Speaker 1: Has a league fifteen to ten touched up, Sucker.
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 3: Guys? Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weeklies,
Speaker 3: as always, joined by Matt Buddy Smith.
Speaker 2: The super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Is in the books. We'll talk about the Chiefs repeating
Speaker 3: his champs. Obviously give us some draft stuff, But Buddy,
Speaker 3: I figured we'd start with just the staff coming together.
Speaker 3: Jim Harball is one thing, but to put together an
Speaker 3: elite staff is another.
Speaker 2: And he's certainly done that over the last couple.
Speaker 1: Of weeks, no doubt. You know when he was hired
Speaker 1: and when when Joe Artiez was hired, they said, first
Speaker 1: thing is staff. That that they got to get moving
Speaker 1: and get this staff put together. That way you can
Speaker 1: dig into the roster and figure out, you know what
Speaker 1: this roster is going to look like. We have a
Speaker 1: lot of free agent situations surrounding individual players. You have
Speaker 1: contracts that'll need to be restructured. And as much as
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh is going to be that the prime force
Speaker 1: in figuring out you know how he wants all of
Speaker 1: that to work. You want to bring in that staff,
Speaker 1: you know, and just as I'm looking at it, you know,
Speaker 1: if Greg Roman, Greg nobody's better at doing run game
Speaker 1: than you. How do you feel about Austin ECKLERG do
Speaker 1: we need to figure this out? What about Joshua Kelly?
Speaker 1: What about Isaiah Spiller? And that of course is going
Speaker 1: to figure out whether or not you're going to be
Speaker 1: looking at Blake corm or Jonathan Brooks in the draft.
Speaker 1: So when you start to bring you know, Mike Elson
Speaker 1: on the defensive line, all right, you know, and so
Speaker 1: many of these guys are with them at Michigan, so
Speaker 1: you know there's going to be continuity, right, There's really
Speaker 1: not a lot of variety or you know, adjustment that's
Speaker 1: going to be that's going to be made. Greg Roman
Speaker 1: with him forever in San Francisco and Stanford they bringing
Speaker 1: Marcus Brady as their passing game coordinator. You know Sanjay
Speaker 1: y'all lile, the wide receivers coach who of course did
Speaker 1: an incredible job up in Seattle with DK Metcalf And
Speaker 1: you think about how raw he was and what was
Speaker 1: taught and why he slipped, you know, turning him into
Speaker 1: an all pro. So that's what we're talking about, Like
Speaker 1: he's going to now have these conversation and I just
Speaker 1: bring up those two specifically Elston and obviously Jesseman or
Speaker 1: the DC Roman, Marcus Brady, the passing game and coordinator
Speaker 1: with Sanjay to talk about Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Joey Boson,
Speaker 1: and Khalil Mack. And now that you have, you know,
Speaker 1: all of those those pieces in place, you can have
Speaker 1: this group conversation with Joe Hortiz. Okay, we know you
Speaker 1: need to put this puzzle together. You've got to make
Speaker 1: the money work, You've got to make the contracts work.
Speaker 1: These are the draft picks we have. Here's the coaches.
Speaker 1: They're going to be coaching these guys up positionally where
Speaker 1: we at. So that's that's why it's important. And I
Speaker 1: know a lot of the names probably aren't familiar to
Speaker 1: a lot of the folks listening or to the casual
Speaker 1: Chargers fans. But do some digging, you know, do yourself
Speaker 1: a favor and dig around, because you're going to find out.
Speaker 1: They put together one of the most impressive staffs of
Speaker 1: any team in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they also added Mark Trestman, a former head coach,
Speaker 3: to help on the offensive side. And I want to
Speaker 3: dig into Greg Roman a little bit because historically his
Speaker 3: offenses have been very run heavy. I think that's a
Speaker 3: good thing when you bring in somebody who's going to
Speaker 3: establish an identity of running the football, because one thing
Speaker 3: that the Charges have not been able to do since
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert's been under centers run the football.
Speaker 2: I mean, they've been among the worst in the NFL.
Speaker 3: And I don't think Great Roman has had a player
Speaker 3: quite like Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: So you know, hold on, Chris, I'll hold you there.
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck. Think about how run dominant those Stanford teams
Speaker 1: were with Toby Gerhart.
Speaker 2: And I was talking at NFL. I was talking to NFL, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: But I mean.
Speaker 1: Like that's I want people to visualize that. Like, think
Speaker 1: about Andrew Luck should have won the Heisman Trophy. He
Speaker 1: didn't because he went to Stanford and Stanford just doesn't
Speaker 1: care and so they didn't, you know, push him like
Speaker 1: the other Power five schools push their football players. But
Speaker 1: go back and watch those Toby Gearhart Andrew Luck teams
Speaker 1: to see Toby should have won the Heisman, that Toby
Speaker 1: is dominating on the ground, and then you've got Andrew Luck,
Speaker 1: who is just is the best quarterback in college football.
Speaker 1: So I think that's like, that's the first thing I
Speaker 1: thought of when we thought about fixing the run game
Speaker 1: and giving an elite quarterback, you know, weapons and a
Speaker 1: run game to work with and what that can look like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great point, and you bring it to
Speaker 3: the pro level, you know. I just I think this
Speaker 3: running game is gonna look like nothing we've seen here before,
Speaker 3: and that's just gonna help Justin, especially on early downs.
Speaker 3: I do think having Greg Roman as the offensive coordinator
Speaker 3: is really going to just make Justin Herbert a better quarterback,
Speaker 3: someone who has more options and doesn't have to feel
Speaker 3: like he has to be superman on every down.
Speaker 1: No, one hundred percent. And you know, I think the
Speaker 1: other thing to recognize is, you know, with everyone as
Speaker 1: Mike Devlin comes in as as the offensive line coach,
Speaker 1: and we could not be more excited about our old
Speaker 1: friend Nick Hardwick com and he's someone who had the
Speaker 1: great pleasure of calling games with him and watching him
Speaker 1: analyze plays and then talk to him in between plays
Speaker 1: and when we're in break. He's a brilliant He's just
Speaker 1: he's a brilliant guy. I mean, he he really sees
Speaker 1: it and knows it and coaches it. And he was
Speaker 1: so close to so many of the coaches, you know,
Speaker 1: that year, that twenty seventeen year that he was here.
Speaker 1: You know, I can just remember being fortunate to be
Speaker 1: the fly on the wall like I am now with
Speaker 1: DJ as he has all these conversations and just listen
Speaker 1: to him break it all down. But you know, Shane
Speaker 1: and Nick, Shane Steike and Nick Sirianni both head coaches
Speaker 1: now and Nick would all sit together on the bus
Speaker 1: on the way to the games, and I would sit
Speaker 1: right there with them and just listening to them talk
Speaker 1: offense was a blast. Nick Harwick is going to be
Speaker 1: a head coach in this league, am I am one
Speaker 1: hundred percent convinced of that. He is. He is that good,
Speaker 1: He is that much of a motivator of a communicator.
Speaker 1: And remember this is someone that has a very unique
Speaker 1: background on his path to becoming, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the best centers in the game. He didn't playhigh school football.
Speaker 1: He's a wrestler, you know, and that's so important on
Speaker 1: the offensive line. We see that so often that you know,
Speaker 1: Powers Johnson think about the number one center in the
Speaker 1: in the league or in the draft coming up. He's
Speaker 1: a wrestler, you know, and so that's those are things
Speaker 1: that translate. There's a reason why Joe Tailer came and
Speaker 1: plucked Nick from the wrestling team and said you're going
Speaker 1: to be an offensive lineman. And those are things that
Speaker 1: Nick can coach. You know how your and I keep
Speaker 1: moving my hands because you know, as someone who wrestled
Speaker 1: in the seventy pounds and under ham and City League
Speaker 1: back in the day when I was in sixth grade, nobody,
Speaker 1: nobody owned the seventy pounds in under league like the
Speaker 1: weight class like I did. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that wrestling brings is hand strength, hand positioning, leverage,
Speaker 1: and that's why those players tend, those wrestlers tend to
Speaker 1: do so well. So I think to bring that into
Speaker 1: what Devlin's done for years now with Baltimore is and
Speaker 1: I bring that up because look, that's that's what this
Speaker 1: team's going to be. This team is going to be
Speaker 1: line specific, defensive line, offensive line. So when you're talking
Speaker 1: about Elston coming from Michigan to join Jesse Minner, so
Speaker 1: cool that his dad has been hired as well. That's
Speaker 1: got to be incredible for those two guys. To be
Speaker 1: able to do this together with the Chargers at the
Speaker 1: professional level. And then when you go to the offensive
Speaker 1: line and you get Devlin, who obviously has an incredible,
Speaker 1: you know, resume coming from Baltimore and how good they've
Speaker 1: been on the offensive line to pair with Nick Hardwick.
