Speaker 1: Hey, what is up everybody? Welcome to the Guiltias Charge Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Stephen and I am the host. In
Speaker 1: joining me as always is my guy Tyler. Tyler, what
Speaker 1: I'm going? How you doing today?
Speaker 2: I'm doing very well, Steven, how you doing doing?
Speaker 3: Great?
Speaker 1: Exciting times obviously ahead as the Chargers have begun to
Speaker 1: interview and request to interview head coaching and GM candidates.
Speaker 1: It's been an exciting week and obviously the interviews will
Speaker 1: continue to happen over the next couple of weeks here
Speaker 1: as we go full steam ahead towards the potential hires
Speaker 1: of those two positions. So we got a fun show
Speaker 1: plan for you guys. Today we are going to be
Speaker 1: joined by mister Jeff Diamond, a former NFL Executive of
Speaker 1: the Year with the Minnesota Vikings as well as the
Speaker 1: president of the Tennessee Titans. We were able to pick
Speaker 1: his brain on the process that the Chargers are undergoing
Speaker 1: right now, kind of questions, environments, red flags, dues, and
Speaker 1: don'ts if you will of this coaching and GM search.
Speaker 3: So really excited about that.
Speaker 1: And we'll also talk about the likely retirement of Corey Lindsley.
Speaker 1: To wrap up today's show, So Tyler excited to dive
Speaker 1: in as always, but before we do have to say
Speaker 1: we are fans of the team first and foremost. The
Speaker 1: opinions that we reflect on the episodes every single week
Speaker 1: on this channel are not reflective of the opinions of
Speaker 1: the organization.
Speaker 2: They are ours and ours alone.
Speaker 1: We are fans of the team just like you guys,
Speaker 1: and are very grateful to have this platform. And hopefully
Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed the episode, so that bean zaid, Let's
Speaker 1: get to this interview with mister Jeff Diamond. All right,
Speaker 1: you guys, so happy now to be joined by mister
Speaker 1: Jeff Diamond by way of the thirty third Team. Very
Speaker 1: grateful for them for helping us facilitate this interview. Like
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, Jeff is a former NFL Executive of
Speaker 1: the Year. He's a former GM of the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: as well as the president of the Tennessee Titans. So
Speaker 1: very excited to have him on today to pick his
Speaker 1: brain about the Chargers process that they're gonna be going
Speaker 1: through hiring a GM as well as a head coach. Jeff,
Speaker 1: we can't thank you enough for taking the time to
Speaker 1: join us today. How are you doing up there in Minnesota.
Speaker 3: I'm doing fine, thank you. We've had a fairly mild
Speaker 3: winner so far, so it's not too bad. But I
Speaker 3: guess I'd rather be in sunny California with you guys.
Speaker 3: But maybe maybe later in the winter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, someday, someday we'll go. We'll get on a vacation,
Speaker 1: maybe potentially in California. Like I mentioned, we're really excited
Speaker 1: about this. This is going to be a true inside
Speaker 1: peek into what the conversations that could be going on
Speaker 1: behind the charters doors from a gentleman who has won
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl in the NFL as a general manager
Speaker 1: and the kind of experience he has is gonna be
Speaker 1: a ton of fun to pick his brain about. So
Speaker 1: really excited about this, Jeff, I think we'll start with
Speaker 1: the head coach inside of things here. Obviously the Chargers
Speaker 1: are doing both searches at the same time. The big
Speaker 1: question or debate on social media right now has been
Speaker 1: experience versus like a first time head coach. And so
Speaker 1: you know, whether you know there are specific candidates out
Speaker 1: there your former organization let a head coach go today.
Speaker 3: He is very.
Speaker 1: Experienced obviously when it comes from your perspective as an executive,
Speaker 1: how do you weigh the need for previous head coaching
Speaker 1: experience versus somebody who's been a coordinator and might be
Speaker 1: kind of like that that next guy in line, so
Speaker 1: to speak.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a tough call because obviously, if a guy
Speaker 3: has head coaching experience, it's a nice thing to have
Speaker 3: to have been in that seat and have run the
Speaker 3: team and understand the ins, and also being a head
Speaker 3: coach in terms of of what's what's expected, how you
Speaker 3: how you deal with the media, how you deal with
Speaker 3: a team, t how you handle all the different hats
Speaker 3: you have to wear as a head coach. But that
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that there aren't really qualified people that are
Speaker 3: coming up through the ranks as coordinators or as position
Speaker 3: coaches or whatever may be. At John Harbaugh, the Ravens
Speaker 3: maybe the number one team going into the postseason. He
Speaker 3: was a special teams coach at Philadelphia when he was
Speaker 3: hired by Baltimore as a head coach, and everybody thought, well,
Speaker 3: how did that happen? But it certainly has worked out
Speaker 3: pretty good for the Ravens and for John Harbaugh. And
Speaker 3: so they come from everywhere. I've seen head coaches, and
Speaker 3: I've worked with head coaches who have been coordinators. I've
Speaker 3: worked with head coaches who were college coaches, and started
Speaker 3: my career working with Bud Grant, a Hall of Fame coach,
Speaker 3: and he went from being a player right to being
Speaker 3: a head coach in Canada to being a head coach
Speaker 3: at the Vikings. So it just depends on what kind
Speaker 3: of individual you're talking with, what you're looking for. And
Speaker 3: I think for teams such as the Chargers, they're coming
Speaker 3: off a year where obviously the defense struggled and Brandon
Speaker 3: Staley had all kinds of issues, and so do you
Speaker 3: go offense with a guy like Ben Johnson, who has
Speaker 3: such good success with Jared Goff in Detroit, or do
Speaker 3: you go defense and a Dan Quinn or Brian Flores
Speaker 3: And there are a lot of good candidates. I think
Speaker 3: you just have to kind of determine what direction you
Speaker 3: want to go. If you want to go offense, you
Speaker 3: want to go defense, what you're looking for. Maybe the
Speaker 3: Chargers just got done with the defensive head coach, now
Speaker 3: they want to have an offensive head coach. It's just
Speaker 3: a it's a tough call, but I think ultimately it's
Speaker 3: such a critical decision for an organization to make the
Speaker 3: right call. So we'll just see how it all turns
Speaker 3: out for the Chargers and for these other teams that
Speaker 3: are in the market right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Chargers have certainly started to cast as widened
Speaker 2: that they've already come up with several different names. They've
Speaker 2: requested to interview some internal candidates they have already interviewed.
Speaker 2: How is this interview structured? Because Charges fans, you know,
Speaker 2: we can pick the names, but once things go behind
Speaker 2: closed doors, I have no idea what's going on. So
Speaker 2: how is an interview structured? Walk us through you know
Speaker 2: what might be happening, Who attends, who does the majority
Speaker 2: of the talking? Like, what does this look like for
Speaker 2: a candidate? What are they walking into?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it varies with the situation with the individual.
Speaker 3: And sometimes you've got current coaches that are coordinators that
Speaker 3: are coaching during the playoffs, they can do virtual interviews
Speaker 3: with them as of a certain date, or you have
Speaker 3: some of the people that are already out there and
Speaker 3: availables such as the Brian Flores, and they could be
Speaker 3: brought in for the interview. If it's a coach who's
Speaker 3: been working with a team. The main people that are
Speaker 3: going to make the decision the owner the GM. But
Speaker 3: in this case there's no GM with the Chargers yet.
