Speaker 1: Everybody. Chris Avery with you on a very special NFL
Speaker 1: Draft edition of Chargers Weekly, coming up interviews with the
Speaker 1: chargers first three draft picks and their college head coaches.
Speaker 1: I'll also be joined by the La Times As Dan Wicky,
Speaker 1: Ryan Abraham of usc football dot Com, and the executive
Speaker 1: director of the Reese's Senior Bowl Phil Savage. But let's
Speaker 1: start with the Thursday night phone call that set the
Speaker 1: wheels in motion for an exciting weekend at the Whole
Speaker 1: Performance Center. Darwin. Hello, hey, this is a top to
Speaker 1: let's go with the Chargers. Now are you doing? Man?
Speaker 1: How are you doing? I'm excited? Hey, I got one
Speaker 1: question for you. Can you help us with a Super Bowl? Oh? Yeah, sorry,
Speaker 1: that's what we want to hear. Yeah, sorry, yeah, sorry,
Speaker 1: that's great. Uh. We're getting ready to send your pick
Speaker 1: in right here. Okay, yes, heard, awesome. Ham let's do it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you on the phone with our head coach,
Speaker 1: Anthony Lant Okay, okay, all right, congratulations mister James. How
Speaker 1: you doing, my man? I'm doing good. Good here again,
Speaker 1: I'm going yeah, you're ready? Ball? Yeah? Man? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Okay, all right, I remember what you
Speaker 1: said in the interview. We can put you anywhere. Ye
Speaker 1: well yeah, yeah, man, I'm excited for you. Uh, tell
Speaker 1: your family and everybody everyone. I said hello, and I'll
Speaker 1: see him so and uh, I'm looking forward to singing
Speaker 1: when you get it. Okay, Rid The seventeenth pick in
Speaker 1: the twenty eighteen NFL drafts, the Los Angeles Chargers select
Speaker 1: Derwin James, defensive back Florida. Stay all right, please be
Speaker 1: joined by the newest Charger, Darwin James. All charges weekly
Speaker 1: fresh office flight from Dallas. What are the last twelve
Speaker 1: to fifteen hours it's been like for you? Have you slept? No?
Speaker 1: I not really. I haven't got that much slept but sleep.
Speaker 1: But it's been exciting. I'm enjoying it, man, and ready
Speaker 1: to get to work. Tell me about the last two
Speaker 1: hours in that green room right because we're watching the
Speaker 1: draft here at the facility, and with each pick that
Speaker 1: goes by, we're getting more and more excited because you're
Speaker 1: still on the board. Take me through those two hours
Speaker 1: in the green room with your family waited. It was
Speaker 1: a longer way than we expected. But um man, Man,
Speaker 1: once I got that call, he didn't really call me,
Speaker 1: called my agent, and once my agent gave me the phone,
Speaker 1: it was a memory that I never forget. And um,
Speaker 1: they're still going through my mind as we as we
Speaker 1: speak right now. Yeah, well you said it too. You see,
Speaker 1: you think you're the best player in the draft, and
Speaker 1: of course you're gonna be fueled by motivation, But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you gotta look at the situation that
Speaker 1: you've been put into. I'm in a great situation exactly.
Speaker 1: I'm in a great system, great situation. I couldn't ask
Speaker 1: for a better, better coaching staff and great teammates that
Speaker 1: I have around me. So I'm excited. Man, makes that
Speaker 1: make my job that much easier. So for fans that
Speaker 1: may not know, tell us about your game and what
Speaker 1: we can expect on this defense, especially fitting with that secondary.
Speaker 1: When we talk about Casey Harold, who I know you
Speaker 1: talked to, Trevor Williams, Jason Varette, and Jalil Die. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: I feel like I have a versatile skill set. Um.
Speaker 1: I can play many positions. Um Um. I love the
Speaker 1: game of football, love contact, I love I just love
Speaker 1: everything about ball and love compete at a high level.
Speaker 1: So and I feel like I'm a leader on and
Speaker 1: off the field, So I'm excited. Man. Yeah, and there's
Speaker 1: two edge rushers Joey Melvin Ingram. Oh yeah, so they
Speaker 1: can buy for twenty two and a half sacks last year.
Speaker 1: How does that help the back end? Oh? That helps.
Speaker 1: I feel like when you have great pass rush you, um,
Speaker 1: I mean we're gonna hand in hand. Um. When you
Speaker 1: have great people that can cover and then great guys
Speaker 1: that can rush the pastors, that's that's how you get
Speaker 1: a dumbinant defense. So I feel like we'll have a
Speaker 1: great defense. Yeah. And then the charges passing offense was
Speaker 1: number one in the league last year, So you get
Speaker 1: to go up against Philip Rivers, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams
Speaker 1: another acc guy. How much does that help you in
Speaker 1: your rookie year? Just to go up against those guys
Speaker 1: every single day makes better. I went against Mike Williams
Speaker 1: in college, of course, Clemson in Florida State, so I
Speaker 1: know what type of guy he is. And that was
Speaker 1: the thing too, because I think after I think it
Speaker 1: was maybe twenty sixteen when you were hurt, he had
Speaker 1: his big year, and then he was hurt the year
Speaker 1: when you had your freshman year, right, so you never
Speaker 1: really went up against him that much, so I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of tape on him. So it was like
Speaker 1: we never really got to gotta get go against a
Speaker 1: chune on the field, but we was. When I was hurt,
Speaker 1: he was hurt. When he was hurt, I was, I
Speaker 1: wasn't hurt. So yeah, I'm decided for him to be
Speaker 1: my new teammate. And like I said, man, I couldn't
Speaker 1: ask for a better franchise to join, And man, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to get get word. I was keeping up
Speaker 1: on Jalen Ramsey's Instagram story yesterday. Yeah that's your guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my guy. He put on a Chargers hat from
Speaker 1: him and I saw that, So what was that like?
Speaker 1: Just to have him throughout that process with you and
Speaker 1: just being a guy from Florida state, It was great, man,
Speaker 1: because everybody know he's he plays for the Jaguars, but
Speaker 1: just having him there in my corner with me saying,
Speaker 1: no matter where you go, little brom and be proud
Speaker 1: of you, and um he was. He was very active
Speaker 1: on Twitter and it was just it's just great man.
Speaker 1: I love him, Man, I really love that man. But
Speaker 1: you know, once he put on it, he's like, man,
Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody say. I'm putting on the
Speaker 1: hat with you. He was like, man, he's like that's
Speaker 1: a friend, right, Yeah, he's like my brother, and I
Speaker 1: love you. Man. Early trash talk about secondaries, which one's better? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we're gonna I heard they got a lot
Speaker 1: of swagground head of jack boys. I heard that. Man.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so you know I'm ready to join that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well fit right in. What advice have you gotten from
Speaker 1: Jalen though, because you know he went from rookie to
Speaker 1: first team All Pro this year? What advice have you
Speaker 1: gotten from him? Just about playing and starting as a
Speaker 1: rookie in the sleep, just coming in and you know,
Speaker 1: just working hard, Just coming in, working hard, and um,
Speaker 1: it's much different from college and you're no longer on scholarship.
Speaker 1: This is your job. You held to a higher standard.
Speaker 1: So just coming in and it's just being a football
Speaker 1: player I know I can be, and just getting to
Speaker 1: know my teammates and getting on the locker room and
Speaker 1: I'm ready to get the play man. Yeah. Last thing
Speaker 1: for me, Tom to Lesko on the phone, said, you're
Speaker 1: ready to win a Super Bowl. Help us win a
Speaker 1: super Bowl? So what's your message to Chargers fans, because
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you everybody was on cloud nine last
Speaker 1: night excited to see you on this defense. What's your
Speaker 1: message to Chargers fans is we get ready for the
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen season. Man. Man, you get a guy that's
Speaker 1: coming in hard work, that's gonna work hard. And man,
Speaker 1: we already have a great defense. I'm trying to make
Speaker 1: it an even better defense. And I'm just gonna come
Speaker 1: in and whatever asks, whatever's asked for me to do,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm willing to do it, and I'm just
Speaker 1: happy to be a part of this program. Absolutely. Well, Hey,
Speaker 1: we knew you got a whirlwind day ahead of you.
Speaker 1: Can't thank you know for spend a few minutes and
Speaker 1: we'll see you throughout these rookie minicamps. All right, cool man, man,
Speaker 1: all right, it's my great pleasure to welcome Jimbo Fisher
Speaker 1: the Chargers Weekly. He's the head coach of Texas A
Speaker 1: and M, formerly the head coach of Florida State University,
Speaker 1: and he coached Durwin James and coach. I have to
Speaker 1: imagine you were watching the draft like all of us
Speaker 1: here in LA when he slipped a seventeen It was
Speaker 1: a big surprise to all of us here, but we're
Speaker 1: thrilled to have him. Oh, I guarantee you now, I
Speaker 1: could say that all right, Christmas came early, Christ early.
Speaker 1: He is very you know, you know, guy's draft goes
Speaker 1: sometimes you never know what's going to happen with it,
Speaker 1: but that's just the way things go. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you that guy is. He's one heck of a
Speaker 1: football player now and even a better person than he
Speaker 1: is players. Coach, when did you know that Derwin was special?
Speaker 1: I hate to say, he's one of the few freshman
Speaker 1: I've ever offered. And he committed to me as a freshman,
Speaker 1: and I took it in and without hesitation. And here's
Speaker 1: what's the amazing thing. He goes home, Dad, he's coming
Speaker 1: for the Florida State tattoo on his arm and never
Speaker 1: took another visit. In today's time, the landscape of the
Speaker 1: way things are and the individualism and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, that's very rare. He never took another visit
Speaker 1: for four years. And I was scared to death because
Speaker 1: I knew eventually everyone would see how good he was.
Speaker 1: He held true to it and came right on the
Speaker 1: Florida State coach. I got to talk to him a
Speaker 1: little bit ago, and before we get into him as
Speaker 1: a player, just him as a person. He seems like
Speaker 1: such a positive guy and somebody who's going to be
Speaker 1: a real addition to this ers locker room. Okay, positive guy,
Speaker 1: extremely intelligent guy, he learns very well. Then on top
Speaker 1: of it, he's highly instinctive. So when you put those
Speaker 1: two things together, it's incredible. But he has a great
Speaker 1: work ethic and he just doesn't want to be good.
Speaker 1: He wants to be great. Like I said, he wants
Speaker 1: to be a first round pick back. And I'll promise this,
Speaker 1: he won't want to see a first round pick. He'll
Speaker 1: want to be a pro bowler. He'll want to be
Speaker 1: of course, this started to be a pro Bowl him
Speaker 1: Nick Hall of Fame. I mean, it's the way he
Speaker 1: thinks and the way he plays, and he loves ball,
Speaker 1: and he's inseexuous and the effects of guys on the
Speaker 1: team in a tremendous way. How do you think he's
Speaker 1: gonna fit into Gus Bradley's system? But you could play
Speaker 1: him really all over the place. How would you describe
Speaker 1: him as a football player? Exactly what you just said
Speaker 1: a football player, and I say that in regard to
Speaker 1: he can play anywhere. I mean, we would played him
Speaker 1: at corner. Last year he played boundary corner and did
Speaker 1: things out there and was tremor. He could have done
Speaker 1: it if we asked him to be a corner. I mean,
Speaker 1: he can go in and play Nickel, We can play dimes.
Speaker 1: He played the mic linebacker and um, you you're Nickel
Speaker 1: and nick situation. If you're in Tampa and or doing
Speaker 1: things with the mic. He can blit. He can be
Speaker 1: a rush guy off the edge and he's just and
Speaker 1: the thing about him he will of course we know
Speaker 1: how physical is now he is, but the thing is
Speaker 1: very underrated about him and you put him in center field.
Speaker 1: He has tremendous range and tremendous ball skills. So very
Speaker 1: rarely do you have a guy who's physical, smart, tough,
Speaker 1: it can run and do all those things and play
Speaker 1: the physicality of the game, which as good as anybody,
Speaker 1: but have the ball skills on top of that. If
Speaker 1: it's a very rare combination, I know it sounds like
Speaker 1: I'm you don't get the coach guys like that very often.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about player comps. A lot of
Speaker 1: people have said camp Chancellor, you know, shades of Sean Taylor.
Speaker 1: I think this guy's just Darwin James, right, this is
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's really a comp to him
Speaker 1: in terms of everything that he can do in affect
Speaker 1: the defense. I totally agree. I mean he is, He's
Speaker 1: Darwin James. I think in years to come, if you
Speaker 1: know he can say healthy, lord willing, gives things right,
Speaker 1: he can be you know that guy that you're satan
Speaker 1: to be the next girl with James, because, like I say,
Speaker 1: he can play the back ends, can play the front end,
Speaker 1: or he can play the physical party. And he's a
Speaker 1: very good special teams player. Jim, but I'm sure you've
Speaker 1: at least been familiar with the Chargers and what they've
Speaker 1: done over the last year. And you look at those
Speaker 1: pass rushers Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram and I talked
Speaker 1: to Derwin and his eyes lit up. Twenty two and
Speaker 1: a half sacks combined last year. When you have guys
Speaker 1: like that, and then you couple it with Casey Hayward
Speaker 1: and Jason Verrett and of course Durwin Desmond King, how
Speaker 1: much does that pass rush help the secondary. Oh, that's
Speaker 1: tremendous when because it and what people do that makes
Speaker 1: the ball come out. You need the quarterback. Quarterback knows
Speaker 1: who's got to get it out. Your coverage, you're bumping,
Speaker 1: all the things you do when you when that ball can't,
Speaker 1: those long routes and those double move routes and things
Speaker 1: have a hard time development. It makes you such a
Speaker 1: such a different football player in the secondary because of
Speaker 1: the things you know it's coming out, But it makes
Speaker 1: it so much easier to play. Coach, what's your favorite
Speaker 1: memory of Durwin in his three years of Florida State, Lord,
Speaker 1: you got an hour. It's hard to pick one. It
Speaker 1: is and it's probably practice. And I'm gonna be honest
Speaker 1: with you, it's probably how he mentors the young point.
