Speaker 1: Hey, what is up everybody? Welcome to the Gift the
Speaker 1: charge Podcasters anybody the Chargers Podcast Network. My name is
Speaker 1: Stephen and I am the host as always. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: guys had a great holiday weekend. I sure did, and
Speaker 1: I'm happy to join by my guy Tyler. As always, Tyler,
Speaker 1: what'sum and how are you doing today? Great man?
Speaker 2: I am full of Christmas cheer. The house is a
Speaker 2: complete mess, and there's leftovers in the fridge.
Speaker 1: All's good man, Yeah, the leftovers. I'm excited to jump
Speaker 1: on those later today. So we're recording this on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: We have a great show planning for you guys today.
Speaker 1: As always, we're joined by a very special guest, mister
Speaker 1: Tej Seth, who's one of the best in the business
Speaker 1: in the analytical world. We wanted to get his thoughts
Speaker 1: on the Chargers GM search and we greatly appreciate his
Speaker 1: thoughts there. And then Tyler and I will jump back
Speaker 1: afterwards and we'll have some thoughts on the Chargers and
Speaker 1: Bills game that unfolded last Saturday. Was a very entertaining game,
Speaker 1: and we have some thoughts that we wanted to dive into.
Speaker 1: So before we get to both of those first and foremost.
Speaker 1: Tyler and I are fans of the team. We've been
Speaker 1: given this platform by the charters, but we are not
Speaker 1: Chargers employees, and the opinions that we share on this
Speaker 1: show and every week on the show are ours and
Speaker 1: ours alone. That being said, let's get into this interview
Speaker 1: with mister Teeth. All right, guys, welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Guiltiest Charge Podcast. We have a very special guest to
Speaker 1: join us now, and that is mister Tage Seth. He
Speaker 1: is one of the best analytics follows in the game
Speaker 1: if you are into that aspect of things. He does
Speaker 1: data science for Sumer Sports currently PFF formerly and you
Speaker 1: might recognize his co host as well, Sean Saide has
Speaker 1: been on the show previously of stats and scheme. So
Speaker 1: we're very excited to have Taj on the show today
Speaker 1: to discuss the Chargers general manager search. This is obviously
Speaker 1: a just as important, if not more important search than
Speaker 1: the head coaching position, and Tej is one of the
Speaker 1: best in the business to discuss those things with, so
Speaker 1: we're really happy to have Tejon tag. How you doing today?
Speaker 3: Great?
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. I've been a fan of
Speaker 4: you guys content for a long time. You know, I'm
Speaker 4: obviously really close with Argent menon who you guys do
Speaker 4: a lot of stuff with and you know, watched a
Speaker 4: lot of your shows.
Speaker 3: So I'm really excited to be here today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm excited about you as well. Absolutely, So there's
Speaker 1: we want to kind of you know, start from a
Speaker 1: broader sense here and then we'll discuss some individual names.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to the GM search, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of obviously front office personnel positions that the Chargers
Speaker 1: can pull from, and we kind of wanted to discuss
Speaker 1: the the different varieties here here. You know, Jojo Wooden
Speaker 1: is the interim Chargers GM and he used to work
Speaker 1: on the pro personnel side. There's obviously director of Scouting,
Speaker 1: there's assistant managers. We wanted to get your thoughts here
Speaker 1: on if there is a quote unquote best background for
Speaker 1: a GM. You know, Tom Seleski comes from scouting more
Speaker 1: so that regard in your opinion, is there a person
Speaker 1: or GM around the league where that's kind of the
Speaker 1: pillar where we can look at a GM candidate and say, okay,
Speaker 1: he comes from this background, that's the best background that
Speaker 1: the charger should be looking for.
Speaker 4: I think that's a great question, and you're probably gonna
Speaker 4: hear me say this a lot of times throughout this show.
Speaker 4: But I'm in the mindset of when you are drafting players.
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot of randomness involved in the
Speaker 4: actual draft itself and whether those players pan out. But
Speaker 4: I think from a team building standpoint and what you
Speaker 4: put emphasis is on is really what you can control the.
Speaker 3: Most as a general manager.
Speaker 4: So when I look around the league at different backgrounds,
Speaker 4: I'm more keen to the football administration side of things
Speaker 4: more so than the scouting side of things. And when
Speaker 4: I look at some of my favorite general managers in
Speaker 4: the league, like Howie Roseman and Andrew Berry, they were
Speaker 4: both the vice president of football operations before they made
Speaker 4: the jump to becoming general manager of both the Eagles
Speaker 4: and the Browns respectively. Andrew Berry was actually the VP
Speaker 4: of football operations at the Eagles before jumping to the Browns,
Speaker 4: and you know, Howie Roseman was that job previously before
Speaker 4: he became the general manager at the Eagles. So I
Speaker 4: think I really like that type of job where you
Speaker 4: have your hands in a lot of things, whether it's
Speaker 4: salary cap, whether it's free agent signings, and I think
Speaker 4: that's really good experience for when you become a general
Speaker 4: manager of an NFL team.
Speaker 2: That's a great answer, and so thank you so much
Speaker 2: for providing that particular response, because I'm looking through all
Speaker 2: the different kinds of GM candidates and I honest can
Speaker 2: barely tell the difference between some of these names. You're
Speaker 2: a VP, you're a senior executive, you're the president of
Speaker 2: this or that. Very difficult to figure out, you know,
Speaker 2: who's what? Who does what? Looking forward to the charges now,
Speaker 2: because obviously the charges are looking for a new GM,
Speaker 2: what should the charges be looking for? So Ian Rappaport
Speaker 2: came out and said, the charges are looking for a
Speaker 2: forward thinking and creative GM. What do we think forward
Speaker 2: thinking and creative GM even means? And what do you
Speaker 2: believe the charges would be looking for outside of that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean forward thinking, creative.
Speaker 4: I think zoo is something that you know can benefit
Speaker 4: you in a lot of areas of life.
Speaker 3: And you know, it is nice to see that at least.
Speaker 4: That they have some sort of guidelines when it comes
Speaker 4: to a GM. And again it goes back to what
Speaker 4: we just talked about earlier, where it's you have to
Speaker 4: have this clear understanding of what it takes to build
Speaker 4: a sustainable winner in the NFL right now, and I
Speaker 4: think a lot of that goes back to an emphasis
Speaker 4: on premium positions, so understanding that after quarterback where you
Speaker 4: want to allocate your resources. Oftentimes that is things or
Speaker 4: positions that involved passing games. So you're thinking wide receiver,
Speaker 4: offensive tackle, edge rusher, and cornerback are the positions that
Speaker 4: you want your GM to have in emphasis on I
Speaker 4: think there's a pretty famous interview question that gets thrown
Speaker 4: around about if you had one hundred points, how would
Speaker 4: you allocate.
Speaker 3: Those resources across every position?
Speaker 4: And so I think that is something that hopefully the
Speaker 4: Chargers are asking some variation of in their interviews because
Speaker 4: positional value is so important.
Speaker 3: Something also that I think that the.
