Speaker 1: from day one about stopping the run on the other.
Speaker 1: But there's you know we used to say it with
Speaker 1: and it's nothing against Melvin Ingram like an awesome football player.
Speaker 1: We used to say, how do you know pick your poison?
Speaker 1: You know you want Melvin, you want Joey. You can't
Speaker 1: double them both. Well, now Melvin's turned into Khalil Mack
Speaker 1: And I mean it's it's incredible, Like it is incredible
Speaker 1: what those two guys are going to be able to
Speaker 1: do because of the inability. You can't you can't throw
Speaker 1: a tight end on both sides and stop you want
Speaker 1: enough guys out in the pattern, right, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it is incredible. Um what what? Like I said, the
Speaker 1: front office, Tom and his team and coach Daley have
Speaker 1: have put together and their vision of what they want
Speaker 1: this defense to look like after a disappointed season. And look,
Speaker 1: this is back to back years now for Flesco. You
Speaker 1: know the offensive line was a mess two years ago.
Speaker 1: They went into the offseason with the plan and talk
Speaker 1: about executing a plan. They get the best center in football,
Speaker 1: and Corey Linsley made him the highest paid center. They
Speaker 1: filled in around him with a Boushee and Filer, who
Speaker 1: both played great football. Unfortunately, a bushe got hurt and
Speaker 1: then they drafted for Shawn Slater. Fixed. Offensive line fixed,
Speaker 1: you know, and now to attack the defense the way
Speaker 1: they have, I have no doubt Charger fans have to
Speaker 1: be beyond excited about what's to come now that they've
Speaker 1: been able to get some anchors. You know, That's what
Speaker 1: we talked about last week before free agency. Chris was,
Speaker 1: you know, I envisioned it looking like it did last year.
Speaker 1: I was wrong. They doubled up, you know, the fact
Speaker 1: that they got Mac and JC Jackson. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I could see one blue chip and then
Speaker 1: let's fill in around him. I was hoping that blue
Speaker 1: chip was going to be a corner. They end up
Speaker 1: getting the best corner of the last you know, at
Speaker 1: least the player that's played the best at cornerback at
Speaker 1: the position the last three years. And then they also
Speaker 1: get Khalil Mack it's it's incredible what they were able
Speaker 1: to put the guy this offseason. The AFC West now
Speaker 1: with pass rushers Dude, Chandler Jones, Max Crosby. You know,
Speaker 1: I consider Chris Jones like a defensive tackle who gets
Speaker 1: after the quarterback. Frank Clark and then Randy Gregory and
Speaker 1: Bradley Chub. I mean the division should be on primetime
Speaker 1: maybe half the year, you know, just yeah, right, we
Speaker 1: said that last week. We said, look, minimum five for
Speaker 1: the Chargers, minimum five. You know, the most you can
Speaker 1: have is six. Now, I don't think they can put
Speaker 1: all four NFC AFC West teams in primetimes six times,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna figure out a way. And I would
Speaker 1: assume CBS is gonna have a lot to say about
Speaker 1: them trying to pluck these these AFC West games for
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football, because they would
Speaker 1: be like, no, this is what we pay for. We
Speaker 1: got billion dollar contracts too, and we want Tony Romo
Speaker 1: and Jim Nance on Chargers, Chiefs on Raiders, Broncos on
Speaker 1: Chargers Bronco. Like that's it's gonna be incredible. It's going
Speaker 1: to be And you know, Khalil Max said something too.
Speaker 1: I asked him about, you know, just in the past,
Speaker 1: how many times have you seen Patrick and Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: and obviously you know Derek Carr and he just said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny everybody's talking about us. It's a grind,
Speaker 1: it's a gallant. He goes, man, this is what I want.
Speaker 1: This is what I signed up for. He's like, man,
Speaker 1: this is heres if you if you love football, this
Speaker 1: is this is exactly the way you want it to
Speaker 1: lay out. You know, you want to go get Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: you want to go get Patrick Moms. He's like, that's
Speaker 1: what you play this game for, to take on the
Speaker 1: best and to be better than them. And he's gonna
Speaker 1: have an offense like he's never had before with Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert leading the charge. He said, I he respects Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert's talent, but he appreciates his mindset more than his talent.
Speaker 1: And I asked him, like, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 1: And I almost feel like they're very like minded, bunny like,
Speaker 1: like Justin doesn't beat his chest and say look at
Speaker 1: me as the quarterback. He just he has that mindset
Speaker 1: if he wants to beat you U and he wants
Speaker 1: to do it very very understated, and I feel like
Speaker 1: him and Mac are almost kind of kindred spirits in
Speaker 1: that regard. Is they just they just want to do
Speaker 1: their work and show you what they're gonna do, as
Speaker 1: opposed to talk about it and make a big deal
Speaker 1: about it when it doesn't matter, like the off season,
Speaker 1: or when it doesn't matter after a game or before
Speaker 1: a game. Between the white lines is when I feel
Speaker 1: like both those guys are at their best obviously, but
Speaker 1: the defensive line as a whole, and you mentioned it,
Speaker 1: I feel like Staley he's getting guys he really thinks
Speaker 1: can thrive in his system. And today as we take
Speaker 1: this Sebastian, Joseph Day and Austin Johnson are gonna have
Speaker 1: their pressors. And those are two guys man talk about
Speaker 1: stopping the run. They automatically make this defense so much better.
