Speaker 1: What's up, guys. Welcome into another episode of Chargers Weekly,
Speaker 1: as always, joined by Matt money Smith, and this is
Speaker 1: a special episode because starting next week Money, across the
Speaker 1: next seven months, we'll have a training camp practice, a
Speaker 1: joint practice, a preseason game, a regular season game, a
Speaker 1: playoff game, and hopefully a super Bowl to talk about
Speaker 1: from July to February. Yeah, it's here. It's weird. I
Speaker 1: think people that I don't want to get too deep
Speaker 1: into this. I can't imagine people were too interested in.
Speaker 1: But like, football is interesting because the off season really
Speaker 1: isn't that long between draft and free agency and rookie
Speaker 1: camp and OTAs. But there's this little window that we're
Speaker 1: in right now where everyone in the NFL goes on vacation,
Speaker 1: has like this three week window to themselves and then
Speaker 1: it's over. And when it's over, it is over, and
Speaker 1: you are slammed from you know, I'm gonna be part
Speaker 1: of that NFL network. You know we're back September or
Speaker 1: a July thirtieth, you know, every single training camp going
Speaker 1: for like nine hours on the network, and that's kind
Speaker 1: of like the official kickoff. Are you in the studio
Speaker 1: for that? Are you out I'll be at Chargers Camp
Speaker 1: DJ and I'll be at a Chargers camp for that one.
Speaker 1: And it's just funny because that's essentially they I don't
Speaker 1: know if they'd be upset with me saying this, but
Speaker 1: you basically get these emails of like, you know, imagine
Speaker 1: your Disney pass, and depending on the level of Disney
Speaker 1: Pass you get, you have all the blackout dates of
Speaker 1: when you can't go, like vacation at NFL network from
Speaker 1: July thirtieth until like February fifteenth, it's just blacked out.
Speaker 1: It's like you're not going anywhere for these eight months,
Speaker 1: So enjoy it for this little three week window. And
Speaker 1: now we're just about to exit that. But I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I got my vacations in and as did you. You
Speaker 1: just got back from Hawaii, so I'm still that we
Speaker 1: got this going next week and I'll see you out
Speaker 1: there at Jack Hammond. Yeah, we know what we signed
Speaker 1: up for, right, I mean, we know love it. Once
Speaker 1: July hits, I love it, man, I would feel like
Speaker 1: it is vacation when football starts. A last week's episode,
Speaker 1: people loved your Andrew Luck commentary. Man. I hope hope
Speaker 1: Zach got some downloads off of that. But I had
Speaker 1: I had to read a couple of comments to you
Speaker 1: because I was laughing because they were fantastic. Jack said,
Speaker 1: I damn never wanted to stand up in my living
Speaker 1: room and clap for Matt when he was saying all
Speaker 1: that stuff about Andrew Luck. That was motivational af to me.
Speaker 1: Right on, Jack, I mean, look, I get it. I
Speaker 1: know why people are excited right because Andrew Luck was incredible,
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely incredible. So you know, if someone's making
Speaker 1: a parallel of Herbert D. Luck, you're gonna get darn excited,
Speaker 1: Jesse being thank you Matt for bringing depth to the
Speaker 1: online discussion. What happened to Andrew Luck is so tragic
Speaker 1: and terrible. Imagine watching that to happen to Justin that
Speaker 1: would be horrible. Well, we made the case for why
Speaker 1: it's not happening to Justin, which is I think right,
Speaker 1: no doubt. That was the sort of the foundation of
Speaker 1: the parallel. That that got me thinking about it when
Speaker 1: I listened to to Zach Keifer's pod there all right,
Speaker 1: So we mentioned the training came next week. Ten practices
Speaker 1: open to the public, the first one next Wednesday. There's
Speaker 1: also two against the Cowboys joint practices, those two practices exclusive,
Speaker 1: the season seed members money. What's the first thing you
Speaker 1: gotta have eyes on on Wednesday seeing those guys out there, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go before I'm gonna go forty eight hours before.
Speaker 1: That first thing I'm gonna have my eyes on is
Speaker 1: when this Derwin James extension gets done. You know, to me,
Speaker 1: that is And I don't know if you were planning
Speaker 1: on going there, but I guess I might have jumped
Speaker 1: you for content here. But to me, that's that's the
Speaker 1: most important thing. You know, today, the day we're recording this,
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray just agreed to his extension. We know that
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown Jesse Bates they both didn't, so they're playing
Speaker 1: on the franchise tags. News today that the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: not happy with Orlando Brown's camp, that they thought, you know,
Speaker 1: they made some fair offers and that got turned away.
Speaker 1: And we know, you know from just kind of what
Speaker 1: is it now almost it's been ten years. This is
Speaker 1: the tenth year of Tom Talesco. That look, you got
Speaker 1: to get a deal done before training camp, otherwise it's
Speaker 1: going to wait till the end of the year. And
Speaker 1: you certainly do not want to be put in that
Speaker 1: position with Derwin so and it's just been great to
Speaker 1: watch the way that Tom and his staff has worked
Speaker 1: and Ed and everybody in locking up Keenan and Mike
Speaker 1: and Joey and all these players that they've drafted and
Speaker 1: developed and then rewarded with these, you know, lucrative extensions.
Speaker 1: And I would be absolutely floored if they didn't get
Speaker 1: something done with Derwin. But until it's done, can't lie.
Speaker 1: I just I'm like god, I'd love to see that
Speaker 1: headline of Derwin James, you know, sorry, Tom and Ed
Speaker 1: agrees to be the highest paid safety in football. I'm
Speaker 1: just waiting for that that headline to show up. Well,
Speaker 1: we don't need to talk to anybody else to know
Speaker 1: what Derwin means to the organization and how they feel
Speaker 1: about dr and how he makes everything go all three phases.