Speaker 4: Chargers should be thinking about is someone who has the
Speaker 4: ability to manage the salary cap.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: When you look at where the Chargers are and all
Speaker 4: the tweets about the Chargers' salary cap situation going into
Speaker 4: next season, they are you having some cleanup to do
Speaker 4: in regards to the salary cap between Khalil Mack and
Speaker 4: Joey Bosa and Mike Williams's contracts all being pretty heavy
Speaker 4: cap hits over thirty million dollars according to over the Cap.
Speaker 4: So someone that has a general understanding of the way
Speaker 4: that you can manipulate money in the salary cap with
Speaker 4: void years and converting P five to signing bonus and
Speaker 4: different stuff like that, I think can be really useful
Speaker 4: to them. And then they also should figure out if
Speaker 4: they want a GM that optimizes for season by season
Speaker 4: or long term. And I think that you see these
Speaker 4: two different approaches in the NFL a lot. You think
Speaker 4: about the Rams and the Buccaneers and what they did
Speaker 4: pushing money into particular seasons to increase their chance of
Speaker 4: winning the Super Bowl and how that paid off, or
Speaker 4: you think about an organization like the Packers, where they've
Speaker 4: had fourteen of the last fifteen seasons go over seven wins,
Speaker 4: and if you want to build a sustainable winner year
Speaker 4: over year. I'm not saying there's a particularly better approach,
Speaker 4: but I think that the Chargers should find that out
Speaker 4: when they're doing these interviews.
Speaker 1: I think that's a great point because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people on Chargers fandom on the media talking about
Speaker 1: the Chargers that are almost kind of split. A lot
Speaker 1: of people will present this idea that they should you
Speaker 1: blow this thing up and reset it around Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: and Rashaun Slater and Derwin James, there are other people
Speaker 1: who say that they should, you know, tried and salvage
Speaker 1: as much as they can in terms of maybe you
Speaker 1: extend Keenan Allen, extend Khalil Mack and kind of try
Speaker 1: and keep some of this core together here. In your opinion,
Speaker 1: what would be I guess, the more sound approach in
Speaker 1: that regard of trying to completely reset this roster and
Speaker 1: build towards the future, or like, let's try and keep
Speaker 1: some of the bones here intact.
Speaker 4: That's a great question, and you know, I think it's
Speaker 4: really going to come down to what type of head
Speaker 4: coach you end up hiring for you know, this to
Speaker 4: really bear out, But I think personally the Chargers should
Speaker 4: look to really increase the amount of young players they
Speaker 4: have contributing on the roster. When you look at Khalil
Speaker 4: Mack at age thirty three and Mike Williams of age
Speaker 4: thirty Corey Linsley, age thirty three, like, I think you
Speaker 4: want to start turning over some of those stones in
Speaker 4: that sense and building out this roster because you can
Speaker 4: keep this core of young players that you already have
Speaker 4: like Rashaan Slater, Justin Herbert and Dorian James who are
Speaker 4: all twenty eight and younger right now, and really build
Speaker 4: around them, and it usually happens quicker than you think.
Speaker 4: You look at a team like the Texans this year,
Speaker 4: where they took that approach.
Speaker 3: They wanted to put CJ. Shadd and Will Anderson into
Speaker 3: the roster.
Speaker 4: And hitting on both of those picks and decisions ended
Speaker 4: up leapfrogging them from you know, top five pick to
Speaker 4: fringe playoff contender. And so I think the Chargers could
Speaker 4: go through a similar rebuild like that and then the
Speaker 4: year after that would be putting together more pieces to
Speaker 4: take you from fringe playoff contender to someone who competes for,
Speaker 4: you know, a division championship, a super Bowl like different
Speaker 4: stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love that. What do you think would
Speaker 2: be more beneficial in terms of background for a candidate
Speaker 2: would be either they've grown up in basically the same
Speaker 2: system and received promotions internally throughout the course of a
Speaker 2: decade or two, or someone who's been with two d
Speaker 2: different teams and grown up with each and had different
Speaker 2: roles and succeeded, but they haven't stayed with the one
Speaker 2: team over the course of let's say two decades.
Speaker 4: I really like that question, and I think it goes
Speaker 4: back to some of the studies that have been done
Speaker 4: on big fish and little pond versus little fish.
Speaker 3: And big pond.
Speaker 4: And when you when you look at these types of
Speaker 4: people and in any industry, but especially football, where they're
Speaker 4: getting this diversity of experience working for multiple teams like
Speaker 4: you mentioned Tyler, where they're able to do a lot
Speaker 4: of different stuff for a lot of different teams and
Speaker 4: see how different organizations are run. That's always the side
Speaker 4: that I usually fall on from an experience standpoint, because
Speaker 4: I think that it's it's really good to get these
Speaker 4: these multiple experiences across the board, And for the Chargers
Speaker 4: in particular, I think that something that you know they
Speaker 4: could be looking for when they're looking at these GM
Speaker 4: candidates is what are these candidates done with teams that
Speaker 4: have had a high paid quarterback and have been able
Speaker 4: to make a winner out of that. So when you
Speaker 4: look at teams like that to the Cowboys with how
Speaker 4: they've paid Dak Prescott these couple of years, and how
Speaker 4: they've been able to draft and make trades and sign
Speaker 4: free agents to still build a winner around a high
Speaker 4: paid quarterback. The Browns, I think, with the Deshaun Watson contract,
Speaker 4: even though that particular aspect hasn't worked out for them,
Speaker 4: they've still been able to build a good roster around
Speaker 4: Deshaun Watson. And I also think the Lions are included
Speaker 4: in that, paying Jared Goff, you know, around thirty three
Speaker 4: million a year, but still able to build the winner
Speaker 4: through the draft. You could even include the Chiefs and
Speaker 4: Bills if you want, in that. But I think that's
Speaker 4: more of their quarterbacks just being very very good, which
Speaker 4: I think Justin Herbert is also. But I think that's
Speaker 4: something that the Chargers should look at, is these high
Speaker 4: paid quarterback teams and how well they've done building rosters
Speaker 4: around that.
Speaker 1: No, I think that's a great point, especially because you know,
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert's rookie contract is essentially over at this point,
Speaker 1: you know, moving forward. So contributing an interesting one there.
Speaker 1: Let's get into some specifics here and we'll ask you
Speaker 1: about some of your favorites. But the most common name
Speaker 1: that we hear and see on Chargers fandom is Adams,
Speaker 1: the assistant general manager of the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
Speaker 1: unfortunately had a pretty brutal loss on Christmas Night the
Speaker 1: other night. But what do you make of his candiscy?
Speaker 1: It seems like he's kind of the most popular name
Speaker 1: out there among any team who's really looking for a GM.