Speaker 3: But in often cases it'll be the owner of the
Speaker 3: GM that will meet with a with a candidate at
Speaker 3: their site. They'll go to the individual cities, and so yeah,
Speaker 3: it just varies by different by different people, by different situations,
Speaker 3: and ultimately it just becomes a situation where the owner
Speaker 3: and whoever is involved with the owner, it could be
Speaker 3: a team president whatever, they have to take the time
Speaker 3: and spend do their due diligence, do their research, and
Speaker 3: then spend the time with that coach to make that decision.
Speaker 3: And it could be a college coach. I mean, it
Speaker 3: could be a Jim Harbaugh. So who knows where they're
Speaker 3: coming from. It could be anywhere. But I think it's
Speaker 3: always a very fascinating process and it can be certainly
Speaker 3: a time consuming process. But yet you have to be
Speaker 3: very wary of what's going on with other teams. Are
Speaker 3: they also talking to the top candidates, which a guy
Speaker 3: like Ben Johnson probably will talk to several teams. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's really gonna be interesting to see how
Speaker 3: these all turn out and some of them are gonna
Speaker 3: be really good hires and some may not be so good,
Speaker 3: and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, those of us who have
Speaker 1: had kind of extensive interview processes and outside of football,
Speaker 1: Like you know, when I got hired as a as
Speaker 1: a school counselor, I had one interview and then I
Speaker 1: had a second interview, And in that second interview is
Speaker 1: like way more in depth, and like they gave me
Speaker 1: a specific example of like here's this specific student, what
Speaker 1: would you do in this kind of situation? Is that
Speaker 1: kind of the same thing that we're talking about for
Speaker 1: these NFL head coaches, Like is it kind of a
Speaker 1: general screening, like general philosophies, and then in the second
Speaker 1: round they'll say, Okay, we have justin we haven't been
Speaker 1: able to run the football. What are you kind of
Speaker 1: doing to help us help that issue? Or is it
Speaker 1: kind of what's the difference between first round and second
Speaker 1: round interviews that these teams.
Speaker 3: Well, sometimes there is no second round first of all, interest,
Speaker 3: so it depends what the competition is that you're working with.
Speaker 3: But yeah, oftentimes you'll have a wide range, a wide
Speaker 3: net you cast with the first group and some of
Speaker 3: those our phone interviews and so forth, and then you
Speaker 3: start bringing people in narrow it down to maybe three
Speaker 3: to five candidates that you actually either will visit in
Speaker 3: person or that you will fly them in for the interview.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I think it's it's obviously gets more
Speaker 3: in depth if there is a second interview. And I
Speaker 3: think what's changed over the years is that these coaches
Speaker 3: come in now with these books on how they're going
Speaker 3: to do this, and that is they're so well prepared.
Speaker 3: And I've sat in on a lot of those coaching interviews.
Speaker 3: I did it with the Vikings during my career, and
Speaker 3: with my Titans years, I didn't. We did, we had.
Speaker 3: I worked with Jeff Fisher for those years and he
Speaker 3: was he was entrenched as the head coach. So I
Speaker 3: wasn't involved with a coach hire in Tennessee, but certainly
Speaker 3: in Minnesota I was a couple of times. And yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just but sometimes it's just a promotion. And for example,
Speaker 3: one of the first coach situations, Jerry Burns was promoted
Speaker 3: as head coach when Bud Grant retired and he was
Speaker 3: the offensive coordinator, so it was a slam dunk easy deal.
Speaker 3: But when we hired a head coach in nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker 3: it was a different situation, I'm sorry nineteen ninety two
Speaker 3: when Danny Green was hired and Pete Carroll was interviewed
Speaker 3: and everything that was going on there. So yeah, it's
Speaker 3: just it gets more in depth the further you go.
Speaker 3: But ultimately it's about the connection between owner and the
Speaker 3: coach and also the representatives of the owner who are involved.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, it's, as I said, a really interesting process,
Speaker 3: but it could be a little cumbersome at times too
Speaker 3: if you have too many candidates.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would imagine I don't any envy anybody who
Speaker 2: has to make all these decisions and interview so many
Speaker 2: different people. I'm sure things get cluttered after a while.
Speaker 2: But do these candidates you talked about the book they
Speaker 2: might bring in and how prepared they are. Do these
Speaker 2: candidates walk in the first interview and is the first
Speaker 2: thing they do pitch themselves? Is there a space for
Speaker 2: them to do that? Are you or are these decision
Speaker 2: makers asking, hey, how would you fix our team? Like?
Speaker 2: How are these candidates pitching that they should be the
Speaker 2: next coach? Do they get a chance to do that?
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I'm sure that that the owner and whoever
Speaker 3: else is involved is gonna talk to the candidates about
Speaker 3: what you think of our team. What do you think
Speaker 3: we need to change? How can we help support Justin Herbert,
Speaker 3: who's obviously our main guy. What do you think about
Speaker 3: Austin Ekeler, He's going to be a free agent. He
Speaker 3: had a great year two years ago, not such a
Speaker 3: great year this past year. And what do we do
Speaker 3: with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack who have thirty plus
Speaker 3: million dollar salary CAFF figures? Do we restructure them? Do
Speaker 3: we let one of them go? Mike Williams has been
Speaker 3: a quality receiver, but the Chargers right now are what
Speaker 3: thirty some million over the cap next year and they
Speaker 3: could pick up twenty million with Mike Williams. So you
Speaker 3: talk to the candidate, how important do you think he is?
Speaker 3: Have you watched tape of him? And have you watched
Speaker 3: tape of Quentin Johnston. We know that Keenan All is
Speaker 3: a great player, and even as he's getting up in years,
Speaker 3: he's still productive, although he did miss four games this year.
Speaker 3: So do we need to do and how do you
Speaker 3: propose that we do? Certain things, and what happened to
Speaker 3: our defense when we've got all these high priced players
Speaker 3: We've got both of We've got we've got Kohalil Mack,
Speaker 3: We've got Derwin James, We've got Eric Hendricks. We've got
Speaker 3: these guys we're paying and we're what twenty eighth in
Speaker 3: the league on defense? How does this happen? Well, it's
Speaker 3: it was a strange ear for the Chargers. We know
Speaker 3: that it was kind of similar to what I think
Speaker 3: the Vikings experienced here. And I'm in the Twin Cities
Speaker 3: and cover the Vikings for local media here, and I
Speaker 3: think there are a lot of similarities to what happened
Speaker 3: to these two teams. They both got here with injuries,
Speaker 3: both got hurt. Herbert got hurt, Mike Williams got hurt.
Speaker 3: For the Vikings, it was Kirk Cousins, it was justin Jefferson, TJ. Hockinson,
Speaker 3: DJ want him on defense. It's just it's tough when
Speaker 3: you lose really good players and people say, well, yeah,
Speaker 3: you need to have quality depths behind them. Easier said
Speaker 3: than done when you're talking about Pro Bowl caliber players
Speaker 3: that these guys are. And so, yeah, the Chargers were
Speaker 3: already struggling by the time Herbert went down, we know that.