Speaker 1: It's not just defense. So it would be good to
Speaker 1: see Dorwin locked up ready to go for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two season. Beyond. There's a lot of good safeties
Speaker 1: in the league. I mean, Makeup Fitzpatrick kind of just
Speaker 1: set the standard, right, so you know, that's kind of
Speaker 1: where what we're looking at this point, Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think that's I think the two of them were looking
Speaker 1: at each other. And by the two of them, I
Speaker 1: mean they're agents and seeing who was going to blink first,
Speaker 1: and because knowing that the second you signed it, the
Speaker 1: other guy was going to ask for a dollar more
Speaker 1: or a million dollars more, or whatever it might be,
Speaker 1: because they're both that good. And that goes for you know,
Speaker 1: all the elite safeties in the league, and it's no
Speaker 1: different with quarterbacks and in any position. You know, one
Speaker 1: guy signs to the deal, the next guy wants a
Speaker 1: little bit more, And that's how agents prove their worth
Speaker 1: to their clients and get more clients. So you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think Tom would be upset with me saying that,
Speaker 1: because you know, that's just the way the business works
Speaker 1: when you're an elite player. And look, I think for
Speaker 1: Dura and the Chargers it in Los Angeles, it goes
Speaker 1: beyond just a how incredibly great of a football player
Speaker 1: he is, be how what an incredible leader that he is.
Speaker 1: But I mean, Durwin's a star. Durwin is a star
Speaker 1: off the field, like he is a legit superstar, and
Speaker 1: there are not many of those on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball in the league, guys with just incredible personalities,
Speaker 1: very marketable. You're gonna see a time. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: we saw a bunch of thirty threes. Now we're gonna
Speaker 1: see a bunch of three Jersey's all over the place,
Speaker 1: you know, this coming year. So I think then Sean
Speaker 1: Leonard's gonna get a little shine because I think he's
Speaker 1: wearing it thirty three. Yeah, exactly in the crowd for me, right,
Speaker 1: Durwin looks like he got like he shrunk. That happened.
Speaker 1: What happened to him. So I didn't want to go
Speaker 1: here because I didn't want to take Oh, I didn't
Speaker 1: want to take debate. But we had a We had
Speaker 1: Chris Canton last year, and I like Chris Canty a lot.
Speaker 1: He's a good dude. He had his top five overrated
Speaker 1: players entering the twenty twenty two season, and he just
Speaker 1: happened to lead it off with two Chargers, right, Darwin
Speaker 1: was one of them, and then Khalil Mack was two.
Speaker 1: And then you know, the one theme I saw throughout
Speaker 1: it was like I think it was Saquon Barkley, Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott and Christian McCaffrey. If I'm not mistaken, all those
Speaker 1: guys have had like major injuries right over the last
Speaker 1: two years. So I want to have Chris on it
Speaker 1: at some point, maybe like Week six, week eate we
Speaker 1: can kind of see where these guys are at. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've had him on before. Yeah. So I look at
Speaker 1: Darwin and he references the fact that you know, he
Speaker 1: played through a torn labor him hasn't been the same
Speaker 1: since his rookie year. Wouldn't that game Week two of
Speaker 1: the NFL season last year where he hurt his labor
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys or great Week three Chiefs Wake three
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs the Chiefs. So I mean the fact
Speaker 1: that he played throughout the entire year, made the Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: was a first team All Pro in twenty eighteen, and
Speaker 1: he's under the age of twenty five. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know how you can say somebody is
Speaker 1: overrated at that age playing at that level with bad
Speaker 1: injury luck. Like if this is just strictly on injury luck,
Speaker 1: and you know, you can make the argument he'd play
Speaker 1: for two years, fine, but that that kind of struck me,
Speaker 1: and that almost you know, if you want to go
Speaker 1: behind the curtain at a in a production meeting. It's
Speaker 1: almost like, all right, how can we Needle Chargers fans
Speaker 1: today on social media? Because they're active, they're out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just the way to do it. I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 1: what did you think about that? I think you started
Speaker 1: with the proper sentence, which is I didn't want to
Speaker 1: take the bait. And to me, it's bait. It's it's clickbait.
Speaker 1: You know, you can't put a bunch of players on
Speaker 1: there that everybody would agree are overrated. You know, he
Speaker 1: kind of hit it, all right, and look this just
Speaker 1: this is just reality one he hit uh. You know,
Speaker 1: top five pick. Everybody you know went crazy when they
Speaker 1: selected a running back and say Quon Barkley when you
Speaker 1: had quarterbacks on the board, regardless of how those quarterbacks
Speaker 1: turned out, just saying like, you took say Quon Barkley
Speaker 1: in the top five and everyone was like, don't take
Speaker 1: the running back. And it's proven to be an issue
Speaker 1: because say Quence can't stay healthy too. You throw the
Speaker 1: white running back in there that everybody loves, you know,
Speaker 1: So okay, there you go. Check that box. Three. You
Speaker 1: put Khalilo three exactly three. Let's put a cowboy in there,
Speaker 1: and I mean, has there ever been a more debated
Speaker 1: player in the league than Dak Prescott. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm part of that as Jerry's and you know, and
Speaker 1: his son's doing, you know when it comes to signing
Speaker 1: him and elongating that process and probably ended up paying
Speaker 1: ten million bucks more per season because of the way
Speaker 1: they approached it, not wanting to commit to it, and
Speaker 1: then a couple of chargers, you know, which I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I just didn't quite understand what he was going for there. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, overrated is I don't believe in this person's
Speaker 1: skill set. They're they're listed as a players and they're not.