Speaker 1: I just think those two specific position groups talk about
Speaker 1: nailing your hires. I mean that this is going to
Speaker 1: be and now I'm anxious to see what it looks
Speaker 1: like how they're going to populate it, right, Like what
Speaker 1: are these players going to be that end up coming
Speaker 1: in to form these two position groups as that's the foundation.
Speaker 3: What I love about what Jim Harball's doing too, is
Speaker 3: I mean, you nailed it with Dick Hardwick about his
Speaker 3: communication skills and his his acumen. So you're bringing that
Speaker 3: in because he's that good, but also he's a Charger,
Speaker 3: right Like he's a Charger, and Jim I think recognizes that.
Speaker 3: I also love when the other US side of the ball,
Speaker 3: you're bringing in a former player Navarro Bowman to coach
Speaker 3: the linebackers. I mean, somebody that that you know, played
Speaker 3: under Hardball who can maybe develop Henley and you know,
Speaker 3: we'll see what happens with Kendricks and Murray, but just
Speaker 3: the the uniqueness of the staff when we talk about
Speaker 3: guys who have pro experienced college experience, playing experience, just
Speaker 3: all different forms of forms of thinking and and opinions
Speaker 3: on how to play the game.
Speaker 2: I just think it's a nice melt.
Speaker 1: No doubt. And and look, that's that's what those Stansford
Speaker 1: teams were built on. That's what those San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine er teams were built on. And you bet your
Speaker 1: ass that's what the Michigan team was built on. They
Speaker 1: just won the national championship. And remember, look, Michigan, they
Speaker 1: draft that. They they recruited incredible players, but they were
Speaker 1: not you know, Alabama, they were not Ohio State, they
Speaker 1: were not usc When you looked at the recruiting rankings,
Speaker 1: they were typically somewhere between ten and fifteen. They were
Speaker 1: not Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State. That is not what it
Speaker 1: looked like. So they develop, they develop players, just like
Speaker 1: coach Harbad did at Stanford. I'm going to develop these
Speaker 1: guys into becoming NFL players. And that's what he did
Speaker 1: at Michigan. And and you see it on both sides.
Speaker 1: I mean, look if Chris Jenkins ends up in that
Speaker 1: second round and he's sitting there when when the Chargers
Speaker 1: are picking, and you know, we know what, you got
Speaker 1: to figure out the interior line. I mean, granted, he's
Speaker 1: got incredible pedigree of course with his father, but like
Speaker 1: that's the sort of stuff we're talking about because he
Speaker 1: was undersized. He look, he was a big recruit, but
Speaker 1: he is someone that developed through the Michigan program and
Speaker 1: turned into you don't see a lot of three six
Speaker 1: foot two, three hundred and five pound run stuffing defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: The interior linemen, right, these are the three hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty six foot five massive mountains of human beings. But
Speaker 1: they wreckon ignized the skill set, they developed it. And
Speaker 1: he's one of the strongest players. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see him. It sounds stupid, but that dude's going to
Speaker 1: climb under two twenty five and he's going to throw
Speaker 1: it up like six hundred times. Like he's so incredibly strong.
Speaker 1: He is just an ox of a human being. And
Speaker 1: that's that's the stuff that we saw at Stanford. Oh,
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman's a wide receiver. Now you're not your corner,
Speaker 1: and that's the sort of thing that that Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: and his staff have been so good at in developing,
Speaker 1: recognizing strengths, developing individuals to maximize their abilities and to
Speaker 1: realize their dreams and make it to the NFL and
Speaker 1: then become successful player, make it to Division one college football,
Speaker 1: becomes successful players and win a national championship and then
Speaker 1: be able to move on to the NFL and so
Speaker 1: many of those and it's look, all right, it just
Speaker 1: brought over a bunch of guys from Michigan. Yeah, look
Speaker 1: what they did. They took him bunch of three stars
Speaker 1: and turn him into the national champs, knocked off Alabama
Speaker 1: and ended up, you know, going to back to back
Speaker 1: playoffs and dominating Ohio State. When you look at the
Speaker 1: recruiting rankings, Ohio State laps the field, let alone Michigan,
Speaker 1: and they beat them three times in a row. So
Speaker 1: please bring me cling Scale, bring me Elston, bring me
Speaker 1: Jesse Minner, bring me Ben Herbert, bring me all those
Speaker 1: guys because of what they were able to do.
Speaker 2: You know, last or a week before the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 2: It's just another example of this.
Speaker 3: I interviewed Mason Graham, who went to survey it's here
Speaker 3: defensive lineman from Michigan and he's a sophomore, and you
Speaker 3: talk about developing players, and he was most outstanding player
Speaker 3: of the Rose Bowl, Like he dominated the end of
Speaker 3: that game.
Speaker 2: To beat Alabama.
Speaker 3: And it's just another example of what you were saying, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, you bring these guys, they're not necessarily five stars,
Speaker 3: but you get the most out of them. And I
Speaker 3: look at the roster and we've discussed, you know, what
Speaker 3: does this mean for Quentin Johnson. You mentioned we have
Speaker 3: a wide receivers coach coming from Seattle who's developed DK
Speaker 3: Metcalf and worked with Lockett and Smith and Jigba, Like
Speaker 3: you know, like there's a lot of guys on this
Speaker 3: staff that I think can get the most out of
Speaker 3: the current players on the roster, which leads me to
Speaker 3: the draft and where we're gonna go in terms of
Speaker 3: free agency. You mentioned Hortiz has a lot of decisions
Speaker 3: to make, But I just look at five overall, and
Speaker 3: I think as we get into February and approach to Combine,
Speaker 3: there's going to be a lot of talk about the
Speaker 3: quarterbacks and a lot of talk about some of these
Speaker 3: wide receivers in the top five. Who's willing to come
Speaker 3: up for a quarterback? You know, right now the names
Speaker 3: are the names that are hot, or Williams, Jaydon Daniels,
Speaker 3: Drake May. You know, Jim thinks j. J. McCarthy should
Speaker 3: be number one overall. You know Michael Pennix, I think
Speaker 3: impressing people at the Senior Bowl, just his interviews, and
Speaker 3: you know what he was able to do in his
Speaker 3: body of work at Washington. So like, who's gonna come up?
Speaker 3: Minnesota needs quarterback, Atlanta needs a quarterback? Does Pittsburgh need
Speaker 3: a quarterback? You know, like Vegas does, Denver does. They're
Speaker 3: not going to trade with the Chargers, but I think
Speaker 3: it just goes to show that at number five overall,
Speaker 3: a quarterback maybe on the board for a lot of teams,
Speaker 3: and maybe that leads the Charges to get multiple picks
Speaker 3: in the first round, a future first, a couple extra
Speaker 3: picks in the second. I mean, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: possibilities at number five overall.
Speaker 1: Sure, And I think when you look into positional value,
Speaker 1: there are so many tackles in that people have projected
Speaker 1: as first round level tackles. So if that's the path
Speaker 1: you're going to go, and not right now is the
Speaker 1: line season we have entered it, and you're hearing about
Speaker 1: the Patriots may be interested in trading for Justin Fields
Speaker 1: or Russell Wilson or bringing in Kirk Cousins and drafting
Speaker 1: Marvin Harrison at number three, which to me signals if
Speaker 1: you want Drake may or Jaden Daniels, we're open for business.