Speaker 3: But for the Vikings, they were right in the mix
Speaker 3: when Cousins got hurt and their quarterbacking went down the
Speaker 3: drain basically in the second half of the season. So
Speaker 3: it's a tough deal. But the coach and the coach
Speaker 3: candidates have to address that and just say, hey, what
Speaker 3: do you think happened here? How can we avoid this
Speaker 3: in the future. What would you do that fifth pick
Speaker 3: in the first round coming up? Do you trade down
Speaker 3: if these teams are looking for quarterbacks and it's a
Speaker 3: great quarterback draft, do you trade down and get some
Speaker 3: more help on defense, because obviously you're not going to
Speaker 3: take a quarterback when you've got an elite guy in
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert. So there are a lot of things to address.
Speaker 3: And even though the coach, which is not going to
Speaker 3: necessarily make the decision on who's drafted, that coach is
Speaker 3: going to certainly have input.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think you know.
Speaker 1: The alignment aspect of things from the coach and GM
Speaker 1: standpoint is definitely something that Tyler and I have discussed
Speaker 1: as kind of being our top priority in this hiring
Speaker 1: cycle is getting to hires that are on the same page.
Speaker 1: In that regard, I am curious in terms of the
Speaker 1: questions like we've heard from NFL prospects like about these
Speaker 1: like red flag questions that decision makers will ask them
Speaker 1: in that process. Justin Herbert was asked about like which
Speaker 1: coach he would punch in the face as a way
Speaker 1: to like try and figure like, I don't know, weird
Speaker 1: weird questions like that, right? Is that something that happens
Speaker 1: with coaches and gms too? Are you trying to identify
Speaker 1: red flags in this case scenario too, or are you
Speaker 1: only really focusing in on like positives of the candidates.
Speaker 3: No, you're You're doing your due diligence. You're checking everything
Speaker 3: out for sure, and if there are already red flags,
Speaker 3: you want to address it and talk about it. And
Speaker 3: if it's a major red flag, you're not going to
Speaker 3: bring the coach in the first place. So absolutely, you
Speaker 3: don't want any surprises down the road, and you don't
Speaker 3: want any any candidates that come in that have baggage
Speaker 3: and have issues and have had difficulty of working with
Speaker 3: other people. I think one of the things you find
Speaker 3: in a lot of these successful younger coaches today is
Speaker 3: how much they put an importance on people skills and
Speaker 3: working with other with players, working with other coaches. I
Speaker 3: think that's critical in this day and age that it's
Speaker 3: not just a yes or no ser deal in the
Speaker 3: NFL with players or with assistant coaches. You've got to
Speaker 3: have that synergy with everybody in the organization. And I
Speaker 3: think we've seen that with teams such as the Giants
Speaker 3: this year with some of the issues on the coaching staff,
Speaker 3: that those are the things you definitely want to avoid
Speaker 3: and you want to get to the bottom of it.
Speaker 3: Right from Jump Street.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. If you had a chance to prepare a
Speaker 2: coaching candidate for the Chargers, let's say, or any NFL team,
Speaker 2: what are some of the does and what are some
Speaker 2: of the don'ts. What are the things that you would
Speaker 2: say you would recommend, Hey, you should maybe say this
Speaker 2: or address this or do this to come across as
Speaker 2: a better candidate. And what are some things you would say, Hey,
Speaker 2: maybe I wouldn't bring this up, right, I wouldn't recommend
Speaker 2: going in this direction.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that a lot of it is about
Speaker 3: interview technique, and I work with players. I work with
Speaker 3: an agent from out of Minneapolis, and one of the
Speaker 3: things I do is I train players on interview techniques
Speaker 3: for the combine, for team interviews when they make visits,
Speaker 3: and I stress, and I was stressed to a coach too,
Speaker 3: that watch your body language, keep your cell phone turned off,
Speaker 3: any number of things in terms of how you present yourself,
Speaker 3: how you speak. You don't want to be saying twenty
Speaker 3: five you know's and alms and likes, and so I
Speaker 3: think you start from there. I would start from there
Speaker 3: if I was talking with a coaching candidate about an interview,
Speaker 3: and then I would I would say, do a lot
Speaker 3: of listening too to what they're asking and what they're
Speaker 3: looking for, and not just NonStop talk talk talk. You
Speaker 3: want to get input from them on what they're looking for,
Speaker 3: what their thoughts are, what they think happened to the
Speaker 3: team last year. And I think it gives them, the interviewers,
Speaker 3: a little bit more of a sense that this coach
Speaker 3: is a team player. And I think that's that's the
Speaker 3: most important thing along with being professional. And I think
Speaker 3: those are the key things that I would always stress
Speaker 3: to any candidate, whether it's a player or coach. Sound
Speaker 3: advice in general interview.
Speaker 1: In my experience as well, we'll pivot here a little
Speaker 1: bit and talk about some of the GM questions that
Speaker 1: we have here. One of the things that Tyler and
Speaker 1: I have been curious about is, you know, there's so
Speaker 1: many different roles in NFL front offices obviously, between player
Speaker 1: personnel and scouting and assistant GM, and there's you know,
Speaker 1: cap implications here.
Speaker 2: Is there a preferred.
Speaker 1: Like path to becoming a GM in your opinion or
Speaker 1: is it kind of similar to the coaching thing where
Speaker 1: they kind of come from different backgrounds.
Speaker 3: Well, I think I think it's changed over the years
Speaker 3: to the point that that the GM gms generally speaking
Speaker 3: come out of the scouting player personnel side and as
Speaker 3: opposed to coming out of the administrative or front office
Speaker 3: or contract negotiators or salary cap people. And so there
Speaker 3: still are some some people in the league that have
Speaker 3: that background, but I think generally speaking, it's more taken
Speaker 3: the road towards the towards the football background, which I
Speaker 3: don't think necessarily is a better path. If the candidate
Speaker 3: is very knowledgeable about about the sport, about the NFL,
Speaker 3: about teams, about building teams, and so I think that
Speaker 3: you can still find people that are well qualified that
Speaker 3: have maybe not necessarily played professional football or college football,
Speaker 3: or coach at the level, or or been a former
Speaker 3: player personnel director pro personnel director. It's again about how
Speaker 3: do person presents themselves, how they speak to the to
Speaker 3: the team team needs, and what their background is, what
Speaker 3: their knowledge is, what their ability level is. And so
Speaker 3: I think that that still gms can come from any
Speaker 3: any lack of life in terms of their background. I
Speaker 3: absolutely believe that.
Speaker 2: So how do you go then about determining candidate's capacity
Speaker 2: to handle certain roles or departments that maybe they don't
Speaker 2: have much experience with. We talked to Ted Seth from
Speaker 2: SUMER Sports. He said, like, Okay, maybe assistant GM would
Speaker 2: be the better route because they've done the most things.