Speaker 1: We talked about Joey and Mac on the edges, I mean,
Speaker 1: these two dudes in terms of stopping the run, huge upgrades,
Speaker 1: no doubt. You know. Look Austin Johnson, second round talent
Speaker 1: and state guy, I mean really talented interior defensive lineman
Speaker 1: and played really good football on incredibly underrated because the
Speaker 1: offense was so bad New York Giants team, but Patrick
Speaker 1: Grahma had that defense humming and Johnson was a big
Speaker 1: part of it. Sebastian Joseph Day when he was healthy
Speaker 1: before he blew his pack out, also an important part.
Speaker 1: And look, that's the one thing it worked for Gus.
Speaker 1: You know we made fun of I don't. I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say we made fun but everybody kind of got a
Speaker 1: chuckle out of Gus going to the Raiders and bringing
Speaker 1: over you know, the lid Phylon and Paamin and facing
Speaker 1: and Hayward and now he's got him going and I
Speaker 1: was got Yannick and Gottway going to Indie like. But
Speaker 1: when defensive coordinators work that closely with players and they
Speaker 1: know players that are difference makers, they want them. Look,
Speaker 1: I've been around this guy, know his practice habits, I
Speaker 1: know how he executes in my scheme. Now there is
Speaker 1: a flip side to that where they might overlook more
Speaker 1: talented players for guys that they're comfortable with, But that's
Speaker 1: not the I don't get the sense that that's the case.
Speaker 1: You know, Joseph Day was effective for Brandon Stalley two
Speaker 1: years ago on the best defense in football, So you know,
Speaker 1: and look, who knows if he's a starter or if
Speaker 1: he's a death piece. You know, for all we know,
Speaker 1: maybe Pohoko is ready to take the stat He played
Speaker 1: great when he was when he was called upon to
Speaker 1: play interior line. So and also I think it's important
Speaker 1: to remember, you know, just how much better those interior
Speaker 1: alignement are going to be now with Khalil Mack on
Speaker 1: one side. I mean, the fact that they're going to
Speaker 1: have one on one's inside, you know, and another year
Speaker 1: in the scheme, you know, for guys to settle in
Speaker 1: Trank will to be healthy. Remember, let's not forget about
Speaker 1: how good Aimon looked as a rookie, an undrafted free
Speaker 1: agent rookie. So I think that's what's also to remember
Speaker 1: it's not just you know, it's not just Austin Johnson,
Speaker 1: Sebastian Joseph Day. But it's also another year after finally,
Speaker 1: you know, getting some legitimate rotation play for Brandy Pahoko,
Speaker 1: another year for aug Bobamiga, another year for Kenneth Murray.
Speaker 1: You know, we know how good Drew Trank will is.
Speaker 1: You know, Cole Christiansen played well when he was called upon,
Speaker 1: like you know, That's that's kind of what I what
Speaker 1: I think some people overlook Chris Rump. You know, I
Speaker 1: know I'm doing the name salad right now, but like,
Speaker 1: those guys are going to be better. They now know
Speaker 1: what an NFL season looks like, what it feels like,
Speaker 1: what kind of condition they have to be in, how
Speaker 1: quickly their mistakes are exploited. Um, And that's all stuff
Speaker 1: they learned, you know, for the most part, last year.
Speaker 1: So you add in the pieces that were that are
Speaker 1: new with the pieces that are more experienced. And I
Speaker 1: really like this group. I really really like what this
Speaker 1: group is going to look like. But like what this
Speaker 1: group is to look like. You hope that Jerry too,
Speaker 1: you know, as a pass rustaurant third down when you
Speaker 1: have him on the interior. I mean, listen, he's a
Speaker 1: pretty good pass rushaurer from the interior. I mean I
Speaker 1: think run defense. Um, you got guys that are really
Speaker 1: going to help there. But I also look at Jerry
Speaker 1: to go with Joey and Khalil on third down. Let's
Speaker 1: say it's third and ten, third and twelve m it's
Speaker 1: another guy who can get after the quarterback. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Chris Rump, and we always talk about the Rushton cover
Speaker 1: working together. When you bring in jac Jackson man, nobody
Speaker 1: has more interceptions chartist communications head. I think nobody in
Speaker 1: their first four years has had more interceptions in Jac
Speaker 1: Jackson in like four decades, he is the most picks
Speaker 1: twenty five says coming into the league in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: And this was a Chargers Devts that I believe only
Speaker 1: had eleven. Last year, Derwin, Kaiser and Assante each had two,
Speaker 1: which was the team lead. So to bring it a
Speaker 1: guy like that, to go with Khalil Mack, I think
Speaker 1: it sets up for success well. And I think the
Speaker 1: important thing is sometimes interceptions can be misleading. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just sometimes you get lucky. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: bunch of tips and you happen to be in the
Speaker 1: right spot. Go back if you have the opportunity and
Speaker 1: watch jac Jackson's interceptions. You know some of them, there's
Speaker 1: a couple and there are that are tips. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, this is a dude that has a vision.