Speaker 1: And it's like talk to talk to offensive tackles and
Speaker 1: tell me if Khalil Mack's overrated. If they go into
Speaker 1: a game and say, oh man, I'm happy I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be playing Khalil Mack today. This guy's so overrated. Everyone
Speaker 1: thinks he's so good. This is going to be a
Speaker 1: walk in the park. No, that's not what they say.
Speaker 1: They're they're crapping their pants because they know that Khalil
Speaker 1: is one of the best hedge rushers in the league.
Speaker 1: And same thing with Derwin and you know, tip of
Speaker 1: the cap to one of my favorite people in the business, Baldy.
Speaker 1: Brian Baldinger, who today actually the day were doing this,
Speaker 1: posted it on his Instagram, his Baldy breakdown of Derwin
Speaker 1: just talking about you know, and you know how Baldy
Speaker 1: do say. You know, there's people out there that are
Speaker 1: saying things about Durwin. Just don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're talking about. Let me get
Speaker 1: this going here and no, no, no, no, you know,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what they're talking about. So if
Speaker 1: you want to check that out at Baldy NFL on Instagram.
Speaker 1: He's got about a two and a half minute sizzle
Speaker 1: reel from last year of him covering Travis Kelsey and
Speaker 1: Tyree Hill in the same game of him going seventeen
Speaker 1: tackles and a half exactly as a pick against Darren
Speaker 1: Waller because he jumps a route that Waller, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the most uncoverable tight ends in the league.
Speaker 1: He's doing that. He's got him blowing up Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: and just dusting samaj p Ryan and pass pro for
Speaker 1: a sack, and then he's got him. I can't remember. Oh,
Speaker 1: and then he's got him shooting a gap on a
Speaker 1: handoff from Mac Jones and the Patriots game. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like a cartoon. That one play is like watching
Speaker 1: a cartoon where Derwin diagnoses attacks and you just can't
Speaker 1: figure out how someone's body got to that spot that quickly.
Speaker 1: So I think it's just bait, you know, That's all
Speaker 1: it was. It's bait. But you know what, I took
Speaker 1: it because I got one more week till training Kim,
Speaker 1: so exactly like I had, I had a right to
Speaker 1: take it. And I will say this if chartis fans
Speaker 1: don't know. Khalil Mack liked it on Instagram, so Kalil
Speaker 1: Max saw it. And the one thing that that strikes
Speaker 1: me about Khalil is the second you talk to him,
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to talk about anything. He just says,
Speaker 1: I just want to show you, just want to show.
Speaker 1: He just wants to get to September eleventh and show
Speaker 1: everybody who he is, because I do think people forgot
Speaker 1: just because we have this recency bias. We see everything
Speaker 1: that happened in twenty twenty one. Khalil got hurt seven
Speaker 1: eight games into the season, and we didn't hear from
Speaker 1: him again, and he played on a team that wasn't
Speaker 1: very good. So you know, we haven't said Khalil Mack's
Speaker 1: name a lot over the last two years because of
Speaker 1: all those factors. We'll see what happens September eleventh. And
Speaker 1: I think he's the type of guy who's like, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna he's not gonna tell you anything. He's gonna
Speaker 1: show you how it's done. And I think the thing
Speaker 1: with Durwin is a guy like Khalil, and Staley said
Speaker 1: this so many times, jac Jackson, Khalil, they finally have
Speaker 1: players around him to let Drwin make some of more
Speaker 1: of those flash plays. Right, that's the key. I think
Speaker 1: that's the key is with last year's defense, Derwin was
Speaker 1: the break in case of emergency player, and every single
Speaker 1: game they had to break that glass and ask him
Speaker 1: to do something different. Darren, we gotta have you play
Speaker 1: up high for you know, fifty sixty percent of the
Speaker 1: snaps and now he's not as involved at the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage as he should be. Uh, Darwin, Joey's you know,
Speaker 1: banged up. We need you to give us some past
Speaker 1: rush presents, you know, off the edge and now you know,
Speaker 1: the tight ends kind of running free through the middle
Speaker 1: of the field. Oh, Darren, we need you to kind
Speaker 1: of work the outside as a corner because we're down
Speaker 1: to two practice squad corners that are starting right now.
Speaker 1: Like he was asked to do. And you know, coach
Speaker 1: did a great job. I think of sharing that sentiment
Speaker 1: with the media of you know, you have no idea
Speaker 1: what we're asking this guy to do. And you know,
Speaker 1: after they traded for Khalil, and after they signed jac
Speaker 1: and after they both stred the interior of that line.
Speaker 1: Now it's the first thing out of Staley's mouth is
Speaker 1: you know, just wait, you wait to see what we're
Speaker 1: going to be able to do with Darwin now and
Speaker 1: how he is different than almost every other player in
Speaker 1: the league because he can rush. He is a load
Speaker 1: to deal with as as a rush, you know, as
Speaker 1: a rusher, as a blitzer, he's he can go step
Speaker 1: for step with any tight end in the league. He
Speaker 1: can cover receivers like Tyree kill Um, and he can
Speaker 1: just cause havoc. He's so intelligent at diagnosing and seeing
Speaker 1: what a play. You know, it's it's kind of the
Speaker 1: chess matches that we used to hear like to me,
Speaker 1: that's the name that you would always hear, like Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers or Peyton Manning. They were the ones that always
Speaker 1: talk about, Oh, I love Dad Gumm and I love
Speaker 1: playing against Derwyn James because I know he knows what
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, and I know what he's thinking, and so
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think if he's thinking what I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna out thinking. You know, that's the exactly
Speaker 1: it was Edry, you know, And that's and that's gonna
Speaker 1: be fun this year. Like I'm just looking at Game one.