Speaker 2: They might have their hands in the most departments and
Speaker 2: doing the most things. So how do you go about
Speaker 2: determining that candidate's ability to handle things that maybe they
Speaker 2: had no experience with at all.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that again they'll learn and and they'll
Speaker 3: they'll have help. It's always important to hire a great
Speaker 3: support staff. Whether you're a head coach hiring assistant coaches
Speaker 3: or whether you're a GM hiring your support staff, It's
Speaker 3: always important to have really good people working with you
Speaker 3: that may have been involved in some of these other
Speaker 3: areas that may understand the interaction with the trainers and
Speaker 3: the medical department, with the video people, with the analytics,
Speaker 3: with all the different departments in an organization. And again,
Speaker 3: I think it's more incumbent on what their capacity is
Speaker 3: to work with other people, to delegate authority and to
Speaker 3: understand and grasp new things that come their way. And yeah,
Speaker 3: there are a lot of gms that have never done
Speaker 3: a contract and end up in that seat. Well, then
Speaker 3: they're going to hire a really good capologists, really good
Speaker 3: contract negotiat and director of football administration, whatever the case
Speaker 3: may be, that understands that those areas. And so I
Speaker 3: think that it's not essential that a GM understand everything
Speaker 3: about the inner workings of the football areas and all
Speaker 3: the different departments and so forth, as long as they're
Speaker 3: willing to learn and understand what is what it's going
Speaker 3: to take to learn and to delegate the ausority.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great point there. I think
Speaker 1: when we've looked at these candidates, right, I think there's
Speaker 1: a few ways to kind of try and figure out
Speaker 1: how to decide who gets like credit for what. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit more difficult for a guy like Joe
Speaker 1: Hortes who's been in Baltimore for his, you know, most
Speaker 1: of his career. So when you're looking at like, you know,
Speaker 1: figuring out their specific role and like what did they
Speaker 1: get credit for? What's kind of their their calling card?
Speaker 1: How do you go about figuring that out?
Speaker 3: Well, I think, first of all, credit, if you win,
Speaker 3: everybody gets to credit. So but that's the important thing,
Speaker 3: and that's why a lot of these hangers are going
Speaker 3: to come from from winning teams because they've been involved
Speaker 3: with a with a winning culture, and a network culture
Speaker 3: can be overused. We know that, but but I think that, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's really important to understand what it takes and and
Speaker 3: and what a individual has done in the past, who
Speaker 3: they've worked with, and so yeah, I think that as
Speaker 3: long as as long as they understand what it takes
Speaker 3: to be successful, and most of these people that are
Speaker 3: going to get these jobs as gms or as head
Speaker 3: coaches have have been successful in the NFL, if not
Speaker 3: in the last yearly in the last several years, then
Speaker 3: they they understand that it's teamwork and they're not as
Speaker 3: concerned about who gets the credit. I think when the
Speaker 3: egos get overactive, that's when you have problems in organizations.
Speaker 3: And I've seen that in different organizations I've worked for,
Speaker 3: and I've seen it with other other organizations that it
Speaker 3: just is unfortunate as some people and it could be insecurity,
Speaker 3: it could be paranoia. There are just so many things
Speaker 3: that go on in NFL teams and NFL organizations and
Speaker 3: just trying to grab the credit. I think that the
Speaker 3: smart owners see through that and well understand not to
Speaker 3: put a lot of stock in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's sometimes credit and there's sometimes blame. And for
Speaker 2: Chargers fans, and I believe through NFL buzz as well,
Speaker 2: it seems like Adam Peters is the number one GM
Speaker 2: candidate around the league. What would you ask him? I
Speaker 2: know that you know, again we can't assign credit or
Speaker 2: really even blame for it, but what would you ask
Speaker 2: him about the trade up for Trey Lance and giving
Speaker 2: up the four picks for a quarterback that basically barely
Speaker 2: played for them did not work out? How are you
Speaker 2: addressing that quote unquote error or mistake and then what
Speaker 2: they learned from that?
Speaker 3: Of course, well, maybe he's going to blame John Lynch, Hey,
Speaker 3: I wasn't the GM, so but yeah, I'm sure that
Speaker 3: he'll probably be asked, how was you're involved in that?
Speaker 3: And if he's smart, you'll kind of say, yeah, well,
Speaker 3: it wasn't really my final call. So that's what I
Speaker 3: would advise him definitely and maybe take more credit for.
Speaker 3: And you can always to overcome that.
Speaker 1: For example, my last question for you, Jeff, I think
Speaker 1: you know this everybody's talking about, like ideal destinations, how
Speaker 1: attractive it is if you know a GM Kennedy or
Speaker 1: a head coaching candidate came to you and said, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you think about this Chargers job? Obviously we
Speaker 1: know some of the pros and cons here, but for you,
Speaker 1: how attractive would the Chargers be for somebody who came
Speaker 1: to you for advice?
Speaker 3: Well, I think, first of all, when you've got a
Speaker 3: franchise quarterback, that's the first priority, and they've got that.
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert. I saw him and whatever that was week
Speaker 3: three here at US Bank Stadium, and he killed the
Speaker 3: Vikings that day and Brian Flora's defense, by the way,
Speaker 3: with all with a bunch of short passes. I think
Speaker 3: Keenan Allen, I don't know how many passes he crossed
Speaker 3: that day, both the fifteen balls or so. But you
Speaker 3: start with the quarterback, and you start with some really
Speaker 3: good building blocks, for example, on the offensive line with Slater.
Speaker 3: You got some really good players and some and some
Speaker 3: quality players on defense. But you got to make some
Speaker 3: decisions there with some of the some of the salary
Speaker 3: cap and some of the age factors with some of
Speaker 3: those guys, and so there, I think it's an attractive
Speaker 3: job because there is Justin Herbert and there is a
Speaker 3: fifth overall pick in the draft that maybe they can
Speaker 3: paraly that trade it down to some team that wants
Speaker 3: to get one of those quarterbacks, pick up some extra
Speaker 3: picks and really choice things up on defense. But yeah,
Speaker 3: to me, the Chargers are one of the more attractive
Speaker 3: jobs that are open.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Justin Herbert certainly helps with that. He keeps us
Speaker 2: afloat as fans every single year. As far as and
Speaker 2: last question from here, and we'll let you go, is
Speaker 2: there I mean, maybe disagree. I don't know. Is there
Speaker 2: a benefit and what is that benefit to hiring a
Speaker 2: general manager first and then a head coach the Chargers.
Speaker 2: I've been open to doing head coach first and then
Speaker 2: general manager or vice versa. But historically and traditionally it
Speaker 2: seems to be general manager first. In your eyes, what
Speaker 2: is that advantage to going general manager first?
Speaker 3: I think it's important to have the GM first, honestly,
Speaker 3: because then the GM can be involved with some of
Speaker 3: the maybe the later interview process with the coach. But
Speaker 3: I think then there's some some buy in from the
Speaker 3: GM to the coach, as opposed to you hire a
Speaker 3: coach that you bring a GM in and who's got
Speaker 3: who's got the ultimate authority? Who, how's the jockeying for
Speaker 3: position going is the is the GM thinking this isn't
Speaker 3: my guy, and so there's never that synergy that they need.
Speaker 3: It's hard enough to win in the NFL when you're
Speaker 3: on the same page. If you're not on the same page,
Speaker 3: it's almost impossible. And so I think from my standpoint,
Speaker 3: I would want to have the GM in place first
Speaker 3: and then finalize the coach.