Speaker 1: There's some people saying that maybe Marvin Harrison isn't going
Speaker 1: to be the number one receiver, that Romadonsay is starting
Speaker 1: to make some and that they're hearing that any of
Speaker 1: these three receivers could go as the first receiver off
Speaker 1: the board. And now you're sitting at five, and you know,
Speaker 1: and Marvin Harrison Junior is there. There's so many things
Speaker 1: that there's so many iterations of what the top five
Speaker 1: look like. But I bring up the tackles and the
Speaker 1: depth and the depth at corner. You think about the
Speaker 1: Chargers definitely need to draft a corner. And when you're
Speaker 1: talking Terry and Arnold, where can you get him? Can
Speaker 1: you trade back multiple times? If McCarthy is as impressive
Speaker 1: as Jim Harbaugh thinks he is, and it appears as
Speaker 1: though he is now that number four quarterback that he
Speaker 1: has jumped Bonnicks, he has jumped Michael Pennix. He's number four,
Speaker 1: so many of these there's a reason why the mock
Speaker 1: drafts now have him firmly in the top fifteen. Feels
Speaker 1: like people are impressed with him, and they are he
Speaker 1: is going to be a first round talent, and once
Speaker 1: he gets to that point, now it's a race. Now
Speaker 1: it's a race to get McCarthy. If that many teams
Speaker 1: that are in that range, Broncos, the Raiders, the Vikings,
Speaker 1: the Falcons, that all of those teams now have to
Speaker 1: worry about the other jumping them to get their guy.
Speaker 1: If they really really like JJ McCarthy and think he
Speaker 1: is a franchise quarterback. So that's where the trade down
Speaker 1: really could come into play. I do not believe for
Speaker 1: a second that Jayden Daniels, Drake May or Caleb Williams
Speaker 1: are going to make it to five. It's it's not
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I cannot envision any world where two wide
Speaker 1: receivers or a wide receiver and an offensive lineman get
Speaker 1: taken at three and four to force one of those
Speaker 1: three down. Drake is too good. Like they're they're trying
Speaker 1: to poo poo Drake May is getting dragged through the
Speaker 1: dirt right now. It's gonna change once people stand next
Speaker 1: to him and they realize what he looks like, and
Speaker 1: when he gets to the combine and he shows off
Speaker 1: his athleticism, they're going to realize, Okay, this is this
Speaker 1: is a franchise level quarterback that's worth taking a swing.
Speaker 1: And not to mention the interviews when you hear about
Speaker 1: what an incredible brain he's got, how his presence, the leadership,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff, those guys are going to go one,
Speaker 1: two three. I firmly believe that whether or not it's
Speaker 1: picked in the order, Caleb's going first. And whether or
Speaker 1: not the Commanders take Jaden Daniels or Drake May and
Speaker 1: the Patriots take Jaden Daniels or Drake May or perhaps
Speaker 1: that's the one where you could get a wrinkle. I
Speaker 1: could see maybe let's just say the Patriots love Jaden
Speaker 1: Daniels and they're not crazy about Drake May, and they
Speaker 1: know they have options outside of the dread. That's the
Speaker 1: one that I could see moving out of there. If
Speaker 1: if that's the way it breaks, and then who knows
Speaker 1: that that could end up being the you know, if
Speaker 1: a doonsay is what Daniel Jeremiah thinks he is. Larry Fitzgerald, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's top three pick. And if Marvin Harrison Junior is
Speaker 1: a wide receiver when it comes to side speeds and size,
Speaker 1: speed and production that we haven't seen in a long time,
Speaker 1: than okay, maybe maybe they do catch a break. Maybe
Speaker 1: one of those guys does slip to five, and now
Speaker 1: you can get that haul that Joe Ortiez is looking
Speaker 1: for because he wants more picks. He wants more picks,
Speaker 1: he wants to start that comp pick cycle. So I
Speaker 1: would be floored if there isn't a reasonable trade offer
Speaker 1: made that gives them multiple picks in the top one
Speaker 1: hundred in this draft that he wouldn't accept.
Speaker 3: That's why the combine is going to be so important,
Speaker 3: because because you're right about the top three. Like it's
Speaker 3: also because the Bears, Commanders, and Patriots all need quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: It's not like they would want to veer and get
Speaker 3: a Marvin Harrison or a Duneza in the top three.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna happen. Like Chicago, they either need to
Speaker 3: make a decision on fields or take Caleb Williams. And
Speaker 3: it seems like that's Caleb Waives is probably gonna be
Speaker 3: the answer there. The Commanders are starting from scratch with
Speaker 3: a new coach, new GM. They're going to draft a quarterback,
Speaker 3: and the Patriots in a quarterback too. They know that
Speaker 3: it gets interesting at four and five because if that's
Speaker 3: the case, Chargers are gonna have a Doonsay or Marvin
Speaker 3: Harrison Jr.
Speaker 2: In their lap.
Speaker 3: If they wont like that, that's gonna happen. And it
Speaker 3: just depends on Okay, do we would we rather pair
Speaker 3: Justin Herbert and Marvin Harrison Junior for the next decade
Speaker 3: or is it more conducive to just trading out getting
Speaker 3: multiple picks, building back this defense, getting an offensive lineman,
Speaker 3: getting a wide receiver later in the first or second
Speaker 3: round that we think can compare with either Keenan or
Speaker 3: Quintin and go on that route. It's it's a good
Speaker 3: position to be in for Joe Ortiz. Frankly, I mean,
Speaker 3: you're either gonna get a blue chipper or you're gonna
Speaker 3: get multiple picks and maybe future picks.
Speaker 1: Right, They're going to be in a position to draft
Speaker 1: either the top tackle or a wide receiver that on
Speaker 1: many boards is the number one wide receiver, the number
Speaker 1: one corner that the number one defensive end Dallas Turner like,
Speaker 1: they're going to have their choice of premy players at
Speaker 1: their position, which.
Speaker 2: I hate it.
Speaker 3: Rupt but you you had an interview with Ryan Leaf
Speaker 3: and you asked him who would you rather have?
Speaker 2: Would you rather have a stud receiver or offensive lineman?
Speaker 1: And he said what he said, give me the old lineman.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But but remember and and I tend to agree with that.
Speaker 1: I think just the way that Jim Harbaugh wants to play,
Speaker 1: your lines have to be two of the two of
Speaker 1: the best position groups on your team with the way
Speaker 1: they want to play. And we know the line they
Speaker 1: have right now at this moment has struggled to run block.
Speaker 1: It's just reality. They have not been able to open
Speaker 1: up those holes. So something needs to be done there.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is, it needs to change. Maybe it's a center,
Speaker 1: maybe it's an interior linement that you can now get
Speaker 1: in the second and third round. And they feel like,
Speaker 1: if we can just improve our interior line play and
Speaker 1: we can make it work with the tackles, whether that's
Speaker 1: Trey Pipkins or kick Jamari back out there, we feel
Speaker 1: like we can make this work so that's that's up
Speaker 1: to Devlen and Nick Hardwick to figure out how close
Speaker 1: are we with this group versus changing. And so as
Speaker 1: I'm going, I'm looking at the PFF mock draft right now,
Speaker 1: which I love. We've done this before. It's great. You know,
Speaker 1: whether we get Dana on or who's coming on to
Speaker 1: talk about this, so pretty much in every one of
Speaker 1: the scenarios, the you know, the that's what's in front
Speaker 1: of them. And so they do this great The PFF
Speaker 1: box draft does this great thing where they then have
Speaker 1: trades available and it's the number of teams that are
Speaker 1: willing to make a trade for your pick, and you
Speaker 1: can go in and you can select the picks that
Speaker 1: you would want and how far back you would go,
Speaker 1: and it's really a fun exercise to kind of figure out, Okay,
Speaker 1: how many different ways can this break and what would
Speaker 1: be available to them if X number of plays are there.
Speaker 1: But I kind of strayed there because I was getting
Speaker 1: excited to kind of look at all of this. But
Speaker 1: what I'm getting at is I think if they're going
Speaker 1: to build it in the image of the people they've hired,
Speaker 1: you know what Ryan Leif said and what Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: has said, and what Joe Ortiz has said, I think
Speaker 1: we would be incredibly surprised if they did not build
Speaker 1: it through the offensive line. But you said it, Chris.