Speaker 1: You talked about how Khalil wants to show you. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm looking at that Raiders offensive line and we
Speaker 1: know that Darren Waller don't like blocking, so you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna get Foster Moreau out there for some help
Speaker 1: on And we know what Joey Bosa regularly does to
Speaker 1: Colton Miller for whatever reason, it's just been a good
Speaker 1: man job. Even though Colton's one of the better offensive
Speaker 1: tackles in the league. Joe has just had his way
Speaker 1: with them. And I'm looking at it right now, and
Speaker 1: I heard Josh McDaniels say it. They're gonna try Alex
Speaker 1: Leatherwood at right tackle again. And I believe it was
Speaker 1: Joe you ended that career at right tackle last year
Speaker 1: in their first meeting, and then the very next week
Speaker 1: Leatherwood was kicked inside the guard. So either Joe or
Speaker 1: Kalierl are gonna have a pretty good run on that
Speaker 1: that deal there, And it's going to be awfully fun
Speaker 1: to get things started that way. Yeah, and listen you
Speaker 1: said it. Things have already started. The Raiders are in
Speaker 1: training kit because they had that Hall of Fame game
Speaker 1: and Derek Carr said, this is from the athletic It's
Speaker 1: going to be fun. No one thinks anything of us,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what makes it fun is you
Speaker 1: always have to put the ball down and play the
Speaker 1: football game. So Derek's taking the taking the underdog approach
Speaker 1: very early day won into camp. Yeah, last time I checked,
Speaker 1: I thought that was Davante Adams who was getting the
Speaker 1: Madden ninety nine rating trophy delivered by Jerry Rice. I
Speaker 1: think like their skill positions are are up in the
Speaker 1: top five with Waller and Davante and Hunter Renfro and
Speaker 1: just what a what a nightmare cover that is? It?
Speaker 1: Look and not to mention they bring in Chandler Joe.
Speaker 1: You talked about it last week, you know, in the
Speaker 1: top ten they got Chandler Jones and Max Crosby in
Speaker 1: the top ten. Edge Rusher. It seems like people are
Speaker 1: all right with the with the Raiders team. I just
Speaker 1: got to go on execute. So to me, that's on you, Derek,
Speaker 1: you know, has nothing to do, and people are giving
Speaker 1: you the respect the team, the respect that you may
Speaker 1: be looking for. There's looking for you to go out
Speaker 1: there and do it, and do it in this division.
Speaker 1: It's funny for someone who routinely says that with that
Speaker 1: weird accent that he has, I don't pay much attention
Speaker 1: to all that stuff out there. You know. He seems
Speaker 1: to pay attention to a lot of it for someone
Speaker 1: that tells us routinely that he does not pay attention
Speaker 1: to it. So hey, family, trust, respect, there we go.
Speaker 1: You know. It's what's great about this upcoming season of money.
Speaker 1: It's like we don't have the Browns of the Jaguars
Speaker 1: up for It's Raiders week one, it's Chiefs week two.
Speaker 1: I mean, like this thing is it's come and at
Speaker 1: you like that. So so all these fun little clippings
Speaker 1: that are going to come out throughout the course of
Speaker 1: training camp, preseason. That's all gonna be the lead up
Speaker 1: to that game that really kind of picks up what
Speaker 1: happened in Week eighteen last year, but in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know if I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's ideal or not. You know, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you ask players, you know, the idea for players, That's
Speaker 1: what I mean. Because fans it's like it's great, but
Speaker 1: we all know it takes like like, look, I think
Speaker 1: I can talk about this, but like you ever, but
Speaker 1: you always hear, you know, the guys in Vegas that
Speaker 1: have to set the lines, they always say the first
Speaker 1: three weeks, there's your opportunity because it's so hard to know.
Speaker 1: So we're just kind of flying by the seat of
Speaker 1: our pants when we're setting these lines. And that's typically
Speaker 1: when you hear fans get the better of the book
Speaker 1: because they're trying to figure it out. And so when
Speaker 1: you've got Raiders Chiefs week one and two, and you've
Speaker 1: got teams that are trying to figure it out, and
Speaker 1: you've completely remade your defensive line and you've got so
Speaker 1: many new players on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Let's kind of take a second. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: ton of talent out there, but it is going to
Speaker 1: take a second. I'll be interested, you know, I'll be
Speaker 1: interested to see how coach Staley approaches preseason. You know,
Speaker 1: if he feels like and it's it's probably great that
Speaker 1: the Chargers have two joint practices this year, you know,
Speaker 1: to get those reps and try to get these guys
Speaker 1: comfortable with one another, because we know that went a
Speaker 1: long way. We would always hear, you know how much
Speaker 1: coach Lan and you know Coach Staley loved those joint
Speaker 1: practices and how much they get out of it. So
Speaker 1: I think to be able to get two teams in there,
Speaker 1: both the Cowboys in the in the rams and get
Speaker 1: some of those reps with all these new players, that's
Speaker 1: gonna go a long way for that first week on
Speaker 1: September eleventh. Yeah, those are the new preseason games. Like
Speaker 1: that's where the veterans are getting the most work. So like,
Speaker 1: if you're a season seat holder, uh that those two
Speaker 1: Cowboy joint practices, those are gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: You got you got Zeke and Bilby and Dak and
Speaker 1: justin and but just to go back to your point,
Speaker 1: like I remember Kevin Harland saying, uh, we had him
Speaker 1: on a couple of years ago and he said, you
Speaker 1: know what, I don't pay much attention to who's good
Speaker 1: until like mid October because penalties and sloppy football. You
Speaker 1: kind of get your footing in mid October. So I
Speaker 1: almost feel like it's almost like whoever's more talented early
Speaker 1: in the year, Like maybe talent plays out more than
Speaker 1: execution and penalties and things like that. So you're right,
Speaker 1: I don't know as a as a coach, if I
Speaker 1: feel great about having my AFC West slate right at
Speaker 1: the off the rip or like kind of going to
Speaker 1: that point, Like I remember that. I think it was
Speaker 1: like the Commanders had like five NFC East games like
Speaker 1: in like December like something ridiculous, Like they had all
Speaker 1: of their division games at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: So like I always feel like the league they need
Speaker 1: to do something about that, Like it's it's very uneven
Speaker 1: because hard, you know, it's really hard. It's it's you know,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why Peter King does that that special
Speaker 1: every year on how they build the schedule with a
Speaker 1: hotwitz and named Howard. Shoot, I should remember his name.