Speaker 1: What do you like about his candiscy and do you
Speaker 1: think ultimately he does become available in this cycle?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think that is a great name
Speaker 4: to throw around, just because of the way that the
Speaker 4: forty nine ers have built their roster where they have
Speaker 4: a pretty clear understanding of so many the things that
Speaker 4: we've mentioned already on this show with in regards to
Speaker 4: positional value and salary cap and just all the talent
Speaker 4: that they've amassed on this roster as a whole. And
Speaker 4: when you look at how the forty nine ers organization
Speaker 4: has done from both a coaching standpoint and a front
Speaker 4: office standpoint, when people from their nucleus go off and
Speaker 4: do really well at other organizations, I think that should
Speaker 4: make you feel pretty coffe it in someone like Adam
Speaker 4: Peters or someone from that organization in a sense where
Speaker 4: they seem to be giving their employees not only experience
Speaker 4: working for the team, but also experience on if they
Speaker 4: ended up getting a promotion, what that would end up
Speaker 4: looking like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the forty nine ers are so impressive, and Steven
Speaker 2: and I talked about this on our most recent show.
Speaker 2: Regardless of whether the draft pick hits or not, or
Speaker 2: you trade all your picks for Trey Lance, the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers just keep rolling. They just keep whether it's coaching,
Speaker 2: front office, etc. Players, personnel, they just keep going. So
Speaker 2: it's an impressive candidate for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, Tay, do you have let's start with this one.
Speaker 1: Do you have a rising star that should be on
Speaker 1: the radar or somebody that's kind of maybe lurking in
Speaker 1: the back that could make themselves a very interesting candidate.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I have a couple of candidates that come to mind
Speaker 4: when you mentioned that. The first would be Alec Hallaby
Speaker 4: from the Eagles. He's the assistant GM there right now.
Speaker 4: And I think again, like when you look at what
Speaker 4: the have done, you know, it's very hard to build
Speaker 4: a Super Bowl contender once and they've done it twice
Speaker 4: now with Doug Peterson. Carson Wentz is the head coach
Speaker 4: quarterback combination, and then Nick Sirianni Jalen Hurts is the
Speaker 4: second quarterback head coach combination where they've been able to
Speaker 4: just build this roster, these rosters with a lot.
Speaker 3: Of talent, So I think he's done a great job there.
Speaker 4: And then brand Tillis at the Chiefs, who I know
Speaker 4: Argent put on his GM list as well when he
Speaker 4: tweeted that out is another candidate I really like because
Speaker 4: again you look at the Chiefs and the roster that
Speaker 4: they've been able to get, especially on the defensive side
Speaker 4: of the ball with how well their defense has played
Speaker 4: this year. He's someone I think that has had a
Speaker 4: pretty big role in that as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, two great candidates. There plenty of really good candidates.
Speaker 2: It seems like we're all trying to pull from like
Speaker 2: the lines for examples restore that were obviously congratulations there
Speaker 2: with your fandom. Do you believe the charges came out
Speaker 2: and said that there was they didn't necessarily need to
Speaker 2: hire a GM first or a head coach first, They're
Speaker 2: going to let the process play out. Do you believe
Speaker 2: there's an advance to them going and getting a GM first.
Speaker 2: I feel like historically that is has been the case
Speaker 2: and has been the case for the Chargers, But is
Speaker 2: there an advantage there or do you think they might
Speaker 2: or they could go head coach first and it wouldn't
Speaker 2: really change much with the GM search.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a really good point to bring up.
Speaker 4: And like you mentioned, like the status quo is usually
Speaker 4: to get that GM first and to have the head
Speaker 4: coach come after. But I think I'm pretty agnostic on
Speaker 4: the order of the hiring.
Speaker 3: The main thing, and.
Speaker 4: Like this is pretty obvious, is there just really needs
Speaker 4: to be synergy between the GM and head coach. They
Speaker 4: have to be on the same page. And you know,
Speaker 4: you often see those athletic articles of you know, when
Speaker 4: people get fired of like how there wasn't you know,
Speaker 4: a connection between the GM and head coach, and you know,
Speaker 4: watching the Lions go from you know, not winning many
Speaker 4: games coming out of twenty twenty and this whole rebuilding
Speaker 4: process that they've gone through in the last three years
Speaker 4: to get to where they are now. That's been the
Speaker 4: main takeaway from this is the connection that Brad Holmes
Speaker 4: and Dan Campbell have had from a roster building standpoint.
Speaker 4: You saw that on Hard Knocks, you see that in
Speaker 4: the press conferences. So I think if the charges were
Speaker 4: to find that, they could be pretty optimistic about their future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think the obviously the cool thing about
Speaker 1: the Lions there is that, you know, Brad Holmes and
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell did not know each other or at least
Speaker 1: did not have like a strong working relationship prior to
Speaker 1: you know, meeting with the Lions, and Tyler and I
Speaker 1: went through and tried to find coaches and GM pairings
Speaker 1: that could like work together. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, that's not a completely necessary step. You know,
Speaker 1: these guys can come in and work together. In your experience,
Speaker 1: do you feel like it is better that they don't
Speaker 1: know each other and then try and figure it out together,
Speaker 1: or do you think that it works well if they
Speaker 1: do have a previous working relationship.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that it you know, really comes down to,
Speaker 4: you know, whether they are aligned on a lot of
Speaker 4: their philosophies, and you know, off you're going to have
Speaker 4: a higher chance of that happening if they had worked
Speaker 4: together at the same organization, because they'll carry over those philosophies.
Speaker 4: But like you mentioned with Homes and Campbell, like it
Speaker 4: really can just come together where it's the owner or
Speaker 4: the search team that's conducting these these interviews and these
Speaker 4: searches for both GM and head coach that have that
Speaker 4: knowledge in mind when they're both interviewing head coaches and gms.
Speaker 3: And as long as they know that.
Speaker 4: Oh, if we hire these two people, they will have
Speaker 4: this this shared connection over you know, their love of
Speaker 4: whatever it is like it, you know, whether it's you know,
Speaker 4: building the trenches first or going all in on skill
Speaker 4: positions like different stuff like that. I think as long
Speaker 4: as someone is taking that into account, it should work
Speaker 4: out pretty nicely.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know the answer to this,
Speaker 2: but how do you believe or how have you heard
Speaker 2: that the discussions of who gets final say, between head
Speaker 2: coach and GM or both is worked out? And then
Speaker 2: do you believe that the Chargers coaching or excuse me,
Speaker 2: the Chargers openings, Maybe the GM one would be less
Speaker 2: attractive if they had a head coach who did have
Speaker 2: fun I'll say, would some of these better GM candidates go?
Speaker 2: And never mind, I'd like to make my own calls,
Speaker 2: not the final say.
Speaker 3: There, Yeah, I mean, that's that's a really good question.
Speaker 4: And you know, I think an underrated aspect of discourse
Speaker 4: about team building is owner involvement. Like I think for
Speaker 4: some organizations, owners make a lot of decisions that we
Speaker 4: don't end up hearing about because of, you know, some
Speaker 4: of the control that they have in those sense of things.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, I think it really comes down
Speaker 4: to experience level. Right when you have a first time
Speaker 4: head coach, they are less likely to be calling a
Speaker 4: lot of the shots in regards to team building over
Speaker 4: the GM. When you have a head coach who has
Speaker 4: been coaching for for twenty years and you know someone
Speaker 4: like you know, Sean Payton who going to the Broncos,
Speaker 4: Bill Belichick, you know who might be available here, and
Speaker 4: I'm sure you guys have talked about like I think,
Speaker 4: I think they will have more say in the team
Speaker 4: building because they've been around being a head coach and
Speaker 4: someone who has developed talent and scouted talent for so long,
Speaker 4: and they will always have more of a final saying that, just.