Speaker 1: The combine can change that when you see these players
Speaker 1: for the first time, when you're standing next to them,
Speaker 1: when they're in that room with you, when you're able
Speaker 1: to compare them. And I know it's just running drills,
Speaker 1: but you can see it when they're when they're running
Speaker 1: next to each other and hey, l m n oh,
Speaker 1: neighbors a doon, say they're going to be in the
Speaker 1: same group, and you're going to see them right next
Speaker 1: to each other alphabetically, numerically, those guys are probably going
Speaker 1: to be right next to each other on the field
Speaker 1: in all of those drills, and you are going to
Speaker 1: be able to do and apples to apples, compare Garrison,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be fun. And that's the sort of
Speaker 1: thing that can change, can change draft order, can change this,
Speaker 1: and that's one of the reasons why Justin Herbert, who
Speaker 1: took a lot of incoming prior to the combine, when
Speaker 1: that dude stepped on that field at the combine and
Speaker 1: kind of settled down after those first couple throws, he
Speaker 1: just he lit it up and everybody walked out going, Okay,
Speaker 1: we do have three first round quarterbacks and it's not
Speaker 1: even close that these three guys are going to be
Speaker 1: drafted immediately to Herbert and Joe Burrow. And and that
Speaker 1: was something that I felt happened at the combine. You
Speaker 1: could just you could see it. The guy's arm was incredible,
Speaker 1: and his stature was incredible. When he was standing out there.
Speaker 1: You could see him standing next to the other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and just dwarfing them in terms of his his his height,
Speaker 1: and his and his weight. So these things can change.
Speaker 1: But I don't even know where I started. Oh, but
Speaker 1: it's so yeah, this is where I'm going. Sorry, I'm
Speaker 1: a lot of my train of thought. To Ryan Lee's point,
Speaker 1: we just had this. We just had this conversation four
Speaker 1: years ago with the Bengals. What do they do? Do
Speaker 1: you take Penny Seool and protect Joe Burrow or do
Speaker 1: you take the weapon and Jamar Chase and that protects
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. What's the best way to go about it?
Speaker 1: And I think if you had an opportunity to ask
Speaker 1: the Bengals for a do over, knowing that Penny Seol
Speaker 1: has become an All Pro tackle. Would you do it
Speaker 1: any differently? I don't think they would. I think they
Speaker 1: got Super Bowl. Yeah, we're good. We're good taking the weapon.
Speaker 1: So it's important to remember that that that that this team,
Speaker 1: which had an abomination of an offensive line, had a
Speaker 1: chance to take an all Pro tackle projected to be
Speaker 1: an all Pro tackle, and they opted to go playmaker
Speaker 1: and it worked out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't I don't think there's a wrong end.
Speaker 3: I mean, and for the case of the Lions, right,
Speaker 3: they got they got their all pro lockdown tackle and
Speaker 3: went to an NFC Championship game. They're all the way
Speaker 3: back now, their Super Bowl contenders here, probably for the
Speaker 3: next few years and maybe beyond that. One of the
Speaker 3: things that I think Michael Lombardi said about a month
Speaker 3: or two ago that stuck with me was, you know,
Speaker 3: we see all these mock drafts in like late December,
Speaker 3: early January, and it's amazing how quickly they change once
Speaker 3: we get to the combine, because actually that's when NFL
Speaker 3: evaluators are actually doing the evaluations, and they hear things
Speaker 3: and then some of the guys that you think are
Speaker 3: top five picks are really like top fifteen picks and
Speaker 3: some of the quarterbacks that you don't think our first
Speaker 3: rounders could be top ten or top twelve picks based
Speaker 3: on some of the evaluations. And maybe that's something that
Speaker 3: we're seeing with JJ McCarthy. Maybe that's something that you know,
Speaker 3: like the medical for Michael Panics is going to be
Speaker 3: paramount at the combine.
Speaker 2: Bow Nix has a lot of starts under his belt
Speaker 2: in college football.
Speaker 3: Is that enough for a team to say, Hey, I
Speaker 3: think that this guy could be a starting quarterback in
Speaker 3: the NFL? So like I also I bring this point
Speaker 3: to to the AFC West and the Broncos and the Raiders,
Speaker 3: Like I feel like one of those teams or maybe
Speaker 3: both of those teams are going to try to trade
Speaker 3: up now. I especially past years, I think we've seen
Speaker 3: like teams within their own division make trades with each other,
Speaker 3: which is very rare, Like I think the Giants and
Speaker 3: Eagles were making trades and stuff like do you trade
Speaker 3: with a division arrival?
Speaker 2: Does it matter? Or you know you know why they're
Speaker 2: moving up? Right?
Speaker 3: Like so I guess I guess all that factors in
Speaker 3: if there's another team, maybe an NFC team that wants
Speaker 3: wants the trade, but maybe the package is and it's fruitful.
Speaker 2: Do you take it? Because it's an NFC team, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of little factors here.
Speaker 1: I would assume it's it's independent, completely independent of the team. Now,
Speaker 1: if they're coming up to get JJ McCarthy and Jim
Speaker 1: Harbos like absolutely not, Ye do not trust me. This
Speaker 1: guy is going to be a franchise quarterback. You are
Speaker 1: not trading him to You are not trading with the
Speaker 1: Broncos and the Raiders, then I could see that certainly.
Speaker 1: But if they're saying, well, the Raiders are giving us
Speaker 1: a one, a two, next year's one and a fool, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go get it. We need the picks, and we
Speaker 1: we have seventeen first round grades on seventeen players, and
Speaker 1: at thirteen we're gonna be able to get one of
Speaker 1: our first round graded players, so we're good. And on
Speaker 1: top of that, now we've got two twos. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: a three as well. You know what, you know, the
Speaker 1: Broncos don't have a two, so that to me, that
Speaker 1: takes them out of the mix. I would assume the
Speaker 1: Chargers would be more interested in trying to get this
Speaker 1: thing stocked this year as opposed to taking their twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five to one, twenty twenty five to three and
Speaker 1: a three this something like that. I would suspect they
Speaker 1: would prefer if they're trading back that far. If they're
Speaker 1: going from five to twelve or thirteen, you're getting a
Speaker 1: one next year first year, and I would guess they'd
Speaker 1: want a two this year as well, so you get
Speaker 1: the one, the two this year, and probably a four
Speaker 1: something along those lines. I don't have the Jimmy Johnson
Speaker 1: Shart in front of me to equate it what the
Speaker 1: five is worth, but it would lead me to believe
Speaker 1: you're getting a one next year and probably a two
Speaker 1: or a three this year, so you'd want that extra
Speaker 1: top one hunter pick, And to me, I don't. I
Speaker 1: think it would completely depend because it's going to be McCarthy.
Speaker 1: That's who we're talking about. That's what makes it interesting
Speaker 1: is it's just does does Jim Harball really put his
Speaker 1: money where his mouth is and say no, you are
Speaker 1: not trading in the division. And to me, if that's
Speaker 1: the case, if he has thought, if the two teams
Speaker 1: are willing to come up to get him, then you're
Speaker 1: probably going to have a similar evaluation from the Vikings
Speaker 1: and the Falcons and the Giants and those other teams
Speaker 1: that very well could be looking as well. And I
Speaker 1: would imagine you might be able to trade back a
Speaker 1: little bit closer to where the blue chip players are
Speaker 1: still get Terry and Arnold, you know, Fuaga, something along
Speaker 1: those lines, Vashanu like that that sort of tackle corner
Speaker 1: something brock Bowers, if you can, you know that that's
Speaker 1: where it ends up at thirteen or something. And now
Speaker 1: it makes sense that's maybe you know what you're talking
Speaker 1: what you're speaking to, Chris.
Speaker 2: You know what else is interesting?
Speaker 3: Like so Antonio appears he was on the Pivot, the
Speaker 3: podcast with the Ryan Clark and he said something to
Speaker 3: the effect of everybody has a price, you know. Like
Speaker 3: Jayden Daniels, for instance, was with him at Arizona State.
Speaker 3: He's a Sam Bernardino kid. Like, we don't know the
Speaker 3: mindset of the commanders in the Patriots. We know that
Speaker 3: they need quarterbacks, but we know that Adam Peters probably
Speaker 3: wants as many picks as possible to rebuild that roster.
Speaker 3: We know New England probably wants as many picks as
Speaker 3: possible in addition to a quarterback, so they could blow
Speaker 3: the Commanders or the Patriots away with a deal that's like, okay, well, shoot,
Speaker 3: we cannot pass this up because we're gonna get multiple
Speaker 3: first and you know, the Commanders.
Speaker 2: Already have five picks on the top one hundred.
Speaker 3: If they can get two or three more, it's like,
Speaker 3: oh God, we're going to set up our franchise for
Speaker 3: success for a long time. So you just wonder about
Speaker 3: the wild cards there, Like, I know that the Commanders
Speaker 3: and Patriots need a quarterback. In the top three are
Speaker 3: going to be quarterbacks. But who's to say some team
Speaker 3: doesn't come out of nowhere like the Raiders and say
Speaker 3: this is the missing piece to our team. We're gonna
Speaker 3: be tough, we're gonna be physical, but we need a quarterback.