Speaker 1: I know his first name is Howard, remembers last name.
Speaker 1: Know who puts the whole thing together? Mike North, Howard Katz,
Speaker 1: Howard Katz. Yeah, I believe it's I think that's who. Yeah,
Speaker 1: who puts it all together. But um so I know
Speaker 1: it's impossible. And they always talk about, you know, every
Speaker 1: single team is going to have an issue at some
Speaker 1: point with the way the schedule lays out. It's either
Speaker 1: a back to back road trip or why is this
Speaker 1: team on a ten day, ten day you know rest
Speaker 1: and we're on a sixth day and you know all
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. The one thing I'll say about
Speaker 1: the Raiders and not to I don't know how interesting
Speaker 1: this is, you know, not to belabor the point, but look,
Speaker 1: new head coach, new coordinators, new systems. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: to me that's benefit Chargers. I think personnela is easier
Speaker 1: to settle in than new coaches, new systems, perhaps new
Speaker 1: terminology like they you know, they've got Daniels and Mike
Speaker 1: Lombardi or Mick Lombardi and Patrick Graham. So you've got
Speaker 1: all new coaches and new systems that they're trying to
Speaker 1: settle into To me, that's a bigger hurdle to clear
Speaker 1: the first four games than players. I always go back
Speaker 1: and forth with that money because I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of validity to that. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I remember Josh McDaniels started four and zero or five
Speaker 1: and oh with the Denver Broncos, and nobody really needs
Speaker 1: that system. Jim Zorn, I remember that same year was
Speaker 1: like six and two with the Redskins and it turned
Speaker 1: into But like I think that there's that, but there's
Speaker 1: also like the element of surprise and catching you off
Speaker 1: guard with some stuff. And I think, like I remember,
Speaker 1: like for that Washington example, like once they were able
Speaker 1: to scheme what Zorn was doing, he didn't make any
Speaker 1: adjustments and then there you have it back half of
Speaker 1: the year. But McDaniels is h McDaniels is a good coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's of a coach, heck of a coordinator.
Speaker 1: We'll see if he can be a heck of a coach.
Speaker 1: And you know, the like the Patriots, like what are
Speaker 1: they going to look like on offense this year? Like
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the big big pieces to
Speaker 1: this twenty twenty two season that could affect the Chargers. Frankly,
Speaker 1: if we're talking a wildcard, like are the Patriots going
Speaker 1: to be the same as last year? Are they going
Speaker 1: to take a step back because Josh with Daniels isn't
Speaker 1: calling the plays there. If I had to put if
Speaker 1: I had to go one way or the other, I
Speaker 1: ain't going that way. I'll tell you that they always
Speaker 1: figure it out. They did it last year with a
Speaker 1: rookie at quarterback. They're right there in the playoffs. I mean,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick is just so damn good. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't think there's any two ways um about it. So
Speaker 1: I'm just tired of of doubting him. It is interesting.
Speaker 1: I have they even said as a Matt Patricia that's
Speaker 1: gonna call, Like, I don't know that They've got like
Speaker 1: a couple of guys in the mix there, Joe Judge
Speaker 1: and um, Matt Patricia, I think, And I don't think
Speaker 1: they've mentioned you know, look, it might just end up
Speaker 1: being Bill Belichick that calls the place. Jones. Yeah, I look,
Speaker 1: I again, I am I am done. I'm seeing if
Speaker 1: they have anyone listed as an oc here. No they don't.
Speaker 1: Vacant is what it's listed as Hey, no, so guys
Speaker 1: listen to our podcast first. But U I am athlete
Speaker 1: had a Sante Samuel Senior on and it was electric. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a lot of a lot of struggle to speak.
Speaker 1: He has got some opinions, man, and a lot of
Speaker 1: Belichick Brady stuff in there to hear from his perspective.
Speaker 1: I thought it was pretty interesting. That's great. You'll have
Speaker 1: to check that out. Yeah, because they went into the hole.
Speaker 1: Uh is it is it Belichick? Is it Brady? And
Speaker 1: Asante Senior had a lot to say about his thoughts
Speaker 1: on the matter. I mean, look, it's you can't argue
Speaker 1: to me like it's just it's it's inarguable the guy
Speaker 1: won eleven games with Matt Castle for an entire season. Uh,
Speaker 1: the guy had a rookie quarterback last year and and
Speaker 1: won what ten ten games and made the playoffs or
Speaker 1: eleven games whatever it was that he was like, it
Speaker 1: just doesn't matter. It's crazy. I mean, the only thing
Speaker 1: you can ding him for is just drafting poorly, especially
Speaker 1: at the wide receiver position. Like you know, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of draft picks that have not gone well for him.
