Speaker 1: What is up? Chargers fans?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Guilty of Charge podcast, presented by the
Speaker 2: Chargers Podcast Network. My name is Stephen. I am the
Speaker 2: host as always, and joined me as my guy Tyler. Tyler,
Speaker 2: what's up my hand doing today?
Speaker 1: Great? Matty? Looko we're doing?
Speaker 3: This is fantastic and it was a great, great day
Speaker 3: of practice. And I don't know if you can tell
Speaker 3: behind us, the clouds came out, so we are in
Speaker 3: heaven over here right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was actually good weather. The first few minutes
Speaker 2: were dicey. I brought the bucket hat it says on
Speaker 2: because the hair is kind of a mess right now.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was a great day of practice, so
Speaker 2: I'm excited to dive into all of that.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 2: We have a great interview for you guys with Chargers
Speaker 2: running Back Joshua Kelly, which we'll get to in a second.
Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 2: As always, Tyler and I are fans of the team
Speaker 2: just like you guys are. We've been given this platform,
Speaker 2: but the opinions that we express on this show are
Speaker 2: not always reflective of the Chargers organization. And yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: get to it. So, without further ado, here is Charges
Speaker 2: running Back Joshua Kelly. All right, we are super stoked
Speaker 2: to be joined by charges running back mister Joshua. Kelly, Joshua,
Speaker 2: how are you doing today? How was practicing? I'm doing good.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. Practice was so awesome. Had a
Speaker 2: good day. It was nice and fun out here. You know, competition, man,
Speaker 2: the vibes. It's just great to be back out here
Speaker 2: in camp. To be honest, man, yeah, yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: know about you, but like from a fan perspective, the
Speaker 2: offseason feels just was a little long this year. What
Speaker 2: was the excitement level just in terms of getting back
Speaker 2: to practice with all the guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, that's crazy you say that, because this definitely
Speaker 4: felt like the longest off season I've ever had. It
Speaker 4: was just long, and I'm just like, man, like, it's
Speaker 4: just crazy the fact that we're actually back now, because
Speaker 4: I'm excited, you know, I was actually prepared like a
Speaker 4: couple of weeks earlier.
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, let's just get this thing going. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So yeah, now that we're back, bro, it's just good.
Speaker 4: It's just good to be back. Good to be out
Speaker 4: here just getting the kinks out and practicing. Man, it's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Last off season was so important for you and it
Speaker 3: really turned into the best season of your career. In
Speaker 3: this long offseason, what did you work on did you
Speaker 3: continue to improve on whatever you worked on last year?
Speaker 1: Was there something different? Right? No, that's a good question.
Speaker 4: I feel like to me, I just really worked on
Speaker 4: a lot of the things I did really well at
Speaker 4: and got better at those. You know, for me, the
Speaker 4: run game is really slowing down, just getting better at that,
Speaker 4: watching more tape at that, you know, in the past game,
Speaker 4: trying to do my best you know in pass pro,
Speaker 4: you know, catching off the backs of where they need
Speaker 4: me to.
Speaker 1: But I've just been really working on some.
Speaker 4: Of the same things the last offseason, but just getting
Speaker 4: better and better at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, it's been exciting, man Like, just approaching each off
Speaker 4: season differently.
Speaker 1: This is like, how can I get better at my
Speaker 1: strengths already?
Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously no pads. Yeah, we're recording this on Saturday, right,
Speaker 2: But you know there's been an emphasis on the run game.
Speaker 2: I feel like with Kellen coming over, how do you
Speaker 2: feel like that process has gone for you guys?
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it's been good.
Speaker 4: I just like, as a collective, there's been so much
Speaker 4: communication as like an offense as a team about like, hey,
Speaker 4: let's get this run game going, and that's just always
Speaker 4: great to hear.
Speaker 1: Man, I play running back. That's awesome, you know.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's been good man, Like in the meetings,
Speaker 4: we're all excited. You know, we're learning about it, and
Speaker 4: I just like to study so much ranking like whether
Speaker 4: it's wide zone, duo, outside zone, inside zone. Man, I
Speaker 4: study so much of it because you know, the run
Speaker 4: game just gets me excited.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love to hear that the Kellen Moore play
Speaker 2: but pretty deep in the wrong game.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Man, he's got some crazy runs in there.
Speaker 4: I love it, man, like all the stuff that we
Speaker 4: like to run. Like, No, it's just been fun, bro,
Speaker 4: just get a chance to learn it. So man, he's
Speaker 4: a great guy, gray oc. So it's been cool, like
Speaker 4: learning his system.
Speaker 1: The playbook that was apparently a big playbook.
Speaker 3: We've heard it from Quintin Johnson and you now apparently
Speaker 3: it's a thick playbook. But it sounds like I'm talking
Speaker 3: to the assistant coaches and listening to interviews. Is a
Speaker 3: real emphasis on quality over quantity this time around. How
Speaker 3: does the help you guys to focus on just listen
Speaker 3: if we only do five things, right, Yeah, we're gonna
Speaker 3: done really really well rather twenty different things.
Speaker 1: Okay, no, exactly.