Speaker 1: I mean the physical skills you can go on and
Speaker 1: on and they jumps, he runs, I mean, he's catching
Speaker 1: the ball, hitting people. The first time I realized that
Speaker 1: gets specially when he got there. I mean, you knew
Speaker 1: it was in five minutes there in a couple of
Speaker 1: plays in scrimmage that he's gonna be special. But I
Speaker 1: think some of the most special ones, but things would
Speaker 1: go wrong with other guys. You get on a guy.
Speaker 1: Next thing, you look over five minutes later and he's
Speaker 1: got his arm around and tell him why he was
Speaker 1: getting on him and why this was happening, and how
Speaker 1: that develops as a person and being a team guy
Speaker 1: when you know, the leadership thing when you have people
Speaker 1: who didn't want to do the right things. And my
Speaker 1: favorite it's him putting people back in line for the
Speaker 1: team because the thing about it, he's not an individual.
Speaker 1: He's an individual makes your team race, plays a team
Speaker 1: guy and wants to be a team player first. And
Speaker 1: I think the biggest memories I have for him is
Speaker 1: being that having that leadership role in practice and doing
Speaker 1: the things he does coach. Did anything else stand out
Speaker 1: to you in the draft? I'm sure you watched it.
Speaker 1: It was probably one of the wild just draft so
Speaker 1: we've had in recent memory, with all those trades. It was.
Speaker 1: It was different, I mean because you had you know
Speaker 1: who was fighting to get quarterbacks, who was fighting to
Speaker 1: get that, But I mean, you know you don't know.
Speaker 1: And that's why I say those guys did to do
Speaker 1: everybody did to do diligence and all players have trans
Speaker 1: and weaknesses. It's a position you put him in play.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what makes the draft so interesting.
Speaker 1: Everybody has their own opinion on what they wanted to
Speaker 1: as a player. But I promise you this is draft.
Speaker 1: Never see some SI age. I affirmed you that coach,
Speaker 1: get you out here on this. What advice would you
Speaker 1: give to Durwin and what's your message to him as
Speaker 1: he embarks on his new career in the NFL. Just
Speaker 1: just be Durwin. Don't let all the clutter and all
Speaker 1: the other things matter. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: do the same things that got you there. Keep being
Speaker 1: a good person, Understand how to be a teammate, Understand
Speaker 1: how to do your job, and be the best you
Speaker 1: can be. And don't settle for just getting there. Stay
Speaker 1: there a long time. Put yourself in the Hall of
Speaker 1: fame one day. Coach, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1: I know you've been extremely busy here. I wish you
Speaker 1: the best at Texas A and M and Uh. We
Speaker 1: look forward to a lot of big splash plays from
Speaker 1: Derwin in twenty eighteen. Me too, I'm mate. I promise
Speaker 1: you I'll be watching the charges all right. Friend of
Speaker 1: the program, Dan Woikee joints being a Chargers Weekly just
Speaker 1: got out of Derwin James's press conference. Yes, we're sitting
Speaker 1: outside beautiful, beautiful Friday. So this is a megapod, Dan,
Speaker 1: We're gonna go first round, second round, third round into
Speaker 1: It's gonna be like a seven hour podcast. This could
Speaker 1: be like a two hour podcast. Maybe I'm gonna call
Speaker 1: my shot ninety to ninety minutes of two. I like it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we're in the first round. We're gonna sell a
Speaker 1: lot of Lisa Mattresses her blue aprons. A lot of
Speaker 1: blue apron meals a lot of thirty seconds spots in
Speaker 1: between rounds. You didn't you guessed all thirty two picks
Speaker 1: in the first round. I got it perfect. It's the
Speaker 1: easiest thing to do. Uh No, It's why I don't
Speaker 1: do a Mick drafts. It is like such a like
Speaker 1: you know, I'll mock out the Chargers pick and I'll
Speaker 1: do my best. I was wrong. I thought it would
Speaker 1: be durn pain and I was wrong. And well, he
Speaker 1: went early. I didn't think he was gonna go with
Speaker 1: that early. I didn't think so either, which saves me
Speaker 1: a little bit. It's worse if you pick a guy.
Speaker 1: You said that the Chargers are gonna draft drown Pain
Speaker 1: and he's on the board there and then they don't
Speaker 1: take him. That's like where you look bad. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I avoid I avoided that. I can just tell everybody
Speaker 1: they would have taken around Pain if you'd been there.
Speaker 1: Nobody has to know that that's not true. You know.
Speaker 1: That's the thing with the draft is there's always gonna
Speaker 1: be and you don't know what's gonna happen going into it,
Speaker 1: but there's always gonna be one or two guys that
Speaker 1: you have no intentions of being there. He was the
Speaker 1: first surprise. He's like the so not to cut you off,
Speaker 1: like I think there were like three dominoes that like
Speaker 1: kind of had to fall for them to get one
Speaker 1: of those like top guys to slip to them. When
Speaker 1: I wrote my preview, I was like kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, they go with these guys, they go with
Speaker 1: durn Pain, they go with Shan, like the guys that
Speaker 1: were gonna maybe be there on the board. Or was like,
Speaker 1: or they could take the guy who who falls, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, because there's always gonna be one
Speaker 1: like just because to the draft, weird things happen. I
Speaker 1: think the first kind of strange thing. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: but off the top, let me get your emotions through
Speaker 1: the first seventeen picks, because it was a roller coaster. Yes,
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield goes number one overall a surprise, but not
Speaker 1: like a huge surprise, but a surprise. I think there
Speaker 1: was some rumblings about, yeah, like the play eight hours.
Speaker 1: So Baker goes number one overall. That doesn't really affect
Speaker 1: the charges because he wasn't gonna be on the board. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was gonna be on the board. He didn't learn
Speaker 1: the plays either. He doesn't know the playbook. His play
Speaker 1: was two full. By the way, TOMPs for sponsors. It
Speaker 1: was so great. Number two overall sat Quon Barkley. I
Speaker 1: think we expected him to go in that two to
Speaker 1: four range. Sam Darnold. Jets really kind of luck out
Speaker 1: with Sam Donald number seems like the guy they would
Speaker 1: have wanted, Denzel Ward. That was a kind of a surprise.
Speaker 1: That's a surprise, but it also doesn't really affect the
Speaker 1: chargers because he wasn't gonna be there. He wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: be there, and so that was kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: when I looked at these first you know, eight picks,
Speaker 1: you know, we can keep going through them. There were
Speaker 1: some some surprises in terms of teams and matchups, but
Speaker 1: like none of those guys were going to factor in
Speaker 1: the Chargers draft boards. That surprised me with what Cleveland
Speaker 1: did was I mean, these are smaller guys like Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: You look at Josh Allen and Josh Rosen and Sam
Speaker 1: Darnold's this very speed and space space kind of of picks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then even Denz Award, he's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a thinner corner. When you had Bradley Chubb on the board,
Speaker 1: you got to put Bradley Chubb on the other side
Speaker 1: of Myles Garrett, and then Bradley Chubb falls to the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos. You gotta see von Miller and Chubb twice
Speaker 1: a year now. That's exciting. That's probably why I think
Speaker 1: we're going to see a tackle here in the next
Speaker 1: few rounds. It could be it could be bolster that
Speaker 1: offensive line, you know forcet Lamp comes back and you
Speaker 1: get Mike Pouncey o'coon had a good year. Maybe you
Speaker 1: add some depth to that right side with Barksteel. Quentin Nelson,
Speaker 1: I think we all expected him to go top ten
Speaker 1: not where I thought he would end up. You didn't
Speaker 1: think he Indie, No, I mean I thought I thought
Speaker 1: ro Quan or Quentin Nelson there, I see. I thought
Speaker 1: it was Roquan Smith for sure there, which is like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, listeners probably don't. I'm from Chicago. My friends
Speaker 1: generally speaking are Chicago Bears fans, and they were I did, okay,
Speaker 1: and they were thrilled with the Roquan Smith pick. That's
Speaker 1: the new monster of the Midway man, And it's just like,
Speaker 1: you know, to me, like when I looked at that
Speaker 1: first round, I sent a text one of my friends
Speaker 1: and that I think my two favorite picks in the
Speaker 1: first round or Roquan Smith and Derwin James. Like we'll
Speaker 1: get to Derwyn James. But to me, those were the
Speaker 1: guys that on defense are like, whoa, those are dudes.
Speaker 1: So at six, Quintin Nelson seven, the Bills trade into
Speaker 1: the top ten to get Josh Allen, Roquan Smith, Mike McGlinchey.
Speaker 1: That was a little bit of a surprise. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: had been moving up a lot of mocks and stuff.
Speaker 1: I think in the last week or so that I
Speaker 1: noticed that I'd been kind of monitoring um he was
Speaker 1: a guy originally I thought was going to be kind
Speaker 1: of in the Chargers decision pool. And you know when
Speaker 1: he when he moves up, someone else moves down, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, And that's and this to me is where
Speaker 1: it kind of starts to fall into their favor, right
Speaker 1: is you start seeing you you know, well, here let's
Speaker 1: keep going. We should keep going. So after Mike McGlinchey,
Speaker 1: it's the Raiders that trade down, trade down, and the
Speaker 1: Raiders very well could have been a Tremon Edmonds or
Speaker 1: even a Derwin James landing spot there too, or Daveya
Speaker 1: could have been a lot of people. Um, so that's
Speaker 1: that ends up being Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen make of
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick goes eleven. And then at this point you're thinking, okay,
Speaker 1: let's do the math here. If you're the Chargers, Yep,
Speaker 1: Vita Vea could be available, the Ron Payn could be available.
Speaker 1: Tremaine Edmonds still on the board, and of course they're
Speaker 1: when James, who I thought was going to go to
Speaker 1: Tampa at seven, Yeah, Vito Vea surprisingly goes to Tampa.
Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of people are expecting him,
Speaker 1: and that that looks pretty good you have you have
Speaker 1: a Jerald McCoy now on that. Yeah, they have a
Speaker 1: lot of defensive tackles. Who do they sign. They just
Speaker 1: signed some Boe Allen too. Yeah, um, you know, and look,
Speaker 1: if you're not getting pressure, you know, in this league,
Speaker 1: it's hard, hard to win. But still kind of a
Speaker 1: strange pick for me there for them, Um, you know
Speaker 1: again they have a big need at safety. Um, they
Speaker 1: need some more speed on that defense. And they go
Speaker 1: to me to to a position where they already have
Speaker 1: a little strength, you know, from there, like maybe you know,
Speaker 1: Washington was was locked in on um Vitavia, you know,
Speaker 1: and thought that was cold and then it was sort
Speaker 1: of like, oh he's gone now, like what's next? So
Speaker 1: now the Ridskins paired Jonathan Allen, Alabama defensive tackle that
Speaker 1: they drafted last year with the Ron Payne And at
Speaker 1: this point, what are you thinking, dad for the Chargers
Speaker 1: because there was a lot of things in play, and
Speaker 1: then oh, by the way, Green Bay trades out of
Speaker 1: their pick and New Orleans comes up for who you
Speaker 1: think could be Lamar Jackson and it wasn't. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think you know, you know, to me, it's it's
Speaker 1: that trade and then the Raider the raider pick or
Speaker 1: the are like the key you know, moments like I
Speaker 1: think you're starting to think at that moment, like, you know,
Speaker 1: Derwin James is on the board, the Chargers have a
Speaker 1: chance here to get you know, a really really easy
Speaker 1: scheme fit. You know, I'm thinking to myself a little
Speaker 1: bit like, hey, you know, maybe I should text around
Speaker 1: a little bit. Are they trying to move up? Is
Speaker 1: this gonna be? You know what I mean? Because Derwin
Speaker 1: James is there, like, you know, he's the kind of
Speaker 1: guy like and kind of my draft prep that I
Speaker 1: thought like and and Treman Evans were like the kinds
Speaker 1: of guys that if they were there at thirteen or fourteen,
Speaker 1: you consider moving up for those guys at a couple
Speaker 1: of spots, you know, because it seemed to me that
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a talent gap defensively
Speaker 1: after the like those were like top tier defensive level
Speaker 1: guys and like, you know, the guys like they're trying
Speaker 1: to it's even the dren Pains to me were just
Speaker 1: like a slightly a level slightly lower. So you know,
Speaker 1: the Colton Miller pick is what opens that door right now,
Speaker 1: that guarantees the Chargers James Edmonds or James you know,
Speaker 1: or Lamar Jackson if they wanted to go that route,
Speaker 1: which I don't think they wanted to go that route.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so then Buffalo traids up to get Edmunds
Speaker 1: and then you have Derwin James. And I think at
Speaker 1: that point I felt the energy over in the building
Speaker 1: when when seventeen hit and you knew that you had
Speaker 1: a guy who was going to be an immediate impact
Speaker 1: player that you could put really all over goes Bradley's defense.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, you know, it's um, you know, Chris,
Speaker 1: Like we're both domesticated, you know, married men at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: run around. It's like when you go like when you
Speaker 1: hit Costco and like you see like the soundbar there
Speaker 1: for like seventy bucks, and you're like, ooh, I didn't
Speaker 1: think it'd be that though, it'd be like two fifty,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. You end up walking out
Speaker 1: with something you have no you had no like like
Speaker 1: you buy a giant panel board or something like, you're
Speaker 1: buying something there that you had no idea, you didn't
Speaker 1: even consider when you went to the store. And I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of like they they couldn't have thought
Speaker 1: they were gonna get Drwyn James I was equated to, like,
Speaker 1: remember when you're like you're a junior in high school
Speaker 1: and you're applying to colleges. You applied all your like
Speaker 1: safety schools. You applied it to schools that you you
Speaker 1: want to get into but you don't know, and then
Speaker 1: you put in like your dream schools, like the two
Speaker 1: schools that you just you just apply and you see
Speaker 1: what happens. And I think the Chargers had like their
Speaker 1: dream it was the University of Phoenix. There you go
Speaker 1: little well, but that was it. That was it for
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Though, that's the guy you don't expect to
Speaker 1: be there, and now you put him in a secondary
Speaker 1: with all of these other guys. Casey Hayward's locked in.