Speaker 1: But outside of that, I can freaking coach. Yeah, any
Speaker 1: of the players specifically like going into Wednesday Thursday that
Speaker 1: you acaid to see, like the full pads. They're not
Speaker 1: going to ramp up for like three days, I think.
Speaker 1: But is there any other players? And I think maybe
Speaker 1: like three or four weeks ago, we talked about some
Speaker 1: of the guys that we thought were popping a little
Speaker 1: bit in minicamp, but guys that you kind of want
Speaker 1: to see right off the top that could make a
Speaker 1: pretty big impact on this season. I think obviously it's
Speaker 1: it's Isaiah Spiller, you know. To me, that's you know,
Speaker 1: just all and just all three running backs, you know,
Speaker 1: Josh and Larry and Isaiah. And it's gonna be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how they look standing next to each other
Speaker 1: because you know, we've we've talked about running backs are different.
Speaker 1: You know, they're just built different, they run different, they
Speaker 1: do different things. Well, So I'm anxious to see those three.
Speaker 1: I'm anxious to see Trey. You know, how does he
Speaker 1: look after this offseason of trying something different and working
Speaker 1: out with a different group. Um, you know, how fluid
Speaker 1: does he look when he's just you know, even without
Speaker 1: the pads on, you know when he's going through his sets.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that, and I think just all
Speaker 1: the new players, you know, it's gonna be fun to see,
Speaker 1: you know, guys that are starters that are going to
Speaker 1: be out there. You know. I mean that's the entire
Speaker 1: three fourths of the defensive line. Three fifths of the
Speaker 1: defensive line. Um, you know, corner healthy Derwin James is
Speaker 1: always fun to watch, you know, how's he moving around
Speaker 1: now that we kind of know there was a procedure
Speaker 1: in there in the off season. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot that that that I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: We we get into training camp and like the the
Speaker 1: knicks and the bruises, and like the fluidity of training camp,
Speaker 1: it starts to get under way where you know, we're
Speaker 1: talking about everything on paper right now. Once we get
Speaker 1: into camp, there will be you know, an injury, there
Speaker 1: will be a guy sitting out for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and then that's where somebody who maybe we don't talk
Speaker 1: about as much here during the summer may may show up.
Speaker 1: That's why I think these these preseason games, some people
Speaker 1: just pooh poo them and say, hey, you know, they
Speaker 1: really don't matter. And I guess for the starters, that's true,
Speaker 1: but the back end of the roster, you know, the
Speaker 1: big theme this offseason from Talsco instill it was a
Speaker 1: deep and complete team. We don't know how deep it
Speaker 1: is yet, and I think the training camp and especially
Speaker 1: some of those preseason games will get a better idea
Speaker 1: of some of these guys who I think our question
Speaker 1: marks at this point. Can they contribute in a game
Speaker 1: in December of twenty twenty two when this team is
Speaker 1: fighting for the division or fighting for a playoff spot.
Speaker 1: They didn't necessarily have some of those guys last year,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how they faltered down the stretch.
Speaker 1: This is where those guys are made and where you
Speaker 1: get a really good idea of who you can trust
Speaker 1: all your roster as we get to September, I think
Speaker 1: I think just kind of I'm looking through the roster now,
Speaker 1: just going way deep, you know, on our lads here
Speaker 1: and yeah, you know what, there's another name, J T. Woods.
Speaker 1: You know, because speed speed shows without pads, you know,
Speaker 1: we know how fast their third round pick out of Baylor,
Speaker 1: is there a sub four or four guy, So when
Speaker 1: you can see him out there running around and maybe
Speaker 1: tracking down some routes as he's trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of catch up, maybe with a deep ball or
Speaker 1: something as as hard and far as Herbert could throw up.
Speaker 1: That'll be fun to watch, you know, Tito. You know
Speaker 1: um Avonia, who in street clothes looks big. I'm anxious
Speaker 1: to see him when he puts pads on. How big,
Speaker 1: you know, because there is there is something to that,
Speaker 1: like there's I think it's it's one of the benefits
Speaker 1: that we have of being able to be on the field.
Speaker 1: There are certain players that when you see them in
Speaker 1: pads um like the best. The best parallel I can
Speaker 1: make is I remember covering the Kings the La Kings hockey,
Speaker 1: and I remember seeing Daniel Chara for the first time
Speaker 1: on skates. It's gigantic and it's just it's it's you
Speaker 1: can't describe it unless you're standing ice level with that
Speaker 1: guy like this just this is different. I think that's
Speaker 1: how Joey is. When you see Joey in pads, when
Speaker 1: you see Derwin in pads, this is a safety that
Speaker 1: moves the way he moves. There's certain guys that really
Speaker 1: just jump out at you. So I'm anxious to see
Speaker 1: Zion who's a big guy in street clothes, and and
Speaker 1: Tito and you know, and the new guys obviously Austin
Speaker 1: Johnson and Sea Bass, you know, and Joseph than those guys. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: The ability of having hindsight now and and seeing Rashawn
Speaker 1: Slater go one on one against Joey Bosa and hold
Speaker 1: his own Early in the year, we didn't know that
Speaker 1: he was going to be a first team all pro
Speaker 1: like knowing what we know now. I mean, that's what's
Speaker 1: fun is you put yourself in that position in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, seeing Zion doing these one on ones and
Speaker 1: was he doing it against Nick Bosa two? In those
Speaker 1: joint practices, I feel like I thought Nick Nick was
Speaker 1: he sat out right? Wow? Yeah he was? Nick was there,
Speaker 1: but I don't think he participated. Um yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like I got some of that. We'll get Micah Parsons later, right,
Speaker 1: And those guys were twelve of things exactly. We're all drafted,
Speaker 1: you know, and we fun that in week two. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't remember how that shook out. Maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: a little Zion Johnson, Aaron Donald it's not gonna be
Speaker 1: fun for Jeff for Zion, but hey, it's uh, it's possible.