Speaker 4: Like he told us that during OTA is he's like, look,
Speaker 4: we're gonna find out what we're really good at and
Speaker 4: we're gonna keep hammering that.
Speaker 1: So that's awesome. You know, play to your team strings. Right.
Speaker 4: So he's done an excell the job at that, man, Like,
Speaker 4: he's been part of the best offenses in NFL history
Speaker 4: so far. So it's awesome just to see that come
Speaker 4: here because you know, we have so much potential. You know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of weapons on this offense. So yeah, man, like,
Speaker 4: I really feel like we work hard and we can
Speaker 4: just continuously trust in ourselves and learn it.
Speaker 1: We can do something.
Speaker 3: Man, no pads yet. But what do you feel like
Speaker 3: you guys are good at so far? Like, what are
Speaker 3: you guys really clicking with right now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, to be honest, I think the best thing so
Speaker 4: far is our communication as the office has been better.
Speaker 4: You know, obviously you've said it's like, Okay, there's no
Speaker 4: paths on, there's no scrimmage yet, so it's gonna be
Speaker 4: a little bit tougher to evaluate that. But one thing
Speaker 4: that we're really good about really getting better at is
Speaker 4: protections as well. I feel like we've been really good
Speaker 4: at protecting justin obviously we have to if we want
Speaker 4: to win, So I feel like we've been doing a
Speaker 4: lot better at that. So protection is communications, man, and
Speaker 4: just it's gonna be exciting, man.
Speaker 1: We're making plays out here, so it helps with.
Speaker 3: Past protection and communication getting better. What specifically or how
Speaker 3: do you get better at that?
Speaker 1: Basically? Is it just reps or is there a different
Speaker 1: way that you're being taught.
Speaker 4: No, it's definitely a different way of being taught, and
Speaker 4: also reps as well. I feel like reps do help.
Speaker 4: But if there's communication from you know, QB offensive line
Speaker 4: me Like, we're over here talking about communicating. We know
Speaker 4: if we know who we're blocking, it's like, man, like
Speaker 4: now it's even harder to stop this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm never saying I think the offensive line
Speaker 2: is For the first time in a while, set in Stone,
Speaker 2: I feel like and coach NuGen recently had a quote
Speaker 2: that like they were really intentional in putting similar athletic
Speaker 2: and body type profiles with like Rashan and Zion and
Speaker 2: then Trey and Jamari. So for you as a running back,
Speaker 2: Like what does that kind of alignment up front and
Speaker 2: do for you?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, I have a lot of trust with those guys.
Speaker 4: Some of these dudes I've been playing for like two
Speaker 4: years now, Like I've been with Tray for four so
Speaker 4: a lot of these guys man, like it's the same group.
Speaker 4: So for me, it's like, Dan, there's all this chemistry
Speaker 4: that you've already built.
Speaker 1: So that's great.
Speaker 4: You know, for me as a back, it's like, dang,
Speaker 4: I kind of know exactly how each guy blocks, and
Speaker 4: I know like more I'm really more tapped into the
Speaker 4: blocking scheme now too, which is crazy. So I'm knowing like, Okay,
Speaker 4: this is where single was are double team's going. It's cool, bro.
Speaker 4: But those guys man their dogs up front. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I feel gona be fun. Sorry to cut you off there.
Speaker 4: I feel like the understanding throughout your growth. I mean,
Speaker 4: this is your third offense in four years. Yeah, you've
Speaker 4: seen a lot of things at this point in your
Speaker 4: career already.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, absolutely, you can see each system, how each system works.
Speaker 1: You know. It's pretty cool though.
Speaker 4: You know, playing with so many different systems, you get
Speaker 4: a general sense of football knowledge, which is really cool.
Speaker 4: So similar things throughout each offense, so you know, all
Speaker 4: right outside zone, like what's the concept and then you
Speaker 4: just learned like okay, what's the word the terminology for it?
Speaker 4: But boom, it's cool, bro, Like every system is unique
Speaker 4: and that just helps with the IQ though.
Speaker 1: Nice regardless of system.
Speaker 3: One of the things you talked about with our guy
Speaker 3: Argin last year is not with the Jets. You did
Speaker 3: an interview with him and he asked you what is
Speaker 3: like the stat for a running back to determine success,
Speaker 3: and you said, yards after contact through attempt. If there's
Speaker 3: a running back or maybe even say yourself entering the league,
Speaker 3: who was maybe not as great at that, how did
Speaker 3: you improve that? Or how would you recommend somebody else
Speaker 3: another running coming into the league, say Isaiah Spiller improve
Speaker 3: that himself.
Speaker 1: Hmm.
Speaker 4: That's a good point to any new running back, whether
Speaker 4: you're a rookie, college guy and young guy. I always say
Speaker 4: the best thing to improve at that is to get strong.
Speaker 4: I felt like when you really get strong in the
Speaker 4: weight room, man like, it does translate not top like
Speaker 4: bodybuilder strength, but proper application man like. For me, like,
Speaker 4: I'm so obsessed with doing lower body workouts, biometrics, you know,
Speaker 4: running through stuff. That's the biggest thing for us as
Speaker 4: a position because yeah, like obviously you will make guys miss,
Speaker 4: but not every runner is elusive like that, you know.
