Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Chris Harry with you on the Chargers Training
Speaker 1: Camp podcast, A Big Show. Today, I catch up with
Speaker 1: NFL Networks Daniel Jeremiah and Cynthia Freeland to get their
Speaker 1: reactions from day three of Chargers Camp. I also talked
Speaker 1: to linebacker Kyle Emanuel after the team's first padded practice,
Speaker 1: but first I sat down with the general manager of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Chargers, Tom Tolesco. All right, it's my
Speaker 1: pleasure to welcome general manager Tom Tolesco to the Chargers
Speaker 1: Training Camp Podcast. Tom, how you doing. I'm doing well,
Speaker 1: Thank you. Beautiful day. Huh oh, this is beautiful. The
Speaker 1: first day at Pats too, so it's exciting for us.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I know fans are champing at the bit
Speaker 1: and Tom, it's been a transition for you guys this offseason.
Speaker 1: But over the past two days, you have to be
Speaker 1: pleased with what you've seen from these fans and they
Speaker 1: even braced this football team. It's been great. The atmosphere
Speaker 1: has been tremendous, I know for us as a football team.
Speaker 1: When there's people out here watching and engaged, our players
Speaker 1: play to that tempo, oh yeah, and it picks up
Speaker 1: the practice tempo and it's it's hard to duplicate game
Speaker 1: conditions on the practice field. But when we have people,
Speaker 1: you know, three thousand people in the stands and people
Speaker 1: watching and people cheering, that gets these guys going, oh,
Speaker 1: no doubt, it's like five thousand people there on Sunday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you have standing room only. It was it was
Speaker 1: an incredible scene on Sunday. I know everyone's excited about
Speaker 1: pads today, but Tom, I was coming in today and
Speaker 1: I know that. You know, we have this twenty four
Speaker 1: hour news cycle in sports. Yet I turn on the
Speaker 1: radio on the way here to Coasta, Mesa and people
Speaker 1: are still talking about Kobe Bryant visiting you guys on Saturday.
Speaker 1: What was that experience? Like? I know the players have
Speaker 1: raved about it, but but for you to have a
Speaker 1: five time champion in LA come to talk to you
Speaker 1: guys on day will and what was that like for you?
Speaker 1: I was really a once in a lifetime experience for
Speaker 1: all of us to have him and come talk to us.
Speaker 1: And you know, for coaches, head coach myself, a lot
Speaker 1: of us have talked to the team. They hear of
Speaker 1: voices a lot, but they bring in somebody with a
Speaker 1: different voice and then having to be Kobe Bryant, who's,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the best he's ever played the game
Speaker 1: and at a professional level. That resonates with our players.
Speaker 1: And he came in with and he talked about everything,
Speaker 1: and he talked about everything from how to deal with
Speaker 1: the media. He talked about how he practices. He talks
Speaker 1: about how he played in games. He talked about how
Speaker 1: to be a leader and be a great teammate. He
Speaker 1: talked about life after you're done playing, when you're retired,
Speaker 1: about transitioning into you know, the quote unquote real world
Speaker 1: after playing sports. Talked about dealing with your family and
Speaker 1: your kids. I mean, he had all these different things
Speaker 1: and it was just a great talk. He was raw,
Speaker 1: he was real with us and with the players, and uh,
Speaker 1: I mean that's one of those the first day at
Speaker 1: training camp meeting is it's boring by nature. It's all
Speaker 1: administrative and a a lot of stuff we have to get
Speaker 1: out of the way. That's one I don't think anybody's
Speaker 1: ever going to forget. That quickly turned into a tone
Speaker 1: setter for the twenty seventeen season. It did, it did
Speaker 1: You can you can see why he was such an
Speaker 1: out ending player because he had the physical ability, but
Speaker 1: he had that mental side of it, and he talked
Speaker 1: about the psychological end and how much learning he did
Speaker 1: from different people in different industries, not just basketball or
Speaker 1: other professional sports. But it was really unique to hear
Speaker 1: him talk. And he was in the back of the room,
Speaker 1: right and no one had any idea that he was
Speaker 1: back there when Josh and Nelson. Yeah, so that very
Speaker 1: few of us knew, you know, you know, obviously Anthony
Speaker 1: knew him myself doing a couple other people and that
Speaker 1: was it, and we held him in the back and
Speaker 1: then Josh brought him up and introduced him. So that
Speaker 1: was a pretty neat moment for everybody. Yeah, guys are
Speaker 1: still buzzing about it right now. I wouldn't get to
Speaker 1: the field. And starting with this rookie class, we know
Speaker 1: Mike's not practicing right now. Do you have an update
Speaker 1: on him and how he's progressing. No update from the
Speaker 1: first day at camp, So he's gonna stay and there
Speaker 1: really won't be an update really probably throughout training camp.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be on the same schedule. You know, backs
Speaker 1: take time. Unfortunately, it takes long with than a hamstring
Speaker 1: or near or shoulder, so he'll be really on the