Speaker 2: All right, there we go.
Speaker 1: Well, Jeff, we can't thank you enough for joining us
Speaker 1: today provided some great insight. I know I learned a lot.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you guys listening learned a lot from Jeff's experience
Speaker 1: as well, and hopefully we can catch up again sometime soon.
Speaker 3: Jeff sounds great, guys, I appreciate, take care and all
Speaker 3: the best. Hey, guys.
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Speaker 1: only with on location. All right, Tyler, any final thoughts
Speaker 1: from that injury? I thought it was great, lots of
Speaker 1: cool insight. You know, a guy with a ton of
Speaker 1: experience in the NFL. What do you think of his
Speaker 1: answers today?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought the emphasis on preparation and people's skills.
Speaker 2: Not that that's any surprise anyone who's ever been in
Speaker 2: a job interview, that's interesting that there's even more so
Speaker 2: of a shift towards that, And it's obviously then no
Speaker 2: surprise that someone like Brendan Staley earned the job back
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, given it seems like he's very
Speaker 2: good in press conferences and obviously was good enough in
Speaker 2: an interview for the job. So I understand how the
Speaker 2: trend went there and how Brendan Staley could have won
Speaker 2: the organization over. But we are in a different era
Speaker 2: these days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think also just the emphasis on different backgrounds.
Speaker 1: I know everybody and the Chargers themselves have not expressly stated,
Speaker 1: but through members of the media have said that they
Speaker 1: are looking for, you know, experience at the head coaching position,
Speaker 1: and so it is interesting to hear how an NFL
Speaker 1: executive who has hired coaches and been a part of
Speaker 1: hiring coaches ways you know, experience versus non experience. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he hired or was working with a coach who
Speaker 1: had a very unorthodox start to his NFL career and
Speaker 1: Bud Grant. So, you know, I think it's important for
Speaker 1: the Chargers and for fans to keep an open mind. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there are definitely candidates that we all like who might
Speaker 1: check certain boxes, but you never know who gets into
Speaker 1: an interview and just kind of, you know, knocks it
Speaker 1: out of the park and has a great resume that
Speaker 1: you're not necessarily paying attention to. So those open backgrounds
Speaker 1: I think is super important.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The most we can do, I think even more
Speaker 2: so for general manager candidates is look at the Wikipedia
Speaker 2: and look at their sheet and draft picks and that's
Speaker 2: all we can do. And we can maybe wigh and
Speaker 2: do the best that we can. But once they're in
Speaker 2: the building or virtually like that is when things certainly change.
Speaker 2: You know, you have to have alignment, you have to
Speaker 2: have synergy, and the candidate just does not quite vibe
Speaker 2: with you, it really doesn't matter, you know. I think
Speaker 2: you have to have that. And there's so many good
Speaker 2: general manager candidates that they can find the one that
Speaker 2: matches them more more than just what's on paper.
Speaker 1: Yeah. All right, So, as I mentioned, we do have
Speaker 1: some names, some requests, some actual interviews, so we'll go
Speaker 1: over some of that now. The Chargers did conduct an
Speaker 1: interview with Kellen Moore and Gift Smith today they officially
Speaker 1: announced on social media and then otherwise they have requested
Speaker 1: to interview Todd Monkin, the Ravens offensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn
Speaker 1: and Ben Johnson, the two coordinators in Detroit, Steve Wilkes,
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, the Raiders defensive coordinator, as well
Speaker 1: as Brian Callahan, the Bengals offensive coordinator. That just happened
Speaker 1: as of a few minutes ago before we jumped on here.
Speaker 1: As a reminder at an employee, or a head coaching
Speaker 1: candidate rather that is not currently an NFL employee does
Speaker 1: not have to have a formal interview request. So if
Speaker 1: the Chargers want to interview Mike Rabel or Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: or Ryan Date or whoever that is in the college ranks,
Speaker 1: they do not have to officially formally announce an interview request.
Speaker 1: That being said, Tyler, what's kind of your first glance
Speaker 1: at this head coaching candidate list?
Speaker 2: What's your first impression?
Speaker 1: There?
Speaker 2: Very good candidates and very balanced, many ones that we've
Speaker 2: already discussed, many ones that Chargers fans are certainly excited about.
Speaker 2: You have, you know, obviously a good balance of offense
Speaker 2: here with something like Monkin with Johnson, with now Callahan,
Speaker 2: but you also have defense with Glenn Wilkes, Quinn, etc.
Speaker 2: It's a really, really solid grouping that only became more
Speaker 2: exciting when Rabel was let go by the Titans, which
Speaker 2: it seemed like there was some buzz there, but we
Speaker 2: really didn't think that was going to really end up happening,
Speaker 2: and then it did. So the Chargers are now looking
Speaker 2: at what I originally thought was, you know, a weaker
Speaker 2: coaching class, that maybe it was a bit top heavy.
Speaker 2: But now you've got another name in there who could
Speaker 2: genuinely be the chargers number one candidate. And Keenan Allen
Speaker 2: you spoke on the traits that he's looking for in
Speaker 2: a head coach, and he said he's looking for, you know, leadership,
Speaker 2: obviously being a winner, knowing the game in and out,
Speaker 2: just being smart. And so now you've got twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one Coach of the Year Mike Rabel, who's now available,
Speaker 2: who took the Titans to the AC Championship. You've got
Speaker 2: twenty eleven Coach of the Year and now national champion
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh. You've got one of the best play callers
Speaker 2: in football in Ben Johnson who just helped take the
Speaker 2: Detroit Lions and have them win the division for the
Speaker 2: first time in thirty years. Dan Quinn took the Falcons
Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl. I mean, it's a pretty good
Speaker 2: time to need a head coach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you have a very clear top group,
Speaker 1: and we see that group potentially reflected in the Chargers interviews.
Speaker 1: So the Mike Rabel thing is super interesting. It sounds
Speaker 1: like he's potentially got an eye for New England already.
Speaker 1: But listen, man, Like I think objectively, he's one of
Speaker 1: the top candidates. I think to me, we've kind of
Speaker 1: identified Jim Harbon Ben Johnson as the top two guys.
Speaker 1: I think Mike Rabel is right there. Whether he's number one,
Speaker 1: two or three for you, I think all three of
Speaker 1: those guys are legitimately top options, you know, guys very
Speaker 1: deserving of a potential interview, very deserving of a potential bidding,
Speaker 1: more depending on what team you are. But Mike Rabel
Speaker 1: in particular is a really interesting candidate because, like, I
Speaker 1: know that that the last two years in Tennessee have
Speaker 1: not gone super great. Obviously, there's been you know, injuries
Speaker 1: to Ryan Tannehill and they kind of went through a
Speaker 1: competitive rebuild this year. So it's been, you know, not
Speaker 1: a super productive two years for Mike Rabel. And he
Speaker 1: spoke about that last week when he was impatially talking
Speaker 1: about how much he hated losing. But I think, you know,
Speaker 1: two of the things that we've talked about in this
Speaker 1: coaching search are, you know, having organizational alignment and just
Speaker 1: having the roster philosophies of having a head coach and
Speaker 1: GM who are aligned and have a true vision that
Speaker 1: match each other, and being able to bring that out
Speaker 1: in the form of an identity and a culture. And
Speaker 1: Mike Rabel has definitely done that. I think his teams
Speaker 1: have consistently had a very strong identity. They've been incredibly physical.