Speaker 4: So I think the biggest the biggest thing is like learning, like, okay,
Speaker 4: like how's my style of runs?
Speaker 1: Like for me, in one cutting downhill.
Speaker 4: So I really tried to master all right, exploding through contact,
Speaker 4: lower pad leverage, and then watching some of the best
Speaker 4: guys in the league who do it, you know, Chubb Jacobs,
Speaker 4: There're some of the best guys at that. So I'm watching, like, Okay,
Speaker 4: what type of moves are they doing? Because they're similar,
Speaker 4: you know, body types to me. Like for me to
Speaker 4: watch someone who's like a scat that's elusive may not
Speaker 4: be you know, it may not work for me. So
Speaker 4: you gotta find, okay, what works for me? What's my style?
Speaker 4: And like how can I build on what I'm really
Speaker 4: good at?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: But getting powerful though, getting strong and powerful that will help,
Speaker 4: that will help, man, trust me.
Speaker 2: I feel like we've only had a few days of
Speaker 2: practice obviously, but I feel like you and Isaiah are
Speaker 2: much more involved in the passing game as like route runners.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how has that adjustment been for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been interesting, bro, because to be honest, like,
Speaker 4: it's been something I've been learning to get better at
Speaker 4: because out of college, earlier in my career it wasn't
Speaker 4: something I was really asked to do much, you know,
Speaker 4: So it's getting better at any Kelly he trusts any
Speaker 4: guy back there. He's like, look, you can run these routes.
Speaker 4: You can run a choice, you can run a rail.
Speaker 4: So it's really cool to learn to know that. It's like,
Speaker 4: all right, this OC has confidence in us to do this,
Speaker 4: So it's dope, bro. But it's also just repetition, just learning,
Speaker 4: you know. So it's been really cool to get a
Speaker 4: chance to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's so tough.
Speaker 3: If you're not asked to do something, you may never
Speaker 3: know that you could actually do it. So it's great
Speaker 3: to hear that you're being asked to do things that
Speaker 3: maybe you worked before. Is there a particular about that
Speaker 3: you think you've been working on or getting better out
Speaker 3: that you're like, hey, I didn't know I could do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 4: The Choice route it's been crazy because that's one route
Speaker 4: for me where it's like dang. Like I came into
Speaker 4: the league and I was like, I gotta get better
Speaker 4: at this route, you know, just separation, learning how to catch,
Speaker 4: you know. So it was really cool like doing this now,
Speaker 4: like all right, I'm working a choice routes and then boom,
Speaker 4: I see, you know, paying off. You know, for me,
Speaker 4: I can get better at a lot of other routes,
Speaker 4: but for me, man, like that's one route. Like if
Speaker 4: I can like really nail Hey, man, I could probably
Speaker 4: still a couple of years in my career if I
Speaker 4: can learn how to do that.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I remember James White had made a career off of
Speaker 4: those types of plays.
Speaker 1: You know. Obviously we know Austin does same thing.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of guys, you know, Darren Sprolls who's
Speaker 4: played a lot of years because they learned how to
Speaker 4: you know, have that attribute.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: All right, well, Josh or Kelly, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for your time. Man, this has been incredible. What's kind
Speaker 2: of focus for you over the next few days as
Speaker 2: we shift into the first pad of practice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Man, for me, physical physicality, that's my bag. You know,
Speaker 4: I love to go downhill and run. So for me, man,
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to showing off my physicality also the
Speaker 4: proof strength that I think I built off of. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I'm just excited. Man, I'm excited for pass Pro too,
Speaker 4: so right game of Past Pro. I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 4: That's like my favorite drill. So I love doing pass
Speaker 4: Pro and man, let's go man. Appreciate it, man, thank
Speaker 4: you so much for your time. You nothing about the best.
Speaker 4: Hope you stay healthy and that year. Appreciate you, guys. Man,
Speaker 4: let's go bolt up baby, all right? Tyler Hugh shout
Speaker 4: out to Josh Kelly for join us.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: Any takeaways from that little interview there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a theme I'm starting to hear from some
Speaker 3: of the offensive players, which is we're going to ask
Speaker 3: players to do things that maybe they weren't asked to
Speaker 3: do before, and maybe they're terrible at them. I don't know,
Speaker 3: but we'll never know if they're good at those things
Speaker 3: until we ask them to do that. So Josh mc
Speaker 3: kelly talked about his work in the passing game, other
Speaker 3: players working on different things, like we're going to see
Speaker 3: this offense. Maybe it's great, maybe it's not, but they're
Speaker 3: asking them to do things that they weren't asked to
Speaker 3: do before in their previous regime. And that's really exciting
Speaker 3: because they'll never know. I mean, we both work in education.