Speaker 1: He has vision, he has incredible burst to jump routes,
Speaker 1: he tracks the ball well, he's got great hands like
Speaker 1: those and in look, when you have that many, you
Speaker 1: know it's not flukey. But it's the like I think
Speaker 1: back to the you know, the Chicago Bear days and
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, that incredible defense that should have
Speaker 1: won a super Bowl, but their offense was so completely inept,
Speaker 1: you know, with her Lacquer and Lance Briggs. But I
Speaker 1: remember Mike Brown getting a lot of shine as a
Speaker 1: safety because he had I think he led the league
Speaker 1: in interceptions. They were all flukey interceptions. It was all
Speaker 1: you know, pass rush or just incredible play by the
Speaker 1: linebackers and balls just kind of got tipped and found
Speaker 1: their way into his tans and it's like, wow, this
Speaker 1: guy led the league in interceptions. Yeah. Different. Jac Jackson
Speaker 1: is an interception machine. And like you said, when you
Speaker 1: pair a pass rush, it's what you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a football, it's football vernacular. You hear it though.
Speaker 1: But they talk about a connected defense. When the back
Speaker 1: is connected to the front man, that's when you can
Speaker 1: really get humming. And when you have a front that's
Speaker 1: going to get after it. To now have an opportunistic
Speaker 1: backside what I think, like Chris to be honest, the
Speaker 1: one that JC Jackson is gonna be great. The thing
Speaker 1: I'm most excited about I'm just dying to see Nasir
Speaker 1: take that step that we have seen. We've seen him
Speaker 1: track these balls and gets so close on how good
Speaker 1: he was at Delaware it intercepted the ball. Like I
Speaker 1: think he's the one that's not being mentioned enough about
Speaker 1: how this new pat You know, having Khalil mac out
Speaker 1: there is going to benefit him, And hopefully this is
Speaker 1: the year he because he played better laster than the
Speaker 1: year before, you know, but I'm hoping this is the
Speaker 1: year where he kind of takes that step into being
Speaker 1: what a lot of us thought he could be in
Speaker 1: the truly when he was drafted. I remember DJ saying,
Speaker 1: this is the perfect compliment that Darwin James. This guy
Speaker 1: is a ball hawk. So I'd love to see that
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, the second year in Staley's defense and money.
Speaker 1: I just think about Darwin. What this means for Darwin,
Speaker 1: Like he was spread so thin last year. These additions
Speaker 1: allow him to be all over the field, like he
Speaker 1: can be Irwin James first team All Pro from his
Speaker 1: rookie season um as opposed to heaven to I feel
Speaker 1: like be everywhere last year and really take on so much.
Speaker 1: Now do you think he could play a little more
Speaker 1: free and just beat Durwin James. Yeah, you know it
Speaker 1: wasn't last year. No, No No, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1: I totally know what you mean, m because look, he
Speaker 1: he was responsible to some degree as a pass rusher.
Speaker 1: You know, they they relied on him a lot to
Speaker 1: kind of come up with that big sack or that
Speaker 1: big stop behind the line of scrimmage, and he excels
Speaker 1: at that. But I know exactly what you're saying. You know,
Speaker 1: you had to have him on the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: because of how bad the run defense was, you know,
Speaker 1: and you were just like, if only we could just
Speaker 1: truly use him like that queen on the chessboard and
Speaker 1: move him any direction as far as you want for
Speaker 1: whatever you think that particular play dictates. And I think
Speaker 1: speaking to what what you're kind of alluding to, that's
Speaker 1: kN Durwin just have free reign, you know, Troy Polamalu style.
Speaker 1: Right when Troy was just you know, he was free
Speaker 1: to go wherever you wanted. You know what, do you see,
Speaker 1: we trust your eyes, go get it. And I think
Speaker 1: last year, first year, in Brandon Staley's defense, it's not
Speaker 1: going well. They're last on third down, they're last against
Speaker 1: the run. I think a lot of that led to
Speaker 1: Derwin maybe not cut and loose as much as as
Speaker 1: you would have liked to see. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what you're speaking to. And Yeah, when you have better
Speaker 1: players out there and more talent doing their job at
Speaker 1: their position, that allows Derwin, I think, to excel, you know,
Speaker 1: by being the most one of the most versatile, if
Speaker 1: not the most versatile defender and all the football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no question. I just I'm so excited to see Derwin
Speaker 1: play with Khalil Mack, with Joey Boza, with j C. Jackson,
Speaker 1: And you know, you talk about some of these guys
Speaker 1: you routed off a bunch of them, you know, a
Speaker 1: guy's like Nazier, Addlie, Michael Davis. It's not they Samuel Jr.
Speaker 1: Taking that next step in year two, hopefully injury free
Speaker 1: and on the field. I mean, the secondary is really
Speaker 1: shaping up. And I think sometimes when you look at
Speaker 1: some of the disappointments from last year, there's positives because
Speaker 1: guys got reps, Guys played in rookies and undrafted guys
Speaker 1: got valuable snaps that will hopefully help them in year two.