Speaker 1: Like we've talked about this at the times the Chargers
Speaker 1: have played the Titans, the Titans just had this way
Speaker 1: of just sucking teams in and just making it a
Speaker 1: fistfight and being physical and just scraping and crying for
Speaker 1: every ounce of an advantage that they could possibly find,
Speaker 1: whether it's on defense or offense or whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be. And that's definitely something that I would be
Speaker 1: interested in potentially exploring. Mike Rabel has also been consistently
Speaker 1: one of the best game managers in the league. He
Speaker 1: gives the Titans a huge edge in terms of the
Speaker 1: margins and coaching and time out management and clock management
Speaker 1: and things like that. So Mike Rabel. You know he's
Speaker 1: not coming off the best of times in Tennessee, but
Speaker 1: what he's been able to do from a defensive perspective,
Speaker 1: from a culture perspective, and from a staff perspective. He
Speaker 1: hired Matt Laflores his first offensive coordinator. Arthur Smith was
Speaker 1: his second offensive coordinator. I know Arthur Smith wasn't like
Speaker 1: super great this year in Atlanta, but like he was
Speaker 1: able to get him a head coaching job. This is
Speaker 1: a guy who did enough of a sample size as
Speaker 1: an offensive coordinator where other teams were vying for his
Speaker 1: services as a head coach. So this is a guy
Speaker 1: who I think checks a ton of boxes. And for me,
Speaker 1: I would definitely be interested in interviewing Mike Frable.
Speaker 2: The best way I can describe the Titans under Vrabels
Speaker 2: that I hated when the Chargers would play at the
Speaker 2: Titans under Ray Bowl and you knew it is just
Speaker 2: going to be some ugly game. You know, I tended
Speaker 2: the game last year in Los Angeles when the Titans
Speaker 2: came to town and by the fourth or fifth play
Speaker 2: they lost their quarterback who ended up getting hurt and
Speaker 2: they threw Willison and it was such a. They were
Speaker 2: injured as is anyway, and the Titans still took the
Speaker 2: Chargers all the way to the very very end, where
Speaker 2: it took a miraculous, you know, fantastic Mike Williams catch
Speaker 2: to set up the Chargers for the win this past season,
Speaker 2: Respectfully to the Titans, they had no business taking the
Speaker 2: Chargers to overtime, giving their injuries at the time, the
Speaker 2: uncertainty at quarterback, the offensive line wasn't very good, and
Speaker 2: they took the Chargers to overtime and they won that game.
Speaker 2: It really stinks playing the Titans. I mean, they will
Speaker 2: stop the Chargers at the one yard line with a
Speaker 2: cover years Chargers fans Melvin Gordon fumble like, they will
Speaker 2: drag it out to the last play if possible. And
Speaker 2: they are a tough, tough, tough, tough, tough team, and
Speaker 2: we saw the Dolphins run into them. The Dolphins were,
Speaker 2: you know, hot team, great offense. Gotta go play Tennessee.
Speaker 2: Things don't look the same when you play Tennessee. And
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought up Lafleur and Smith. You know,
Speaker 2: that is definitely what I think for most if they're
Speaker 2: ranking these coaches and it's not just experience. I think
Speaker 2: a lot of Chargers fans will rank Vaybell maybe third
Speaker 2: because he's a defensive guy, whereas Harbaugh's offense and Ben
Speaker 2: Johnson his offense, and so maybe Vrabel great candidate, but
Speaker 2: maybe he's third. But as you pointed out, he did
Speaker 2: hire Lafloor, and then after that they brought Arthur Smith
Speaker 2: up as a Titan as a former tight ends coach,
Speaker 2: and Ryan Tannehill run one comeback Player of the Year
Speaker 2: under Arthur Smith. Like there, those are two very good,
Speaker 2: you know, one higher and one elevation promotion internally that
Speaker 2: really really worked out. So I don't know how to
Speaker 2: work for the Chargers. Of course this time around, technically
Speaker 2: Arthur Smith is available. I don't know, but I do
Speaker 2: love potentially like Terrell Williams we've talked about from I'm
Speaker 2: not trying to self rabele here, but because he's the
Speaker 2: new name that's available. You know, Terrell Williams, the Titans
Speaker 2: assistant head coach and defensive line coach who work with
Speaker 2: Khalil Mack. I think that's probably a defensive coordinator if
Speaker 2: it's verable, great coach again, twenty twenty one Coach of
Speaker 2: the Year it's a winner. He's a winner. Hated when
Speaker 2: the Chargers played him, would love if he coached for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like, whenever I picture the Tennessee Titans
Speaker 1: that are Mike able outside of like Chargers experience. I
Speaker 1: remember that game two seasons ago where they went to
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Ryan Tannehill did not play, Molik Will has
Speaker 1: completed like seven passes and just was like completely not
Speaker 1: functional as a quarterback at all, And it was down
Speaker 1: to the wire because that defense just took it to
Speaker 1: Mahomes And and I've been a proponent of like stability
Speaker 1: around justin Herbert being definitely one of my top priorities
Speaker 1: in this coaching candidacy. But potentially getting some of that
Speaker 1: Titans defense and pairing it with some of the pieces
Speaker 1: that the Chargers have will be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: And Mike Rabel I think makes up in enough areas
Speaker 1: for me where the lack of him not being an
Speaker 1: offensive guy is kind of mitigated. And even though the
Speaker 1: Titans have gone through different offensive coordinators, it generally has
Speaker 1: always been the same kind of schematic world like, there's
Speaker 1: been some schematic stability there, even if if you're not
Speaker 1: having the same group of coaches calling the plays, So
Speaker 1: I think that is definitely something to point out. Again,
Speaker 1: this could all be a mood point. He could certainly
Speaker 1: choose to just coach the Patriots and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: But if you're Mike Rabel, like I think you should
Speaker 1: be open to potentially coaching the Chargers, I think you
Speaker 1: should be open to interviewing with these other teams because
Speaker 1: you know this is you know, this is the probably
Speaker 1: the one time that you're probably looking to be the
Speaker 1: last time I should say you're looking to coach a team.
Speaker 1: So I would hope that he gets an interry with
Speaker 1: the Chargers would be fantastic. Outside of him, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of the same kind of names that we've been
Speaker 1: been talking about. You know, Todd Monkin is kind of
Speaker 1: the other Ravens offensive coordinator, but he was a guy
Speaker 1: we were very interested in potentially being the offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the Chargers before he chose the Ravens. And then
Speaker 1: the defensive backgrounds here I think are very interesting because
Speaker 1: the defenses are all from different worlds. You're talking about
Speaker 1: Steve Wilks, who has a variety of experiences, Aaron Glenn,
Speaker 1: who's run a variety of defenses dan Quinn's renovarvariety of defenses.