Speaker 2: Quick question there, jumping in on that is it? I
Speaker 2: don't know if a knock is the right way to
Speaker 2: say it, but would I how much stocks should I
Speaker 2: put into someone like let's say Will McLay possible GM
Speaker 2: candidate from the Cowboys when he does I've owner over
Speaker 2: a site like that, Like it's very always that Jerry Jones,
Speaker 2: that Jones family is very involved. How do I weigh
Speaker 2: that when evaluating a candidate.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think that it's really hard to separate,
Speaker 4: you know, what the specific person does for the organization
Speaker 4: and then the entanglement of the organization around it, like
Speaker 4: you mentioned with Will McClay and Jerry Jones. But I
Speaker 4: think that you can really just look at what the
Speaker 4: Cowboys in particular were drafting like before McLay and what
Speaker 4: they drafted after. Again, it's like an emphasis on these
Speaker 4: really talented premium position players that the Cowboys have done
Speaker 4: these past couple of years with Michael Parson and Ceedee
Speaker 4: Lamb and Tyler Smith and all the resources that they
Speaker 4: put into those first round picks. And I think that
Speaker 4: mcclay's impact has been felt because of the Cowboys going
Speaker 4: through a you know, rough patch in regards to their
Speaker 4: general team building as a whole, but you know, somewhat
Speaker 4: particularly in the draft, and then what the Cowboys have
Speaker 4: looked like since McLay has got in there just a
Speaker 4: couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean, one
Speaker 1: of the things that ultimately I think led to the
Speaker 1: decision to move on from Tom to LESCo is the
Speaker 1: lack of success on the draft in terms of Day
Speaker 1: two and Day three players, and the Cowboys have a
Speaker 1: ton of those guys contributing right now. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: first comes to that first name comes to mind, there
Speaker 1: is the Ron Bland, who's been like arguably one of
Speaker 1: the best corners in the league this year. So that's
Speaker 1: been something that Tyler and I have discussed. But my
Speaker 1: last question here for you, there are two names that
Speaker 1: I am maybe more keen on than others because I
Speaker 1: think everybody's trying to find, like the GM candidates from
Speaker 1: the winning teams, and I totally understand that, but I
Speaker 1: look at like Ed Dodds and Ian Cunningham in Indianapolis
Speaker 1: and respectively, in their backgrounds and where they've come from,
Speaker 1: and to me, those those two candidates might stand out
Speaker 1: a little bit more to me than than people just
Speaker 1: trying to find, you know, let's go pluck from the
Speaker 1: latest Eagles candidate or the latest working Niners candidate. Not
Speaker 1: that that's a bad process by any means, but what
Speaker 1: can you tell us about Ed Dodds and Ian Cunningham
Speaker 1: and in their backgrounds.
Speaker 3: Ed Dodds is a great, uh, you know, candidate to
Speaker 3: pull up.
Speaker 4: He was, you know, someone who has talked about for
Speaker 4: GM jobs for a couple of years now and like
Speaker 4: his resume really speaks for himself. You know, had a decent,
Speaker 4: decently large involvement in building out the legion of Boom
Speaker 4: for Seattle, and then you look at what he's done
Speaker 4: since then and how that you know, talent often seems
Speaker 4: to follow him in different directions. And so I think
Speaker 4: that he's someone that is definitely a very viable candidate
Speaker 4: for the Chargers if he wants the job. I think
Speaker 4: that the thing about him has always been that he's
Speaker 4: pretty happy with his current state of you know, where
Speaker 4: he works and how well you know, he's compensated in
Speaker 4: the different factors in that. So I think that he
Speaker 4: is someone that, you know, it might come down to
Speaker 4: whether he actually wants the job himself, more of if
Speaker 4: the Chargers you know, or another team looking for a
Speaker 4: GM wants him.
Speaker 3: And then sorry, who was the.
Speaker 1: Other Canada Cunningham in Chicago?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, so yeah, I mean Ian Cunningham. I think
Speaker 4: is someone that's really interesting as well because like I
Speaker 4: have been pretty optimistic about the Bears, you know, team
Speaker 4: building now, and I know he used to be with
Speaker 4: the Eagles, I believe beforehand. So I think I think
Speaker 4: that he's someone again that they have an understanding of
Speaker 4: when you have these resources, what is the best way
Speaker 4: to allocate the resources across the board? And the Bears
Speaker 4: have had a certain philosophy with that that's been a
Speaker 4: little bit different than the Eagles philosophy. So again entirely
Speaker 4: like you brought up earlier, like the different philosophies and
Speaker 4: getting that diversity of experience, and I think that he's
Speaker 4: someone that would really fall in that bucket.
Speaker 2: Would be remiss if I didn't at least mention Jojo
Speaker 2: wouldn't here to close things out. There's a lot to way,
Speaker 2: of course, in the situation because you know, again we're
Speaker 2: talking about rules and certain things. Tom Telesco being the
Speaker 2: general manager, how much does this person, how much is
Speaker 2: he involved in, what does he be involved in, what
Speaker 2: are the successes not successes, et cetera. Thoughts on him
Speaker 2: in general, his role and the charge of situation overall. There.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it is really interesting that Jojo Wooden
Speaker 4: was someone who was on a lot of these preseason
Speaker 4: lists for GM candidates, you know, even before the Chargers
Speaker 4: decided to fire Tom Telesco. So, you know, I think
Speaker 4: putting him in as interim GM, you're not going to
Speaker 4: learn a ton from a lot of his his you know,
Speaker 4: actual moves that he's going to make, just because it's
Speaker 4: so late in the season and you don't know exactly.
Speaker 3: What he's going to do.
Speaker 4: But like I think even just something as simple as
Speaker 4: waiving Sebastian Joseph Day as he did, shows that at
Speaker 4: least he's going to try to help this roster in
Speaker 4: this limited experience, and maybe that turns into a full
Speaker 4: time thing for him, which I think would be really
Speaker 4: exciting for him, and I know a lot of Chargers
Speaker 4: fans would like that as well. But like you know,
Speaker 4: I think the Charges, as long as they're pretty clear
Speaker 4: with him about you know, they're going to treat him
Speaker 4: like as a candidate like other candidates that the firm
Speaker 4: ends up finding for them, And I think as long
Speaker 4: as they're fair about that, he can definitely be involved
Speaker 4: in this GM search for the team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, he's been a name on the radar
Speaker 1: for a few years. Brad Spielbergers has highlighted his name
Speaker 1: a couple of times. You know, he's on the pro
Speaker 1: person outside for the charters, so pretty interesting to see
Speaker 1: where his candidcy ends up there. But Ted Man, appreciate
Speaker 1: the time. This has been very insightful. Hopefully, Charger fans
Speaker 1: you go give Ted a follow on social media and
Speaker 1: then check out stats and scheme as well. You've now
Speaker 1: heard from both of the hosts on that show, and
Speaker 1: hopefully you guys have enjoyed both of their work. So tes, thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. Man. We look forward
Speaker 1: to chatting down the road.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 1: This is a lot of fun, all right, so we'll
Speaker 1: come back after the break. Hey guys. VIP ticket packages
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Speaker 1: today your football experience of a lifetime awaits only with
Speaker 1: on location. All right, Tyler, again, like I said, greatly
Speaker 1: appreciate Tej in his time today. Any big thoughts that
Speaker 1: break takeaway that you had from our discussion with him.