Speaker 1: same schedule as far as rehabbing and strengthening, doing some
Speaker 1: conditioning work every day, and that's really what he'll do
Speaker 1: the next two or three weeks. Will kind of go
Speaker 1: from there. You know, he wants to get on the field.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the silver lining I think
Speaker 1: for this football team is when Keenan went out last year,
Speaker 1: you had guys like Don arl m and Tyroll Williams
Speaker 1: go for a thousand yards last year and step up
Speaker 1: into roles they may not have been in in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: How much is that going to help those guys in
Speaker 1: year two? And then really having that wide receiver's room
Speaker 1: with Keenan in it to help Mike along the way, well,
Speaker 1: we do have a lot of depth there, so that's
Speaker 1: a positive between Keenan Allen. Like I said, Tyro Williams
Speaker 1: had a thousand yards last year, Don chel Iman had
Speaker 1: a ton of catches for us last year, Travis Benjamin
Speaker 1: did as well, and Travis had a big time production
Speaker 1: at Cleveland as well. So we've got four guys that
Speaker 1: are experienced at running routes, catching the football that can
Speaker 1: produce for us. We have some young guys too, we
Speaker 1: think of them might have a chance. So there is
Speaker 1: depth there to hold too that we can and really,
Speaker 1: whether we have depth or didn't, that really hasn't changed.
Speaker 1: Mike's protocol as far as is we have that kind
Speaker 1: of stays the same and when he's ready to go,
Speaker 1: we'll get him back out there. But like I said,
Speaker 1: it's gonna take some time. And of course you have
Speaker 1: the future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates on this football
Speaker 1: m Hunter. Henry took a big step eight touchdowns and
Speaker 1: limited snaps his rookie year. What do you think he's
Speaker 1: going to be able to do in year two? I
Speaker 1: talked to him yesterday and he said he's worked on
Speaker 1: a lot this offseason and the game's gotten slower for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of times. The biggest jump these guys make
Speaker 1: is from your rookie season to your second year. And
Speaker 1: he had a great year force last year. He's really
Speaker 1: wise behind his years. I mean he's still a young guy,
Speaker 1: but he has a great feel for the game now
Speaker 1: in the passing game but blocking the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: And I think he'll build build on this year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: having Philip throwing to you can create a lot of
Speaker 1: opportunities in the passing game. But I've been really pleased
Speaker 1: with Pal Hunter has really turned into a pro at
Speaker 1: really such a young age. This offensive line, it's a
Speaker 1: new LOOKO line. Russell Comb comes in, you get him
Speaker 1: away from a division rival, which is nice, and we
Speaker 1: all know about his productivity throughout his career in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Then you get these young guys in the drafts and
Speaker 1: Forrest lamp who many regarded as a first round pick
Speaker 1: in the second round. And then Dan Feeney, a guy
Speaker 1: who blocked for Tevin Coleman and Jordan Howard did Indiana.
Speaker 1: What do you want to see out of this new
Speaker 1: look O line in training camp, especially with Pat's coming on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that may be the group that's gonna benefit the
Speaker 1: most from this this training camp, because we gotta first
Speaker 1: of all come up with the five that we're gonna
Speaker 1: go with number one and number two. They have to
Speaker 1: start playing together. It's it's it's not an individual group.
Speaker 1: I mean, they have individual talents, but they have to
Speaker 1: play together. They have to be able to get comforted
Speaker 1: with each other. How they communicate with each other. We'll
Speaker 1: do that here in training camp. So this is really
Speaker 1: an important time for those guys, and not only not
Speaker 1: only the young guys, but even it got like Matts Slawson,
Speaker 1: Matt played guard for a long time this league. Um
Speaker 1: played a little bit of center at the end in Chicago.
Speaker 1: We brought him in and thought he could help us
Speaker 1: out as center last year because we had a need.
Speaker 1: He stepped in and played great for us a center.
Speaker 1: But now he's moving back to guard. So that's another
Speaker 1: a little bit of transition, not as big, but yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of changes up front that we
Speaker 1: have to get worked out this whole training camp, in
Speaker 1: the preseason games. Yeah, this is the time to do
Speaker 1: it though, when you know, taking a deeper dive into
Speaker 1: the draft. I talked to Matt Bowen of ESPN after
Speaker 1: the draft and he raved about a couple of guys
Speaker 1: that you got late in Rachel and Jenkins from Miami
Speaker 1: to safety and Desmond King who had fourteen interceptions at Iowa,
Speaker 1: and how they're a good fit for what Gus Bradley
Speaker 1: likes to do. What do you want to see out
Speaker 1: of those guys in camp and can they contribute right
Speaker 1: away in twenty seventeen. Well, I think Bowen's from Iowa.