Speaker 1: So I just I don't know how different the defense
Speaker 1: is going to look in terms of the stats. But
Speaker 1: I mean, shoot, man, when you upgrade the way that
Speaker 1: they've upgraded, I think really just starting with the run.
Speaker 1: If they can stop the run on first, the second
Speaker 1: down and give Joey bos and Khalilmack third and long opportunities,
Speaker 1: that's where they're gonna make their money. And I think
Speaker 1: offensively too, just control the ball, control the ball, and
Speaker 1: keep these defensive players fresh. Yeah, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: just going back to what we talked about last few weeks,
Speaker 1: you know, the signing of JC Dak Jackson, and they
Speaker 1: already mentioned it. They planted that seed because they I
Speaker 1: understand what they're doing. They don't want it to look
Speaker 1: like a demotion. It's not. You know, teams are in
Speaker 1: our in eleven personnel more than any other formation. So
Speaker 1: you need a nickelback, and I mean the idea that
Speaker 1: that asante is being demoted by putting the slot and no,
Speaker 1: that is as important and is as any position on
Speaker 1: the field. You know, with the way the fact that
Speaker 1: three receivers are out there on eighty percent of the
Speaker 1: plays for most of these teams. So to me, that
Speaker 1: just bringing in Jackson and having those two big corners
Speaker 1: now on the outside and mikey and and j C.
Speaker 1: And then being able to have and look, you know,
Speaker 1: credit to Chris Harris fighting through a ton of injuries,
Speaker 1: but it's clear, you know, Chris's best football was behind him.
Speaker 1: You know, he was on the downhill of his career,
Speaker 1: fought through it, still made some great plays. But now
Speaker 1: you upgraded that spot. Now you've upgraded the slot corner
Speaker 1: because you're able to push asanthing inside, you know, and
Speaker 1: you can have Mike Davison and jac on the outside. Well,
Speaker 1: now now you got depth that you're working with, you know,
Speaker 1: especially if there's a corner sitting there at seventeen or
Speaker 1: if they're comfortable to get if they can find themselves
Speaker 1: another corner in the draft, Like there's you know, it's
Speaker 1: we talked about death Man. You know, I forgot Jerry Tillery,
Speaker 1: you know, because there's just there's nout depth that you
Speaker 1: feel a lot better about. Chenna goes to Seattle. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm happy for him. You know, hometown kid who has
Speaker 1: never really left LA gets a two year deal, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's a great opportunity for him
Speaker 1: to shine in Seattle. But we'll miss him here, no doubt. Look,
Speaker 1: I'm happy for him. I had heard there were some
Speaker 1: people sniffing around then there might have been some big
Speaker 1: money out there. But twenty million bucks a big money.
Speaker 1: You know. I know it's a short deal, but I
Speaker 1: have some friends that are Seahawks fans, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was letting them know, look, you got one man.
Speaker 1: This dude can play. The stacks are not there, but
Speaker 1: the pressures, the hits are there. You can see him
Speaker 1: beating his guy and getting into the backfield and maybe
Speaker 1: it just let down because you know, again, they had
Speaker 1: some issues with the defense not being connected last year,
Speaker 1: but people were worried like, oh, he's coming from a
Speaker 1: three four outside libbacker. No, that dude excelled in Gus's defense,
Speaker 1: you know when they were playing for three and he
Speaker 1: was an end. So uh, no doubt. I'm sure. You know,
Speaker 1: Pete's obviously still got the connections at USC. You know.
Speaker 1: Is what an incredible you know, young man, not so
Speaker 1: young anymore. You know, I've been in the league for
Speaker 1: four years, but what an incredible guy Chenna is. And
Speaker 1: they've been looking for pass rush forever, you know, be
Speaker 1: it through free agency or through the draft, and you know,
Speaker 1: I hope for Tchenna's sake, he's as good as I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna be up there and ends up, you know,
Speaker 1: having that second year torn up and gets himself a
Speaker 1: five or six year deal after this season. Charges also
Speaker 1: reportedly signed a long snapper and Josh Harris, and yeah,
Speaker 1: from a special team's perspective, man, it's I think it's
Speaker 1: a nice start, you know, as they continue to rebuild
Speaker 1: this unit and if that their face can can give
Speaker 1: them something this year, that's the difference between making the
Speaker 1: playoffs and that. Yeah, I'm not gonna pretend like I
Speaker 1: can evaluate long snappers, but listen, come on, I want
Speaker 1: three plays. I did talk to somebody on the Chargers
Speaker 1: who said, hey, this isn't gonna make any ways, but
Speaker 1: this guy's really good. He's probably he's the best long
Speaker 1: snapper in the league. And you know, we've talked about
Speaker 1: special teams and how wrong things have gone over the
Speaker 1: past few years, block punts, miss field goals, and they
Speaker 1: always talk about the operation. You know, it's not just
Speaker 1: the specialist, it's not just the kicker and the punter,
Speaker 1: but it's a snapper and the holder and a lot
Speaker 1: of times people forget how important that is. I thought
Speaker 1: Matt Overton did a great job last year when he
Speaker 1: filled in, um, you know, for cheez, why why's Mazza
Speaker 1: right exactly when Cole went down, Um, you know, Matt's old.