Speaker 2: I just loved the one hundred points question, and now
Speaker 2: my brain is spinning about how I would answer that
Speaker 2: and how I would completely botch it. I knew you
Speaker 2: would give ninety nine points to the offensive line and
Speaker 2: one to a tight end just to make sure we
Speaker 2: had the tight end in there, but I am curious
Speaker 2: how that question would be answered. And now it really
Speaker 2: does everything tedch talked about. I'm now adjusting or considering
Speaker 2: different changes to our GM candidate rankings, which we'll talk
Speaker 2: about on our show because of what he discussed. So
Speaker 2: great information, amazing as always.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for me, the importance of diversity of
Speaker 1: background is super important because you know, GM, it's not
Speaker 1: just like they're in charge. I mean, they are in
Speaker 1: charge of everything, right, it's ultimately their final say on
Speaker 1: the roster and everything like that. But if you are
Speaker 1: a GM Kennedy who's worked like exclusively in the pro
Speaker 1: personnel side of things, like you probably are a little
Speaker 1: limited in the draft side of things, you might be
Speaker 1: a little limited on the salary cap side of things
Speaker 1: or vice versa. So I think somebody that has that
Speaker 1: experience from a variety of backgrounds and a variety of
Speaker 1: places as well, I think is super important. And I
Speaker 1: think those are two areas where I'm going to look
Speaker 1: more into on my GM rankings personally, Like Tyler sched
Speaker 1: will dive into that on our own show, but I
Speaker 1: think that point was super important for me. It's just
Speaker 1: somebody who as an ability to come from different places,
Speaker 1: different backgrounds, and be able to have that variety of experience. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love the suggestions from TEDJ there because the starting
Speaker 2: process for this for GM searches to me is, Okay,
Speaker 2: who's who's drafted well or who's got the best team? Like, okay,
Speaker 2: so who are the successful teams? Let's pull from there.
Speaker 2: But there are plenty of successful teams, So how do
Speaker 2: we now start sifting through and parsing who's kind of who,
Speaker 2: who's done what, et cetera. That'll be the fun stuff.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited to dive into that more.
Speaker 1: Yeah. All right, So everybody got their weekend started, obviously
Speaker 1: by watching the Chargers and Bills game on Saturday on
Speaker 1: the Peacock, which was an interesting experience on Peacock. I
Speaker 1: wasn't crazy about the no commercial fourth corner personally, but
Speaker 1: it is what it is, so we'll dive into some
Speaker 1: of the game here. We did have some thoughts on
Speaker 1: our show on Saturday right afterwards. Obviously have to give
Speaker 1: a tip of the cap to Gift Smith and the
Speaker 1: way that coaching staff got this team ready. But either
Speaker 1: what was kind of your big takeaway from Saturday Night?
Speaker 2: That Cameron Dicker is an All Pro kicker, whether he
Speaker 2: is voted in or not read a point where I
Speaker 2: think we discussed it on the show as well. Cameron Dicker.
Speaker 2: There are good kickers, there are really good kickers, and
Speaker 2: then there are automatic ones. And Cameron Dicker is now
Speaker 2: in that automatic territory. And the whole operation is automatic
Speaker 2: from Josh Harrison, the snap JK Scott, and the hold
Speaker 2: Cameron Dicker and the kick is an automatic operation. Now
Speaker 2: he hasn't missed since September and he's only missed two
Speaker 2: field goals in the regular season the last two seasons.
Speaker 2: Cameron Dicker is incredible. We talked I think a week
Speaker 2: or two before the season about how my longevity in
Speaker 2: life and my health and my heart health depends tremendously
Speaker 2: on the success of the kicker. Well, I'm going to
Speaker 2: see a few more Christmases because of Cameron Dicker. He's outstanding,
Speaker 2: and he's about halfway to one hundred attempts, so it's
Speaker 2: going to take a bit to get there. Are a
Speaker 2: couple of seasons at least, but once he reaches that
Speaker 2: minimum of one hundred attempts, we can start ranking him
Speaker 2: against all the other kickers in NFL history. And if
Speaker 2: he can hover above like ninety one percent for the
Speaker 2: rest of at least for the next couple of years,
Speaker 2: he could be the most accurate kicker in NFL history
Speaker 2: through their careers, at least up through that point. If
Speaker 2: he can sustain that, we'll see. But he's at a
Speaker 2: trajectory at ninety five point seven percent, where again only
Speaker 2: two missed field goals, no missed extra points in the
Speaker 2: regular season. This dude is on his way to being
Speaker 2: one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history. And frankly,
Speaker 2: I am stoked you mentioned on Twitter no worries when
Speaker 2: he went out for the fifty three yarder. Not a
Speaker 2: single worry, and I felt the same way. Usually I'm
Speaker 2: sitting there and I'm sweating, I'm dripping sweat, and I'm
Speaker 2: wringing my hands and I'm just so worried about what's
Speaker 2: going to happen. And Cameron Dicker just now it's no problem.
Speaker 2: It is no problem. I haven't felt this way in
Speaker 2: a very long time. The Charges have had at least
Speaker 2: ten to twelve kickers since twenty sixteen trying to find
Speaker 2: the next guy. They've found their guy, and heck, Brian
Speaker 2: Ficken and the special teams are so good that they
Speaker 2: found their guy, and they gave the Browns their guy too,
Speaker 2: Like how amazing is that? Anyway, Cameron Dicker future All Pro,
Speaker 2: whether this year or the next.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there was, rightfley, some skepticism about his
Speaker 1: long term candacy as a kicker. You know, he hit
Speaker 1: ninety five percent last season for the Chargers, but a
Speaker 1: lot of that was you know, fifty yards in in
Speaker 1: so there were some people pointing out, like, we need
Speaker 1: to see more a little bit here, and he's followed
Speaker 1: up with arguably the greatest kicking season in Chargers history.
Speaker 1: He right now just broke the record for most fifty
Speaker 1: yard made field goals in a Chargers season, and he's
Speaker 1: doing ninety six percent overall as a success rate, so
Speaker 1: he's improved from that ninety five percent rate while kicking
Speaker 1: from further distances, so he's having an outstanding season. He's
Speaker 1: an electric personality, obviously, as we all saw the video.