Speaker 1: He's an Iowa guy. Yeah, that's not fair, that's kind
Speaker 1: of biased. But but his in his defense, he did
Speaker 1: mention Rachel and Jenks that same positive. Yeah, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: tell you both both players and obviously no tas you're
Speaker 1: you're not in full go, you're not in pads yet.
Speaker 1: But both those guys mentally have shown that that it
Speaker 1: may not be too big for him the first year,
Speaker 1: which is great to seek. So we'd like to see
Speaker 1: them see if they can contribute this year. Ray Sean
Speaker 1: has a nice balanced game between being able to come
Speaker 1: up to the line of scrimmage and tackle people and
Speaker 1: to get out and cover tight ends and getting the
Speaker 1: slot and cover some people. He's got really good movement
Speaker 1: skills for a bigger safety. And and Desmond really just
Speaker 1: proved or showed at the college level his versatility as
Speaker 1: far as played different positions, as far as a punt
Speaker 1: and kickoff returner. He's really a natural football player. And
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna use this camp a lot for
Speaker 1: him to figure out where the best spot is for
Speaker 1: him and where he can help us. It could be
Speaker 1: a number of different areas and it may even evolved
Speaker 1: as his career goes on, but he has some really
Speaker 1: natural football instincts. Yeah, it's gonna be fun to see
Speaker 1: a lot of these young guys develop and progress throughout camp.
Speaker 1: I want to shift to Anthony Lynn. I've talked to
Speaker 1: a lot of people here at camp, from players to
Speaker 1: two people from around the league, and he is he
Speaker 1: is such a so highly regarded around the league as
Speaker 1: an assistant. How has it been watching him progress as
Speaker 1: a head coach with the Chargers. Well, it's been a
Speaker 1: short time, so it's hard to say progress, but but
Speaker 1: what we've seen is yeah, Yeah, he's been really great
Speaker 1: to work with. I think right away he commands respect
Speaker 1: from his players and he's gonna be tough on them,
Speaker 1: but extremely fair. And I'm a big believer that you're
Speaker 1: we're all a product of our environment, a product of
Speaker 1: who we've learned for learned from excuse me, and you know,
Speaker 1: he learned from Bill Walsh, he learned from Bill Parcels,
Speaker 1: he learned from Mike Shanahan. So three pretty big time
Speaker 1: coaches and in all a little bit different in their
Speaker 1: own right. And he took a little bit from all
Speaker 1: those guys. And but then he's also himself as far
Speaker 1: as what he stands for. So um, it's been great.
Speaker 1: I mean nothing has phased him. Anytime you come into
Speaker 1: a first time head coaching job or first time GM job.
Speaker 1: When I came in a couple of years ago, there
Speaker 1: are some things that happened that you maybe didn't anticipate.
Speaker 1: It happens daily usually, Yeah, and he had nothing's faced him. Um,
Speaker 1: he can look things straight on, you know, make make
Speaker 1: good calculate decisions on things. And I think he's getting
Speaker 1: nothing that better as we move forward. Pads are coming
Speaker 1: on today and moving forward in camp. As a GM,
Speaker 1: it's one thing to evaluate guys and T shirts and
Speaker 1: shorts at OTAs. What's your process in evaluating these players
Speaker 1: with the pads on the training camp. Well, this is
Speaker 1: the the finally, the time where guys are really competing
Speaker 1: with each other for jobs, competing for roles on the
Speaker 1: football team. You know, it's real practice. Now there's always
Speaker 1: a conveat that. Well, you know it's not a game
Speaker 1: conditions yet. You know, we'll get to that point. But
Speaker 1: this is where you really develop your mentality offensively and
Speaker 1: defensively do on the practice field. And there's no more
Speaker 1: two a days, so it's only one a day, so
Speaker 1: you got to get your work in right now. But
Speaker 1: this is this is where it it's real. You know.
Speaker 1: The OTAs is great, but after a while it gets
Speaker 1: a little bit you know, hey, look, let's move on
Speaker 1: to the next shot. And it's time for that right now.
Speaker 1: And I think the guys get excited about it. And
Speaker 1: like I said before, when you do it in front
Speaker 1: of fans, it's just a different tempo. If we're back
Speaker 1: at our facility during the regular season and it's a
Speaker 1: padded practice and there's nobody else around, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different. It's hard to get those juices flowing. But
Speaker 1: it's a lot easier out here to perform in front
Speaker 1: of people. Yeah, like we said, fans are excited for today.
Speaker 1: I want to get you out of here on this time.