Speaker 1: Now you hope Jason Vrett comes back to the player
Speaker 1: that he was. Trevor Williams had valuable experienced Desmond King.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's I'm gonna stop here. I mean, Trevor
Speaker 1: Williams is a guy who, you know, talking about making
Speaker 1: the most of an opportunity last year, is a guy
Speaker 1: who for most of that season was playing, you know,
Speaker 1: near the level of Casey Hayward, you know, especially early
Speaker 1: in the year, and was like kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of on the fringes of Pro Bowl consideration in
Speaker 1: my mind, like drafted guy, yeah, you know, and to
Speaker 1: get that kind of production from him and from Desmond King,
Speaker 1: and then you had another undrafted guy and Jalila and
Speaker 1: I who's gotten better and better and better? This? I mean,
Speaker 1: is this the best secondary in the NFL? It's right there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jacksonville has a really good one, Jackson Which
Speaker 1: was funny because I talked to Dorwin today. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey, did you see Jaylen Ramsey's Instagram story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's wearing He's wearing a Charger's hat. He's repping his
Speaker 1: guy like magic Johnson provide that tampering or was that
Speaker 1: someone else? How did that happen? Him and Derwin are tight,
Speaker 1: So it was it was really cool to see. And
Speaker 1: at the Pro Bowl Casey in Ramsey were like, you know,
Speaker 1: good nature, jabbing about who's first corner in the league.
Speaker 1: You know, I tell you Jacksonville in the Chargers. Those
Speaker 1: secondaries that could dictate you know, potentially seeing Jacksonville in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I'm telling you yeah, there they are. To me,
Speaker 1: they're the two that that kind of jump out of
Speaker 1: my mind right now is like, now, look, you know
Speaker 1: you don't you don't win games on draft day necessarily,
Speaker 1: like a lot can change. Um, I think you know,
Speaker 1: after the draft last year, kind of the visions of
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers throwing the ball in the red zone of
Speaker 1: Mike Williams were dancing through everybody's heads and that just
Speaker 1: never happened. You know, Forrest Lamp was a slam dunk pick.
Speaker 1: You know, it was a guy who should have been
Speaker 1: taken in the the mid delay part of the first
Speaker 1: roundund and slipped to the Chargers early in the second round.
Speaker 1: That was a slam duck pick. Neither of those guys
Speaker 1: really contributed last year. So you know, Derwin James has
Speaker 1: got work to do. But it seems like this is
Speaker 1: like a really polished football player. And then and the
Speaker 1: thing that I've been impressed with and you know talking
Speaker 1: to him and talking to people about him and reading
Speaker 1: about him is like his leader. It's not just like,
Speaker 1: you know, this was a five star guy. You know,
Speaker 1: he was awesome at the combine forty inch vertical you know,
Speaker 1: sub four four five speed like this guy flies. He's
Speaker 1: a big dude, but like everybody raves about him, is
Speaker 1: like a locker room presence too, and is like this
Speaker 1: is a good guy, a good leader, someone who's gonna
Speaker 1: be kind of like conscious of like your defense for
Speaker 1: for a few years. And it's like like if you
Speaker 1: draft like that kind of guy, you know, now we're
Speaker 1: when you start to talk about like building cultures and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, that you know, it's already a pretty
Speaker 1: strong group back there, you had another one. I think
Speaker 1: that's that's just say a huge lift for a team.
Speaker 1: You know, his freshman year of Florida State was actually
Speaker 1: better than his junior year. Yes, that injury his second year,
Speaker 1: I think in the very first game of the year,
Speaker 1: the first or second game May Yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: was first or second game of the year, and it
Speaker 1: was a later all meniscus there. I think it takes
Speaker 1: a while to get back from an injury like that.
Speaker 1: So he was still first team All acc this past season,
Speaker 1: second team All American, and he played better his true
Speaker 1: freshman year. So I think what you're expecting is that,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully a year removed from that injury, you know,
Speaker 1: going into the twenty eighteen season, you're gonna get the
Speaker 1: guy that you actually saw the freshman year at Florida State. Well,
Speaker 1: he has a chance to be the best defensive player
Speaker 1: in this draft, right, I mean, I don't think that's
Speaker 1: an unreasonable That's a good question about the safety position
Speaker 1: in how the NFL is, you know, potentially, you know,
Speaker 1: we talk about the devaluation of running backs and then
Speaker 1: we're seeing a renaissance with that. The safety position. The
Speaker 1: mark has been pretty slow in the NFL, in the
Speaker 1: agency it is. And I remember last year kind of
Speaker 1: in the bill up to the draft, hearing a lot
Speaker 1: of talk about that because the Chargers were linked heavily
Speaker 1: to Lee Cooker. Obviously Jamal Adams was gonna go probably
Speaker 1: in the top, you know, in Jamal Adams slips last
Speaker 1: year too, And part of the reason, I think was again,
Speaker 1: you know, evaluation that position. And I asked him, you know,
Speaker 1: even though Tom Clasico afterwards pull me to the side
Speaker 1: and was like, I'm telling you it's an important position.
Speaker 1: You don't need to keep asking about it, you know.
Speaker 1: I thought Dermin had a good answer, and he's just
Speaker 1: kind of like, I don't think you can have a
Speaker 1: good defense without a good safety Like I think that
Speaker 1: is like one of those like defining kind of watermarks
Speaker 1: on a good good defenses. You have to have strong
Speaker 1: safety play and you know, and I think the other
Speaker 1: part of it too is that this isn't really just
Speaker 1: a safety either. That this is kind of a guy
Speaker 1: who I think they can be really creative with. He's
Speaker 1: an interchangeable part. He's kind of like that defensive weapon
Speaker 1: where you could play him close to the line, he
Speaker 1: could rush the passer. Yeah, it's a really good pass rushing.
Speaker 1: Bowen told me that he's just a good of pass
Speaker 1: rushers anybody in the draft really. I mean I talked
Speaker 1: to him at the combine and he even said he
Speaker 1: called his shot. He said, the best fit for the
Speaker 1: Chargers and vice versus Darwin James. Yeah, and just the
Speaker 1: fact that they were able to get him after everything
Speaker 1: you heard over the last couple of couple of days.
Speaker 1: I know fans are excited, and obviously the players on
Speaker 1: this team, sorry with Casey Hayward, are pretty pumped to
Speaker 1: have him. Yeah. I mean, I mean he knows Casey,
Speaker 1: they have the same agency. Darwin was out here. Just
Speaker 1: all these little things kind of line up Darwin was
Speaker 1: out here and his like pre draft workout stuff, working
Speaker 1: out in Orange County close to the facility, like knows
Speaker 1: the area already, so so some of that stuff. And
Speaker 1: it might not sound like little things, but it's like
Speaker 1: like I remember when I've had to move for jobs
Speaker 1: and stuff. It's like knowing where the chipol is, like
Speaker 1: knowing where I'm gonna get gas or where the grocery
Speaker 1: store is. All of those little things. Not having to
Speaker 1: learn that stuff over again, it makes life two percent
Speaker 1: easier and it allows you to focus two percent more
Speaker 1: on work and on the things that are important. And
Speaker 1: I think that'll help aid in his sort of rookie adjustment.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be here all off season. You know, he's
Speaker 1: locked in day one impact guy. It really feels like
Speaker 1: this is a guy who walks through the door, plays
Speaker 1: right away and is a big part of this defense.
Speaker 1: And if he's good, you know, as good as we
Speaker 1: think he can be, I mean that that defense, which
Speaker 1: was pretty special last year in and and year or two
Speaker 1: in this system, could be just tremendous. All right. Other
Speaker 1: first round surprises. After Drwin Alexander goes to the Packers,
Speaker 1: they move up to a really good play. Anything else
Speaker 1: stand out to you? Layton Vanderescue as the Cowboys. He's
Speaker 1: a guy I really liked, and that was sort of
Speaker 1: commend The discussion in the media room here is sort
Speaker 1: of like, all right, if it wasn't Derwin James, who
Speaker 1: would it be? And I think that's kind of the
Speaker 1: name we've landed on. It is sort of like, you know,
Speaker 1: Layton vanderesh would have checked a lot of boxes too
Speaker 1: for this team. And maybe that's who they liked. Tremendous athlete,
Speaker 1: three down linebacker, can really play any of those three positions.
Speaker 1: Great size, great speed, and a really big upside. Maybe
Speaker 1: that was the guy the Chargers. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I had a Shaan Evans certainly, even if Duran
Speaker 1: Paint had that been there kind of and people I've
Speaker 1: talked to him. I think there were other guys like
Speaker 1: more and then maybe it was vander esh Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: Taven Bryant was another guy that went later in the
Speaker 1: first round that could have been a potential option there.
Speaker 1: How about Terrell Edmonds going in the first round. I
Speaker 1: was surprised. I mean I was talking to buddy, my
Speaker 1: buddy time now from the Lakers we were talking about
Speaker 1: just how that's kind of an underrated storyline that nobody's
Speaker 1: really talking about or should be talking more about. Two brothers,
Speaker 1: two brothers going in the first round of an NFL draft,
Speaker 1: never happened before. Unbelievable. Yeah, that's, um, it's a happy
Speaker 1: day in that household, I would imagine, Um, it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's pretty incredible too. And and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing that third safety kind of go in the first
Speaker 1: round too, maybe does speak a little bit too about
Speaker 1: about you know, that the importance of that position and
Speaker 1: maybe there's sort of a market deficiency there and you
Speaker 1: can kind of you know, teams at value can exploit it.
Speaker 1: I mean, what about Rashad Penny. I mean that nobody
Speaker 1: sold that coming in the first round either. And he
Speaker 1: was a guy that I had I had kind of
Speaker 1: you know, written in pencil down for the Chargers in
Speaker 1: the second round, a guy they'd seen a ton of,
Speaker 1: obviously from their time in San Diego. But you know,
Speaker 1: to me, not only just a complimentary back to Melvin Gordon,
Speaker 1: the guy who could eventually maybe even take that take
Speaker 1: the reins as a number one back, but as a
Speaker 1: guy who could return kicks well, did we talk about
Speaker 1: four down players. He's a four down player. He's the
Speaker 1: guy you could play on first, one second down. He
Speaker 1: can catch the body of the backfield. He probably could
Speaker 1: have spelled Billvin ten to twelve carries a game, and
Speaker 1: then you talk about the kick return. He was a
Speaker 1: special teams player of the Year in his conference. So
Speaker 1: those are the types of players that you want to identify,
Speaker 1: and I obviously Seattle saw that to take him in
Speaker 1: the first round. You could play him first, second, third down,
Speaker 1: and obviously he's going to affect the game on special teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the special teams aspect to me is I think what
Speaker 1: made him most intriguing is that when you start looking
Speaker 1: at guys like complimentary players are like kind of your
Speaker 1: non you're non marquee guys like they have to be
Speaker 1: able to contribute I think in other ways. And that's
Speaker 1: a big ten and know what they're trying to build
Speaker 1: over here. You look at a guy like, you know,
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler, and a big part of the reason why
Speaker 1: he was able to carve out such an important role
Speaker 1: on this team last year wasn't just the third downback stuff.
Speaker 1: And I think he'll be good at that and even
Speaker 1: I mean he was good at it last year, but
Speaker 1: I'll even be even better. But I mean that guy
Speaker 1: was a terror on special teams in coverage, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? And so I think whoever this complimentary
Speaker 1: running back is is gonna in my mind, it has
Speaker 1: to be somebody who can help a little bit somewhere,
Speaker 1: whether it's in coverage or whether it's in returning kicks,
Speaker 1: like you know. I mean, I suppose it could be
Speaker 1: a bigger guy. I know both Scarborough as a name
Speaker 1: that's come up a lot, like you get like kind
Speaker 1: of a short yardage guy. Maybe that's it, but but
Speaker 1: I think my preference would be to see a guy
Speaker 1: who can do some more stuff on special teams, because that,
Speaker 1: to me, is another pathway to getting a lot better quickly.
Speaker 1: Is get better, you know, better returning the football, you
Speaker 1: get better field position, you score more points, you get
Speaker 1: better in coverage units, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: all these little things that they you know, they struggle with.
Speaker 1: Last year, they got better in a lot of airs
Speaker 1: and special teams. Kick returns was not one of them.