Speaker 1: You know, I asked Darius Davis on Friday about him,
Speaker 1: and the the team loves Cameron Dicker, So I think
Speaker 1: there is a fun aspect there where a lot of
Speaker 1: times a kicker can kind of be isolated just due
Speaker 1: to the nature of his position. But camer Dicker is
Speaker 1: one of the guys, you know, and I think it's
Speaker 1: just fantastic to see but on the field, man like,
Speaker 1: it's just such a calming presence about him. You know.
Speaker 1: We saw this weekend several teams punt instead of trying
Speaker 1: to kick a fifty five yard field goal, fifty six
Speaker 1: yard field goal, and I'm like, if I have Cameron
Speaker 1: Dicker on my team, I'm cool with that at any distance,
Speaker 1: at at in any arena, any stadium, because I just
Speaker 1: trust him to, you know, hit in clutch situations like
Speaker 1: that fifty three yardfield goal could have been good from
Speaker 1: sixty yards like it was right down the middle. It
Speaker 1: had plenty of distance. He's just such a joy to
Speaker 1: watch from a kicking standpoint, and he's becoming a legitimate
Speaker 1: weapon from a special team standpoint. So the pairing of
Speaker 1: him and Darius Davis in particular has been a ton
Speaker 1: of fun to watch. It's given the Chargers an edge
Speaker 1: in several games this season, and a lot of that
Speaker 1: is obviously due to the coaching and scouting from Ryan
Speaker 1: Ficken and the rest of the Special team staff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a tremendous overhaul. I don't know where
Speaker 2: they stand currently in Dvoway, but they were first. I
Speaker 2: can't imagine they're too far off at this point, regardless
Speaker 2: of the top five unit. And you can clearly see
Speaker 2: it on the field once again. Primetime Ficken shows up again.
Speaker 2: Kevin Dicker are doing very well. They're the Chargers forcing
Speaker 2: a fumble as well. More Primetime Ficken. It's a real
Speaker 2: thing apparently, and I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about Primetime Herbert being a thing. Primetime
Speaker 1: Ficken is also very much a thing. So unfortunately, probo
Speaker 1: voting is ended. It has ended at the time of
Speaker 1: recording this, so hopefully Chargers fans have done enough to
Speaker 1: get those two gentlemen into the probow because they're very deserving.
Speaker 1: My biggest takeaway, We've kind of tied this in with
Speaker 1: the GM searching today, right and I want to highlight
Speaker 1: Gerald Everett and a lowhe Gillman, two guys who are
Speaker 1: free agents at the end of the season. Two guys
Speaker 1: who made big plays on Saturday and have made big
Speaker 1: plays throughout their ten year over the last two years,
Speaker 1: specifically for the Chargers, And I think part of this
Speaker 1: ties into the GM search because those two guys represent
Speaker 1: the meat of the roster, the depth of the roster.
Speaker 1: They're not the star players, but they are key starting
Speaker 1: caliber players. And maybe in a different world, Jered Everett
Speaker 1: is kind of your tight end two instead of your
Speaker 1: tight end one. Maybe a LOOKI Gillman, it's your safety
Speaker 1: three instead of your safety two. You know, maybe you
Speaker 1: can find upgrades over them, but that doesn't mean they
Speaker 1: shouldn't be on the roster. And I think both of
Speaker 1: those two players represent positions that are not premium positions,
Speaker 1: positions that are you know, teams try and cycle through
Speaker 1: and find the next upgrade positions, but both of them
Speaker 1: are players that should be resigned by whoever the GM
Speaker 1: and head coaching candidates come in. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: think both of them have such a spark plug nature
Speaker 1: to their game. I mean, how often have we seen
Speaker 1: the Chargers offense kind of struggle a little bit. Give
Speaker 1: Jerald Everton a screen pass and he just bowldozes over
Speaker 1: two guys and then the offense gets clicking. How many
Speaker 1: times have we seen the defense just need a key stop,
Speaker 1: need a key turnover and it's a Lowhi Gillman who
Speaker 1: is the one who forces it or the one who
Speaker 1: comes up in run support and gets a key tackle
Speaker 1: for loss. It's just remarkable that the ability and consistency
Speaker 1: of those two have to just make plays and key moments.
Speaker 1: And because of that, I think like those two players
Speaker 1: should be brought back, and I think it helps the
Speaker 1: roster overall. I think it provides this you know, new
Speaker 1: trend so to speak, of keeping those guys around, which
Speaker 1: is is not really something we've seen. I mean, a
Speaker 1: Lohi Gillman would be the third day, three day two
Speaker 1: pick to get a second contract from Tom to Lesco's regime.
Speaker 1: So I think that would be cool to see. And
Speaker 1: then Jared vert On offense, has you know, developed such
Speaker 1: a strong rapport with with Justin Herbert. I would hate
Speaker 1: to lose that doesn't sound like it's a great tight
Speaker 1: end class incoming. Obviously we're on the product Bower's train,
Speaker 1: but maybe you don't even have the chance to get
Speaker 1: him right. So I just think it makes too much
Speaker 1: sense to keep those guys around. I thought both of
Speaker 1: them played awesome on Saturday. I thought both of them
Speaker 1: have had some really great moments throughout the season, and
Speaker 1: they deserve to be kept around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the next GM. One thing we talked about last
Speaker 2: week on this show that I we've been frustrated with
Speaker 2: is the lack of retention of players. And we discussed naturally,
Speaker 2: there is a lot of turnover when you have new
Speaker 2: coaches and losing seasons, and you know Cap moves this
Speaker 2: in that way Rivers contract versus a rookie contract for Herbert,
Speaker 2: But the Chargers have to do better retaining some of
Speaker 2: these players. And they also have to just make sure
Speaker 2: they find players that have like play over payment, over
Speaker 2: expected payment or whatever. I don't know, like they based
Speaker 2: on the dollar value, produce more value, thank you for
Speaker 2: what they're being paid. I don't know what these two
Speaker 2: guys are going to get in their next contracts, but
Speaker 2: I don't think it's you know, there's no twenty million
Speaker 2: dollar a year contract over here. These guys have got
Speaker 2: good contracts, and they deserve to get good contracts for
Speaker 2: their play. But these are the kinds of free agents,
Speaker 2: the kinds of players that the GM should be looking for,
Speaker 2: either to retain or to find in free agency. If
Speaker 2: the Chargers don't have a ton of money, So who
Speaker 2: can you find, like in a low gilt like the
Speaker 2: fact that he can give you a generated turnover per game.
Speaker 2: You know, yes, there's some solid safety play in there,
Speaker 2: but there's a little bit more. There's that turnover that
Speaker 2: he can generate per game where there's an interception, whether
Speaker 2: it's a force, fumble, turnover on downs, you name it,
Speaker 2: Gerald Everett, you know, good tight end will play you
Speaker 2: know well, but then there's this extra thing that he
Speaker 2: can do. And I don't want the Charges to go
Speaker 2: into this next draft and think, hey, we can just
Speaker 2: find replacements for these guys, no problem. That's kind of
Speaker 2: been their achilles. He'll anyway, there's an expectation that because
Speaker 2: they think they can draft well, and they think that
Speaker 2: we've got these picks that we can just go find
Speaker 2: these guys. Well, you can also go an entire draft
Speaker 2: in a great tight end class and not select a
Speaker 2: tight end like that can also happen to you. And
Speaker 2: I don't want the Charges to go into the next
Speaker 2: class where it sounds like it's Bowers and everybody else
Speaker 2: and not have that, you know, not have Gerald Everett.