Speaker 1: Obviously a big week for the organization. LT's being enshrined
Speaker 1: into Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's almost impossible to
Speaker 1: put it into words. But what do you think LT
Speaker 1: means to this organization if you could put it into words, Boy,
Speaker 1: that's that's hard one for me, especially since I wasn't
Speaker 1: here when he was playing. Sure, I've had a chance
Speaker 1: to get to know him since I've been with the
Speaker 1: organization and it's no secret why he's going in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. And again, it's not just about the
Speaker 1: talent the players have. Like I said, with Kobe Bryant,
Speaker 1: his determination, his mental ability, and how he carries himself.
Speaker 1: It's just incredible to be around. And he's talked to
Speaker 1: our players a couple of times after our team after practice,
Speaker 1: and his messages are are awesome. Um, he just has
Speaker 1: that natural leadership ability. He's been a great person be around.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited that he that he wanted to come
Speaker 1: back and be part of the organization moving forward. That
Speaker 1: means a lot to us that he wants to be
Speaker 1: a part of this uh moving forward. So um, but
Speaker 1: I'm just really really happy for him. I mean this
Speaker 1: this week. I've only been to the induction once. It
Speaker 1: was a pretty amazing event. You know, the mount Up
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers that are there, and they're everywhere. Now
Speaker 1: you're walking down the aisle and there's you know, Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer here, Hall of Famer there, built track. It
Speaker 1: is all these players that that you know I watched
Speaker 1: growing up or even heard about and maybe didn't see played.
Speaker 1: You know, if they're older and there he is sitting
Speaker 1: right there. Hey, there's Dick bud Kiss sitting right there.
Speaker 1: You know. It's just a man. There's Lawrence Taylor over here.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing. M So it's it's great that he's
Speaker 1: get a chance to experience and all that. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: gonna check that out on Saturday. He's Tom to LESCo. Tom,
Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for your time today anytime.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Take care all right. Please to
Speaker 1: welcome Daniel Jeremiah to the Chargers Training Camp podcasts. Follow
Speaker 1: him on Twitter at Move the Sticks, and be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the Move the Sticks podcast with Daniel
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks, one of the best football podcasts out there. Daniel,
Speaker 1: how you doing, buddy? I'm doing great, man. It's a
Speaker 1: beautiful day out here today. I know you're here all day? Huh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a full day. Get here about seven thirty in
Speaker 1: the morning. I think I'm we're wrapping up around six
Speaker 1: o'clock tonight. So yeah, network, we spent a whole day
Speaker 1: at Charger Camp, a nice ten to eleven hour day.
Speaker 1: Day three in pads. Would you see out there? Tell
Speaker 1: you what? It's a good looking group. I mean The
Speaker 1: thing that jumps out to me is really with his
Speaker 1: football team. I think it's gonna be built around that
Speaker 1: defensive front. With Gus Bradley in here running the show,
Speaker 1: I think they've got a chance to really really be
Speaker 1: a dominant group. And you you look at Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: for a full sixteen game, so you look at Melvin
Speaker 1: Ingram what he can bring to the table opposite of him.
Speaker 1: But I think the two interior guys are underrated. Brandon
Speaker 1: Mebane who can push the pocket, Corey Leegiate, who can
Speaker 1: rush out of that three technique and really be disruptive.
Speaker 1: So I think that's as good a group as we have.
Speaker 1: Rivers with sharp out here today, Tyroll Williams had had
Speaker 1: a nice day. I know a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: no Mike Williams, but man, I think Tyroll Williams, coming
Speaker 1: off a good year last year, the best is is
Speaker 1: still yet to come. We've talked about this all week.
Speaker 1: With Keenan Allen coming back, Tyroll Williams was kind of
Speaker 1: thrust in that role in twenty sixteen. Goes goes over
Speaker 1: a thousand and yuards seven touchdowns. That's gonna do nothing
Speaker 1: but help in twenty seventeen, especially if Mike Williams isn't
Speaker 1: going to be ready at Ralph the bat. Yeah, look,
Speaker 1: you've got Keenan Allen, you know, getting back into the mix.