Speaker 1: I think they were worse than the league, and I
Speaker 1: think the lesson though in this first round. Dan, we
Speaker 1: talked four months about the potential successor to Philip Rivers. Yep,
Speaker 1: maybe it's in the first round. Four quarterbacks go in
Speaker 1: the top sixteen picks and the Chargers benefit from that
Speaker 1: by getting a guy like Dorwin James. So you know,
Speaker 1: all this quarterback talk the quarterbacks actually helped the Chargers
Speaker 1: get the guy that yeah at hundred percented. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that's interesting to me,
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe it's semantics, maybe it's not, but
Speaker 1: it's sort of this notion, right that you don't have
Speaker 1: thirty two first round graded players, that there's there's always
Speaker 1: more picks than there are players that gms and teams
Speaker 1: consider first round talents. And you know, I'm sure that
Speaker 1: all five of those quarterbacks weren't graded as first round
Speaker 1: players on everybody's board. Well, of course not, you know,
Speaker 1: you know that just that that's not there. But Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson goes thirty two overall. And keep in mind too,
Speaker 1: you want that player option. Yeah, right, So that's why
Speaker 1: the first Suns got into the first round at thirty
Speaker 1: two weeks, four years at a really affordable rate. And
Speaker 1: then if he's very good, you can keep at a
Speaker 1: fifth year. I obviously you're paying them more, but I think,
Speaker 1: you know, and what's crazy is you know he could
Speaker 1: be the best. Like if if six years from now
Speaker 1: he's the best quarterback out of this group, like I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be stunned. I wouldn't be shocked. That's why I
Speaker 1: thought New Orleans moved up to get him, because I
Speaker 1: could just picture him on that fast track in New
Speaker 1: Orleans with Alvin Kamar in the backfield and Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: and mark Ingram just a lot of bells and whistles
Speaker 1: for Sean Payton post Drew Breeze. That's why I thought
Speaker 1: they were going to move up, not for Marcus Davenport. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting the Ravens, you know, I think have
Speaker 1: you know, they have Mike vix Hold offensive coordinator. They
Speaker 1: have RG three there already, so they have like some
Speaker 1: run option kind of some times there. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: they can do you know, that's a good landing spot
Speaker 1: for him too. You're writing it on the wall from
Speaker 1: mister Flacco. Yeah, I know, right, like Joe, this is
Speaker 1: a Joe. I know you met Robert last week, Roberts here,
Speaker 1: and we just drafted Lamar I think next year. I
Speaker 1: think I read that, like you know, I think his
Speaker 1: guaranteed money ends after this season, so he might be
Speaker 1: looking around. I would least not by right now if
Speaker 1: I was involved. It's it's smart with the Ravens are doing, though,
Speaker 1: because you want to get it two quarterbacks with similar
Speaker 1: skill sets, just in case one goes down to build
Speaker 1: your system exactly. You know, I look at what like
Speaker 1: the Texans did last year with Tom Savage DeShawn Watson
Speaker 1: just didn't make sense because I think everybody probably knew
Speaker 1: in training camp, like Deshaun Watson is going to be
Speaker 1: the guy. They tried out Savage, it didn't work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like whose plays you're running? And and that would have
Speaker 1: been a challenge had the Chargers drafted Lamar Jackson, who
Speaker 1: is slightly slightly more athletic than Philip Rivers, a little
Speaker 1: bit slightly more athletic, little little different skill set, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and they would have looked like two totally
Speaker 1: different teams, you know, with those guys on the field,
Speaker 1: and and I do think being able to do kind
Speaker 1: of the same stuff. Now, look, if you love them,
Speaker 1: you love them, and you still make that move in
Speaker 1: my opinion, But the way things worked out, It's great.
Speaker 1: Quarterbacks still in need. Um will still have to be
Speaker 1: addressed sooner than later. But you're right the kind of
Speaker 1: scramble for rookie quarterbacks, especially as teams have looked around
Speaker 1: and you see the Rams and the Eagles, all these
Speaker 1: teams have cap space and flexibility because they're not paying
Speaker 1: quarterbacks twenty million dollars because they've got guys on rookie deals. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to see more and more that.
Speaker 1: It seems like that seems certainly like the trend right
Speaker 1: now in the NFL is get a young quarterback, get
Speaker 1: a guy that you don't have to pay a ton
Speaker 1: of money to um and put throw that money elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So as we tape this, are we on Are we
Speaker 1: on hour seven? Yet? Not yet? We're actually ten minutes
Speaker 1: away from the second round as we tape this. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna know very soon who the charge of the
Speaker 1: second round pick is gonna be. I am I supposed
Speaker 1: to guess right now? Take a guess. Actually, you know what,
Speaker 1: Take a guess, and I think what I'm doing this podcast.
Speaker 1: After your guess, I'm actually gonna splice in with the
Speaker 1: forty second or whatever the pick is, you know, and
Speaker 1: then I can react to how wrong I was. All Right,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a new suit from USC. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think you get an explosive linebacker. Um, a really
Speaker 1: good athlete, really strong, UM, still a little raw. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he's had a bunch of meetings with this team.
Speaker 1: He makes a lot of sense to me. I think
Speaker 1: that's who it'll be. I wouldn't be stunned if it
Speaker 1: was an offensive tackle. Okay, maybe a Tyrell Crosby mar again. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure I'm wrong. Let's let's let's go to
Speaker 1: the tape, Chris, let's go all right, we're gonna splice
Speaker 1: in the actual selection and we'll see, all right. With
Speaker 1: the forty eighth pick in the two thy eighteen NFL Draft,
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Chargers select oh Channel new WALLSU linebacker USC. Listen,
Speaker 1: I promise you that I take that interview with Dan
Speaker 1: right before the beginning of the second round. So give
Speaker 1: Dan a lot of credit. A quick break and Ryan
Speaker 1: Abraham of USC football dot com, So the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Chargers schedule is out, and boy, it's nice to finally
Speaker 1: know how we'll be spending our Sundays this fall. How
Speaker 1: many Charger games did you make last year? Matt, I
Speaker 1: made twenty four preseason games in sixteen regular season games
Speaker 1: last year, which are circling for this season. This season,
Speaker 1: I'll circle the Niners and Cardinals as they play the
Speaker 1: NFC West, and let's not forget about those rivalry games. Pee.
Speaker 1: You seriously don't want to miss this. Visit fight for
Speaker 1: La dot com or call eight seven seven Chargers to
Speaker 1: share Matt's experience. Season tickets on sale now. Hut up, Yes, sir, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is Tom to us go with the Chargers. How
Speaker 1: are you doing? How are you doing? We're gonna keep
Speaker 1: you home, yes, sir, appreciate it, sir, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: You're excited. I'm excited to appreciate. That's great. Congratulations. Hey,
Speaker 1: we're getting ready to send your pick in real quick. Here. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, I'm put
Speaker 1: you on the phone with their head coach Anthony Lynn.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, thank you, thank you. How you doing, man,
Speaker 1: How are you doing? I'm doing, coach. I'm good, good, good,
Speaker 1: see you again. I want just to hear your voice.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see you real soon, coach, I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to. Man, I'm for you. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: There it is Yu Chenna Nuosu coming to the bolts
Speaker 1: hometown Carson, California. And joining me now is Ryan Abraham
Speaker 1: of USC football dot Com. Ryan tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about what we're gonna get with U Chenna here
Speaker 1: with the Chargers. Yeah, Chenna and wis one of my
Speaker 1: favorite guys to cover at USC. I think when you
Speaker 1: think of the Trojans, you're thinking about bringing in all
Speaker 1: these five star guys all the time, not really developing
Speaker 1: players as much. And Uchenna as one of those guys
Speaker 1: that was a development guy. So he came in as
Speaker 1: a three star more of a safety. This is back
Speaker 1: when ed Orgeron was the interim head coach and wanted
Speaker 1: to bring him in there. I don't think he was
Speaker 1: a popular recruit because he wasn't, you know, the big
Speaker 1: name guy. But guy, he was someone identified by ed Ordroon,
Speaker 1: who's the defensive specialist, as you know, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to bring him in here. And you just saw him
Speaker 1: grow as a player and as a person over his
Speaker 1: time at USC and really develop into a leader on
Speaker 1: the team. He's not the most vocal guy in the world,
Speaker 1: but I think he's pretty good inside the locker room
Speaker 1: with his players. He's not the guy that's going to
Speaker 1: stand up on a chair and yell at everybody, but
Speaker 1: he was someone that everyone respected in that defense, and
Speaker 1: just his character has been great well as at USC
Speaker 1: had the performance on the field. I think it was
Speaker 1: just someone that a lot of the players could look
Speaker 1: up to, especially the younger players. So now he's got
Speaker 1: have to reverse that role and be a rookie in
Speaker 1: the NFL. But I think he's someone that's certainly going
Speaker 1: to bring a lot to the table, going to be
Speaker 1: a great teammate for everyone there in the Chargers organization.
Speaker 1: First team All Packed twelve this past season. He's sixty
Speaker 1: three two hundred fifty one pounds and he had a
Speaker 1: great year. You know, you mentioned it. Sendy five tackles.
Speaker 1: He had eleven and a half tackles for loss, nine
Speaker 1: and a half sacks. What do you view him as
Speaker 1: more ran a pass rusher, kind of a do it
Speaker 1: all linebacker. How would you categorize his game? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say he's like a pure pass rusher guy, but
Speaker 1: he's definitely he's got those skills, I think he'd be
Speaker 1: someone that can do a lot on the outside for you,
Speaker 1: and I think if you I think it was about
Speaker 1: halfway through the season he was leading the nation and
Speaker 1: deflected passes as as a linebacker. So I think he's
Speaker 1: just got a knack for the football where he can
Speaker 1: get it. You know, he can get those titles for loss.
Speaker 1: He can get after the quarterback, but I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: that's kind of his specialty. He can drop back into
Speaker 1: coverage too, but being able to read the quarterback's eyes
Speaker 1: and be in the throwing lanes when you're not able
Speaker 1: to get there, which you know, when you're a rushing
Speaker 1: pastor you can't do that all the time. I think
Speaker 1: he was really good at being able to get his
Speaker 1: hands up and deflecting those balls and they turn in
Speaker 1: the interceptions or killing drives, and that's just something he
Speaker 1: was crazy. You don't see a lot of linebackers that
Speaker 1: are able to do that, and I think just his
Speaker 1: knack for the football kind of allowed him to do that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, he sounds like a chess piece for
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley's defense. You know, Desmond King last year had
Speaker 1: a note for the football they bring in Derwin James,
Speaker 1: and I love the fact that you brought the deflections
Speaker 1: because that's something that it's just it sounds like it's
Speaker 1: something so small, but it can make the biggest difference
Speaker 1: in the world, especially when you have playmaking guys around
Speaker 1: Desmond King and Casey Hayward. List goes on and on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I think, and you look at what the
Speaker 1: Chargers did in the first round get in the safety,
Speaker 1: I think there's it seems like you've got the kind
Speaker 1: of unique defense where you have to have certain pieces
Speaker 1: in place, and he seems like he's someone that they
Speaker 1: can use and maybe do a few different roles. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not merely just gonna be pigeonholed into one one
Speaker 1: kind of thing. And I think when we've seen him
Speaker 1: kind of develop as a player, put on more weight,
Speaker 1: get bigger, and really changed his role at USC, I
Speaker 1: think he shows a level of adaptability and certainly coachability.
Speaker 1: So I think when you get someone in the system
Speaker 1: like that, it maybe who knows, you know, he could
Speaker 1: go and the plan is to go one direction and
Speaker 1: they might have to switch and go another. But I
Speaker 1: think he's versatile enough to be able to do that, so, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: the batting the balls down the last scurbage. I think
Speaker 1: it was a huge part of his role at you know,
Speaker 1: at USC this past year, and you know, without that's
Speaker 1: kind of one of those unheralded things. But without that,
Speaker 1: I think the defense really would have struggled. Sounds like
Speaker 1: an athlete, and you know, one of the struggles that
Speaker 1: the Chargers had last year was being able to stop
Speaker 1: the run. How do you see him fitting in in
Speaker 1: run defense situations? Yeah, I thought he'd done a good job.
Speaker 1: I think his tackle numbers are you know, have been
Speaker 1: pretty good. I think he was with seventy five, like
Speaker 1: you mentioned this past year and he had fifty three
Speaker 1: and twenty sixteen. And you know, sometimes i'll use that
Speaker 1: kind of rugby tackling style and we didn't really see
Speaker 1: a lot of bad technique from from eachina. He just
Speaker 1: seemed to be one of those guys that studies it
Speaker 1: and it's really like a sound tackler. So I think
Speaker 1: sometimes you get guys coming out of college that are
Speaker 1: more athletic and maybe some of their technique isn't good.
Speaker 1: I think you're going to see he probably's not gonna
Speaker 1: you have to develop that much technique wise. Now, there's
Speaker 1: probably gonna be some tweaks and everything that they're gonna
Speaker 1: want you to do, you know, when you get to
Speaker 1: that next level and Chargers organization. But I think he's
Speaker 1: going to be a fundamentally sound tackler. You'll see when
Speaker 1: he gets into camp and he's been through the ring
Speaker 1: or through this process. Ryan, I saw him at the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl, obviously the Combine. We were both at his
Speaker 1: pro day, and then Uchenna was actually at the Chargers
Speaker 1: local pro day. He didn't work out, but I believe
Speaker 1: you know, he was able to meet with coaches on
Speaker 1: the field, and it's that entire process from the beginning
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl to the end where these coaches get
Speaker 1: to know these players. And you Channa must have made
Speaker 1: a nice impression on the coaching staff here at the Chargers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he did. And you know, he's he's a
Speaker 1: local kid. He went to Narbonne High School, uh, you
Speaker 1: know over here and just I mean basically he could
Speaker 1: probably walk from there too. That's wild. That's wild that
Speaker 1: he's a Carson guy, you know, crazy that that's where
Speaker 1: he grew up. You know. So I think and if
Speaker 1: you saw the video of his family when the pick
Speaker 1: was announced, I think it was great. I mean, sometimes
Speaker 1: you know you're looking for value and you're looking for
Speaker 1: the best player available. And the rumblings we had heard
Speaker 1: was that there certainly was interest from the Chargers organization
Speaker 1: and U China, and maybe it was a second round,
Speaker 1: but it could have been a third. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he would have been around there, but it seemed
Speaker 1: like it was a right fit. And if you can
Speaker 1: get someone that's local, he's going to do a lot
Speaker 1: of great things in the community and really fill a
Speaker 1: need and fit a spot for you on that defense.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like a really good matchup. So I
Speaker 1: was a little worried. I wasn't sure, you know, one
Speaker 1: of those things you're hoping for. Hey, I think this
Speaker 1: could work out really well. And when the pick was
Speaker 1: a mouse you saw this, the family erupted, everyone went crazy.