Speaker 2: So do I expect these guys to be elite at
Speaker 2: their position. Not necessarily, I really don't. They've been really
Speaker 2: good to great players and really great in some moments
Speaker 2: in some games. But the Chargers need that, you know,
Speaker 2: the Chargers just need quality here, just nice, solid quality players.
Speaker 2: Don't let these guys go. I was on the same
Speaker 2: page as you. I was going to talk about Gilman
Speaker 2: and Everett and Cameron Dicker of course as takeaways for this. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: these three guys really deserve to be brought back.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah. Cameron Dicker's contract traduition, as I think he's
Speaker 1: a restricted free agent, gives the Chargers a little bit
Speaker 1: more leeway there. But obviously Alohi, Gillan and Joe Whatevertt
Speaker 1: are unrestricted free agents, so we'll have to see that's
Speaker 1: ultimately a much more GM decision than Cameron Dicker is.
Speaker 1: So last point I wanted to touch on is the
Speaker 1: play of easton Stick. We now have the ability to
Speaker 1: obviously look at the numbers. I have not watched the
Speaker 1: film yet, obviously busy with Christmas and everything like that.
Speaker 1: But now that we've had some time to sit on it, Tyler,
Speaker 1: what did you make of of East and sixth performance
Speaker 1: on Saturday Night.
Speaker 2: I'll actually start with the offense overall. It really felt
Speaker 2: like this was an offense more tailored to suit Eastern
Speaker 2: Stick for better or worse than some situations. Third down
Speaker 2: draw play didn't work out, but getting him involved overall
Speaker 2: with his legs was great. Some of the easier stuff
Speaker 2: was there, but there was also some you know, taking
Speaker 2: chances and trying to push the ball down the field.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Josh Palmer, you know, showing out again.
Speaker 2: I thought Eastern Stick looked much better and it looked
Speaker 2: like it's just suited him more in this game. So
Speaker 2: he was improved from the previous week for sure, and
Speaker 2: improved from the week against the Broncos. It just it
Speaker 2: looked like a better, cleaner operation overall, and for the
Speaker 2: Chargers to even be even remotely close to in this game.
Speaker 2: One speaks to the defense, sure, but also speaks to
Speaker 2: what Eastern Stick in this offense and Austin Eckler and
Speaker 2: the offensive line and these guys were able to do.
Speaker 2: They couldn't fix everything, you know, the offense still had
Speaker 2: some of their issues. There were still the late game
Speaker 2: protection issues, Eastern Stick maybe holding onto the ball a
Speaker 2: bit too long, scrambling into a sack, that sort of thing. Like, overall,
Speaker 2: there was I think an elevation to this offense that
Speaker 2: starts with Kellen Moore and then continues and is really
Speaker 2: in big part because of Easton six improved play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought there was definitely a greater influence on
Speaker 1: from Eastern six legs and his ability to run the football.
Speaker 1: PFF had him at five design runs, one scramble for
Speaker 1: what it's worth. Was not a fan of the quarterback
Speaker 1: draw on third and long, but you know, it is
Speaker 1: what it is. But I thought overall, Easton Stick played
Speaker 1: very well. I think for me, the greater influence of
Speaker 1: his legs helped out. But also I think Eastern Stick
Speaker 1: just protected the football a lot more. You know, he
Speaker 1: had some really nice throws against the Raiders in the
Speaker 1: second half, particularly, but there were some throws that were
Speaker 1: credited as turnover worthy plays from PFF On Saturday, they
Speaker 1: had zero turnover worthy plays from Eastern six, So that
Speaker 1: was super important in that game against the buff Low Bills,
Speaker 1: who are a lot of people are back on them
Speaker 1: as like a Super Bowl contender, you know, that caliber
Speaker 1: of team. You have to protect the football, you have
Speaker 1: to you know, turn them all over on defense, and
Speaker 1: the Chargers did those two things, and Easton Stick deserves
Speaker 1: a lot of credit for that. He took a couple
Speaker 1: of sacks that I wasn't crazy about, but we have
Speaker 1: to remember that this is his first stretch of games
Speaker 1: starting in a regular season, like there's going to be
Speaker 1: some bumps. But I think you look at the improvement
Speaker 1: overall for Eastern Stick and the improvement that he's made
Speaker 1: in just the last two and a half games, and
Speaker 1: I think you can be pretty excited about his potential
Speaker 1: as a long term backup. And I think obviously we
Speaker 1: would all love to see Justin Herbert around here, but
Speaker 1: getting these kind of games out for east and Stick
Speaker 1: is so valuable from a team building perspective, and also
Speaker 1: obviously from an Eastern Stick perspective, So I think he
Speaker 1: played pretty well. He was the Charger's highest graded offensive
Speaker 1: player according to PFF. If that's something you're into. Just
Speaker 1: beating out Rashaun Slater who allowed zero pressures again, shout
Speaker 1: out back. We are back to Slater Island. Guy is
Speaker 1: finally healthy and he looks like it and he's playing
Speaker 1: like it. So but overall, I thought East and Stick
Speaker 1: played well. I've I've enjoyed watching the offense under him,
Speaker 1: you know, relatively to the scale obviously, but I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see what he can do over the last two weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously you hope to never have answered the Ken
Speaker 2: easton Stick play in the NFL question, at least with
Speaker 2: the Charges, because you have Justin Herbert. But the silver
Speaker 2: line to this is you do get to answer that question.
Speaker 2: And while it's not perfect, he's a backup quarterback, and
Speaker 2: I think that he has performed solid given the circumstances
Speaker 2: and of course the quick turnaround of having to hello,
Speaker 2: you're the starter.
Speaker 1: Here you go.
Speaker 2: So if he can maintain this, you know, against the
Speaker 2: Broncos part two and against the Chiefs, you're feeling really
Speaker 2: good about him as a backup quarterback moving forward. This
Speaker 2: team has so many question marks at so many different positions.
Speaker 2: If you can at least like, if you can solve
Speaker 2: a problem the backup quarterback issue with Easton Stick, a
Speaker 2: guy you already have on your roster, you're feeling better
Speaker 2: about next season, Like how many questions can we answer
Speaker 2: heading into next year? Easton Stick is so far answering
Speaker 2: the call.