Speaker 1: You know, he's on toward the back end there, and
Speaker 1: excited that that. The person I talked to was excited
Speaker 1: about this because he was like, it's it's crazy that
Speaker 1: you know to say, but this guy is really, really good.
Speaker 1: And I think that's evidenced by the fact that they
Speaker 1: gave him five million bucks, um, you know, and a
Speaker 1: long term deal, which you don't typically see for for
Speaker 1: long snappers. They're usually just year to year. But I
Speaker 1: think it speaks to how good this guy is and
Speaker 1: I'm anxious to see you know, they signed Dustin Hopkins
Speaker 1: of that long term deal. So now I think the
Speaker 1: one thing that's that's left is you know, returner, you know,
Speaker 1: is it who is it gonna? Are they gonna run
Speaker 1: it back with what they had last year or are
Speaker 1: they still on the lookout for punter and punt returner
Speaker 1: because we know those are two positions that are technically
Speaker 1: open right now. All right, guys, a quick break to
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Speaker 1: That's a touchdown YouTube TV. Try it free, New users
Speaker 1: only terms apply, cancel anytime. So obviously it's been busy
Speaker 1: in LA with the Chargers. Free agency has been insane.
Speaker 1: What has stood out to you? Obviously the AFC West
Speaker 1: just going toe for toe with quarterbacks and pass rushers
Speaker 1: has been a huge storyline. But there's just so much
Speaker 1: going on around the league. I know you've been in
Speaker 1: the building NFL Network. What's stood out the most through
Speaker 1: the first week or free agency? Well, I don't think
Speaker 1: there's any question. It's Russell Wilson. You know the fact
Speaker 1: that that the Seahawks opted to move on from a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion from a perennial MVP contender, even though
Speaker 1: he's never actually won one. But you talk about this
Speaker 1: success they've had in Seattle and the willingness to move
Speaker 1: on from that. You just you never see it. It's
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen, you know, I mean, think back to
Speaker 1: the last time it happened. It doesn't It just I mean,
Speaker 1: the only thing I can think of that that's close
Speaker 1: is Jay Cutler, you know, who had a really good
Speaker 1: season with the Broncos, and they opted to move on
Speaker 1: from him to the Bears and got a couple of
Speaker 1: first round picks for it. But like it just so
Speaker 1: like that's the thing, that's really what really surprised me.
Speaker 1: I didn't I knew that Aaron Rodgers wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1: There's no way you trade it back to back MVP.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't happen. So that I knew he was
Speaker 1: standing in Green Bay, and I just assumed that they
Speaker 1: would figure it out in Seattle. So that not only
Speaker 1: did they trade him, but they traded him to an
Speaker 1: offensive roster that's really good. I mean, the Broncos are
Speaker 1: really talented, and they did not have to give up
Speaker 1: any of their big three receivers. And you know, they
Speaker 1: have Hammler, they have Patrick, they have Sutton and Judy.
Speaker 1: Of course, they kept Albert oh at tight end, even
Speaker 1: though they had to give up Fant who was a
Speaker 1: really good player. But having Javante at the running back position,
Speaker 1: like man, that is a stacked team. So you know
Speaker 1: how good their secondary is. On defense. I've said it before,
Speaker 1: I'll say it again. I still think they're going to
Speaker 1: take a step back without Big Fan Joe. He's just
Speaker 1: that good of a defensive mind. And look, Nick Nick
Speaker 1: Hackett's a first year head coach, so I'm not crazy
Speaker 1: about the fit by the way of Russell Wilson. It's
Speaker 1: just it's very similar to what you know, Pets tried
Speaker 1: to do in the past with Wilson, and he just
Speaker 1: he just won't do it. You know. He does not
Speaker 1: want to get rid of the ball quick and he
Speaker 1: wants to pat pat Pat Pirouette, Pirouette, Pirouette row down field,
Speaker 1: you know. And that's just not how Nate Hackett coaches.
Speaker 1: It's not how Shane Waldron wanted to coach. It's not
Speaker 1: how Shot he wanted to coach when he was up there.
Speaker 1: So it's going to be interesting to see if Russell
Speaker 1: can change his stripes and start, you know, like Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers did you know, and that was what Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: was like before Nate Hackett mat Lafleur got there, he
Speaker 1: was Pat Pat Pat Old hold hold and they were like,
Speaker 1: you've got to change, and it produced back to back MVP.
Speaker 1: So that's something that's going to be asked of Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1: So that's like, to me, that's the thing that jumped
Speaker 1: out the most. I'm encouraged that it looks like Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson is not going to be in the AFC. I
Speaker 1: have to telling the Browns and he's not going there.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as you know, I'm sure by the time
Speaker 1: we get this out to the folks, you may have
Speaker 1: had an answer on where Deshaun Watson is. But right
Speaker 1: of now, Tip you said, he's told the Browns now
Speaker 1: and it looks like the South is in contention, right
Speaker 1: Saints or Atlanta seemed to be the two that are
Speaker 1: that are being focused on. So um. You know, we
Speaker 1: already got enough great quarterbacks in the FC UM, so
Speaker 1: you know, it sounds like he's going to get out
Speaker 1: of there. But you know, when you look at at
Speaker 1: the Chargers opponents and I'm just gonna pull them up
Speaker 1: right now, so just so I have so happening them up.