Speaker 1: Just it was a really good moment. So, yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't get those in football all the time, so it's
Speaker 1: really nice when it's great that the family could stay
Speaker 1: here and watch him playing in his backyard. And you know,
Speaker 1: we mentioned there's nine and a half sacks combine that
Speaker 1: with what Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram did last year
Speaker 1: with twenty two and a half sacks. You got pass
Speaker 1: rushers come, letch you at all angles on this Chargers defense.
Speaker 1: So I know that the d is pumped to have
Speaker 1: you Chin on board. Rynal would get your quick thoughts
Speaker 1: on a couple of the other guys. Sam Donald going
Speaker 1: to the Jets and I think Ronald Jones went to
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers. What were your thoughts on those? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: for Ronald Jones, he got hurt, and you know, he
Speaker 1: wasn't He's really fast, but he wasn't able to kind
Speaker 1: of show that at the Combine or the Pro Day.
Speaker 1: He had a second Pro Day. The one thing that
Speaker 1: probably one of the weakest aspects of his game something
Speaker 1: he worked on is catching the football, and he did
Speaker 1: that at the Pro days, but didn't do all that well.
Speaker 1: So I thought he you know, there was you know,
Speaker 1: thoughts about him being a first round guy, maybe be
Speaker 1: him the second running back pick, but obviously that didn't happen.
Speaker 1: But I think he felt to a pretty good spot.
Speaker 1: It was early in the second round, so I'm not
Speaker 1: too bad for him there. And for Sam Darnold, I
Speaker 1: did a poll on Twitter asking if USC fans would
Speaker 1: rather see him go number one overall to Cleveland or
Speaker 1: go somewhere else, like to New York, and it was
Speaker 1: actually fifty one percent said they'd rather him not go
Speaker 1: to Cleveland, even though it would have been USC's six
Speaker 1: number one overall pick, which would have been the most
Speaker 1: They're guy with Notre Dame right now, but most of
Speaker 1: the most of the the fans, by small majority, would rather
Speaker 1: him go somewhere else. I think it's a pretty good
Speaker 1: situation for him there. I think Mark Santezar has given
Speaker 1: him some advice, but he's just a blue collar, working guy.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to work pretty well in New York.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's a it's a media storm over there, but
Speaker 1: from to move from one coast to another, I think
Speaker 1: he's got the enough support around him he should do
Speaker 1: well there. It was a little bit shocking because actually
Speaker 1: I think it was your picture that went viral on
Speaker 1: Twitter of Jimmy Haslem sitting with the Darnold's parents, and
Speaker 1: I think everybody thought from that point on that it
Speaker 1: was almost a lock that he was going to Cleveland.
Speaker 1: And then we, you know, we get this. You know,
Speaker 1: eleventh hour news that it was going to be Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: It was, you know, kind of a shock to everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was surprised. You know, you heard enough people saying
Speaker 1: it that you trusted, have a lot of great sources.
Speaker 1: It seemed like that was really what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but the pro day was like magical, you're down.
Speaker 1: I mean it was in raining and so, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a perfect situation. Here's the southern California kid having
Speaker 1: to throw in the rain, did really well. The owner
Speaker 1: of the team is chatting with his parents. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: took that picture and it went viral all over the place.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like it was a done deal. You know,
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield obviously had a lot of production in college.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like most people had Sam Garl ahead
Speaker 1: of him on their boards. Obviously Cleveland didn't, and that's
Speaker 1: where they went. So I think it probably worked out,
Speaker 1: you know, good for everyone. But now that's going to
Speaker 1: be one of those things everyone's watching, how well does
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield do? How well does Sam Darnel do, And
Speaker 1: you know, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen as well, So
Speaker 1: lots of five quarterbacks in the first round for the
Speaker 1: first time since the nineties. That's it's pretty good, but
Speaker 1: pretty good hall for the quarterback. Yeah, it's been a
Speaker 1: wild draft. I know the Chargers are happy. Two nice
Speaker 1: weapons for Gus Bradley's defense. He's Ryan Abraham USC football
Speaker 1: dot Com front of the program. Always appreciate your time, Ryan,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk soon. All right, sounds good, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: All right, it's my great pleasure to welcome in the
Speaker 1: head coach of USC, Clay Helton, to Charges Weekly and coach.
Speaker 1: It's got to be a worlwind of a forty eight
Speaker 1: hours for you, but such a proud moment to have
Speaker 1: four Trojans go into first three rounds. Oh so so special.
Speaker 1: I mean not only great players, but really terrific kids.
Speaker 1: I think about those four individuals and the leadership and
Speaker 1: the character that they brought to our program on a
Speaker 1: day to day basis, and it makes you a happy
Speaker 1: football coach. It really does. To be able to have
Speaker 1: a little piece of watching them grow up and growing
Speaker 1: into the Menday are today well coach worth the world
Speaker 1: to have you, Chenna on the Chargers number forty eight overall,
Speaker 1: When did you know that you Chenna had the potential
Speaker 1: to be a top fifty NFL draft pick. Well, it
Speaker 1: was really not this season, but the season prior. Clancy
Speaker 1: moved him out on the edge as a sam linebacker
Speaker 1: and are underfront as well as a stand up defensive
Speaker 1: end in our sub packages. And to see him, you know,
Speaker 1: in high school he was a free safety, then moved
Speaker 1: to stack linebacker. Force can do stack linebacker extremely easy.
Speaker 1: But Clancy saw an extreme value with him off the
Speaker 1: edge and setting setting the edge of our defense. And
Speaker 1: he's so football instinctive. In his junior year, I thought
Speaker 1: he was the best kept secret in college football, to
Speaker 1: be honest with you. And when we got done with
Speaker 1: that season, I was like, Wow, that was a sneaky
Speaker 1: great season. And I said, if he has another one
Speaker 1: of those, man, he could really help himself at the level.
Speaker 1: And you look at what he did as senior year.
Speaker 1: Just one of the more consistent players I've ever been around,
Speaker 1: as far as a day to day practice player, How
Speaker 1: he produced in games, how we led our football team
Speaker 1: as a team captain, and so really it started two
Speaker 1: years ago, but to see him do it back to
Speaker 1: back years consistently, there was no doubt in my mind
Speaker 1: that while this is a special kid and definitely a
Speaker 1: kid that should end up in the top two groups.
Speaker 1: Coach had nine and a half sacks last year, eleven
Speaker 1: and a half tackles for loss, and the deflections I
Speaker 1: think are one thing. Actually talk to Ryan Abraham about this,
Speaker 1: that the deflections or something that I think is really
Speaker 1: going to benefit this defense. When you talk about all
Speaker 1: the playmakers that they have around him, just to disrupt,
Speaker 1: disrupt the offense and make plays on the football, I
Speaker 1: think that's the keyword. I mean, he is just the
Speaker 1: master of disruption on a quarterback. I swear you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's whether it's him forcing a quarterback up into
Speaker 1: the pocket and those big guys, whether it's getting sacks,
Speaker 1: whether it's he got an unbelievable knack of being able
Speaker 1: to see the set of the offensive line, whether it's
Speaker 1: a short set, quick game, an RPO in our league,
Speaker 1: or you know, a true dropback pass. He got a
Speaker 1: great feel for that. And there are times he knew
Speaker 1: that he wasn't going to get to the quarterback, he
Speaker 1: goes ahead and plays the trigger of the arm and
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many balls that kid knocked
Speaker 1: down disruption is the name of this game. Joey Bosa,
Speaker 1: Melvin Ingram twenty two and a half combined sacks, And
Speaker 1: we've been talking about this with all the guys coming
Speaker 1: in here. You're bringing a guy like Uchenna who had
Speaker 1: nine and a half sacks last year. I think this
Speaker 1: is a player that you could probably use all over
Speaker 1: the field. How would you describe his game and how
Speaker 1: it really correlates to what Gus Bradley likes to do
Speaker 1: with the Chargers. Well, I don't think there's a better fit,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm so glad that u Chenna got
Speaker 1: to go with the Chargers and to be with Gus.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a brilliant defensive mind and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see how he uses them. You know, I
Speaker 1: thought Clancy did a great job of using them as
Speaker 1: a Sam lambback or defensive ent. And even in the
Speaker 1: bowl game when you saw him in a stack linebacker
Speaker 1: position where where you were creating five down situations for
Speaker 1: a high state's offensive line and matching him up on
Speaker 1: a running back, there was no way the running back
Speaker 1: was going to stop him. And you know, he gets
Speaker 1: two disruptions, one sack, just off at off that scenarative.
Speaker 1: So he's got a really bright future and I can't
Speaker 1: think of a better man to be with than Gus
Speaker 1: Bradley coach due Uchennet. He hasn't played a ton of
Speaker 1: football too, so you talk about his ceiling, how much
Speaker 1: better do you think he can be in the NFL
Speaker 1: when you consider just the fact that you know, he
Speaker 1: really started playing football in high school. Yeah, I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you he's one of those kids. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: see kids that are maxed out. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see where this kid is two, three, four years from now,
Speaker 1: because you know, he literally just played off the edge
Speaker 1: these last two seasons. I mean he went from free
Speaker 1: safety in high school down to stack linebacker to an
Speaker 1: edge player. And you know, just his athleticism for his
Speaker 1: I think is extremely freakish. I mean, two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty pound man that has an athleticism of of Michael linebacker,
Speaker 1: but has the strength and power to be able to
Speaker 1: take one on one offensive tackles on as well as
Speaker 1: out you know, kind of outman running backs. Um, just
Speaker 1: a true freak of athleticism and unbelievable work ethic and
Speaker 1: effort by the kid. Just he's been He's been a
Speaker 1: pleasure to coach. Coach if you could, did you just
Speaker 1: speak to the man that you channe Is. I had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to talk to jimbo Fisher and he spoke
Speaker 1: glowingly of Darwin James also off the field and just
Speaker 1: being a great locker room presence. It looks like the
Speaker 1: charges are ringing a lot of good leaders in locker
Speaker 1: room guys are really going to mesh well into this
Speaker 1: this roster. Yeah. You know, the thing that I think
Speaker 1: sticks out the most to me is him being named
Speaker 1: a team captain by his teammates. I mean, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a player of vote. And you know, he had
Speaker 1: so much respect in the locker room, and I think
Speaker 1: it was because he was consummate professional, the way he
Speaker 1: showed up on a day to day basis and showed
Speaker 1: the work ethic and trying to master his craft, being
Speaker 1: a student of the game, and those other kids seeing it.
Speaker 1: Not only was he able to do it as an example,
Speaker 1: but he did it vocally. I mean, he was the
Speaker 1: rock of our defense. We lost a kid named Stevie
Speaker 1: two at Colabatu went on to Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Our
Speaker 1: rose Bowl year and was really looking for who's going
Speaker 1: to be that next guy up, and oh, Chenna just
Speaker 1: naturally fit. He took over the defensive meeting room, he
Speaker 1: took over our locker room, and really set the culture
Speaker 1: of our football team and going to be very very missed.
Speaker 1: I wish, I wish I had him another year to
Speaker 1: be honestly coaching in the short time that you did
Speaker 1: have him, what was your favorite memory? You know, probably
Speaker 1: my favorite one is when we were fourth and one
Speaker 1: in the Pact twelve championship game and you're playing Stanford
Speaker 1: and you know that's that's what they do so well,
Speaker 1: and we had to get a stop in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: There's Chenna with a drill that we call it a
Speaker 1: line drill, coming down the line, reading the reading the
Speaker 1: backside tackler, tight ends down block and coming flat as
Speaker 1: you can and getting your head across the battle of
Speaker 1: the running back. And here he is on fourth and one,
Speaker 1: the biggest play of the year for us, and here's
Speaker 1: the guy that's just done it time after time after
Speaker 1: time after time, right, and to be able to I
Speaker 1: showed our team this spring, here's our line drill. Here's
Speaker 1: Chenna doing it. Probably a thousand times, and then when
Speaker 1: it mattered the most, he carried his drill work into
Speaker 1: the game and did it to perfection and basically won
Speaker 1: the game on that play. But that's who he is.
Speaker 1: He's a kid that believes in training, believes in work,
Speaker 1: and then carrying it over to when the lights are
Speaker 1: the brightest, and that's who the kid is. That's probably
Speaker 1: my favorite memory is that fourth and one stop Coach.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have an opportunity to speak with him in
Speaker 1: just a little bit. Last question for me, what advice
Speaker 1: would you give to Chenna going to the next level
Speaker 1: and just your message for him? How proud you are
Speaker 1: of the guy? Well, he is the love of my life.
Speaker 1: To watch him grow up and be the man that
Speaker 1: he is and become the player that he is. So
Speaker 1: proud of him, and he's one of those kids. By
Speaker 1: the best advice I can give him, and I know
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about it because this is
Speaker 1: who he is is. Don't get comfortable, don't get stagnant,
Speaker 1: find ways to get better each and every day, and
Speaker 1: understand that you are now in a job, and with
Speaker 1: a job comes extreme work and the fear of you know,
Speaker 1: being fired at any point time, and that's what the
Speaker 1: NFL is not for long. So continue to work as
Speaker 1: hard as he's worked in college, and he just that's
Speaker 1: who he is. I don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 1: He's one of those guys that I can't imagine a
Speaker 1: better situation than to be with Gus Bradley and to
Speaker 1: continue his education on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: He's going to be a special, special player for the Charges.