Speaker 3: We know that Tom Telesco has had a history of
Speaker 3: drafting quarterbacks. I don't know how much ammunition is needed
Speaker 3: for the ability to move to two or three, but
Speaker 3: I just I look at it from just the AFC
Speaker 3: West perspective. With Mahomes and Herbert already in the division,
Speaker 3: I think the Raiders and the Broncos realize that they
Speaker 3: can't compete unless they have a franchise guy.
Speaker 1: So the thing that's important for this exercise is that
Speaker 1: you have to look to the next year. We knew
Speaker 1: last year was not going to be a good quarterback draft.
Speaker 1: That's what it was thought to be. Now CJ. Stroud
Speaker 1: turned out to be incredible, but it was not thought
Speaker 1: to be a good quarterback draft. And it wasn't year
Speaker 1: before not a good quarterback draft. Everybody pointed to this year.
Speaker 1: This year is going to be a good you can
Speaker 1: get your elite Caleb Williams, Drake May. Now Jaden Daniels
Speaker 1: worked himself into that conversation with what he did this
Speaker 1: past season. He wasn't thought to be in that commerce.
Speaker 1: It was May Williams and then there was a gap.
Speaker 1: But everybody felt good about bo Nicks, about Penix with
Speaker 1: the medical if it checked out, Okay, about JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 1: Those guys were already being mentioned as Okay, let's see
Speaker 1: how this season goes for them, because they could work
Speaker 1: their way. I am not hearing any of that for
Speaker 1: next year. So that's the trick is if you are
Speaker 1: sitting there at number two and you're staring at Drake
Speaker 1: May and Jade Daniels three at Drake may or. Jaden Daniels,
Speaker 1: I think you're probably gonna stick and pick now with Jayden.
Speaker 1: And I talked to one of his former coaches during
Speaker 1: the season and he said, Combine's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: because people are going to stand next to him and
Speaker 1: they're going to be like, whoa he is? He is
Speaker 1: a string being he and that's what you need to
Speaker 1: be worried about. And that's so that's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting is when people get next to Jadeen Daniels and
Speaker 1: recognize how thin he is and he I think. I
Speaker 1: think I read somewhere that he was going to come
Speaker 1: in over two hundred and five pounds, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I want to see that that that'll be interesting because
Speaker 1: I don't know that's gonna get put together. So that's
Speaker 1: that's something they can change. They can change things, But
Speaker 1: to me, he's incredible. Go back and watch Jaydon daniels
Speaker 1: highlights and it's it's something to watch. And remember he
Speaker 1: took a beating in the SEC, so that's where it
Speaker 1: balances out. He's thin, that's a little bit of a concern,
Speaker 1: but he was not afraid to run. He was not
Speaker 1: afraid to take on contact, and he bounced right back
Speaker 1: up after getting absolutely blown off the frame because some
Speaker 1: giant SEC defender was the one making the tackle. So
Speaker 1: that's the reason why I'd be very, very surprised if
Speaker 1: those three teams did not draft quarterbacks. It just makes
Speaker 1: these these guys are too good, They are way too
Speaker 1: good and too promising of prospects to not want it
Speaker 1: to not want to take one of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you if you have convision, you got to take.
Speaker 3: I mean they brought in Cliff Kingsbury for a reason, right,
Speaker 3: like right, he has a relationship with Caleb Williams. I
Speaker 3: think Jayden Daniels would would be able to run his
Speaker 3: system through a t I think he has a connection
Speaker 3: to Drake May too. So it's like all three of
Speaker 3: those guys, you know, if you draft one of them,
Speaker 3: that could be your franchise guy.
Speaker 1: And they already passed on Justin Herbert to take Chase Young.
Speaker 1: They can't afford to do it again. They they've they've
Speaker 1: got to get their core. They have not had a
Speaker 1: quarterback in decades, like they've got to her since Robert
Speaker 1: Griffin before he got hurt. And obviously Kirk Cousins was
Speaker 1: a pleasant surprise. The way he emerged. But think about
Speaker 1: the electricity in that city on that team when Griffin
Speaker 1: at number two turned out to be everything he thought
Speaker 1: he was going to be, Like they they need to
Speaker 1: get that back. And Jayden Daniels to me, seems to
Speaker 1: be the perfect person. Or Drake May because he's from
Speaker 1: the you know, because he's he's from that general area
Speaker 1: as well. It's also incredibly exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 3: I was at the first Robert Griffin the thirds first
Speaker 3: game in New Orleans and you know, he's he was
Speaker 3: from New Orleans and just it was like a video
Speaker 3: game the way that Kyle Shanahan and Mike Shanahan used
Speaker 3: him and really started like the zone read.
Speaker 2: That's when the zone read started. And then Russell Wilson.
Speaker 3: Was at Draft Plass and Colin Kaepernick started doing it,
Speaker 3: and you know with Jim Marball, you know, so you know,
Speaker 3: there you go. I like, I just love the possibilities
Speaker 3: of the offense with Justin too. If we're bringing it
Speaker 3: back to the Chargers, like you know, the good thing is,
Speaker 3: man the charge, you can take a breath, like you've
Speaker 3: got a franchise guy, Like that's that's the most important
Speaker 3: thing here. So it's just a matter of you know,
Speaker 3: do you get justin a weapon, do you get on
Speaker 3: a right tackle? Do you beef up the defense? And
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of possibilities their money.
Speaker 1: For me, it's and it's something that we talked about
Speaker 1: last year going into the draft. Offense offense, offense, offense, offense, offense,
Speaker 1: because you just you've got to make sure you continue
Speaker 1: to support develop And yes, Herbert's still developing. He's oh
Speaker 1: he's twenty five, twenty six, like they're still room to grow. Oh,
Speaker 1: you've got to do everything you've popp And here's the
Speaker 1: other thing, and I know they've they've said we expect
Speaker 1: to compete every year. And I understand that the amount
Speaker 1: of money you're spending on this coaching staff, the amount
Speaker 1: of money you're going to spend on the roster, on
Speaker 1: the facility. Yeah, you want to win. You don't want
Speaker 1: to be a seven and ten team because you've got
Speaker 1: to restructure and rebuild it. No, you want to be
Speaker 1: a ten and seven team, or an eleven and six team,
Speaker 1: or a twelve and five team, and you want to
Speaker 1: punch your ticket to the tournament. But to me, I've
Speaker 1: got this new head coach got all this excitement. What's
Speaker 1: what's more exciting than Justin Herbert in offense? Like, I
Speaker 1: get it. You want to you want to grind it out,
Speaker 1: and you want to draft a bunch of defensive players.
Speaker 1: And look, we fix the run d and now we're
Speaker 1: we're keeping opponents. We're not dead last and all these
Speaker 1: different categories. Okay, that's that's cool. I'm glad you fixed
Speaker 1: the DAL or fix the old line. Justin Herbert's back
Speaker 1: to throwing for forty seven hundred yards and thirty five
Speaker 1: touchdowns and we've got these explosive playmakers. And check out
Speaker 1: this new running back week in the second round. And
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, what what's gonna move
Speaker 1: the needle? What's gonna get people excited more? And I
Speaker 1: know you don't do it for the fans, but I'm
Speaker 1: simply saying, if presented with two options, it's it's not
Speaker 1: even it's at the scales tips so heavily in favor
Speaker 1: of the offense because of what it means to the brand,
Speaker 1: what it means to your superstar, what it means to
Speaker 1: the fans that want to believe. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert is gonna have the same offensive system now
Speaker 1: because the head coach is offensive minded and we're not
Speaker 1: gonna lose offensive coordinators. And and finally some continuity for like,
Speaker 1: that's the thing about people taking shots at at Herbert
Speaker 1: and why is he not? Is is Jordan Love now
Speaker 1: surpassing justin Herbert? Jordan Love had a great season, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. He's been sitting and watching for four
Speaker 1: years and and he's it's the same system. It's Matt
Speaker 1: LeFleur who's calling the plays. Patrick Malmes has had Andy
Speaker 1: Reid his entire career, and he is he had an
Speaker 1: opportunity to sit for a year and watch and learn
Speaker 1: from Alex Smith. Like it hasn't changed. It's just the
Speaker 1: two of them doing the exact same thing for six years.