Speaker 3: If we don't have kids and ask our students, the
Speaker 3: kids that we work with to try this out or
Speaker 3: have any faith in them that they are smart, they're
Speaker 3: not going to improve or grow. We can't keep them
Speaker 3: at a level down here, Like, let's ask them to
Speaker 3: do more and see if they can do more. And
Speaker 3: guess what this offense, if you can't tell from the
Speaker 3: first three days of practice, is already looking better for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of that going around, Like you
Speaker 2: mentioned Joshua Kelly talking about like him working on the
Speaker 2: choice route. One thing we're gonna get to is Mike
Speaker 2: Williams and his expanded role in the slot, which has
Speaker 2: been so much fun to watch over these first three
Speaker 2: days of training camp. And so I love that point.
Speaker 2: You know, we talked with Eric Smith last week about
Speaker 2: the role of teaching and improving on a week two
Speaker 2: week basis is just something that's so important to this
Speaker 2: coaching staff, and I think we're seeing that transition over
Speaker 2: to the players for really the first time, at least
Speaker 2: more noticeably this year with Brandon Staley.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's get into him. Mike Williams in the slot.
Speaker 3: It's something that we noticed and I noticed on the
Speaker 3: first day, but you never know, and listen, by the
Speaker 3: time next week rolls around, maybe things change. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you see Mike Williams in the slot. We know who's
Speaker 3: a big, tall receiver, great eighty twenty wide receiver, but
Speaker 3: watching him in the slot, it just looks different. And
Speaker 3: all respect to all slot corners, of the slot corners
Speaker 3: on this roster, they're not Mike Williams big. They really
Speaker 3: aren't many corners who are as is. But in the slot,
Speaker 3: you're not going to find anybody who can cover him
Speaker 3: size wise. So to see him out there to continuously
Speaker 3: make plays there is really exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just looks different. Right, So, Mike Williams works
Speaker 2: a lot from the slot, whether it's the seven and
Speaker 2: seven on seven drills, whether it's the team drills, We'll
Speaker 2: see him go in the slot, and it's a lot
Speaker 2: of vertical routes. So typically you associate the slot with
Speaker 2: like these shorter choice routes, but right now with Mike Williams,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of vertical action for him, and I
Speaker 2: think it just gives him more space to operate, and
Speaker 2: then it expands his game too, outside of just jump balls,
Speaker 2: which I think we know he can do so well.
Speaker 2: But Chris Beattie, the sheet coach, talked to Daniel Popper
Speaker 2: about they're so intentional in expanding Mike Williams' role and
Speaker 2: we've seen that each year improve and this year with
Speaker 2: Kellen Moore, the new thing is the slot and it's
Speaker 2: not like every other drive. It's like every drive he's
Speaker 2: taking reps from the slot. And I think it just,
Speaker 2: you know, gives the offense such a more versatile profile
Speaker 2: to attack vertically with because he's such a downfield threat
Speaker 2: that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Cowboys with Kellen Moore have used three wide receivers.
Speaker 3: We know that one of the most three wide receiver
Speaker 3: heavy teams in the league. So to see these three
Speaker 3: guys line up there at really four guys has been
Speaker 3: quite a rotation. It's fantastic And you can tell we
Speaker 3: talked about with Sean said about the spacing of the
Speaker 3: Cowboys offense before.
Speaker 1: The spacing just looks different.
Speaker 3: Right, even if there's a jump ball opportunity or these
Speaker 3: deep ball throws down the field, it's typically with one
Speaker 3: guy in the vicinity and that's it. There's a way
Speaker 3: that I couldn't tell you what, but clearly there's been
Speaker 3: some creation to create some space for this team, and
Speaker 3: these guys are winning. I think of the three days
Speaker 3: that they've had so far, I think it finally took
Speaker 3: one play towards the end of camp for there finally
Speaker 3: to be a deep ball incompletion. I think Justin Herbert's
Speaker 3: been like ninety five percent down the field so far,
Speaker 3: and there was one earlier to Quentin Johnson that the
Speaker 3: ref called out of bounds. The fans reviewed the footage
Speaker 3: and he was in bounce to Really, it's like one
Speaker 3: incompletion so far. So the spacing is fantastic. We know
Speaker 3: from Kellen Moore, at least in twenty twenty one, the
Speaker 3: small sample size that we had, they were the eighth
Speaker 3: widest formation in the NFL running with the Cowboys offense.
Speaker 3: And you can just see that here. The way they
Speaker 3: space guys out, the way they move guys around, the
Speaker 3: different guys that they have, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I was not down here for the
Speaker 2: first couple of practices, obviously, I was up back home
Speaker 2: in Fresno. So you hear about like the verticality aspect
Speaker 2: of things in Kelmore's offense, and it's like, well, what
Speaker 2: does it really look like? And today they did They
Speaker 2: did six team sessions, which is like first team against
Speaker 2: first team or first team against second team, and they
Speaker 2: rotate through it and like everything is vertical or like
Speaker 2: you talked about in your first breakdown, you know, it's
Speaker 2: a mesh mesh crosser concept to Quenton or Mike Williams
Speaker 2: or Gerald Everett and so it's just so intentional that way.
Speaker 2: A surprise standout so far, John high Tower working with
Speaker 2: the first team, you know, getting some love deep. It's
Speaker 2: been really cool to see that kind of presence out there.