Speaker 1: And now, man, you've got a good group. I know
Speaker 1: Mike Williams, I trust me. I know how good he
Speaker 1: is watching him and studying him last year. But when
Speaker 1: you have a Travis Benjamin who can stretch the field,
Speaker 1: Edmond's not a bad player. And now you've got Tyroll
Speaker 1: Williams and a healthy Keenan Allen. Not to mention two
Speaker 1: tight ends, because you've got Antonio Gates and I think
Speaker 1: one of the best young tight ends in the league
Speaker 1: right now, and Hunter Henry so Philip Rivers no shortage
Speaker 1: of weapons. I think this offense, though, is gonna go
Speaker 1: as far as this offensive line can take him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get a couple of rookies out here today. I
Speaker 1: thought Dan Feeney had a great day. I thought Forest
Speaker 1: Lamp a little bit up and down and some of
Speaker 1: the one on one stuff, But he's gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: And those two guys getting on the field earlier this
Speaker 1: year and playing well will be key. You look at
Speaker 1: the Chargers draft and I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: were shocked at Forrest lamp fell into the second round,
Speaker 1: and obviously the Chargers scooped him up. Dan Feeney he
Speaker 1: blocked for Tevin Coleman, Jordan Howard Indiana. What do you
Speaker 1: make of their draft? I know, you know this is
Speaker 1: the first Dan pads, but you did some good things
Speaker 1: with the offensive line and then in the later rounds.
Speaker 1: I talked to Tom tell Usco about this today with
Speaker 1: Desmond King and Jenkins. What do you make of their
Speaker 1: draft and what these guys can do in terms of
Speaker 1: competing in twenty seventeen. Well, I think you got some
Speaker 1: guys in the back end. A couple of those guys,
Speaker 1: ray Sean Jenkins, to me, he's a hit or you're
Speaker 1: gonna use him in that cam, chance to roll in
Speaker 1: this defense, gonna be a physical enforcer. He's a hulking safety.
Speaker 1: And then you get Desmond King out there, who's gonna
Speaker 1: give you a chance to play a couple of different spots.
Speaker 1: You can play him as the high safety, and you
Speaker 1: can drop him down and make him a little bit
Speaker 1: bigger nickel down there in the slot. And look, they're
Speaker 1: not giving up on him being able to play outside
Speaker 1: at corner. So you've got a versatile piece there's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch these guys grow. I saw
Speaker 1: you talking to Gus earlier. How does the personnel fit
Speaker 1: his scheme? I think it fits beautifully. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: when you look at, you know, some of the different roles,
Speaker 1: and you see a Bruce Irvan, how he had that
Speaker 1: role in Seattle when Gus was there. Now you take
Speaker 1: him over in Ingram who has a skin similar skill
Speaker 1: sets a bit just a better football player. He's gonna
Speaker 1: plug in and be fine. You look at Joey Bosa,
Speaker 1: he can beat kind of that heavier five technique if
Speaker 1: you want him, or you can just cut him free
Speaker 1: and let him rush inside. So to me, you look
Speaker 1: at Michael Bennett and the success he's had rushing off
Speaker 1: the edge early on and downs and then being able
Speaker 1: to kick inside and beat up on guards. I think
Speaker 1: you can see Joey Bosa do a lot of those
Speaker 1: same things. If not him, you've got Corey Legit who
Speaker 1: can rush from that three. So I think this personnel
Speaker 1: fits well. And even the linebacker position, you've got a
Speaker 1: downhill thumper, impairman. And then you got Ja Tabus who's
Speaker 1: just gonna be running all over the place, cleaning everything up.
Speaker 1: I look at this offense and I think sometimes we
Speaker 1: underrate the greatness of Philip Rivers, right. He had a
Speaker 1: he had a year where a lot of you they're
Speaker 1: stinking by injuries last year with that Woodhead going out
Speaker 1: early and Keenan Allen, what do you look for this
Speaker 1: year with Philip Well, I mean, I think being a
Speaker 1: little bit more patient. I mean that's kind of their
Speaker 1: turnover to something that people will talk about. The interceptions
Speaker 1: last year. Do a great job of protecting him. The
Speaker 1: running game needs to get better. But I just even
Speaker 1: think from his standpoint, I mean, he's he's he's so
Speaker 1: aggressive and I love that about him. But being able
Speaker 1: to just kind of maybe dial it in a little
Speaker 1: bit here and there and protect the football, be able
Speaker 1: to take the check down. I think you hit it
Speaker 1: on the head there with Danny Woodhead not being out there,
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen, those guys can uncover underneath, give me some quick,
Speaker 1: easy completions. They didn't have as many of those last year.
Speaker 1: So he was vertical. Everything was vertical down the field.
Speaker 1: So finding the way you get some of those layups
Speaker 1: back in this offense will be big for him. He
Speaker 1: gave Gordon out of backfield question, get Gordon that look?
Speaker 1: Brandon Oliver did a nice shot running around. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: if everybody forgets about him, get you out here on this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Chargers in twenty seventeen, what do you think the
Speaker 1: ceiling is for them? I think they can win this division.
Speaker 1: You gotta stay healthy, you gotta get good play out
Speaker 1: of this offensive line. But I think their defense is
Speaker 1: going to keep him in each and every game and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have a shot to get this thing done.