Speaker 1: So it should look like that Joe Burrow Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: have been doing the same and Brian Callahan the exact
Speaker 1: same thing for four years. So you finally are going
Speaker 1: to get this continuity for Herbert, And to me, I
Speaker 1: would want to do everything. However, the whatever the approach is,
Speaker 1: if it's tackle in the first round, center in the
Speaker 1: second round, tight end in the third round, that's fine.
Speaker 1: If you want to just fix the line, and you
Speaker 1: feel like with Quinton and Josh Palmer and Keenan Allen,
Speaker 1: you've got enough. To me, that's enough. I'm fine with that.
Speaker 1: If those are the receivers you're going into the season with,
Speaker 1: and you can get those three and then maybe find
Speaker 1: somebody with some serious speed in the third or the
Speaker 1: fourth something like that that you can develop. Great, that's
Speaker 1: like to me that that works, totally works, And that's
Speaker 1: probably as opposed to you need a corner, You need
Speaker 1: interior Lignement, Terry and Arnold in the one, Chris Jenkins
Speaker 1: in the second round, Like, Okay, I get it too,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't get me as excited now I would
Speaker 1: love it, because god knows, we haven't drafted a corner
Speaker 1: since I've been here. They have not drafted a corner
Speaker 1: in the top two three rounds. A second round for
Speaker 1: a sante in the second round was the only one like.
Speaker 2: Was Verrett, Like it was Tom's first pick was Verrett right.
Speaker 1: Ten years ago? Like that, you need every single draft,
Speaker 1: Like if I were running a draft, every single draft,
Speaker 1: I am taking a corner and an offensive lineman with
Speaker 1: my first three picks. First three picks. One of those
Speaker 1: three I am taking an offensive lineman or a corner
Speaker 1: you just you have to. They're so expensive, they're so
Speaker 1: hard to find, they're so important. Like that's that's something
Speaker 1: that that I would like to see moving forward, is
Speaker 1: you've got to make sure those positions are constantly stacked
Speaker 1: because they're just so darn important in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Right now, Yeah, I'm confident. Just let Joe do his thing, right,
Speaker 3: he's he's he's seen it, he's done it. He's got
Speaker 3: a lot to work with, and whatever he decides to
Speaker 3: do with that fifth pick, I think will be obviously
Speaker 3: in the best interest of the Chargers. So let Joe cook, right,
Speaker 3: that should be we should get out on a T shirt.
Speaker 3: You know, another thing that I didn't mentioned about the
Speaker 3: coaching staff that you mentioned continuity. Just getting Shane Day
Speaker 3: back I think is big, you know. Yeah, for Justin,
Speaker 3: I think that that's a you know, because he's had
Speaker 3: so much change and turn over year after year after year,
Speaker 3: that getting somebody who he had a good relationship with
Speaker 3: and is familiar with get him back in the building. Like,
Speaker 3: I just think that that's another thing that shouldn't be overstated.
Speaker 3: You know, we mentioned all these guys. But getting Shane
Speaker 3: Day back in the mix, especially the year that he
Speaker 3: had in Houston with CJ. Stroud and what they were
Speaker 3: able to do offensively. You know, she's coming off a
Speaker 3: pretty big off season.
Speaker 1: He and Justin Thicke as thieves, loved each other. We'd
Speaker 1: see him together all the time. I love Shane because
Speaker 1: he's a flip flops guy. And maybe maybe he and
Speaker 1: I together can lobby coach and say, listen, flip flops
Speaker 1: on the plane, just asking, just asking. There was only
Speaker 1: one line Brandon Staley's travel itinerary when it came to
Speaker 1: what you could and couldn't wear. That was it one.
Speaker 1: No flip flops. And for Shane, for me, somebody who
Speaker 1: wears pretty much only flip flops.
Speaker 2: Or side, you could only wear flip flops.
Speaker 1: Whatever you want to wear, you can wear. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: and look, you want me, if you want me to
Speaker 1: put socks on, socks and sandals, I'll get some slides
Speaker 1: and I'll put a pair of socks on. That's fine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got my feet. It's all I wear. So they've
Speaker 1: spread out. They like flip flops, they like slides. That
Speaker 1: would be just heaven for me. But Shane and Justin
Speaker 1: hit it off. They were a it was a it
Speaker 1: was a great partnership. And certainly to have somebody that
Speaker 1: you have unwavering and implicit trust in in the quarterback room,
Speaker 1: especially because we don't know what the future is going
Speaker 1: to be for Easton and how important that partnership was
Speaker 1: for those two salary caps tricky, and believe it or not,
Speaker 1: when you start talking about veterans and two million dollars,
Speaker 1: three million dollars, that becomes a bit of an issue
Speaker 1: moving forward. So that'll be an interesting one. So to
Speaker 1: get Shane back, I think is very It's a great point, Chris.
Speaker 1: It's very important for for Justin's comfort as he transitions
Speaker 1: to another new offensive system, his fourth in five years.
Speaker 3: Money final thing, Let's let's talk about the super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Excuse your thoughts on the game.
Speaker 1: Hold on, Let's do a little Let's do one of
Speaker 1: these real quick. You're ready, Yes, let's do what you want?
Speaker 1: Do you want to do two round or three? Run?
Speaker 1: Do three round? Yeah? Three three round? Pff. Let's see
Speaker 1: draft for needs, we'll do a little bit more care
Speaker 1: for positional value.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that that Hortt's is probably a positional value.
Speaker 1: Guys talked about draft and defensive line and offensive line.
Speaker 2: So we should do this at the end of every
Speaker 2: podcast until the drafts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Moving forward, we'll do three rounds. So here
Speaker 1: we go and we're off. So as we figured, the
Speaker 1: three quarterbacks went one, two through or actually no, look
Speaker 1: at that, so it went Caleb, Drake, Malik, and Marvin.
Speaker 1: So Jayden Daniels is still on, which is why we
Speaker 1: have six trades available to us.
Speaker 2: Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1: We have Atlanta, the Raiders, the Colts, the Texans, the Panthers,
Speaker 1: and the Patriots all willing to trade up with us.
Speaker 1: The Falcons are at eight, which I'm comfortable with, so
Speaker 1: let's take We'll give them five. We'll take eight, we'll
Speaker 1: take forty three, we'll take one two, and then we'll
Speaker 1: go next year's Let's go next year's three, since we're
Speaker 1: getting their second, their fifth, the number eight overall, to
Speaker 1: go back three and we'll take a three.
Speaker 2: L what's Carolina thinking, what's Indianapolis thinking?
Speaker 1: Well, no, it's I don't was it Carolina? I said, no,
Speaker 1: it was Indianapolis. They probably want to jump up to
Speaker 1: get I don't know it doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 1: But let's just see if we can get this trade
Speaker 1: to be accepted. And yes, it is all right. So
Speaker 1: now we got eight forty three. What we got four
Speaker 1: picks three this year for number five. Now move back
Speaker 1: to eight and see this thing's too random. We still
Speaker 1: have a Douonsay on the board. We still have Bowers
Speaker 1: on the board. So we have Bowers a Donsay fuaga.
Speaker 1: If we want to take the tackle out of Oregon State,
Speaker 1: how about we go with Donsay. Let's go with all right,
Speaker 1: Donsay's our guy. We get him at number eight. Now
Speaker 1: we get to the second and we got two picks
Speaker 1: thirty seven and forty three. We do have two trade offers.
Speaker 1: We've got the Giants that are at thirty nine. We'd
Speaker 1: only move back two spots, so we'll absolutely take that.
Speaker 1: We'll give them thirty seven and we'll go ahead and
Speaker 1: take pick let's say we'll take there. What can we do,
Speaker 1: We'll take their one hundred and eight, we'll move back
Speaker 1: to we'll take pick thirty seven, and then we'll take
Speaker 1: pick oneh eight and we yep, and it's accepted. Bang,
Speaker 1: we've added another pick. Here we go now we're thirty nine.
Speaker 2: And watching.
Speaker 1: Listen, this is gonna this is work. This thing's ridiculous,
Speaker 1: by the way, there's no way it works out this way,
Speaker 1: but whatever, let's enjoy it. So I'm looking at Zach
Speaker 1: Frasier Center from West Virginia. Yeah, probably probably second best center,
Speaker 1: or Chris Jenkins is there. So but here's the good news.