Speaker 2: And there's there's a lot of speed out here, like
Speaker 2: it was such an issue last year. But this team
Speaker 2: we'll go into a three x one set with Quentin
Speaker 2: and John high Toower out there and then Gerald Everett
Speaker 2: as well, and it's just different this year, man, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know how to explain it, and they've really
Speaker 2: emphasized that aspect of speed and John high Tower has
Speaker 2: looked really good today. We saw him make a really
Speaker 2: nice back shoulder catch today with Michael Davis in coverage too,
Speaker 2: So it was it was a good day for John
Speaker 2: high Tower, and I think that's something that Chargers fans
Speaker 2: should be excited about so far.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sometimes with the offense previously there was the designated
Speaker 3: burner or the downfield guy, and I get that, Like
Speaker 3: Jalen Geton runs a four to three, Yeah, that's your burner.
Speaker 3: You're sending him down the field. You're not doing or
Speaker 3: you shouldn't be doing curls and short stuff with him.
Speaker 3: But with this team, you're seeing guys catch forty yard
Speaker 3: passes from the first guy to the eighth guy on
Speaker 3: this roster. And we talked about John high Tower. He's
Speaker 3: been excellent. He looks fantastic out there. In lieu of
Speaker 3: Jalen Goton being on the pub list right now, you
Speaker 3: have Darius Shepherd's look excellent out there, and you have
Speaker 3: deep balls too. Keenan On, Mike Williams, Quintin Johnson, Josh Palmer,
Speaker 3: like everyone is feasting downfield.
Speaker 1: It's really incredible to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, this this depth of this receiver room is stacked,
Speaker 2: man like. It's it's such a change from last year
Speaker 2: and I think that's definitely worth something to talk about.
Speaker 1: J c.
Speaker 2: Jackson will get into the defensive standouts a little bit here.
Speaker 2: Jac Jackson practiced, but he kind of rotated in and out.
Speaker 2: So it was a lot of rotation with Assante, Samuel Junior,
Speaker 2: and Jair Taylor both going back and forth between the
Speaker 2: slot and outside, both with the first team, both with
Speaker 2: the second team. Aste had himself with a though, like
Speaker 2: there was this great rep where the Chargers were doing
Speaker 2: cover two and that's something that Assante does so well
Speaker 2: with and he baited Easton Stick into a pass and
Speaker 2: and he and did a fantastic he cut off. I
Speaker 2: would want to say it was Gerald ever Stone smart,
Speaker 2: one of the tight ends on a crossing route, intercepted it,
Speaker 2: took it to the house. He had a couple other
Speaker 2: pass break cups. So he was one of the standouts
Speaker 2: today in the secondary in particular, I thought played really
Speaker 2: well today. But Asante had himself a day in my opinion.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a nice rule a couple of days, it sounds like.
Speaker 3: So as you know we started camp, John Taylor was
Speaker 3: the primary guy in the slot as long as jac
Speaker 3: Jackson was out there, and of course if Michael Davis
Speaker 3: was out there today, I didn't see Thursday's practice. But
Speaker 3: today was the first day I saw Sante Cemo Junior
Speaker 3: mix back in with that first team.
Speaker 1: It was still a mix between the two.
Speaker 3: I don't think it was one guy dominated and the
Speaker 3: other guy sat on the bench or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was a really nice mix. I know.
Speaker 3: Of the last couple of days, I believe yes or
Speaker 3: on Thursday, Santa Silma Junia had a pass breakup, he
Speaker 3: nearly had an interception today. He had two passes broken up,
Speaker 3: a pick six today and I think he would have
Speaker 3: had another interception today if he didn't let the other
Speaker 3: defensive back try to go for the.
Speaker 1: Ball on that long ball.
Speaker 3: So he's he's been excellent and if it's a battle,
Speaker 3: he's battling and he's certainly earning the right to be
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like we talked about, you know, we knew that
Speaker 2: a Sante would step up to this task, and I
Speaker 2: think he's done that. You know, there's no pads yet.
Speaker 2: We've got to see about the run defense, but I
Speaker 2: saw has been great. Michael Davis was great today too.
Speaker 2: You know I mentioned that three x one formation and
Speaker 2: Michael Davis is always on the outside and it's been
Speaker 2: him against Mike Williams him against Joshua Palmer, and there's
Speaker 2: been some really good battles. Michael Davis today had two
Speaker 2: pass breakups that I counted. He's just so steady over there,
Speaker 2: and you know, his ability to kind of control that
Speaker 2: sideline is something that has really stood out to me
Speaker 2: that he's improved upon just from technique standpoint, whether he's
Speaker 2: mashed up one on one, whether he's in zone coverage,
Speaker 2: he's really great at shutting that sideline down right now,
Speaker 2: and it's showing up in practice so far.