Speaker 1: Did you get to go to work man? All right? Thanks,
Speaker 1: buddy tire? All right? Please be joined by Cynthia Freeland
Speaker 1: from NFL Network on the Chargers Training kept podcast. She's
Speaker 1: a must follow on Twitter at Sea Freeland. Cynthia, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining me. Hey, Dwin, I'm doing great. It's always
Speaker 1: nice to be with fellow Northwesterner mapping happily. I'm until
Speaker 1: you're Kellogg right, Yes, but it's still still purple purple
Speaker 1: exact Chicago. Well, day three in coast to Mesa. What
Speaker 1: did you think out there? You know, I'm actually really impressed.
Speaker 1: First day in pads. The energy level was so high
Speaker 1: for the entire practice, everyone was just ready to go.
Speaker 1: I the energy, I just can't get over it. It's
Speaker 1: it's hard to kind of describe. Yeah, the first day here,
Speaker 1: you were here, the first day, five thousand fans were
Speaker 1: out here. Insane, pretty wild, in pretty wild. So these
Speaker 1: guys were really well received on their first day in
Speaker 1: Coast a Mesa. You look at this offense, Cynthia, I
Speaker 1: love I love your game theory, do a great job
Speaker 1: with that stuff. You look at this offense and how
Speaker 1: loaded they are. Mike Williams is obviously not practicing right now,
Speaker 1: but you still keenan ally coming back Hunter, Henry, you're
Speaker 1: stacked there. What do you see when you look at
Speaker 1: this office in twenty seventeen? Is it sad that the
Speaker 1: thing I see happens to be at the guard position.
Speaker 1: I like your second and third round draft picks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you some great draft picks. Forrest lamp Dan Feeney. Obviously
Speaker 1: he's right now not listed first on the depth chart. However,
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna see him substitute in quite a bit.
Speaker 1: I love that because it's gonna give Melvin Gordon an
Speaker 1: opportunity to go even more wild than last season. So
Speaker 1: last season, he ranked in the twenties. In the twenties
Speaker 1: in terms of yards per carry between the tackles, yards
Speaker 1: per carry between the numbers. This season, I look for
Speaker 1: that to go way up. Anthony Lynn, he knows how
Speaker 1: to make running backs go la Sean McCoy average five
Speaker 1: point four yards per carry, Mike Gillislee the backup five
Speaker 1: point seven yards per cary. He paced the NFL last
Speaker 1: season three point nine. I think for Melvin last year,
Speaker 1: and that can go up. That's gonna go up. But listen,
Speaker 1: he was fantastic last season. Ten touchdowns between the tackles.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he was bad. I'm saying this is
Speaker 1: an opportunity to get even better by shoring up that
Speaker 1: old line. You just you just build off a year two.
Speaker 1: You know, his first year didn't have a touchdown, and
Speaker 1: you go over double digit touchdowns. I think if this
Speaker 1: line with Lamp and Feeney, those young guys, coupled with
Speaker 1: Russell Kuhne coming over, is going to help the running
Speaker 1: game and then the passing game. Even though Mike Williams
Speaker 1: isn't out there. You mentioned it. They're stacked. They're stacked,
Speaker 1: especially if Keenan Allen. You know, he's looking great. It
Speaker 1: does I do not see. Obviously, I'm not a doctor,
Speaker 1: so I can't. I'm not going to He looks amazing.
Speaker 1: He looks like you know, I was expecting to see
Speaker 1: a little bit more hesitation or anything. Nothing looks amazing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think week one going out, I just remember that
Speaker 1: first half that he had against the Chiefs and was
Speaker 1: just like, Wow, this guy's dominating. It was why. I
Speaker 1: guess Marcus Peters too, that's a pretty good corner. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think that having that injury so early, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously you benefit from from recovering through the twenty sixteen season,
Speaker 1: and he should be ready to go. On the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the football. Gus Bradley coming in, what do
Speaker 1: you see with these book in rushing defensive ends with
Speaker 1: Joey Bows and Melvin Ingram. So for me, I close
Speaker 1: my eyes and I go, not Gus Bradley in Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: I go Gus Bradley defensive Cord innersty Attle Seahawks. Multiple fronts.
Speaker 1: Obviously we know that. To me, the comp here is
Speaker 1: I think Joey Bosa is going to be more like
Speaker 1: Michael Bennett. Now. Joey Bosa already proved his first round
Speaker 1: draft status. He'd nothing left to prove. Ten and a
Speaker 1: half sacks last season, he's amazing. But I went and
Speaker 1: I looked at all of his snaps in nickel and
Speaker 1: which will be more kind of what we see this season.