Speaker 1: Love him today, and he gets to stay home. Coach,
Speaker 1: you got seven games Stubbub Center in Carson and then
Speaker 1: we got one of the Coliseum this year against the Rams.
Speaker 1: So I expect to see him maybe either it Stubub
Speaker 1: or at the College sum in the fall. I cannot wait.
Speaker 1: I'm fired up first, but I think his parents could
Speaker 1: probably walk to the State cool it is. He's grown
Speaker 1: right up there. That's finish the backyard, so I can't
Speaker 1: think of a better place for him. Well, Coach, I
Speaker 1: know it's a special week for the Trojans. Congratulations and
Speaker 1: we wish you the best of luck this offseason going
Speaker 1: into the fall. Thank you so much. Take care all right,
Speaker 1: Please to have the newest charger on Chargers Weekly, U
Speaker 1: Chenna Nwosu joins me. You, Chenna, welcome to the Chargers. Man.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, welcome to LA. But how long
Speaker 1: did it take you to get here from Carson? Forty minutes? Yeah,
Speaker 1: not too bad? Hut All, how was that draft party?
Speaker 1: Because I saw I don't know how you orchestrated that?
Speaker 1: Was that with PAT twelve network in conjunction? So how
Speaker 1: did that work? Because it was about a twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five minute video right and you got the call from
Speaker 1: the chargers. I felt like when you walk didn't you
Speaker 1: didn't want people to know what was going on and
Speaker 1: take me through that process. So yeah, when the chargers
Speaker 1: got the call, I was actually, you know, run a
Speaker 1: couple of errands, have to get some water out of
Speaker 1: the car from my dad. We're getting long water. So
Speaker 1: and when I got the car picked it up. You know,
Speaker 1: chargers called me packed overs recorded me right there. They
Speaker 1: told me they want to keep me home and they
Speaker 1: want to drift me. So you know, then I was trying.
Speaker 1: I was screaming inside, but I was trying to show
Speaker 1: it on my face. So I called my mom over.
Speaker 1: I told mom, come here, come here, come here. She's like,
Speaker 1: what what what I'm like, just wait, wait, wait wait,
Speaker 1: She's like, who is it? Who is it? Like, it's Chargers.
Speaker 1: It just started crazy. But it was like I tried
Speaker 1: to tell her my mama, relaxed, relaxual, Yes, don't let me.
Speaker 1: We don't want any want to know. And then we
Speaker 1: went inside was the living out to everybody else, can
Speaker 1: we all sit in the living room please? I just
Speaker 1: want everybody to be together, you know, just in case
Speaker 1: anything happens. Everybody's okay, So everybody gets into the living room,
Speaker 1: I sit down and the Arizona Cardos had their pick
Speaker 1: right before you guys, and everybody's recording it. Arizona Cardo
Speaker 1: select whoever they select. It was Christian Kirku somebody. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Everybody's like, ah man, everybod thought was about the unique
Speaker 1: because everybody cares the living room. So and next time
Speaker 1: the next pick, you guys had charge. Everybody called me.
Speaker 1: Everybody started going crazy eater off too, because you had
Speaker 1: a face like, man, it wasn't me, you know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't me. Was that your agent that you were that
Speaker 1: you were talking to And he knew right, but he
Speaker 1: was trying to play it off as well as Man,
Speaker 1: you guys were like, he's like, la man when an
Speaker 1: oscar for that. So this was a long process for you.
Speaker 1: I was in Mobile, So you had the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: you had to combine, you had your pro day, and
Speaker 1: you were actually here, I want to say, like a
Speaker 1: week and a half ago for this local pro day.
Speaker 1: You didn't work out, but take me through that day
Speaker 1: because I have to feel like that could have been
Speaker 1: what sealed the deal. Opportunity to beat these coaches definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, just the coaches basically just getting to know
Speaker 1: me personally, you know exactly. Um So I felt like
Speaker 1: that was always good. You know, just go up here,
Speaker 1: shake hands, so face like it's no you know you
Speaker 1: see behind the under the helmet. Yeah, so just be
Speaker 1: able to put a name to the face talks to
Speaker 1: the coaches. You know, it's really figured me out, figured
Speaker 1: them out as well. The connection was there. Yeah. You
Speaker 1: look at this defense what they were able to do
Speaker 1: last year. You got the pass rushers, you had nine
Speaker 1: a half sacks yourself last year, and then all these
Speaker 1: additions chargers to go defense defense defense. Their first three rounds,
Speaker 1: actually the first four round as we're taping, this guy's
Speaker 1: are white livebacker safety from West Virginia. You just got selected.
Speaker 1: Take me through to this defense. What do you think
Speaker 1: of this defense? First impressions? I know you probably follow
Speaker 1: the Chargers last year. Yeah, his defense has got a
Speaker 1: lot of hunters, you know, just a lot of guys hungry,
Speaker 1: hunger to eat, hunger to work, a lot of guys
Speaker 1: just committ to the game, show passion, love the game,
Speaker 1: and the defense. He knows just something have to play
Speaker 1: around with it, you know, just the way the way
Speaker 1: this draft is go. You see it's going defense, defense, defense,
Speaker 1: you know, just that lets you know what type of mindset,
Speaker 1: what type of team this say is and if it's
Speaker 1: the type of guy that I am. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: about situation too. I Mean, on one hand, it's it's
Speaker 1: awesome to come home, you being a Carson kids, just
Speaker 1: like a dream come true. It's got to be for
Speaker 1: your family. But at the same time, you look at
Speaker 1: fit in situation and this team's ready to get into
Speaker 1: contention win a Super Bowl here, how do you embrace that?
Speaker 1: Knowing that this team won nine of their last twelve
Speaker 1: last year and the accounting on you guys guys like you,
Speaker 1: rather to step in and make an impact definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: anyway as possible, whether I'd be special teams and medium
Speaker 1: on defense, wade and being a backup on def it's
Speaker 1: anyway you can make an impact, you know, helped the
Speaker 1: team be a better help the team get the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm prepared to accept that role in any way possible.
Speaker 1: How has being just the USC trojan prepared you for this?
Speaker 1: You know, I talked I talked to Clay Helton. He
Speaker 1: gusted about you for ten minutes. I'll have you listened
Speaker 1: to it. It was great. He said, hug your neck.
Speaker 1: He said, you love of his life. He said that
Speaker 1: fourth and one against Stanford the PAC twelve Championship game
Speaker 1: was his favorite memory from your your time playing at USC. So,
Speaker 1: just just playing at SC, how did that prepare you
Speaker 1: for this moment? Just because just the level of maturity
Speaker 1: you have to have. You know, USC, that's a very
Speaker 1: prestigious school first and foremost. You know, it's private school.
Speaker 1: A lot of people you know, break their banks and
Speaker 1: is trying to get in there. So it's no joke.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta come in there with your head
Speaker 1: on strong. You gotta come in there focus, you gotta
Speaker 1: have that mentality, and I feel like that mentality. You
Speaker 1: know throughout USC, you know, being around guys like coach Helton,
Speaker 1: you know who's who's very great, coach, very inspiring, teaches
Speaker 1: you a lot. You know, it's very helping. He's helped
Speaker 1: me prepare for this, for this moment right here, right now.
Speaker 1: Describe your game. Another guy I talked to, Ryan Abraham,
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, your deflections last year, being able
Speaker 1: to have a news for the football. Um, describe what
Speaker 1: kind of player you are on the field and your strengths.
Speaker 1: Definitely on the field, you know, I'm I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: go getter. You know, I'm I'm just one hundred percent
Speaker 1: every time, Like my motor is ridiculous. You know, I
Speaker 1: never give up. I love the game. I show that
Speaker 1: on the field. I play with a lot of passion. Um.
Speaker 1: The game means so much to me. Uh, It's just
Speaker 1: it's just everything to me. My strengths. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: very smart. I'll qualify myself as very smart, very instinctive. Sure. UM,
Speaker 1: I do a lot of film study, which you know
Speaker 1: improves my when you improves your game on the field,
Speaker 1: and you notice that when you play. UM, so you
Speaker 1: know just take coaching very well. Um, use that to
Speaker 1: my advantage and it's helped me out so far. What
Speaker 1: have your conversations with Gus Bradley been like about this
Speaker 1: defense and how how he's gonna use you? Just just
Speaker 1: this defense is no joke, you know. Just they're very defensive,
Speaker 1: very strong defensive team. A lot of guys on his defense,
Speaker 1: you know, got great pass rushers on both edges, you know,
Speaker 1: both good linebackers, dbs, you know, the whole the whole
Speaker 1: bup of defenses, a stack. You know. He wants to
Speaker 1: use me more of like an auto the auto position here,
Speaker 1: you know. So I'm looking forward to that, looking forward
Speaker 1: to learning more about that awesome Manley. It's fantastic. I
Speaker 1: saw Rahee Green going to Seattle. You guys play Seattle
Speaker 1: this year? Yeah, so you got you got a little
Speaker 1: friendly rivalry r ag. Do you talk to him and
Speaker 1: Ronald Jones and Darnlad at all? Sure they're still partying,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna catch up with them, probably recouping from today.
Speaker 1: I'm gonahit them up today, see what they're doing. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: final thing for you, Channa, what's your message to Chargers fans?
Speaker 1: Um as you get ready for rookie Minicamp and get
Speaker 1: integrated into this community which you've already been established in,
Speaker 1: and they really just integrated into this organization. My message
Speaker 1: to Charger fans is just I'm ready to work. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm here for the team, here for you guys. First.
Speaker 1: I'm not a dude who's gonna give up a queer
Speaker 1: complaint and pout. I'm just a guys, humble guy, you know,
Speaker 1: just waiting for this opportunity to play in my hometown.
Speaker 1: So I'm giving them all I've got. We couldn't be
Speaker 1: more excited for you to be a Charger man. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for being here, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Hey Justin? Hello? Oh good, Justin? Justin? Hello, can you
Speaker 1: hear me? Yeah? Hey, it's a time to let's go
Speaker 1: with the Chargers. Hey, are you ready to go? All right?
Speaker 1: We're getting ready to send the per picking right now.
Speaker 1: Who do you have there with you? He's still there
Speaker 1: at Justin? Hello, Hey, what kind of party you got
Speaker 1: going on there right now? That's great? Hey, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put you on the phone with our head coach, Anthony Lane. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, great, congratulations. Ruth's Justin what's going on? Man?
Speaker 1: How good are you doing? Good? Any defensive line and
Speaker 1: brave enough the winding number twenty seven, We're gonna have it.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, You're roll yeah there, all right, man,
Speaker 1: I'm excited for you appy, you know, with your family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: tell everybody I said hello, I'll see them when they
Speaker 1: come in town. And uh, I see you here real soon. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right man. And with the eighty fourth pick and
Speaker 1: the twenty eighteen NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Chargers select
Speaker 1: Justin Jones, defensive tackle Vancy State. All right, the head
Speaker 1: coach of Ency State, Dave Dorn, joins me on Chargers
Speaker 1: Weekly Coach, just talking to you offline. Almost your entire
Speaker 1: defensive line been drafted in the first three rounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty awesome, um for those young men. And we
Speaker 1: have one more contavious Street that I think we'll come
Speaker 1: off the board here today. So excited for those guys
Speaker 1: and they did a great job here, Coach, tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit about Justin. We selected him at number
Speaker 1: eighty four. Overall, I know he had a good Senior
Speaker 1: Bowl and you know, just being a part of that
Speaker 1: defensive line that was so dominant at NC State this
Speaker 1: past season. You know, Justin's young man, like the other
Speaker 1: the lineman we're talking about that came in here with
Speaker 1: a goal to play early. It was you know, early
Speaker 1: stages of me being here building a program and a
Speaker 1: really you know, talented guy. It's explosive, that's strong, very passionate,
Speaker 1: very emotional, high energy player and worked really hard. You know,
Speaker 1: he's like two sixty when he got here and left
Speaker 1: around three fifteen and improved himselves in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: and he's got a lot of growth still. You know,
Speaker 1: he's still a young guy for what great he was
Speaker 1: in coach talk about what he does on the field. Well,
Speaker 1: because you know, one of the struggles that Chargers had
Speaker 1: on defense this past season was being able to stop
Speaker 1: the run. I could see Justin coming in here and
Speaker 1: being part of that defensive line rotation right away. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well he's disruptive. I mean, Justin's a very titchy guy.
Speaker 1: I mean he's going to jump off that line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage and get in the backfield. You know, I think
Speaker 1: that's the best best thing he does. You know, he's
Speaker 1: really a powerful guy and when he gets off quickly,
Speaker 1: it's hard for people to stop him from penetrating, you know,
Speaker 1: and depending on you know, the fundamentals and techniques are
Speaker 1: going to coach him with. I mean, that'll be a
Speaker 1: big part of how fast he can play, you know,
Speaker 1: getting the playbook down and being able to play the
Speaker 1: way he did here where he was thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: not having to think a whole lot and just rip
Speaker 1: and run and go. You spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: with Justin obviously in that program. When did you know
Speaker 1: that he had the capabilities of becoming an NFL player
Speaker 1: right away? You know, when he got here. All four
Speaker 1: of these guys that were on a D line and
Speaker 1: played as freshman, you know, so we were able to
Speaker 1: see quickly how competitive they are and you know what
Speaker 1: their work ethic was going to be like because they
Speaker 1: were thrown into the fire and probably played a year
Speaker 1: earlier than most people would have been able to play him,
Speaker 1: you know, but we had to at that time. And
Speaker 1: so it's a sink or swim deal. And all those
Speaker 1: guys fought their butts off and developed the right way
Speaker 1: and understood how much work they had to put in
Speaker 1: to get to where they wanted to go. What kind
Speaker 1: of are we getting off the field coach. You know,
Speaker 1: we I talked to Coach Hilton and Coach Fisher about
Speaker 1: Darwin and you chant to come in here as leaders.