Speaker 3: What a difference between last year and this year. I
Speaker 3: mean last year it's like, oh, Michael Davis is making
Speaker 3: ten million dollars to be a gunner, and now he's
Speaker 3: out there and he's crushing it as arguably the best
Speaker 3: corner maybe even defensive back on the team. He plays
Speaker 3: so well and is improving so much. And the one
Speaker 3: thing he really had to do to take that next
Speaker 3: step for maybe all pro consideration, pro Bowl consideration, was
Speaker 3: get his hands on the football, get those forced and completions.
Speaker 3: And we sort of started to see that last year,
Speaker 3: and then the second half of last year he really
Speaker 3: turned it on and was a shutdown corner one of
Speaker 3: the best in the league. So if he can continue
Speaker 3: to do that, and if jac Jackson can go back
Speaker 3: to being mister interception lead the league interceptions, and then
Speaker 3: of course we'll see what the battle with the slot
Speaker 3: corner brings. But it's a fantastic group. Like, yes, the
Speaker 3: offense has been great and there's been plenty of explosive plays,
Speaker 3: but these dbs are battling just as much too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been an incredible watch so far. Ja Here
Speaker 2: had some tough moments in coverage, but he also made
Speaker 2: a lot of good plays in the screen game today
Speaker 2: that I noticed, you know, cutting in front of blockers
Speaker 2: that way. You know, we saw a clip of Brandon Staley,
Speaker 2: I want to say from Wednesday's practice, highlighting justear's play
Speaker 2: against the run in particular. So this is gonna be
Speaker 2: a battle I think all throughout training camp and once J. C.
Speaker 2: Jackson continues to ramp up, I think that's also something
Speaker 2: to keep an eye on. But any other defensive or
Speaker 2: offensive standouts you want to mention here, Tyler, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Would say overall. Granted there's no pads here, so I'm
Speaker 3: saying this. Everybody knows that I will say the run
Speaker 3: defense again, no pads, was reading and reacting and snuffing
Speaker 3: everything out really really well today, both in the screen
Speaker 3: game and against the run.
Speaker 1: And I do want to shout out Raheem Man.
Speaker 3: Of course we've talked about is you know this at
Speaker 3: least a course special teamer maybe safety four on this team.
Speaker 1: But I thought J T.
Speaker 3: Woods did a phenomenal job reading and reacting and getting
Speaker 3: to the football, which was not a question really of
Speaker 3: ours about him coming out of college. You look at
Speaker 3: even the mistackles at Baylor, and he was always in
Speaker 3: the right position. Again, there's no tackling, there's no pads.
Speaker 3: But in the screen game and against the run, J T.
Speaker 3: Woods was right there, which is at this point in
Speaker 3: training camp all you can ask for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, J T. Woods had had a really good day.
Speaker 2: Would love to see him get some more action deep
Speaker 2: because that's what he does best. But he's had he's
Speaker 2: had a good camp so far. Taiwan Mullen, the undrafted
Speaker 2: free agent corner, had himself a couple of pass breakups today,
Speaker 2: mostly against the second team ODE receivers. Covering Keelan Doss
Speaker 2: was one, John high Tower was another one. But so
Speaker 2: this dB death I think is showing up. And then
Speaker 2: of course, man like we got to talk about Justin Herbert,
Speaker 2: Like this man is dialed in and aggressive. You know,
Speaker 2: he talked about after the contract on Wednesday that he's
Speaker 2: been playing free and he's been able to just kind
Speaker 2: of let loose, and I think we're really seeing that
Speaker 2: where it's not as intentional for him to go through
Speaker 2: his progressions. He's intent on attacking vertically, and you know
Speaker 2: that's definitely showing up out here. I think it's putting
Speaker 2: on a show for the fans right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not every game is going to be fun. Not
Speaker 3: every snap against Bill Belichick's defense is going to be
Speaker 3: all that fun. I'm sure Fangio has got some things
Speaker 3: cooked up for Week one, but he just looks happier
Speaker 3: and the explosive plays are there, and the relationship with
Speaker 3: him and Kellimore, it seems you can kind of see
Speaker 3: it on the field, you see it in photos, the
Speaker 3: way they talk about each other, like it's just a
Speaker 3: great relationship between the two of them. So if he
Speaker 3: can play every game at least feeling like he did
Speaker 3: against Miami, where yeah, Keenan Allan, Mike Williams, those guys
Speaker 3: being out there helped, but he was just free and
Speaker 3: loose and letting it rip.
Speaker 1: Like that version of Justin.
Speaker 3: Herbert is here to stay well and by the way,
Speaker 3: he's healthy like this, this vertical offense is here to stay.
Speaker 3: Not every game's going to be you know, fifty deep passes,
Speaker 3: of course, but there are certainly going to be days
Speaker 3: where they are they're pushing it and they're gonna do
Speaker 3: it really well.
Speaker 1: And Herbert looks thrilled to be doing it.