Speaker 1: And seven of his ten and a half sacks happened
Speaker 1: when they were in the nickel last season. So for me,
Speaker 1: that projects to be really high. Melvin Ingram on the
Speaker 1: Ingram on the other side awesome as well. He's got
Speaker 1: a great comp of five or six year ago come
Speaker 1: from Seattle Seahawks. I won't be too crazy with these comps,
Speaker 1: but ultimately I think this gets even better. Gus Bradley
Speaker 1: here is a great addition. You're gonna love it. One
Speaker 1: of the other the other themes that we've talked about
Speaker 1: is the secondary with Varette and Casey Hayward. Casey Hayward
Speaker 1: looking great. Yeah, led the league in picks last year.
Speaker 1: This is an elite tandem and I think it allows
Speaker 1: Gusts to be very versatile in the secondary. Absolutely. I
Speaker 1: think I think the pressure upfront also allows for the
Speaker 1: secondary to be more diverse. Those two things go hand
Speaker 1: in hand. You're going to see a great defense. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited for the Chargers, and not just because I'm
Speaker 1: here and it's like the best weather possible, but in
Speaker 1: general than you could be than Coast of Masa right now.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. Coasta Masa's pretty awesome. If you
Speaker 1: haven't come out, you should. So Chargers. All fans love
Speaker 1: talk fantasy, especially this time of year. This Chargers team
Speaker 1: is like a fantasy gold gold mine, right, And is
Speaker 1: there another team? Really? Well? You look, I mean there's
Speaker 1: so many weapons you got. You got Henry and Keenan
Speaker 1: Allen and Melvin Gordon, Philip Rivers. I think Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: is going to benefit from getting Keenan Allen back. You
Speaker 1: literally have a another year with Hunter Henry, another year
Speaker 1: with I mean, the year of growth for Hunter Henry
Speaker 1: will be absolutely incredible too. You've got Antonio Gates, You've
Speaker 1: got You've got a great those you know, obviously it
Speaker 1: is intermediate and short kind of setups make those long
Speaker 1: passes even more possible. So you're in You're in great shape.
Speaker 1: This whole new NFL and LA thing. Now we have
Speaker 1: two seams of the Rams. We have the Chargers, your
Speaker 1: Culver City it's in your backyard. What do you look
Speaker 1: to see out of the Chargers this year? Playing in
Speaker 1: front of thirty thousand people, That stuff upset. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be pretty electric atmosphere. I think I am more excited
Speaker 1: to see the Chargers in a smaller stadium than almost
Speaker 1: any other game that I'm potentially going to go to
Speaker 1: this season. I think that stadium is going to be amazing.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. I think it's like trip worthy people
Speaker 1: from across the country. If you're going to do it,
Speaker 1: come this year, see it now before new stadiums are
Speaker 1: built in a couple of years, because honestly, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be unlike anything else, Like it's going to
Speaker 1: be intimate and cool, and you're gonna feel every pass,
Speaker 1: You're gonna feel every hit. You're gonna actually probably able
Speaker 1: to hear the pads, which is a very cool you know,
Speaker 1: you hear you see the guy holding that like half
Speaker 1: moon satellite thing and you can hear the pads from that.
Speaker 1: It's even better when you hear it in person. Put
Speaker 1: your analytics head on in this AFC West Ooh tricky. Oh,
Speaker 1: it is a little tricky, is it? I think it's
Speaker 1: the toughest division in football, and you know we know
Speaker 1: what the Chiefs and the Raiders did that. Broncos are
Speaker 1: a little down last year, still have that defense. How
Speaker 1: do you see the charge fitting in here? This is
Speaker 1: going to be the most I think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be the tightest race of any division in all of
Speaker 1: not just the AFC, but the NFC as well. I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be. It really could be. Every
Speaker 1: single game matters, every single half matters. I don't think
Speaker 1: this one's going to be a runaway in any regard.
Speaker 1: So for me, this reloaded offense, I'm gonna I really
Speaker 1: like the O line that means a blot and I
Speaker 1: really think this new Gus Bradley defense could put you
Speaker 1: right atop the AFC West, if not sliding into playoff
Speaker 1: position wild cards possibility. But I know these guys are
Speaker 1: really hungry to get to get that AFC West crown.
Speaker 1: It is literally anyone's game. And your new color guy,
Speaker 1: Matt money Smith, who's my one of my favorite co
Speaker 1: workers of all of NFL networks as oh, he can
Speaker 1: tell you inside and out, left and right up and
Speaker 1: down that this is absolutely the team to pick. So
Speaker 1: I'm going with my man Matt money Smith on this one.
Speaker 1: We'll go with Money on that. When Cynthia thinks so
Speaker 1: much your time, absolutely, thank you think here all right.