Speaker 1: It was funny because when we when we taped the
Speaker 1: pod last week, the MAC News I think broke like
Speaker 1: a couple hours after. Oh yeah, we put the video
Speaker 1: up and people are like, do you guys realize that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you're not talking about Mac yet It wasn't
Speaker 1: it wasn't happening. Yeah, I mean so it's so I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, Money was talking about Carson Wentz and you know, Washington,
Speaker 1: Washington after a rookie quarterback, So this had to have
Speaker 1: been before the Wentz news, and so I can't keep
Speaker 1: anything current, man, exactly. It's it's there's a lot, yeah,
Speaker 1: especially with oven parts like that. You know who's by
Speaker 1: the time we get done with this. But look, the
Speaker 1: Colts are We're going to Indianapolis to play the Colts.
Speaker 1: You know who's going to be the quarterback when we're
Speaker 1: taping this. As of right now, they have no quarterback.
Speaker 1: You know, when we finished taping this, who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: Baker mayfields in Indianapolis, Maybe Jimmy Garoppolo is in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: No idea you know how that's going to shake out.
Speaker 1: But as I'm looking at the opponents, like what stands
Speaker 1: out to me? And we brought this up before we're
Speaker 1: gonna see Chenna. We played the NFC West. We know
Speaker 1: how good that division is, who had three teams in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. You know, it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what Arizona looks like, if they can get over
Speaker 1: their issues with Kyler or how that that plays out. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we obviously have all the AFC West opponents,
Speaker 1: but play the Browns, play the Falcons. If that's where
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson ends up going, you know, is the now
Speaker 1: we just figure exactly our old friend alert, So we're
Speaker 1: going to see him in Atlanta. Um, the Dolphins spent
Speaker 1: a lot of money and have a new head coach
Speaker 1: and they're crafting that building that you know, that that
Speaker 1: offense and his image with Ala king Gold the fullback
Speaker 1: going there, and and with Raheem most St, who excelled
Speaker 1: under Mike McDaniel as their their running game coordinator in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, that's gonna be a tough squad. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: you play the Super Bowl champs, you know, playing the Rams.
Speaker 1: So happy to see von Miller and Buffalo. Although I
Speaker 1: won't be singing that tune in the in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So there's it's look, man, it's it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: I tell people this all the time, you know, and
Speaker 1: this goes back to last year. I'll make this analogy.
Speaker 1: You know, last year, and look, the Dodgers didn't win
Speaker 1: the World Series. It's stunk. I thought it was bs
Speaker 1: the way that they stack the playoffs, you know, and
Speaker 1: the fact that they had to be a wild card
Speaker 1: with the second best record in the league. That was ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But I said, you don't you don't want three games sweep,
Speaker 1: four game sweep, four games sweep or four, you know,
Speaker 1: winning five games. You don't remember that. You don't remember that.
Speaker 1: That's not something that will stay with you for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. What stays with you is this
Speaker 1: incredible run. You know, five game series, seven game series,
Speaker 1: seven games series, like those are the things you remember.
Speaker 1: Lakers Celtics in the eighties, Games seven, magic playing center,
Speaker 1: Like that's the stuff. If that was magic playing center
Speaker 1: in game five and they won four to one and
Speaker 1: be like, oh, yeah, I remember that was so crazy
Speaker 1: play center And no, that's not what it is. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what's so great about this upcoming season.
Speaker 1: This has a chance, you know, it has a chance
Speaker 1: to be one of the greatest that any football fan
Speaker 1: and Charger fan is going to have have been part
Speaker 1: of and along when you just think about those playoffs,
Speaker 1: if they can punch that ticket to the tournament, you know,
Speaker 1: and one week it's the Chiefs, and the next week
Speaker 1: it's the Bills, and you know it's the Titans with
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry or whatever it might be, like it's a
Speaker 1: super Bowl against the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, or
Speaker 1: it's just it's so stacked right now, and it's going
Speaker 1: to be incredibly competitive, and the schedule it is going
Speaker 1: to be incredibly hard. On a smaller scale too. If
Speaker 1: you just look at it from like an AFC West perspective,
Speaker 1: if you get out of that division and get into
Speaker 1: the tournament, you will have earned it, no doubt. They're
Speaker 1: gonna beat up on each other, and just like any
Speaker 1: other season for all thirty two teams, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: peaks and valleys. There may be a tough stretch, there
Speaker 1: may be a stretch where you get our role and
Speaker 1: win a bunch of games in a row. But this
Speaker 1: AFC West man, whoever gets out of it, you will
Speaker 1: have earned it, no question about it. And I think
Speaker 1: it just it brings, you know, the importance to you
Speaker 1: better win games they're supposed to win. There was no
Speaker 1: room for hiccups, no room for a Houston loss, no
Speaker 1: room for an Atlanta loss. Or you know, if you
Speaker 1: feel like you're considerably better than the Seahawks because they're
Speaker 1: rebuilding and they don't have that quarterback, you know, like
Speaker 1: you better win those games because the ones, like you said,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a street fight every one of those
Speaker 1: AFC West Division contests. I'm so excited, dude. We have
Speaker 1: so much more to go though, like the second and
Speaker 1: third d the free agency, like the charges aren't done. Like, no,
Speaker 1: there may be moves today, there may be moves tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And they have not touched the offense. You know that
Speaker 1: they're talking about today. Yeah, I mean they did, you know,
Speaker 1: they did e FA's or you know, Guydan Farum. You know,
Speaker 1: but outside of that, there's you know, they don't know
Speaker 1: are they looking at a running back? Are they look
Speaker 1: at is there a right tackle out there? Are they
Speaker 1: gonna take a shot with Trey you know, because they
Speaker 1: were impressed with what he did in his two starts
Speaker 1: last year. About the draft, you know, we got the
Speaker 1: draft coming up. And that's the great thing about free agency.