Speaker 2: And looks like we got some like dark clouds coming
Speaker 2: over here. This is crazy, but yeah, the ballplacement for
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert today was so outstanding, and it felt like
Speaker 2: every time that there was a tight window, it was
Speaker 2: hitting a completion right on the money. Yeah, and you
Speaker 2: can just it just feels different for Justin this year,
Speaker 2: whereas the last two years it kind of felt like
Speaker 2: almost like he was feeling things out when I was
Speaker 2: at training camp. This year, it feels like he's fully
Speaker 2: comfortable and we were seeing that, you know, be expressed
Speaker 2: in a very aggressive vertical manner so far in training camp.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been outstanding to watch him push the ball
Speaker 3: down the field because there's now this chemistry built in
Speaker 3: between Justin Herbert and these wide receivers through years of
Speaker 3: working together and just trusting each other. Obviously, we know
Speaker 3: Mike William's fantastic. He knew anything underrated in that regard.
Speaker 3: But you're seeing this perfect combination of Kellen Moore actually
Speaker 3: just asking Justin Herbert to take those chances, which he
Speaker 3: wasn't really able to do at least a minimum in
Speaker 3: camp last year. So he's getting to take more chances.
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert never turns the ball over. His interception it
Speaker 3: interceptible ball rate is among the lowest in the league
Speaker 3: for all his years in the league. So you have that,
Speaker 3: and then you have these receivers like Mike William, Josh Palmer, etc.
Speaker 3: Quentin Johnson who can go up and go get it.
Speaker 3: It's a perfect mesh of everything. And by the way,
Speaker 3: this is probably their best offensive line in years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one d percent. So some minor things to get
Speaker 2: to before we wrap up today. Corey Lindsley did not
Speaker 2: practice today. We were told that it was due to
Speaker 2: the potential birth of his child. His wife is pregnant
Speaker 2: and expecting. So Will Clapp was with the first team
Speaker 2: offense mostly and then Brendan Himis was rotating in at
Speaker 2: center with the second team today. That's been a change
Speaker 2: for him, He's been working at center more often this year.
Speaker 2: And then Trey Pipkins was not practicing today in the
Speaker 2: team sessions. Brandon Stady said that was mostly precautionary, so
Speaker 2: there's apparently something happened or something like that in the
Speaker 2: individual drills and they just wanted to be careful with Trey,
Speaker 2: so Foster Serell was working exclusively at right tackle, and
Speaker 2: then there was a pretty heavy rotation in the second
Speaker 2: unit with Austin Pleasants and those guys who unfortunately to
Speaker 2: get injured today, but Foster Srell was the only right
Speaker 2: tackle today to get reps.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is sort of a good problem right now
Speaker 3: to have where you know your five offensive lineman starters
Speaker 3: are set, so you really can mix and match guys
Speaker 3: in and if some guys need rest or they take
Speaker 3: extra precautions to make sure these guys are healthy. We
Speaker 3: don't know the nature of the injury for Trey Pipkins,
Speaker 3: but he was hurt several times last year dealing with
Speaker 3: the same injury, so you know, if Corey Linsley needs
Speaker 3: a day off, Tree Pickins needs a day off. Some
Speaker 3: of these guys just needs some time for whatever reason.
Speaker 3: That's fine. We know they're the starters. There's no battle.
Speaker 3: We don't have to figure out who the starter is here.
Speaker 3: It's actually good that the depth is getting on the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And speaking of that death, Brandon say he was
Speaker 2: asked about it and he said he reiterated that they
Speaker 2: are high on Zach Bailey as an Intoier player. So
Speaker 2: he's mostly been working at right guard from what i've
Speaker 2: what I saw today, Jordan mcfannen and himss would rotate
Speaker 2: in at left guard, but they like Zach Bailey a
Speaker 2: lot as a reserve guard. Hard to tell really like
Speaker 2: how that's working out without pads on, but that's kind
Speaker 2: of how the offensive line is shaking out. A couple
Speaker 2: other notes here. Chris Hinton, the defensive tackle, worked in
Speaker 2: a lot with the first team unit today. Again hard
Speaker 2: to tell without pads, but he was heavily involved with
Speaker 2: that first team unit. You know, he would come in
Speaker 2: for knows when Sebastian would come out, or he would
Speaker 2: come in at three tech when Morgan Fox would come out.
Speaker 2: But he's the only one rotating with the first team Scott, Mattlocke,
Speaker 2: Nick Williams, Grod Clark. All those guys are all second
Speaker 2: and third team. So it seems like they're really high
Speaker 2: on Chris Hinton this.
Speaker 3: Year, which is awesome to see and this that would
Speaker 3: make a starting trio or now, of course these guys
Speaker 3: might come back from injury of a coach ed guy,
Speaker 3: a coach ed guy, and a coach ed guy.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of chemistry. Shout out coach ed.
Speaker 3: The defensive line coach who works with these guys, and
Speaker 3: they've all built chemistry with each other over the course
Speaker 3: of the off season in several seasons, I'm sure you know.
Speaker 3: And part of when I talked to Morgan Fox, part
Speaker 3: of their success of the rush that they had, which
Speaker 3: is getting to know each.
Speaker 1: Other and how to rush with one another.
Speaker 3: So if they already had this pre established communication and
Speaker 3: again Chris Hinton, he will move down the depth chart
Speaker 3: when guy's return, but if he's looking great, like they're
Speaker 3: going to be really really solid from the jump because
Speaker 3: they already know how to work.