Speaker 1: We'll get a little bit of that. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: kind of fun. Dude. Those guys you remember that the
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen joints with the Rams, they got hot, they
Speaker 1: got real hotti. It was involved too, Yes, that was
Speaker 1: pre That was pre Ramsey. Who was it the Keenan
Speaker 1: got into it with? I can't was it to see
Speaker 1: That's what I was trying to I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure that out. It wasn't to lead, right, Oh, yeah
Speaker 1: it was. It was to leave I think it was. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was. It was exactly right, which is obvious. I
Speaker 1: should have thought of that. Yes, it was he gonna
Speaker 1: keep to leave the whole practice and then it finally
Speaker 1: just culminated where they went at it and they had
Speaker 1: to break it up, get everything calmed down. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: exactly who it was. That's the best. YEP. This year
Speaker 1: this year will have Keenan and Ramsey and Donald Yeah,
Speaker 1: Donald Zion, dude, that's the that's the matchup. Yeah, exactly. Again,
Speaker 1: completely unfair, because it's unfair to everybody. It's unfair to
Speaker 1: Zach Martin. It's unfair to Quinton Nelson. You know, you
Speaker 1: name the guard and I can tell you right now
Speaker 1: there's an advantage, and it's on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. It's arguably the best defensive player in the
Speaker 1: history of the league. That's how good Aaron Donald is.
Speaker 1: So it'll be fun to see how zi On you know,
Speaker 1: comports himself in the face of the greatest adversity in
Speaker 1: all the NFL. Yeah, he'll get you ready for September.
Speaker 1: And then you got to run it back when it's
Speaker 1: real on New Year's Day against them, and yeah, it
Speaker 1: could mean something, you know, exactly exactly. Last thing probably
Speaker 1: I think it was who was it last year that
Speaker 1: we had wait, Austin. Was it Fred Warner that Austin
Speaker 1: stood up in pass pro I think that's what it was.
Speaker 1: I think it was Fred Warner in Austin and there
Speaker 1: was a nice little set there to look, this is
Speaker 1: super inside. I can imagine this is I don't know
Speaker 1: if it would qualify as minutia for the people listening
Speaker 1: right now. Maybe listen if you're listening to this in
Speaker 1: mid July. This Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're selling it a little hard, like, hey, it's really
Speaker 1: exciting get out to Jack Hammett and watch these practices.
Speaker 1: But there are those moments like I remember walking down.
Speaker 1: I can still I can replay it through my mind's eye. Here.
Speaker 1: I remember walking down to that side of the field,
Speaker 1: because the way the practices are set up, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: here's you know, this group versus that group. And then
Speaker 1: if you go over here, it's, oh, it's Niner's offense
Speaker 1: versus Chargers defensive backs, and here is oh, it's running
Speaker 1: backs versus linebackers and pass bro And I remember just
Speaker 1: walking that way and I see Austin and I see
Speaker 1: Fred Warner, and I stopped and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be fun and freaking Austin stood him up,
Speaker 1: and I was like, dude, that's you see Fred again,
Speaker 1: going back to the prior conversation, you see Fred Warner
Speaker 1: and pads. That is a thick dude. He is a
Speaker 1: strong dude. So to see Austin, who's you know, we
Speaker 1: always say a pound for pounds strongest chargers, see him
Speaker 1: hold his own it was pretty fun, especially considering, you know,
Speaker 1: his stature versus Fred's. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: The memory that stands out to me last year in
Speaker 1: training camp was Kittle Durwin in the eleven on elevens.
Speaker 1: I remember this at touchdown and then the interception. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was just to see Kittle run his route
Speaker 1: in the physicality which he ran his route with and
Speaker 1: Derwin matching it and Derwin getting the pick off of
Speaker 1: Jimmy and take it it the other way. That was
Speaker 1: that was like, okay, man, those are two of the
Speaker 1: best in the world at what they do going head
Speaker 1: to head right now. And that's where we talk about
Speaker 1: these joint practices, is how for the for the ones,
Speaker 1: it's invaluable because like, these are the these are the
Speaker 1: reps that are gonna get you ready for September. And
Speaker 1: I think what you see in a series like that,
Speaker 1: and they had I think Kittle got a touchdown on him, right,
Speaker 1: don't want to say he got a touchdown on him,
Speaker 1: like yeah, and then Derwin got the pick. Like what
Speaker 1: you see in those moments are how much it matters,
Speaker 1: Like you know, they're having some fun and it's practice
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, it just it gets real.
Speaker 1: And when it gets real, it's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: because you can see Darwin digging in and Kittle digging
Speaker 1: in and they're fighting in their hand fighting, and when
Speaker 1: he had that pick and the entire team freaks out
Speaker 1: and runs the other way with him, It's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this doesn't matter. There's probably so many people watching this
Speaker 1: that say, I'm a competitive person. Yeah, I'm a pretty
Speaker 1: competitive person. Oh man, Yeah, there's levels to this. She
Speaker 1: and if I'm pass along some advice, it's why I'm
Speaker 1: one of the least competitive people on earth, because when
Speaker 1: you realize, I will never I will never achieve that level.
Speaker 1: So why am I even gonna bother? I might as
Speaker 1: well just go one hundred and eighty degrees the opposite
Speaker 1: the raction and just cruise and be totally content with anything.