Speaker 1: When you can execute your plan and get the guys
Speaker 1: that you target, is it frees you up in the
Speaker 1: draft to truly take the best player available. You know,
Speaker 1: I think at this point, look, I'd love to see
Speaker 1: a right tackle. Nothing against Storm or Tray, but I
Speaker 1: think if you can get a little bit of depth there,
Speaker 1: considering what it looked like last year, I think that'd
Speaker 1: be you know, hopefully a Boushi's healthy and they can
Speaker 1: bring him back, that'd be awesome to settle that guard position.
Speaker 1: And I have a feeling that that's going to happen
Speaker 1: or else. I don't think they would have let Quest
Speaker 1: go that That's just kind of where my head is
Speaker 1: the fact that that they let Quest go just on
Speaker 1: a one year deal to Houston. I think if they
Speaker 1: didn't feel like they had that right guard position your
Speaker 1: out and if a Bushie wasn't tracking toward being healthy
Speaker 1: and bringing him back, I think you would have seen
Speaker 1: them match that deal for whatever it was, a million
Speaker 1: two million bucks. So that's you know, and it brings
Speaker 1: into the and the reason I bring that up is
Speaker 1: because you know, if you can settle that right side
Speaker 1: of the line. Well, now with picks seventeen, you can
Speaker 1: go wherever you want. You know. You can go defensive
Speaker 1: line depth, you can go a corner, you can go
Speaker 1: wide receiver, you know, and it's not a big deal
Speaker 1: if a Lave's sitting there or one of these guys
Speaker 1: is sitting there. You know, Jamison, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: you can go wherever you want because you've kind of
Speaker 1: been able to fill your needs and just take the
Speaker 1: best player on the board. And you know, this is
Speaker 1: the splashy week. But this second and third wave. We
Speaker 1: talked about Brandon Saley saying he wants a deep team,
Speaker 1: he wants a complete team. That's where you make your
Speaker 1: team deep and complete in this second and third wave
Speaker 1: of free agency. And Tom has done really well in
Speaker 1: the past during this stretch of March and going into April.
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm on the lookout for now, is like,
Speaker 1: how do you fill out the roster? You're here not
Speaker 1: only defensively, but like you said, we haven't even touched
Speaker 1: the offense yet. Maybe there's a running back, maybe there's
Speaker 1: a veteran running back, a right tackle, another wide receiver
Speaker 1: who knows what they'll do. But you know special teams
Speaker 1: guys too, Guys who are veterans who have played teams,
Speaker 1: who know what to do and know what to expect
Speaker 1: in that third phase of the game. Those are the
Speaker 1: guys I'm kind of looking for over the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. Yeah, one of the things, one of the
Speaker 1: things I think is really in play is pick seventeen
Speaker 1: for a quarterback, you know, just because that's kind of
Speaker 1: your sweet spot, right if you don't want to spend
Speaker 1: a top five pick on Kenny Pickott or Malik Willis
Speaker 1: or maccarrov whomember your guy is, Like, that's the Lion's
Speaker 1: got picked thirty two. It's like, if you want to
Speaker 1: you might be able to get that second round back,
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to go from seventeen all
Speaker 1: the way back to to thirty two, or if the
Speaker 1: Steelers want to jump up from twenty, maybe you pick
Speaker 1: up an extra third, you know, to account for the
Speaker 1: second that you traded for Khalil Mackwell, now your whole,
Speaker 1: you know, now your your hole on your draft board.