Speaker 1: With each other because they work with each other for
Speaker 1: over the offseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the other defensive rotation thing I wanted to point
Speaker 2: out JT. Woods almost exclusively the only safety to get
Speaker 2: reps with the first seen defense outside of Derwin James
Speaker 2: and Alohi Gilman. It really seems like they're intentional getting
Speaker 2: him those reps. You talked about him earlier. One thing
Speaker 2: that they've really experimented with is like your base package,
Speaker 2: where Derwin is your edge rusher instead of your five dbs,
Speaker 2: you don't have a nickel corner, so they're bringing Durwin
Speaker 2: up to the edge, and then that's where Alohi and JT.
Speaker 2: Woods were working back. But it's not just a deep
Speaker 2: safety for j T. Wood this year, like he's playing
Speaker 2: in the box. He got some reps in the slot today,
Speaker 2: So it seems like they're much more comfortable with him
Speaker 2: this year, at least based off of the reps that
Speaker 2: we've seen thus far.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the best combination of this defense is when Derwin
Speaker 3: James will be allowed to move around.
Speaker 1: Can you play deep? Sure?
Speaker 3: Of course he's good at really everything, but allowing to
Speaker 3: actually go do everything is important.
Speaker 1: So if J T.
Speaker 3: Woods can take that jump and really focus on because
Speaker 3: he was always running track, that was never like, yes,
Speaker 3: football was a priority, but there's always something else going on.
Speaker 1: Now it's just football.
Speaker 3: And so if he's able to lock in on that
Speaker 3: and be the safety that they drafted him to be,
Speaker 3: or at least be able to contribute enough, and him
Speaker 3: and Ralhem Lane to able to contribute enough to free
Speaker 3: up Derwin James, you can't help but smile watching Derwen
Speaker 3: James at edge, and the Chargers wanted to do that
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 1: Watched them against the Raiders.
Speaker 3: It was Khalil Mack next to Derwin James, which is
Speaker 3: the most unholy, unfair thing you could do to an offense.
Speaker 1: But they did it. They want to do it because
Speaker 1: they have those tools.
Speaker 3: So if you can play out there freely without the
Speaker 3: responsibility are being forced to have to play deep safety
Speaker 3: all the time, defense is gonna look amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. One other offensive rotation, I forgot
Speaker 2: to mention Isaiah Spiller and Joshua Kelly both getting pretty
Speaker 2: bunch a fifty to fifty split with the first team
Speaker 2: offense and then also the second team offense been both
Speaker 2: of them too, So that's another change for Isaiah Spiller.
Speaker 2: We wanted to see him be able to get those chances,
Speaker 2: and him and Joshua Kelly are essentially splitting that first
Speaker 2: team unit. Joshua Kelly so far, much more involved in
Speaker 2: the run game, still working as a pass catcher like
Speaker 2: we talked about with him. But Isaiah Spiller, the way
Speaker 2: that you're they've been using him so far is a
Speaker 2: lot as a pass catcher thus far.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's what we saw last year throughout training camp.
Speaker 3: It was Isaiah Spiller down the sideline, down angle route, whatever,
Speaker 3: like he was fantastic at those, and then they just
Speaker 3: never kind of found a way to get him onto
Speaker 3: the field, whether they brought up Larry round Tree, they
Speaker 3: signed Sony Michelle, they Joshua Kelly, et cetera. They really
Speaker 3: never found a way to get him back in vault
Speaker 3: as a pass catcher. But it's really encouraging to see
Speaker 3: because last year Spiller was working in is that fourth guy.
Speaker 3: Now he's you know, to be at worst at this point.
Speaker 3: To see him working down the field as a pass
Speaker 3: catcher is really fantastic to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's the rotation notes. One note on the
Speaker 2: kicking battle. We saw Dustin Hopkins kick on Thursday. Cameron
Speaker 2: Dicker kicked today. Cameron Dicker was eight of nine. His
Speaker 2: only miss was from forty one ish yards that I counted,
Speaker 2: So one little note about the kicking battle. But Cameron
Speaker 2: Dicker had a good day today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank goodness. It's a privilege to watch special teams overall.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a lot of focus with Ryan Ficken
Speaker 2: this here, So all right, Tyler, any foul thoughts before
Speaker 2: we head out today.
Speaker 1: I'm just happy to be here, honestly.
Speaker 3: This has been fantastic just sitting here with you at
Speaker 3: Josha mc kelly being on the field. It's been a
Speaker 3: fantastic experience and we'll be back.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I cannot think the charge is enough for giving us
Speaker 2: this opportunity, as they do every single week. We are
Speaker 2: recording this on Saturday, like you can potentially see right now,
Speaker 2: there is going to be a practice on Monday, so
Speaker 2: we did not cover any of that obviously because we're
Speaker 2: recording this before that. So go back and watch this.
Speaker 2: After you watched this episode, go back and watch Tyler's
Speaker 2: video from Monday on our channel. Make sure and subscribe
Speaker 2: to both channels. We do really appreciate that, and thanks
Speaker 2: everybody for tuning in. That's gonna do it for us today.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time as always, both time