Speaker 1: What kind of guy are we getting adjusted in that
Speaker 1: locker row? You know, he's a lot of fun in
Speaker 1: the locker room. He's gonna be a guy that he
Speaker 1: gets to know a lot of players on the team
Speaker 1: and has fun with them. But when it's time to work,
Speaker 1: he's a grinder and he'll hold people accountable. He'll give
Speaker 1: his best every day and he's not afraid to speak
Speaker 1: up when he needs to two guys that are slacking off.
Speaker 1: He's a high, high energy, passionate, energetic type player. You
Speaker 1: know that you see a lot of times on the
Speaker 1: d line, and he's gonna have that with him all
Speaker 1: the time. I mean, he's comes from an awesome mom
Speaker 1: and you know, a really good area. He grew up
Speaker 1: playing football, you know, down there in Cobb County, a
Speaker 1: great area to compete. So getting a young guy that
Speaker 1: has tremendous passions for the game, that loves the game,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be playing it for the right reasons.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be rolling up to the facility probably at
Speaker 1: any minute now I'm gonna have a chance to speak
Speaker 1: with him, probably the next hour or two. What's your
Speaker 1: message to Justin and what advice would you give him
Speaker 1: about continuing his football career in the NFL. Just to
Speaker 1: remember how he got to where he is, you know,
Speaker 1: and trust the process that got him there, and not
Speaker 1: to lose sight of how hard he worked to make
Speaker 1: it to where he is and just continue to trust it.
Speaker 1: You know. If he just stays in that mode that
Speaker 1: he's been in to outwork people and give everything he
Speaker 1: has to his craft, he's going to continue to be successful.
Speaker 1: Bradley and Justin instant rivals now with the Broncos in Charges.
Speaker 1: I hope you got the ticket there at NC State.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, I look forward to saying that. That's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Well, hey, I know you got other guys
Speaker 1: on the board here. The potension could go at any minute.
Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for your time and to
Speaker 1: wish you the best luck this fall, coach. All right,
Speaker 1: thanks for your time to go back. All right with
Speaker 1: the Charger's third round pick, Justin Jones from NC State. Justin,
Speaker 1: welcome to Los Angeles. Man. Appreciate that, man, appreciate them
Speaker 1: I'm glad to be here. I've never been here before,
Speaker 1: so this is the first time ever in Los Angeles. Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: it's great. Ya got some big trees and it's really
Speaker 1: really tall. Man. So twenty four hours ago, you had
Speaker 1: no idea this was happening. To tell me about how
Speaker 1: it all went down, how you got the phone call,
Speaker 1: and how the weekend was supposed to unfold. Well, so
Speaker 1: my family and I, well, we went bowling and we
Speaker 1: were expecting the call you know, at the ball now
Speaker 1: families there or whatever, but it wasn't happening. A lot
Speaker 1: of detail was going on the board and obviously me
Speaker 1: being you know, excited and everything to get drafted, and
Speaker 1: I was getting a little frustrated. So you know, I
Speaker 1: went home and went to the bathroom and got in
Speaker 1: a shower, and well, I washing up, I get a
Speaker 1: phone call. I put on a lot of my mom,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't so I had a rent off. I
Speaker 1: had to swiped the phone, but this one with the
Speaker 1: phone with his wife because you know, my fingers is
Speaker 1: wet iled, I worked like that. But hey, when that
Speaker 1: happened exactly, so I got my call, I was so
Speaker 1: excited and I ran downstairs and I had to get
Speaker 1: my pants. I went back to get my pants and
Speaker 1: put go back downstairs, put the calls, and you know,
Speaker 1: my my parents, my family was there, you know, while
Speaker 1: you know, I was see the newest and everything, and
Speaker 1: it was just it's crazy. And when the pick finally
Speaker 1: came up on the on the TV, like, my family
Speaker 1: just went crazy, like crazy, like you heard it on
Speaker 1: the call. Yeah, crazy, it's crazy. You saw the video
Speaker 1: right now. That's what it's all about, man, I mean,
Speaker 1: just that that joy that comes from a dream that
Speaker 1: you've had your entire life. What does it mean for
Speaker 1: you to just be in the NFL right now? Man,
Speaker 1: It's a dream come true. Man, Like you couldn't You
Speaker 1: couldn't tell me five years ago, ten years ago, I
Speaker 1: was gonna be here, Like I wouldn't believe you. But um,
Speaker 1: the fact that I'm here now, man, just a blessing.
Speaker 1: And it's an opportunity and it's something you got to
Speaker 1: take advantage of because I was done. A lot of
Speaker 1: people get to come here and I was a lot.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of people get to stay here either,
Speaker 1: So you know, that's that's that's the biggest thing. And
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying. I'm trying to do this for
Speaker 1: a long time, and so that's my goal. Just be
Speaker 1: the same guy every day and work hard every day,
Speaker 1: just like I could be here for for a while.
Speaker 1: You guys had a ridiculous defensive line. It didn't see
Speaker 1: state for Chargers fence who may not know. Tell us
Speaker 1: about your game and what we can expect from you
Speaker 1: on the field. I feel like I'm an explosive player.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm pretty strong at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: and I got I got a nice area of pass
Speaker 1: rush moves. And on top of all that, I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm a really good team and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: good at picking people up, with it down, getting people going,
Speaker 1: you know, and stuff like that. As I'm as you
Speaker 1: can see, I got a lot of energy, like just
Speaker 1: for no reason. So yeah, so that's good. It's the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. Yeah, I'm sure you've caught up with the
Speaker 1: NFL and the Chargers and what they were able to
Speaker 1: do on defense last year. Um, one of the struggles
Speaker 1: was stopping the run. Definitely being able to come in
Speaker 1: immediately be a part of that defensive tackle rotation. How
Speaker 1: do you see yourself fitting into that puzzle. Uh, I
Speaker 1: just gotta take a day by day. Obviously I want
Speaker 1: to I want to come here. I want to make
Speaker 1: the team, and I'm trying to be in a rotation
Speaker 1: like you said. But I just take a day by
Speaker 1: day coming here with dope, Margaret. But the will and
Speaker 1: it's to learn and you know, it gets get stuff
Speaker 1: ready to go because obviously you know I'm here now.
Speaker 1: Now I'm trying to win because yeah, the one thing
Speaker 1: I will say about me is that I hate losing
Speaker 1: what and I love winning And that's that's the biggest
Speaker 1: thing for me. So yeah, you know, three of the
Speaker 1: first four picks, you know, we're taping this actually on
Speaker 1: a Saturday for people who are listening now, Three of
Speaker 1: the first four picks of the Chargers um First of
Speaker 1: all, all all four came on defense, but three or four
Speaker 1: were Senior Bowl participants, you being one of them. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What was that experience like Few and Mobile that really
Speaker 1: kind of kicked off this draft evaluation process? Yeah, definitely, Uh,
Speaker 1: we're going into Mobile and not many people really knew
Speaker 1: about me and me getting the opportunity to go there.
Speaker 1: It was just it was crazy because I didn't think
Speaker 1: anybody knew me or heard of my name, you know,
Speaker 1: So just being able to go there, obviously I was nervous.
Speaker 1: He was a good compsation and everything. But when I
Speaker 1: put your hummin on it, it just talks out the window.
Speaker 1: It's time to go. And I was just doing what
Speaker 1: I was coached to do, you know, well from coach
Speaker 1: Nils and the coach Patrick, and you know coach Hucks
Speaker 1: and you know coach Bill Californ from the Broncos coaching
Speaker 1: at the Senior Bowl and everything. Just I'm just doing
Speaker 1: what I coached to do, and you know, just translating
Speaker 1: into pastricks and translating to run to run stopping and
Speaker 1: the one on ones and to the team periods and
Speaker 1: they're just translating that. That was the biggest thing that
Speaker 1: took from the Cing Bowl, just taking the coach and
Speaker 1: translating immediately. So yeah, be a part of the defensive
Speaker 1: line to it. And she said, I have to metch.
Speaker 1: You guys pushed each other each and every day to
Speaker 1: get better. How has playing with elite players like that
Speaker 1: really helped you improve? Because I tell you what you're
Speaker 1: gonna You're gonna be in the same situation here with
Speaker 1: Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram on each side of you. Um,
Speaker 1: I've improved mentally and physically because mentally, you know, seeing
Speaker 1: these guys who were just really really good and everything,
Speaker 1: it obviously motivates you to be the best. And the
Speaker 1: biggest thing for you is that you don't want to
Speaker 1: let those guys down because you know how hard they work,
Speaker 1: So it forced you to work harder just to the
Speaker 1: fact that they they can have the comfort knowing that
Speaker 1: that you got their back. It's like they got George
Speaker 1: and that that was the biggest thing mentally and physically.
Speaker 1: In the Way Room, like we love the Way Room,
Speaker 1: like it's fun, like those parties in the Way Room. Really,
Speaker 1: it was those parties in there, like you know, especially
Speaker 1: when you know Streets Squad of seven hundred and what
Speaker 1: kind of parties in the Way Room, Like it's just
Speaker 1: it's it's crazy, like when Street Squad seven hundred and
Speaker 1: everybody and every rat comes over there and just goes
Speaker 1: hype them. When I did six fifty and everybody from
Speaker 1: every rock goes I hype It's like that likes it's crazy,
Speaker 1: like they we love each other like that, And that's
Speaker 1: that's how it was. It's just that brotherly family. I'm
Speaker 1: happy for everybody, even when, like you know, one of
Speaker 1: our dbs, you know, you hit way eighty five for
Speaker 1: the first time. You know, he's just kind of coming in.
Speaker 1: We all got to go came from the rack and
Speaker 1: hide him up for that, because it's important, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Oh, it's important for everybody to feel
Speaker 1: like they love it that they love you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And when you when you do that for
Speaker 1: your teammates, you know, when they go on the field,
Speaker 1: they don't have a problem giving that offer you because
Speaker 1: you know you're gonna give you off for your family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just what it is. What's your message to Chargers fans?
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go, man, I'm ready to win some games. Man,
Speaker 1: Like I'm ready. Yeah, it's last thing for you. Bradley
Speaker 1: Chubb's a Bronco. You canna see him twice? Are you
Speaker 1: gonna give Russell Koon Joe Barks say give them some
Speaker 1: tips on how to defense Chubb. Oh, got to man,
Speaker 1: you Charger now, God man, he's a problem. He's a
Speaker 1: good player. He's a really really good player. And thing Wood,
Speaker 1: the thing is, the thing is with him. Is that
Speaker 1: even in practice, like you never know what he's gonna
Speaker 1: do next. And he's a he's a he's a v's
Speaker 1: master to the master the whole, you know, like just
Speaker 1: making a look like it's something that's not you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like he's really good at that, and
Speaker 1: he's he's a really good player. Man. He works hard,
Speaker 1: he deserverything he got, and he's he's a really good player.
Speaker 1: Might be a fun rivalry with you guys, as you
Speaker 1: already talking about it too. Oh really loves his vesage
Speaker 1: to you. He was like, we see you twice? Is there?
Speaker 1: I said, dang, I feel to get beat twice? Man,
Speaker 1: I love it justin kid thinking. You know, for your time, man,
Speaker 1: welcome to Los Angeles and we'll see you on the
Speaker 1: field here soon. Appreciate that the twenty eighteen NFL Draft
Speaker 1: officially in the books, and believe it or not, four
Speaker 1: of the seven draft picks participated in the twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl, joined out by Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil
Speaker 1: Savage and Phil, it looks like the Chargers like what
Speaker 1: they saw down in Mobile this past January. Well, it
Speaker 1: certainly appears that way and our little hashtag down here
Speaker 1: is competing to connect, and these players get a chance
Speaker 1: to compete against some of the best in the country,
Speaker 1: and the scouts can make those comparisons here in Mobile
Speaker 1: and then of course the players get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: also connect to thirty two potential employers, and obviously the
Speaker 1: Chargers of one of the one of the thirty two
Speaker 1: teams that are usually here in full four. So it
Speaker 1: was good to see some of the guys that they took.
Speaker 1: I was impressed with what the Chargers were able to
Speaker 1: accomplish the gift of Durwin James there in the middle
Speaker 1: of the first round. And then two of my favorites
Speaker 1: were Chinnon and Wosu and Justin Jones. I just think
Speaker 1: that they I thought that they were potential starters beyond
Speaker 1: being taken in the first round, and I actually featured
Speaker 1: them on our website leading into the draft. Well, Phil,
Speaker 1: let's go one by one here, and I want to
Speaker 1: start with Drwin. I know he wasn't at the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: but what are your thoughts on him falling to the
Speaker 1: Charges at number seventeen. Overall, I can tell you there
Speaker 1: was a lot of excitement in the building when Durwin
Speaker 1: was still on the board. Yeah, you know, with Florida State,
Speaker 1: I spent a good bit of time over there because
Speaker 1: it's not that far away from Moville, So I was
Speaker 1: obviously very familiar with Darwin in his career at FSU.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think he's one of those players
Speaker 1: that has such rare height, weight and speed that you
Speaker 1: feel like, even as accomplished as he was at FSU,
Speaker 1: that his best football is ahead of him. Man. Of course,
Speaker 1: with the league now playing a lot of three safety
Speaker 1: defenses in their nickel package, so three of the five
Speaker 1: defenders in the back end having a safety background, I
Speaker 1: think that Gus Bradley and the staff there will be
Speaker 1: very creative in how they can utilize him because he
Speaker 1: really is capable of playing in the deep metal down
Speaker 1: in the box. He can blitz off the edge. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's really a forceful defensive player. Well, Phil. In the
Speaker 1: second round, the Chargers selected USC linebacker u Chenna NOOSU
Speaker 1: forty eight overall, and this is a team captain at USC,
Speaker 1: a very highly productive player in his senior year, and
Speaker 1: he gets to stay home his hometown Carson, California. Phil, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's really a good football player, very solid. He could
Speaker 1: play that outside backer post where he can stack at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, and he does have some rush potential.