Speaker 1: We still have pick forty three because of our first
Speaker 1: trade down. So we've got do we take.
Speaker 2: Who's he's more likely to go off the board?
Speaker 1: I would think I would think that Jenkins is more
Speaker 1: likely to go off the board. I think there's a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a premium on defensive and interior
Speaker 1: lineman than a center. Need Wise, I'd probably prefer to
Speaker 1: take Fraser, but I'm guessing Jenkins won't be there at
Speaker 1: forty three. Fraser very well could be. Okay, what do
Speaker 1: you think. I'm leaving it up to you.
Speaker 2: Let's throw the Michigan bias in there.
Speaker 1: In right and get him. We'll take Jenkins and Fraser
Speaker 1: still there. Here we go. So now we got Fraser,
Speaker 1: and now we are back at pick number sixty nine,
Speaker 1: and here's our Michigan bias again. Chris we got Junior
Speaker 1: Colson sitting there. Somehow he's slid. One of the best
Speaker 1: linebackers in the draft, the defensive captain, the straw that
Speaker 1: stirred the defensive drink on the Wolverines. He's sitting there.
Speaker 1: We already got our wide receiver in Roma. Dounon say,
Speaker 1: so we're good there, Jalen Wright. The running back is there,
Speaker 1: korm is gone, Brooks is gone in terms of running back.
Speaker 1: So do you take another Michigan guy and Junior Colson?
Speaker 1: To me, it makes sense pair him with Henley and
Speaker 1: my gosh, talk about athletic linebackers.
Speaker 3: Knows knows the system. A rookie that comes in knows
Speaker 3: the system. You get to two defensive guys who know
Speaker 3: Jesse Minner. You already have a potential starting center. You
Speaker 3: have a playmaker and a Duneza to pair with Keenan
Speaker 3: and Quintin or Mike or whoever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, why not?
Speaker 1: All right, Junior Colson it is.
Speaker 2: And so that's that's a nice company.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, talk about it. And here we go.
Speaker 1: We got ourselves an A from the PFF A dunsay
Speaker 1: a plus at number seven. We got a B for
Speaker 1: our trade with the Giants. Getting the one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighth pick and the thirty ninth pick to go with
Speaker 1: pick number eight. Jenkins, we get a B plus. Fraser,
Speaker 1: they give us a B minus. Colson, they give us
Speaker 1: an A minus overall grade. Bang A what a hall?
Speaker 1: That would be no chance of that happening. But and
Speaker 1: this is fairytale walking out of the first one hundred
Speaker 1: picks with a Dounzay, Jenkins, Frasier and Colson. Home run,
Speaker 1: freaking home run.
Speaker 3: You know what, We're gonna see Joe at the combine
Speaker 3: and you just, hey, Joe, you know what I did
Speaker 3: this pff mock exercise.
Speaker 2: Just want to run by you?
Speaker 1: So you know what, We'll run one really with a
Speaker 1: stick and pick. No Trasier, So let's just do it
Speaker 1: a quick stick and pick because that was stupid. So
Speaker 1: let's uh, here we go, stick and pick and number
Speaker 1: five we got a shot at Joe alt Well, alt Adunza, Bowers,
Speaker 1: Fishanu Fuaga, all of those are available to us.
Speaker 2: So let's hey, did you see bowersticks to Gronk in
Speaker 2: that picture?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is not like people don't realize that Bowers
Speaker 1: is not built like Gronk. He is a smaller guy.
Speaker 1: He's just incredibly strong, incredibly athletic. You know that he's
Speaker 1: he's a really just dense, muscled, incredibly strong human being.
Speaker 1: But that's yeah, that's a little bit of a concern
Speaker 1: if you're thinking about, okay, can my tight end block
Speaker 1: a defense of well, look, no tight en should have
Speaker 1: be able to block a defenseman. But so that's so
Speaker 1: to me, let's let's take all let's go with the
Speaker 1: tackle here.
Speaker 2: I think all it's good.
Speaker 1: And see now we get to the pick thirty seven
Speaker 1: and same to me, same situation. Right, We've got oh, well,
Speaker 1: look at that Tyler Guiden is there. He slipped the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma tackle, but you don't need him Freight. I think
Speaker 1: we're looking at the same situation, right, Fraser or Jenkins?
Speaker 1: Which one makes more sense? Do you just completely revamp
Speaker 1: the offensive line and now you're set with Slater, Zion Frasier,
Speaker 1: you have Jamari inside or maybe you're looking for a
Speaker 1: guard a little bit later, and you have alt as
Speaker 1: your tackle, and now Pipkins can be your swing tackle
Speaker 1: or Jamari can be your swing you know, you.
Speaker 3: Know, I'm okay with Cohen unsexy here, right, just like
Speaker 3: get getting center, I think is vital right.
Speaker 2: We saw how important Corey Linsley was of this team.
Speaker 3: Man, I think I think not messing around with that
Speaker 3: position starting in twenty twenty four is probably the good
Speaker 3: way go.
Speaker 1: There we go. So then you get Fraser and now
Speaker 1: very similar, very similar situation where you've got Junior Colson
Speaker 1: sitting there at sixty nine. Who else is there is?
Speaker 1: You know what? I do like Jayleen McMillan the wide
Speaker 1: receiver out of Washington, Brennan Rice explosive receiver out of
Speaker 1: sc So there's all. You know what, Austin Booker the
Speaker 1: edge out of Kansas. He's going to have a really
Speaker 1: good combine. You're going to see him climb, so you
Speaker 1: could go defensive end there, pair him with Tuley.
Speaker 3: I want to see Jerry Rice around so far, so
Speaker 3: give me Brendan all right, you know, I.
Speaker 2: Just want to I want to see I want Jerry
Speaker 2: in the mix.
Speaker 3: I want Jerry Gates lt All on the field before
Speaker 3: the game bringing a Trojan B minus.
Speaker 1: We got a B plus for the Joe altpick a
Speaker 1: C minus. They don't like Fraser. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's because of the medical but by all accounts it
Speaker 1: sounds like he's already over the broken leg, so I
Speaker 1: don't know why that's getting such a bad a grade.
Speaker 1: There C minus and then B plus for Brennan, So yeah,
Speaker 1: there we go take it. Yeah, it's a blast. It
Speaker 1: is an absolute blast doing this. It's it's hilarious. I
Speaker 1: guys ended up wasting like forty five minutes before the
Speaker 1: pod this morning, screwing.
Speaker 2: Around replying the comments.
Speaker 3: If you think me and money should have a role
Speaker 3: in personnel, it's twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Let us know you pick of our picks.
Speaker 3: Really just a couple of minutes on the Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: like Mahomes did it again, Kelsey did it again.
Speaker 2: They're running everybody back. Uh, but I love it.
Speaker 3: I think that this is the this is going to
Speaker 3: be a division where you know, everybody's just going to
Speaker 3: crown the Chiefs, and you know deservedly so. And it's
Speaker 3: it's just going to be musty football with with Peyton
Speaker 3: Harborne reading the division. Man.
Speaker 1: So I want to make sure I say I frame
Speaker 1: this the right way. Totally understand why you take Zion.
Speaker 1: You've got Herbert, you want to protect him at all costs.
Speaker 1: Tom came from Indianapolis, where Andrew Luck got his head
Speaker 1: beat in because they did not have a good offensive line.
Speaker 1: But this is where you hear the term positional value.
Speaker 1: And I know where you're going because we talked about it.
Speaker 1: Trent McDuffie is one of the best corners I had
Speaker 1: seen in college football in a long, long time. And
Speaker 1: that's what we were talking about, Like, you know, you got
Speaker 1: a chance to take McDuffie here, and you want to
Speaker 1: talk about an elite human being, elite corner and he's
Speaker 1: turned into the best slot corner in the league. And
Speaker 1: you saw what he did in that game. He dominated
Speaker 1: that game absolutely, And that's you draft interior lineman you
Speaker 1: can draft in the second and the third and the
Speaker 1: fourth round. Corners you got to draft in the first round.