Speaker 1: So I think that is something that stands out to
Speaker 1: me from a defense perspective, is just the ability to
Speaker 1: have that variety. And then a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: are like truly respective leaders, and I think that Obviously
Speaker 1: we've talked about offense versus defense, but at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like Jeff said, you're trying to find
Speaker 1: the best leader for your team. You're trying to find
Speaker 1: the best person for your team, and if that's a
Speaker 1: defensive guy, I think you make the rest of the
Speaker 1: process work by hiring other people to support him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Keenan Allen's in his comments didn't say the person
Speaker 2: who can scheme me the most open and throw me
Speaker 2: the most targets, that's the person. Now, I'm sure he'd
Speaker 2: prefer that. Of course, of course, every offensive player wants
Speaker 2: to be maximized. But yeah, there are some very very
Speaker 2: good defensive candidates here, most of them with coaching experience.
Speaker 2: So I really do like that. I see where the
Speaker 2: charges are going, and I really do like this list,
Speaker 2: and it's only going to grow. Today is Tuesday, the ninth,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure we'll get five more candidates by the
Speaker 2: time this thing airs tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had a bunch of coaching candidates come out
Speaker 1: yesterday and then we've had a couple more today as
Speaker 1: well as the interviews with Gift Smith and Kellen Moore.
Speaker 1: What do you make of them interviewing the two in
Speaker 1: house guys. I don't believe that's happened previously. So what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts about them interviewing Kellen in Gift today?
Speaker 2: I would be fascinated to know what Kellen Moore would
Speaker 2: say about what having just been the offensive coordinator, how
Speaker 2: he would approach fixing the Chargers and maybe even their offense.
Speaker 2: We don't know for sure how much oversight there was,
Speaker 2: and unfortunately we never saw a team without a head
Speaker 2: coach with Justin Herberts, we don't know what could have changed.
Speaker 2: But I am curious if he had his way on
Speaker 2: offense and there was nobody to oversee him and he
Speaker 2: was the head coach, what would he do? How would
Speaker 2: he fix the Chargers offense? What went wrong this year
Speaker 2: that either they didn't anticipate or they overlooked. What could
Speaker 2: they have done to help? And I think that's important too,
Speaker 2: considering he is there could be their offensive coordinator. Of course,
Speaker 2: he could be their head coach. You could be their
Speaker 2: offense accordinated depending on who they hire as well. So
Speaker 2: I think it's important to pick his brain. And then
Speaker 2: with Giftsmith, I think there is something there in terms
Speaker 2: of just being a leader. They talked about leadership, and
Speaker 2: you talked about and Jeff talked about finding the right leaders,
Speaker 2: and it really does seem like Gift even just from that,
Speaker 2: just that alone is a great leader and a great
Speaker 2: candidate for that alone. And this is a guy who's
Speaker 2: been around through three different stadiums, three different coaches, potentially
Speaker 2: a fourth one. Now he's seen a lot. If you
Speaker 2: want someone who can tell you about your franchise over
Speaker 2: the years and maybe what went wrong, what's going right,
Speaker 2: what would you change, how could we communicate better? There
Speaker 2: actually isn't a candidate better than Gifsmith in that regard
Speaker 2: because he can tell you I've been here for a
Speaker 2: while and here's what I've seen over the years, and
Speaker 2: no other candidate, no other candidate gets to talk about that.
Speaker 1: I think it's all part of the due diligence. Honestly,
Speaker 1: Like I think it is very worthwhile to pick their
Speaker 1: brains about what went wrong this season in earnest and like,
Speaker 1: how would you change things? Okay, gif Smith, like Klomack
Speaker 1: has spoken up for you.
Speaker 3: Why is that?
Speaker 1: You know, Justin Hubert has said he really believes in
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore and his vision. Why do you think that is?
Speaker 1: Like what would you change? How would you take it
Speaker 1: to the next step? And I think obviously Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: specifically can speak to you know, what this offense could
Speaker 1: look like in year two, And Justin Hubberd was asked
Speaker 1: about that yesterday and the advantages of having a second
Speaker 1: year or beyond in the same offensive coordinator, same scheme.
Speaker 1: So I think it's all part of the due diligence.
Speaker 1: I think Giff did a fantastic job of riding the
Speaker 1: ship over the last three weeks and that that really
Speaker 1: was all we could ask is that the team was
Speaker 1: competitive across the final three games. I mean they were
Speaker 1: like thirteen and a half point underdogs against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: It would have been very easy for, you know, an
Speaker 1: interim head coach to come into this situation and not
Speaker 1: be able to rally the troops. I know they didn't win,
Speaker 1: but obviously they were missing a ton of key key
Speaker 1: players as well. But you're playing against a team who
Speaker 1: just earned the two seed in the AFC. This is
Speaker 1: a team that has an MVP candidate at quarterback. It
Speaker 1: would have been very easy for them to just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, mail it in, so to speak, and lose
Speaker 1: these three games. But give Smith did a fantastic job
Speaker 1: of getting them competitive, getting these team to fight again
Speaker 1: like we had seen them previously do. And you saw
Speaker 1: that show up and guys like Easton Stick and Khalue
Speaker 1: Mack obviously in two Lee and Derwin James at Alohi Gillman,
Speaker 1: you could tell there was just more buy in I
Speaker 1: think with Giff Smith's vision, And I would want to
Speaker 1: know why is that. You know, you've been a position
Speaker 1: coach for a lot of years for us, What would
Speaker 1: you change differently from what you've seen? So I think
Speaker 1: that definitely is a part of the due process, and
Speaker 1: I think those two hopefully took advantage of those two
Speaker 1: interviews today.
Speaker 2: Yes, in particular with Kellen Moore, I think the Chargers
Speaker 2: understand that they have had guys like Sirianni on their
Speaker 2: coaching staff before, and they've had Shane Steichen on their
Speaker 2: coaching off before and Frank Reich, who wasn't a super
Speaker 2: successful head coach, but he became one. You don't officially
Speaker 2: and easily want to let Kellum Moore out despite I
Speaker 2: know Chargers fans have been frustrated with the offense, the
Speaker 2: protection plan in particular, and then the run in the run game,
Speaker 2: of course, but you just want to either be sure
Speaker 2: or know more or whatever it is, because it's not
Speaker 2: like twenty twenty was a great offensive season where there
Speaker 2: was no protection issues and a great run game. It
Speaker 2: was opposite. The protection issues weren't quite there and the
Speaker 2: run game wasn't great in twenty twenty with Shane Steiken.
Speaker 2: But now you look at what he's done with the
Speaker 2: Colts and you think, hey, that's a heck of a
Speaker 2: head coach, and he's turned things around, and it seems
Speaker 2: like they've turned I mean, they almost made the postseason
Speaker 2: with Gardner Minshew at quarterback, So I think that is
Speaker 2: worth them exploring, like, hey, let's let's do our due
Speaker 2: diligence just to make sure because we might have had
Speaker 2: Shane Sniken already. Hear, and he left, and I understand
Speaker 2: why he did, and I think he only grew as
Speaker 2: much as he did by going to the Eagles and
Speaker 2: being with Syrian and that sort of thing. He's a
Speaker 2: different coach, but you want to just double check and
Speaker 2: do your due diligence there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can. I think that's a great way
Speaker 1: of putting that. You can see what kind of room
Speaker 1: for improvement or growth there is when you interview them
Speaker 1: in this kind of setting, too.