Speaker 1: But the thing that's really interesting about him is that
Speaker 1: while this year he did have the twelve and a
Speaker 1: half sacks, the more impressive number was that he had
Speaker 1: actually had twelve and a half sacks in his career.
Speaker 1: But the more impressive number was the nineteen pass breakups.
Speaker 1: He really has a knack for getting to a certain
Speaker 1: point and then realizing the ball is about to come
Speaker 1: out and getting his hands up, and he had a
Speaker 1: real knack for that, which is a disruptive play of
Speaker 1: course in football. But I thought that he was one
Speaker 1: of our better defenders here and just I forecast him
Speaker 1: for a team that would run this kind of system
Speaker 1: where he could play both as an outside backer in
Speaker 1: a stand up position and rush some because of that
Speaker 1: ability to affect the pocket. You know, the name of
Speaker 1: the game really disruption. I talked to Clay Elton and
Speaker 1: other people about just those pass breakups that you mentioned,
Speaker 1: and to get a player like that on a defense
Speaker 1: that has ballhawks like Desmond King and Casey Hayward, Jason
Speaker 1: Varette coming back it's just one of those things that's
Speaker 1: just another added bonus for this defense. Yeah, no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. And again, the other thing is he will
Speaker 1: be able to help on special teams because he can
Speaker 1: be a core guy on your kickoff, kick return, punt,
Speaker 1: punt protection, all those things. So I really expect him
Speaker 1: to make an impact and be a contributor. Right away,
Speaker 1: we'll move to the third round. NC State defensive tackle
Speaker 1: Justin Jones. He was so excited to be selected. Phil.
Speaker 1: I spoke to him over the weekend and he actually
Speaker 1: discussed his opportunity to go down to Mobile and get
Speaker 1: his name out there. What did you see from Justin
Speaker 1: on tape? And then during that week at the Senior Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, Justin was part of a defensive line that
Speaker 1: had four seniors. Sharon, Bradley Chubb we know, went fifth
Speaker 1: over all to the Broncos. Bj Hill was drafted, Justin
Speaker 1: was drafted. In Contavius Street, who unfortunately suffered a knee
Speaker 1: injury in one of the private workouts this spring, was
Speaker 1: also selected. But Justin, you know, I went and saw
Speaker 1: them played Louisville during the season and in a live game,
Speaker 1: and we decided to invite he and bj Hill and
Speaker 1: Bradley Chubb. Of course, Chuck turned us down because he
Speaker 1: was obviously going to be a top five pick and
Speaker 1: it didn't want to take the chance. But I thought
Speaker 1: justin really maximized his opportunity here. He flashed in a
Speaker 1: big time manner. He was very effective and the one
Speaker 1: on one rushed stuff, and you know, he was our
Speaker 1: defensive line practice player of the week because he did
Speaker 1: jump out there. I thought he distinguished himself and really
Speaker 1: took advantage of the chance to be here in Mobile
Speaker 1: and compete against some of the offensive lineman that he
Speaker 1: went again. So he was one of the guys again
Speaker 1: that you know, you felt like there's no ways going
Speaker 1: in the first round, but it could be a real
Speaker 1: value for a team in the second, the fourth round.
Speaker 1: The Chargers get him in the third, so that made
Speaker 1: a lot of sense to me. Yeah, he'll immediately be
Speaker 1: in the mix there in that defensive tackle rotation in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. We'll move to the fourth round. The Chargers
Speaker 1: select Kaiser White from West Virginia and Phil He was
Speaker 1: announced as a linebacker, although he played safety primarily in college.
Speaker 1: I think the team likes his prospects in making that
Speaker 1: switch because of that size, speed, and of course the physicality. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Kaiser of course played safety at West Virginia, but he
Speaker 1: was really more of a close to the line player.
Speaker 1: So this is all going to be nuanced in terms
Speaker 1: of what position really plays. The truth of it is
Speaker 1: he's going to be He's going to be a run
Speaker 1: support player and a short area cover guy on tight
Speaker 1: ends and wide receiver. You know. One of the things
Speaker 1: that he and his agent wanted to accomplish here Mobile
Speaker 1: was to show that he could play in the deep
Speaker 1: part of the field, and he got a chance to
Speaker 1: do that here. I thought, actually he was pretty effective
Speaker 1: in doing that. But with the Chargers announcing that they're
Speaker 1: going to have him play linebacker, I would assume that
Speaker 1: he'll try to add some weight and he'll play sort
Speaker 1: of on that weak side as an off thetball linebacker.
Speaker 1: He can scrape, run and hit. He's got very good
Speaker 1: instincts in terms of getting to the football. And again,
Speaker 1: even though they announced him as a linebacker, the idea
Speaker 1: that these defensive coordinators are getting very creative in terms
Speaker 1: of how to utilize the pieces and parts and the
Speaker 1: strengths of their different players. To me, Kaiser can be
Speaker 1: part of that three safety package, even though he will
Speaker 1: be probably the guy that's down and closer to the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. And Phil, We're starting to see a
Speaker 1: lot of these like positionless players in the league. You
Speaker 1: talk about you Chenna using him in different ways. Of course,
Speaker 1: Durwin James, you could play him pretty much all across
Speaker 1: the field, and then Kaiser of course linebacker safety. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on the way that the league is
Speaker 1: moving to some of these players that can really play
Speaker 1: multiple positions. Well, I think the truth of it is
Speaker 1: is this is the residual impact of the spread offense
Speaker 1: taking over college football, the idea of having a true
Speaker 1: mic inside linebacker, the idea of having a true free
Speaker 1: safety center fielder, and that's really kind of all they do.
Speaker 1: They specialize in one role. You just don't see it
Speaker 1: anymore because these guys have to play out in space,
Speaker 1: they have to tackle out in the open grass. And
Speaker 1: you know, you're seeing safeties become linebackers. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: there's probably some linebackers that will end up being safeties
Speaker 1: and vice versa. You're seeing corners worth some safeties and
Speaker 1: sliding inside, and so I think it's just again the
Speaker 1: impact of the spread offense and the fact that the
Speaker 1: game is played out in the open field much of
Speaker 1: the time at that level, and that's where these players
Speaker 1: are coming from as they try to transition to the NFL.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll move to the fifth round. Here another
Speaker 1: local guy for the Chargers, UCLA center Scott Quisenberry. And
Speaker 1: with Scott, we're talking about a player with forty four starts,
Speaker 1: the ability to play both garden center, and a player
Speaker 1: that's probably gonna come in right away and add some
Speaker 1: depth to the interior of the Chargers O line. Yes,
Speaker 1: Scott is a very secure player. You know, he was
Speaker 1: a coach's favorite there at UCLA, and of course because
Speaker 1: of his older brother David and the family's journey not
Speaker 1: only on the field but off the field with you know,
Speaker 1: David overcoming cancer and just the fact that they had
Speaker 1: a lot of experience in terms of the college career,
Speaker 1: what goes on in All Star season at the combine
Speaker 1: the protas, I think he's a bit ahead of the curve. Again,
Speaker 1: I use the word value in the fifth round. I
Speaker 1: mean this is someone that at worst will be a
Speaker 1: swing backup as a center guard and could potentially end
Speaker 1: up being a starter one day. So I thought that
Speaker 1: was a nice pick by the Chargers. And he was
Speaker 1: also at our local pro day at the Hoope Performance
Speaker 1: Center about a week and a half before the draft,
Speaker 1: so it was a great opportunity. You know, you have
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl, which is the start of this evaluation
Speaker 1: process essentially, and then you got the combine, the draft,
Speaker 1: the pro day, and the team got to spend some
Speaker 1: time with Scott at the facility, So that was great
Speaker 1: as well. We'll move to the sixth round. The Chargers
Speaker 1: drafted wide receiver Dylan Cantrell from Texas Tech, a bigger
Speaker 1: receiver six three two twenty six. He wasn't at the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl field, But any thoughts on Dylan, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I really was not as familiar with him other than
Speaker 1: you know, seeing him at the combine if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a big body kind of receiver
Speaker 1: that can create some mismatches, you know, in the form
Speaker 1: of those back shoulder phase down the red zone, those
Speaker 1: sorts of things. So I don't know as much about him,
Speaker 1: but I know that on our serious XM NFL radio
Speaker 1: broadcast and coverage of the draft that Gil Brand, who
Speaker 1: obviously the godfather of scouting and lives in Dallas. He
Speaker 1: said that there were a lot of teams that were
Speaker 1: really intrigued by what Britt Dylan can potentially bring to
Speaker 1: the table. And then finally the seventh round, at two
Speaker 1: fifty one, the Chargers select Northwestern running back Justin Jackson
Speaker 1: and Phil This is a player rushed for a thousand
Speaker 1: yards all four years in college. He left Evanston as
Speaker 1: the all time leading rusher in Northwestern history. A bit
Speaker 1: surprising that he was on the board at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I tell you, this is one of the players that
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed going to evaluate back during the fall.
Speaker 1: I did go up to Evanston and check him and
Speaker 1: a couple of other guys out, and you know, we
Speaker 1: ended up not inviting him to the recent Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: He ended up going to the East West Ryne game.
Speaker 1: I thought that there was a good chance that he
Speaker 1: would be drafted on the third day, but his production
Speaker 1: speaks for itself. And the thing that's interesting about him.
Speaker 1: Pat Fitzgerald, the head coach here, is one of my
Speaker 1: good friends in football, and he said, you know, Justin,
Speaker 1: even though he's been basically the star of our team.
Speaker 1: He has sat in every special team's meeting for four
Speaker 1: years because he understands that going to the NFL he
Speaker 1: probably won't be able to make it just as a
Speaker 1: running back. He's going to have to contribute on special teams.
Speaker 1: So they were very impressed with the fact that he
Speaker 1: could really see the future in terms of, you know
Speaker 1: what of maximizing his chances at the NFL level. And
Speaker 1: so I was always super impressed by Justin. I feel
Speaker 1: badly in many ways that we ended up not having
Speaker 1: him in our game, because he probably should have been here.
Speaker 1: But I like this choice in the seventh round. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're kidding meeting. It's one of the all time leading
Speaker 1: rushers in Big Ten history, and there's a couple of
Speaker 1: names that have come from that league over years. It's fantastic, Phil,
Speaker 1: I know it's a it's got to be a proud
Speaker 1: moment for you when the draft concludes, starting with Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield at number one overall and Josh Allen. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you could just speak to the pride that
Speaker 1: you had to see these guys go through that process
Speaker 1: of mobile and then have their names called over the weekend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, when when you're with a club, you only
Speaker 1: get to celebrate sometimes ten times over the weekend. We
Speaker 1: got a chance to celebrate eighty four times over the
Speaker 1: weekend because we do feel like that it's an important
Speaker 1: step in the path to the draft. And you know,
Speaker 1: at one point in the draft the first five rounds,
Speaker 1: the initial pick in the first five rounds was a
Speaker 1: guy that was here at the recent Senior Bowl. Through
Speaker 1: five rounds, we had seventy two total selections, which represented
Speaker 1: like forty one percent of the entire draft. And you know,
Speaker 1: that may not sound like an impressive number, but when
Speaker 1: you consider the fact that one hundred and six juniors
Speaker 1: came out and seventy of them were picked, and then
Speaker 1: the fact that you have some of the top seniors
Speaker 1: you know, elect not to play or maybe had in
Speaker 1: the injury they were trying to work for back in January,
Speaker 1: we were really pleased with the way it turned out.
Speaker 1: And you know, the thing that I can almost under
Speaker 1: guarantee for the guys that dous to come here is
Speaker 1: that you're you're increasing your chance to be drafted, but
Speaker 1: even if you're not selected, you're going to be signed,
Speaker 1: because ultimately one hundred and ten guys that we had here,
Speaker 1: every single one of them will be signed to a
Speaker 1: contract here over the weekend and will ultimately end up
Speaker 1: in an NFL camp as soon as next weekend. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's fantastic. The Chargers obviously took note, and Phil,
Speaker 1: you do fantastic work down there, and I know you
Speaker 1: had a busy week of radio, so I can't thank
Speaker 1: you enough for your time and spending a few minutes
Speaker 1: with us on Chargers Weekly. Okay, Chris, I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and please congratulate Tom and Kevin. Kelly, of course was
Speaker 1: on my staff in Cleveland. He's your college scouting Oh yes,
Speaker 1: but he and Tom Talasco and those guys do a really,
Speaker 1: really solid job and I know they worked very hard
Speaker 1: to put all this together and that'll do it. My
Speaker 1: thanks to all of our guests as well as all
Speaker 1: the hard working people in the Chargers digital department, and
Speaker 1: of course thanks to you all for listening. Find us
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, and while you're there, please leave review,
Speaker 1: help spread the word. We hope you enjoyed this episode
Speaker 1: and until next time, I'm Chris Harry