Speaker 1: I think you take it. Obviously, we would all love
Speaker 1: to see a full season from Justin Herbert. But I
Speaker 1: think the fact that this season is unfolded the way
Speaker 1: it did and Easton Sticking is playing in this and
Speaker 1: kind of environment can only suit him better for his
Speaker 1: career long term, because you look at these teams around
Speaker 1: the league that are trying to fight for playoff spots,
Speaker 1: and they're like, hey, like this week, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: Joshua Dobbs. This week, we're gonna have Nick Mullens this week,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have PJ. Walker. This week, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco come off the street. Like these teams are
Speaker 1: trying to find if these backup quarterbacks can play, the
Speaker 1: Chargers will be able to look back at this five
Speaker 1: and a half game stretch from Easton Stick and potentially
Speaker 1: feel comfortable with any opportunity in the future where East
Speaker 1: and Stick might have to come into a game. So again,
Speaker 1: obviously we wish the season we're better, we wish the
Speaker 1: season we're healthy, justin Herbert, but Easton Stick getting this
Speaker 1: opportunity I think could be a blessing in this guise
Speaker 1: for him obviously and for the team, you know, long term,
Speaker 1: because there's really nothing at stake here, Like there's no
Speaker 1: like Eastern six losing us a game to cost us
Speaker 1: playoff seeding, Eastern six losing a game whatever. He's just
Speaker 1: able to go out there and play and not have
Speaker 1: that pressure of like we have to win this game
Speaker 1: in order to stay float in the playoffs. Obviously the
Speaker 1: team wants to win, the Eastern Stick wants to win,
Speaker 1: but there's that added pressure of meaningful playoff football games
Speaker 1: is not there. So I think it lends itself to
Speaker 1: Eastern Stick developing at a higher rate than maybe otherwise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no pressure to have to win. There's no
Speaker 2: real cost to the playoffs, and so I do want
Speaker 2: to talk about the team for a second here, because
Speaker 2: there really was no you know, playoff reason to go
Speaker 2: out there and fight as hard as they did. They
Speaker 2: really only had each other and their new interim head
Speaker 2: coach and their new defensive coordinator, a couple of changes
Speaker 2: on the roster, and they played with a ton of pride.
Speaker 2: I was truly entertain and proud, honestly as a Chargers
Speaker 2: fan to watch the Chargers go out there and compete.
Speaker 2: They lost, Sure, that's the Buffalo Bills. They're a good
Speaker 2: team who just bludgeon the Cowboys, and they have their quarterback,
Speaker 2: they have Josh Allen, he as an MVP candidate every
Speaker 2: single year for the Chargers, and in particular the defense.
Speaker 2: To go out and fight as hard as they did
Speaker 2: was truly impressive. You know, as fans, Chargers may win,
Speaker 2: the Chargers may lose, but just feeling proud of watching
Speaker 2: your team it feels really good. Honestly, it was a
Speaker 2: very entertaining game. I thought it was not going to
Speaker 2: be an entertaining game and ended up being one that
Speaker 2: I was truly invested in because you could see these
Speaker 2: guys all just fighting for each other and that was
Speaker 2: really impressive and really speaks to the character of a
Speaker 2: lot of those guys in the locker room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think gif Smith did a wonderful job turning
Speaker 1: things around this week. You felt it during the press
Speaker 1: conferences during the week that he was going going to
Speaker 1: try to coach for these players and help these players
Speaker 1: get quality film out there and restore pride over the
Speaker 1: last three weeks. And I think he's done that. They
Speaker 1: might not win the other two games, but I think
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the Chargers players can
Speaker 1: be proud of what they put out on tape on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and I think that trend is going to continue under Giftsmith.
Speaker 1: So it was. It was certainly a much more fun
Speaker 1: game than I was previously anticipated. I mean, the Chargers
Speaker 1: were twelve and a half thirteen point underdogs according to
Speaker 1: Vegas heading into the game, and the Bills coming off
Speaker 1: a huge win against the Dallas Cowboys, and there is
Speaker 1: that playoff hype around them again, and maybe they'll win
Speaker 1: the division in the AFC East, maybe they'll contend for
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. All this stuff, and they still might,
Speaker 1: but you know, there's just the aspect of being a
Speaker 1: big home underdog and playing well. Then I think can
Speaker 1: let itself towards some positive momentum in sum regard. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the season has lost, the Charges were officially eliminated on Saturday,
Speaker 1: but you know, finishing these two games strong, I think
Speaker 1: can do so much for a lot of different players,
Speaker 1: a lot of different coaches, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it's at least enjoyable to watch again on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: it was fun to see the development of certain players.
Speaker 1: It was fun to see obviously Cameron Dicker and Jaredever
Speaker 1: and the logan gilm and all these guys play well.
Speaker 1: I'm still hoping for some of Khalil mack sacks down
Speaker 1: the road. We need to get him back on track,
Speaker 1: and the record is probably out of reach, but it's
Speaker 1: still within reach that he could lead the league in sacks,
Speaker 1: which I think would be really cool. So that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of my one remaining wish list for the Charges
Speaker 1: two seasons is to get Khalil Mack back on tap
Speaker 1: of the sack leaderboard.
Speaker 2: It's funny because at this point, you know, sacks are
Speaker 2: not the end all be all for an edge rusher.
Speaker 2: It's pressure rate, it's pressures, it's hits, et cetera. And
Speaker 2: he's getting all those pressures and doing the things that
Speaker 2: make him an elite edge rusher. But we really want
Speaker 2: those sacks man, we really need him to and of
Speaker 2: course he does, I'm sure too, at least a couple more,
Speaker 2: give me, give me a couple more. Close out the
Speaker 2: season on a high note, looking forward to those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, per all right, uh, Tyler, any final thoughts before
Speaker 1: we head out for today.
Speaker 2: I'll just end with this one, which is a kind
Speaker 2: of a bummer thing to end on. Derwin James played
Speaker 2: the fewest snaps of his NFL career in any games
Speaker 2: that he's finished. I'm just putting that in opinon that
Speaker 2: now in case we need to address this in a
Speaker 2: couple of games moving forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a lot of emphasis on him playing
Speaker 1: in the slot closer to the line of scrimmage. I
Speaker 1: think reducing the role overall for Derwin is smart coaching
Speaker 1: by Derek Ansley and Gift Smith. I was not expecting
Speaker 1: him to be basically the starting slot player, so it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see. Was that maybe a Stefan Diggs thing.
Speaker 1: Was that keeping him in a relative to the team
Speaker 1: that they were playing, or what is the role going forward?
Speaker 1: I think is important. But I think Derwin James in
Speaker 1: Brandon Stay's defense was playing six different positions, and it
Speaker 1: was one of the things that made him so much
Speaker 1: fun to watch last year. But I think this year
Speaker 1: was just became a little bit too much for him
Speaker 1: and for everybody else in the secondary. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be interested to see what Derek Ansley has in store
Speaker 1: for the final two games here all right, appreciate Tyler
Speaker 1: for joining me as always. Appreciate Ted for coming on
Speaker 1: the show. Seriously, if you guys are not following him,
Speaker 1: please go check out his work. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of great stuff on summer sports stats and scheme on
Speaker 1: his own podcast, and we greatly appreciate his time for
Speaker 1: joining us. Shout out to Greg Kim for producing the
Speaker 1: show and the Chargers for having us on the show
Speaker 1: every single week. We greatly appreciate it. Make sure subscribe
Speaker 1: comment like all that good stuff. We appreciate all of
Speaker 1: you guys in the great support. Hopefully you have a
Speaker 1: great holiday the rest of your holiday weekend, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you next time. As always, bult up