Speaker 1: Day three is in the books here with Kyle Emmanuel. Kyle,
Speaker 1: how was practice today? Man? With the pads on? It
Speaker 1: was good? It was a good little bit rusty, Um,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, from a defensive standpoint, altogether, we
Speaker 1: were a little bit rusty. Individually. You feel it a
Speaker 1: little bit more on your legs, you know, really being
Speaker 1: in pads for the first time since you know, we
Speaker 1: played Kansas City in January, so it's always gonna feel
Speaker 1: a bit a little bit different. But you know, this
Speaker 1: is this is how we play the game. You know,
Speaker 1: we're playing pads and um, we got to start getting
Speaker 1: used to this and getting our legs right and getting
Speaker 1: ready for the season. These fans were excited to see
Speaker 1: you guys finally in pats. How much do you guys
Speaker 1: feed off that energy? I know the first day was
Speaker 1: pretty unbelievable with five thousand fans here, having these guys
Speaker 1: here and sharing you on I have to believe that
Speaker 1: raises the intensity for you guys a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it definitely makes a difference. You know, practice can get
Speaker 1: can get old, especially in these dog days of camp,
Speaker 1: and you have fans out here and you know they
Speaker 1: want to see your best and we want to show
Speaker 1: them our best, and it can energize you on the
Speaker 1: days and you don't really have it. What did you
Speaker 1: work on this offseason and the effort to get ready
Speaker 1: for year three? For you? Well, for me, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a different position, but it's it's still it's similar.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, at least so far from
Speaker 1: what I've seen, I'm gonna be dropping a coverage a
Speaker 1: little bit more so. Uh. I actually dropped about eight pounds, um,
Speaker 1: trying to get a little bit lighter, just to be
Speaker 1: able to you know, move a little bit better, dropping
Speaker 1: into coverage a little bit more. So. That was a
Speaker 1: big emphasis for me after OTAs were over. Are you
Speaker 1: getting comfortable with that, that new kind of wrinkle to
Speaker 1: your game? Yeah? Yeah, I am. Um, It's like I said,
Speaker 1: I did a little bit of it last year, but
Speaker 1: I think last year was more on the line, set
Speaker 1: in the edge, and now it's uh, it's it's a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. So um, getting used to it,
Speaker 1: getting used to playing it in Gus's system, and I
Speaker 1: like it so far and I think we can really,
Speaker 1: you know, um, thrive in it. I ask all the
Speaker 1: defenders this Gus SE's bringing a lot of positive energy.
Speaker 1: Yet what kind of imprint has he made on this
Speaker 1: defense already? Well, he's just really big into the mental
Speaker 1: side of game, which it's such a huge part and
Speaker 1: people don't realize that, and you don't talk about it enough.
Speaker 1: How big you know. Obviously football is a physical game
Speaker 1: and you have to be talented physically, but mentally, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it could take a toll on you and
Speaker 1: you have to be right mentally. And he understands that
Speaker 1: and he gets that and he brings that to every
Speaker 1: single meeting. He's a positive guy and um, you know,
Speaker 1: he makes sure, you know, we emphasize certain things and
Speaker 1: and uh, it's just been really fun working with him.
Speaker 1: Heard a lot about him obviously before I got here,
Speaker 1: you know, being at him being a North Stay guy
Speaker 1: and me as well. So, um, it's been fun working
Speaker 1: with him. And it doesn't hurt going up against this
Speaker 1: offense on a dailyite basis. What have you seen from
Speaker 1: those guys? I know, day three, the first time you
Speaker 1: guys are putting the pads on, but they have a
Speaker 1: lot of weapons. Yeah, I mean all around. You know,
Speaker 1: I obviously see the tight ends and you know, probably
Speaker 1: the old line the most, but um, you know Phillips,
Speaker 1: I know Phillip's got a ton of weapons out there
Speaker 1: at receiver. Obviously Melvin what he did last year and
Speaker 1: m you know, they're gonna make us better and we're
Speaker 1: gonna try and do the same for us. We uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we did some good things last year and
Speaker 1: obviously our offensive too, and I think I think both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball can can honestly say they improved.
Speaker 1: And now it's just time to go out there and
Speaker 1: show it. Day four tomorrow. Kyle appreciate the time. Thank you,
Speaker 1: pretty sure. All right, that's going to do it for
Speaker 1: today's Chargers Training Camp podcast. The Big thanks to Tom Telesco,
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah, Cynthia Freeland, and Kyle Emmanuel Will for joining me.
Speaker 1: It looks to be another gorgeous day in Coasta Masa Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We'd love to see out here, so be sure to
Speaker 1: visit Chargers dot com to reserve your free bleacher seating passes,
Speaker 1: and while you're there to check out exclusive training camp
Speaker 1: content from the Chargers Digital team. Until next time, We'll
Speaker 1: see you soon.