Speaker 2: I think is super important.
Speaker 1: We'll touch on the GM candidates and that list on
Speaker 1: our own show. We're kind of running short on time,
Speaker 1: so we'll do that on our own channel later this week.
Speaker 1: We do have to end today, unfortunately, by talking about
Speaker 1: the potential likely retirement of mister Corey.
Speaker 2: Lindsey.
Speaker 1: Obviously came out after the Minnesota Vikings game that he
Speaker 1: was dealing with.
Speaker 2: A heart issue.
Speaker 1: He spoke a little bit about it yesterday when he
Speaker 1: spoke to the media. Looked twenty five thirty pounds lighter,
Speaker 1: which he spoke about was kind of the process here,
Speaker 1: but paraphrasing on the details. Essentially, he had a red
Speaker 1: flag come up last May, and then during the season
Speaker 1: he was not feeling like himself and so obviously Corey
Speaker 1: Lindsley's health first and foremost, we hope he's able to
Speaker 1: live a long and healthy life and be able to
Speaker 1: be a dad and be physically active with his kids
Speaker 1: and everything like that. But he said that there's a
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent chance that he does retire at this point.
Speaker 1: He'll have a final test, so to speak, in March,
Speaker 1: and then that's kind of when they'll have, you know,
Speaker 1: I assume a formal announcement. So it's just unfortunate. We
Speaker 1: kind of expected this based off of heart issue. Anytime
Speaker 1: you have something like this come out in a football player,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a tough thing to stomach.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: But we wish Corey nothing but the best. He is
Speaker 1: one of the best Chargers who has ever come in
Speaker 1: as a free agent, at least in my lifetime. Tyler,
Speaker 1: what do you think this means to the team and
Speaker 1: what do you think of Corey as in his time
Speaker 1: in general as a Charger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he joined the Chargers and had a market resetting
Speaker 2: contract and I don't think Chargers fans even looked at
Speaker 2: it for the last two years because it's that's how
Speaker 2: good he was. We didn't care how much money he made. Frankly,
Speaker 2: if he asked for a raise, We'd say, sure, because
Speaker 2: he was somehow underpaid and underrated, one of the best
Speaker 2: players in the NFL. You know, before Corey Linsley got here,
Speaker 2: the Chargers centers the previous two years allowed fifty five pressures.
Speaker 2: You know, Corey Linsley sends twenty twenty one, just twenty two.
Speaker 2: Things are just different. He's a pro off the field,
Speaker 2: of course, and a great guy and an All Pro
Speaker 2: on the field, so that the Chargers are going to
Speaker 2: miss him, and they have missed him. You saw it
Speaker 2: on the field, Corey Linsley, despite being former All Pro,
Speaker 2: highest paid center, everyone knows his name, he was still
Speaker 2: somehow underrated. You know. I don't think we understood how
Speaker 2: much of a loss there would be. But it's striking
Speaker 2: how much football can mean to us as fans and
Speaker 2: to players and to coaches, and how important it is
Speaker 2: to us, and then how in just in one instance
Speaker 2: it doesn't really matter anymore, and family and health and
Speaker 2: those things matter so much more. Those those things are
Speaker 2: the priorities. So wish him truly nothing but the best.
Speaker 2: I hope things obviously work out, that the health is
Speaker 2: maintained and better, and if he is doing the Nick
Speaker 2: Hardwick reversal from offensive linemen to nice and slender and trim.
Speaker 2: Go for it, man, let me know what your secret is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, please, you know, Corey is just a He was
Speaker 1: so good and like every single time, every single Monday,
Speaker 1: I would turn on the tape and Corey Lindsay's one
Speaker 1: of the first guys that just stands out and just
Speaker 1: truly the definition of an elite center. And like how
Speaker 1: much of an advantage the Chargers had with him in there,
Speaker 1: It cannot be overstated. Like you're talking about a guy
Speaker 1: who was tops in the league in twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty two and pressures allowed, pass blocking efficiency,
Speaker 1: run blocking grade, and even this year when he wasn't
Speaker 1: feeling like himself, according to his own words, he was
Speaker 1: still playing at a really high level. Obviously, you know we,
Speaker 1: like I.
Speaker 3: Said, we wish his health nothing but the best.
Speaker 1: But then this season too, you know, Eric Smith a
Speaker 1: great feature about the leadership role that Corey Lindsay has
Speaker 1: taken over the last three years and continue to take
Speaker 1: this year. Jamari Sawyer said that at some point after
Speaker 1: the decision where he was going to be placed on
Speaker 1: the NFL list, he was doing like goal line cut
Speaker 1: ups and like watching tape with the guys, and he
Speaker 1: was still very involved in the daily operation of the Chargers.
Speaker 1: And I think that really says a lot to me
Speaker 1: about the kind of teammate, mentor player that Corey Lindsey is,
Speaker 1: because he was still all in on the team even
Speaker 1: despite his heart issues, and he was still trying to
Speaker 1: help them solve problems. He was still trying to help them,
Speaker 1: you know, be the best players that they could be.
Speaker 1: Jamari spoke about how Corey was one of the first
Speaker 1: players to reach out to him and how much that
Speaker 1: meant to him, and Corey was able to like express
Speaker 1: his belief in Jamari's talent, and I think you see
Speaker 1: the leadership, you see the ability to be a difference
Speaker 1: maker on the field, But just as a person, I
Speaker 1: think we've heard so much much about who Corey Linsley
Speaker 1: is and the Chargers are going to miss him. This
Speaker 1: is a huge hole that he's going to.
Speaker 2: Leave on this roster.
Speaker 1: In the locker room, guys like Rashaun Slater, Jamari Zion,
Speaker 1: they're all going to have to pick up the slack
Speaker 1: next year in terms of their play on the field
Speaker 1: as well as their leadership. We've seen something that come
Speaker 1: to fruition, and particularly from Rashaun Slater. But this is
Speaker 1: a huge deal and it's unfortunate that I came to
Speaker 1: this because Corey Linsley, like like I said, was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players every single money to turn on
Speaker 1: the tape and see what he was doing and just
Speaker 1: the advantage he was creating for this Charters team. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss watching him play, I really am. And
Speaker 1: there's a lot of that going around with his team.
Speaker 1: But Corey Linsley in his short time with the Chargers
Speaker 1: left such a mark and I will forever, you know,
Speaker 1: cherish the moments I had watching tape, hearing about his interview.
Speaker 1: I got to ask him a question at training camp,
Speaker 1: so it was it's a It was a true treat
Speaker 1: watching Corey Lindsay play football for the Los Angeles Charters.
Speaker 2: Absolutely wishing him nothing but the ut.
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna do it for us today. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: guys enjoyed the show. As always, make sure you are
Speaker 1: liking the videos, commenting, subscribing obviously if you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: we enjoy all the ratings and reviews, and again thanks
Speaker 1: to Jeff Diamond for joining us. Hopefully you guys enjoyed
Speaker 1: that interview today, so that'll do it for us today.
Speaker 1: We'll see you at the same time next week, maybe
Speaker 1: with some coaching, some more coaching, and GM updates. We'll see,
Speaker 1: but as always, check us out on our own channel.
Speaker 1: We'll see you guys later full time