Speaker 1: Your life's my way. Exactly need to compete, it's not
Speaker 1: a it's it's never. It's rarely going to benefit me
Speaker 1: or come out in my favors, So I might as
Speaker 1: well just kind of say I'm good, just keep cruising,
Speaker 1: have a good time. The final thing, Yeah, touched on
Speaker 1: it earlier Kyler Murray's extension. This is like breaking as
Speaker 1: we as we talk, and I think it's relevant for
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. Number one is the Chargers play
Speaker 1: the Cardinals week twelve, so you know, not that we
Speaker 1: thought Kyler was going anywhere, but he's locked in. And
Speaker 1: you know, the Chargers have the NFC West this year,
Speaker 1: so you have you have those Niners that we just
Speaker 1: talked about, you have the Ramps. January first, you got
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and then you got the Seahawks with Chenna
Speaker 1: coming back to to SOFI, I think like week seven,
Speaker 1: so that's important. And Kyla is another young quarterback and
Speaker 1: I think it just it makes you like, I think
Speaker 1: Kyler is exceptional, but charges Fish should be happy they
Speaker 1: got number ten. Look, I'm a I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 1: I'm a big Kyler fan, and I knew they'd get
Speaker 1: the deal done because there's no alternative. It's like that,
Speaker 1: of course they're gonna get a deal done. And I
Speaker 1: trade that guy. You can't find another franchise quarterback, and
Speaker 1: he's a franchise quarterback. I'm looking at the numbers now,
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty over five, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: guaranteed averages forty six. So like to me, the most
Speaker 1: important thing in terms of this podcast is, Okay, I
Speaker 1: unless unless Joe Burrow, you know, does a deal before
Speaker 1: justin and knowing the Bengals, I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: going to happen. I think that one's probably gonna get
Speaker 1: strung out. I think, you know, they're having issues with
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates, who was a super important piece to their
Speaker 1: defense you know, last year, and they let that drag out,
Speaker 1: and he's going to play on the franchise tag this
Speaker 1: year and going free agency next year. So, um, to me,
Speaker 1: this is this is much more representative I think of
Speaker 1: what Tom and Ed and everybody you're thinking about in
Speaker 1: the Charger's front office than what Deshaun Watson got. Like
Speaker 1: that was just that's just the dumbest freaking deal I've
Speaker 1: ever said. It just going to be the outlier, and
Speaker 1: I think I think, I think the entire league is
Speaker 1: going to agree that that was a ridiculous thought, which
Speaker 1: I think you just saw Kyler's agent essentially do. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's not going to happen, that that will not
Speaker 1: be the norm. It's a team that basically promised the
Speaker 1: guy everything so he would agree to be traded there
Speaker 1: instead of Atlanta New Orleans. That was the way they
Speaker 1: got him. Um, So this is I mean that's Look,
Speaker 1: that's what Justin's gonna cost and and a little bit more.
Speaker 1: You know, it'll his his deal will be bigger than that,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, and um, you know, it's pretty good framework though,
Speaker 1: and I would assume that it will be very similar
Speaker 1: looking to that. And it's probably going to be the
Speaker 1: last quarterback deal we're going to see, you know, prior
Speaker 1: to next offseason when it's time for for Tuah and
Speaker 1: unless two as a monster year, you know, and would
Speaker 1: have to be an MVP level year for him to
Speaker 1: be in that conversation. But it's the next one up.
Speaker 1: And now I was going to be Joe Burrowin and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert. There you go. Money, Are you going to
Speaker 1: be at practice the first day, second day? Yeah, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to go out as much as I can.
Speaker 1: You know, they're early enough where I can squeeze some
Speaker 1: stuff and it's all got to figure out when the
Speaker 1: old NFL network wants to get the power rankings fired
Speaker 1: up again. And let yeah, because that's a Tuesday, so
Speaker 1: depending on when that when that gets going. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be out there. I know, my first like official,
Speaker 1: first official for the network is the thirtieth. That Saturday?
Speaker 1: Is that? So I've got some days next week before
Speaker 1: that because what Tuesday, right is our first open? Wednesday's
Speaker 1: the first open Wednesday. So there you go, Wednesday, Thursday.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can do the pod live in the morning.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Let's do that. Now that works. You
Speaker 1: guys are there, come come kick it with us, and
Speaker 1: absolutely we'll get a time down. So absolutely, all right,
Speaker 1: brother cam next week, next week gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: more fun than this, that's for sure. Yeah, no more less.
Speaker 1: I didn't you know, I personally didn't go through the
Speaker 1: Madden rankings. We don't need to go through the Madden rankings.
Speaker 1: You know people are gonna be upset about those. Austin
Speaker 1: was in the top ten. That's fine, Keenans a bunch
Speaker 1: of weirdos, imply at del Ray, A bunch of weirdos,
Speaker 1: imply at del Ray making those rankings. Whatever name names
Speaker 1: bunny Boy Matt. I think I think my guy Matt's
Speaker 1: still over there Francisco franchise. I think he's still at AA,
Speaker 1: isn't he. I know he left the NFL network for
Speaker 1: for EA, but I and I'm pretty sure he's still there. Um,
Speaker 1: I think that guy Black tis gone. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Marchise franchise justin Herbert right exactly. Well, you don't take
Speaker 1: care of it. You don't want the Chargers social media
Speaker 1: coming after you. Bro. See now, I gotta make sure
Speaker 1: that he's uh that he still yeah he a sports
Speaker 1: There we go, still there, all right, shout out to
Speaker 1: the franchise. Right, all right, guys, that'll do it. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next week live at Jackhampa Sports Complex. From
Speaker 1: Chris