Speaker 1: So that's that's also something that that I would keep
Speaker 1: an eye on, is you know, if they because it
Speaker 1: is a deep O line class it's a deep wide
Speaker 1: receiver class, so you know, tight end. There's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna be a tight end that goes in the first round,
Speaker 1: but there will be a tight end that goes in
Speaker 1: the second round, maybe a couple of them, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: McBride or whomever it may be. It's the first one
Speaker 1: off the board. Like, so I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: if they may have a guy it's circled or two
Speaker 1: that they really have circled. But I would not be
Speaker 1: the least bit surprised if seventeen is in play for
Speaker 1: a quarterback, because there aren't going to be any taken,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe before that. Yeah, it's a good call,
Speaker 1: and I think it gives the Chargers, like the charge
Speaker 1: are in a great spot there. I mean you could
Speaker 1: literally pick six different positions and probably be happy with Yeah,
Speaker 1: pick a Georgia player. Pick it. If you get a bulldog,
Speaker 1: especially leads his success right exactly. If you're picking for defense,
Speaker 1: just take one of the Georgia guys, you'll be fine.
Speaker 1: Take a five star who do you have cutting down
Speaker 1: the nets? You gotta final four? Yeah, look, I think
Speaker 1: it's hard to pick against Gonzaga. I felt the same
Speaker 1: way last year. I just felt like they were such
Speaker 1: a great team. Um. At the same time, I love
Speaker 1: the fact that UCLA is healthy, Like this is the
Speaker 1: first time they have been completely and totally healthy all season.
Speaker 1: They got veteran guards, you know, they got you know,
Speaker 1: with quote Riley Back, they got, they got bigs. Now
Speaker 1: they have some size in there, they can that they
Speaker 1: can work for him. So you know, it's just, man,
Speaker 1: they got a gauntlet of a bracket. The defendant champ
Speaker 1: Baylor Bears, they got to deal with Kentucky, who's played
Speaker 1: incredible this year. Even Saint Mary's in the second round.
Speaker 1: My gosh, I think their average age is like twenty
Speaker 1: seven and they're all just gnarly brilliance. Yeah, so, um,
Speaker 1: it won't be easy, and I know it's on the
Speaker 1: same side of the bracket, but you know, look, I'm
Speaker 1: a West Coast guy, so I'm you know, I'm hoping
Speaker 1: for a Ucla Arizona final. That'd be awesome. You know,
Speaker 1: make it a Pac twelve, make it, make it the
Speaker 1: fourth meeting between the two, and let's get after it.
Speaker 1: That's what I got. I got. I got Ucla cutting
Speaker 1: down the nuts against Arizona. There we go, it's twenty
Speaker 1: teams that could win this thing, though, you know ten,
Speaker 1: what do you think? I usually I usually say there's
Speaker 1: about three or four, and that's usually how it works out.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like last year, I felt like Gonzaga
Speaker 1: was the runaway winner. I was like, is there a
Speaker 1: team that could give them an issue? Probably Baylor. I
Speaker 1: mean that's kind of how I felt going into last
Speaker 1: year that was going to be one of those two teams.
Speaker 1: And I'm not just saying that hindsight, and that's just so.
Speaker 1: This year, I feel like, you know what, I think
Speaker 1: Kentucky's really good. I think Gonzaga is exceptional. You know,
Speaker 1: Baylor is still alload to deal with. Arizona is so
Speaker 1: talented and they're big. Um Ucla I think is certainly capable.
Speaker 1: Not crazy about Kansas UM. So yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe I got like five. Maybe I got like five
Speaker 1: teams that I would be willing if I had to
Speaker 1: put money on it. There's maybe five teams I spent
Speaker 1: I put my money on to say, yeah, okay, I'll
Speaker 1: risk some cash for this. I had a funt assignment
Speaker 1: on Sunday. I was in fuller ten at this bar
Speaker 1: Rosco's or the Delhi Uh and the team was there
Speaker 1: waiting to see who they were gonna play, and when
Speaker 1: Duke came across the screen, I mean, it's just it's awesome.
Speaker 1: It's it's awesome for these kids because you get the memory.
Speaker 1: You go to the tournament, but you're playing coach k
Speaker 1: and perhaps his last game. Make it his last game, man,
Speaker 1: make his last game, right, Yeah, one hundred percent. Although
Speaker 1: I will say, I mean I shouldn't play favorites, but sorry, Titans.
Speaker 1: I'm a big Long Beach Steak guy. I've known Dan
Speaker 1: Mons in a long time. I was heartbroken for him
Speaker 1: the beach for Long Beach State. Yeah, forty nine ers
Speaker 1: or I guess, yeah, now they're the beach right, Um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was. I was really pulling for Coach
Speaker 1: Munson to get in there and and try to work
Speaker 1: some of his tournament magic again like he used to
Speaker 1: at Gunzag all those years. Yeah. All right, well, all
Speaker 1: right man, you gotta you gotta show to do, right,
Speaker 1: Little u Cela talk Mick Madness. Let's show the show
Speaker 1: one more time for the folks. All right, there we go.
Speaker 1: There it is little Mick Madness. It's too bad. We
Speaker 1: can't sell these, right man, I'd be I'd be the
Speaker 1: first in line. Yeah, you would, you be first in
Speaker 1: line at the court appearance when you Cela sues us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: never mind, never mind, never mind. All right, guys, it's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for us. We'll have more free agency
Speaker 1: news next week. I always love doing this every Thursday.
Speaker 1: This is Chargers Weekly. We'll see you next time.