Speaker 1: Tackles you have to draft in the first round. Like
Speaker 1: that's quarterbacks you have to draft in the third. There's
Speaker 1: certain positions defensive ends in the first round for the
Speaker 1: most part. Like that's something to keep in mind. And
Speaker 1: that's why when you're sitting at I think it was
Speaker 1: picked seventeen, right, isn't that what Zion was. I think
Speaker 1: it was seventeen. Yeah, you see, and you're in too.
Speaker 1: From what I understand, that's what the big debate was,
Speaker 1: do we take the corner, Do we take the the
Speaker 1: number one guard, or do we take this corner that's
Speaker 1: slid because there's some size concerns. Will he be able
Speaker 1: to play outside? Listen, he can play wherever the hell
Speaker 1: he wants. I got tackles. He's I know that he's
Speaker 1: not ideal size, but man, he's incredible. So that's every
Speaker 1: time I watched him make a play, I'm just like
Speaker 1: man Bosco kid, just sitting right there.
Speaker 3: Wait, you know, I remember how much he talked about
Speaker 3: him leading up to the third and four where he
Speaker 3: was the free rusher.
Speaker 1: That right, that was the game, man, game, that's the game.
Speaker 3: In fact, Noolo like he doesn't get enough credit for
Speaker 3: for what he does, especially in crunch time and what
Speaker 3: he was able to do to the Niners in that game.
Speaker 3: But you're right, man, seeing McDuffie, you're you're envious of
Speaker 3: a of a player like that and you hate it
Speaker 3: you have to face him twice a year.
Speaker 1: Undred percent. And I think that game also was a
Speaker 1: reminder of execution that the Chiefs were gettable all year.
Speaker 1: They just execute at such a premium compared to other teams.
Speaker 1: That's how they win these games. Their execution is they're
Speaker 1: never gonna let you pull away, whether they're trading punches
Speaker 1: with you offensively or their defense is trading punches. And
Speaker 1: that's what that game was. It was the defense playing
Speaker 1: against two elite defenses, going head to head and just
Speaker 1: giving Mahomes an opportunity. And that's something that I would
Speaker 1: love to see develop where we saw many an occasion
Speaker 1: where either the offense gave the defense an opportunity or
Speaker 1: the defense gave the Chargers offense and opportunity and they
Speaker 1: weren't able to take advantage of it. And that's what
Speaker 1: the Chiefs did. They were getting they were getting just destroyed.
Speaker 1: Their offense was doing nothing, they had nothing going on,
Speaker 1: but the defense was able to keep them in it,
Speaker 1: creating a turnover, holding them to field goals. And then
Speaker 1: here we go. Here's our bit of Chief's luck like
Speaker 1: we always get because to some degree you make your
Speaker 1: own luck because you keep the game close. And here's
Speaker 1: the muff punt bounces off somebody's leg. Next play, touchdown.
Speaker 1: Now our offense is back in sync and we're getting
Speaker 1: back after this. And that's that's my takeaway is just
Speaker 1: execution is going to be so important, and you saw
Speaker 1: that in this game, an elite defense, elite offense being
Speaker 1: able to take advantage of opportunity.
Speaker 3: It was the best defense that Patrick Mahomes has had
Speaker 3: since he became a Kansas City chief.
Speaker 1: It's going to have it next year too, he will.
Speaker 3: And it also just reminds me too that if you
Speaker 3: have a quarterback, you always have a chance, and when
Speaker 3: you have an elite quarterback, you're always going to.
Speaker 2: Be in games.
Speaker 3: And that that's why I think charges Fins should be
Speaker 3: encouraged to justin Herbers under center, and hopefully with the
Speaker 3: coaching of Jim Rball and the staff and just having
Speaker 3: the complimentary pieces around him, we'll start to see that
Speaker 3: luck kind of change in the favor of.
Speaker 2: The Chargers here over the next couple of years.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like.
Speaker 2: What Mahomes can do when it counts.
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, Steve Wolks got fired and he had
Speaker 3: he shut them down for a majority of the game.
Speaker 1: You know, it was odd, right, right, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a bit odd. But I think when you looked
Speaker 1: at the close of the season, the two playoff games,
Speaker 1: their run defense was not great and they had.
Speaker 3: The game in Minnesota too, where they did it like
Speaker 3: a zero blitz and he moved out from the Yeah.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the only reason you make
Speaker 1: that move is because there's somebody else out there that
Speaker 1: you like more to me, So I'll be interested to
Speaker 1: see who he hires, because that's why. Why would you
Speaker 1: get rid of a guy that that held Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: to nineteen points and you couldn't beat them? You tell me,
Speaker 1: you tell me, that's what did I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of what did Gus used to say. Gus used to say.
Speaker 1: I remember, he used to say, hey, with this guy,
Speaker 1: and this is when they had Tyreek Hill, remember, and
Speaker 1: so he used to say, as far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: seven a quarter, If we can hold them to seven
Speaker 1: a quarter, we got a shot. And that's when the
Speaker 1: offense was playing at a high level, and he's like,
Speaker 1: we're going to have to beat the Chiefs twenty nine
Speaker 1: to twenty eight, thirty one, twenty eight. That's just reality.
Speaker 1: That's how high octane this offense is. And you go
Speaker 1: into a game and you say to your defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: can you hold them to less than three touchdowns? And
Speaker 1: he says, yes, I can give me that guy all day.
Speaker 1: I'll take that guy all day long. Less than three
Speaker 1: touchdowns in regulation and you should have won.
Speaker 3: Well, the Chiefs they found something with a lot of
Speaker 3: the key pieces that they got on defense, and then
Speaker 3: they rubbed that defense a lot this year.
Speaker 2: You know you don't.
Speaker 3: You didn't have that vertical passing game and you had
Speaker 3: a lot of guys. So much was made about the
Speaker 3: drops from the wide receivers and when it counted. But
Speaker 3: cool Hartman makes the makes the game winning play in
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. But I I do think that outside
Speaker 3: of mahomes Van, you tip your head to Steve Spagnola
Speaker 3: in that defense, and the Chargers are gonna have to
Speaker 3: face them twice a year.
Speaker 1: They're pretty good, no doubt, and they're they're not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: Chris Jones will be back. They'll resign him. Carl Loftus
Speaker 1: is on a rookie deal. Dana Panell, those guys they've
Speaker 1: drafted so well you go to the next level. They're linebackers.
Speaker 1: Nick Bolton, Willie Gay. We know our old friend Drew
Speaker 1: Trank will maybe bring him back as a free agent.
Speaker 1: Say sorry about that, wasn't us previous coaching regime love
Speaker 1: to have you back. Obviously, the secondary with Snead and McDuffie,
Speaker 1: like they're they're incredible. Reid played at a very high level,
Speaker 1: signed as a free agent, so that's that's a load.
Speaker 1: And and Spagnola is an incredible coordinator and and calls
Speaker 1: a heck of a game. So it's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: to knock them off. But I got faith. I got
Speaker 1: faith in this coaching staff and and the way they're
Speaker 1: gonna rebuild this and the players they're going to keep
Speaker 1: around to figure out a way. Yep.
Speaker 3: Well, guys, we're gonna be the Combine in a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks, and we're gonna have a bunch of episodes
Speaker 3: for you, just a ton of interviews.
Speaker 2: So maybe next week we do a Q and a.
Speaker 3: Get get some fan questions, talk about the draft, talk
Speaker 3: about the coaching staff and anything that may come up
Speaker 3: ahead of the Combine, answer some questions, and then get
Speaker 3: to Indy for.
Speaker 1: Sure looking forward to Its gonna be a lot. It's
Speaker 1: the best time. Man, It's so much fun right now
Speaker 1: with just team building, restocking, reshaping, all the stuff. Now
Speaker 1: that they have their staff that's going to come into
Speaker 1: play over the next two months. Is going to be
Speaker 1: very exciting and we're gonna be all over it for
Speaker 1: the next every single week. And like you said, when
Speaker 1: we go to the Combine a week from today, we're
Speaker 1: doing this on Thursday to fifteenth, so we'll go a
Speaker 1: week from Monday is when we'll head out, and we'll
Speaker 1: be there Monday through Friday, talking to all our old friends,
Speaker 1: some new friends. Obviously the pressers with with coach Harbaugh
Speaker 1: and general manager Joe Ortiz, and hopefully we'll get both
Speaker 1: of them on if we can get a little window
Speaker 1: there and knock it out. So be sure to pay
Speaker 1: attention because that week it's gonna be more more than
Speaker 1: just a single pod. There's gonna be a lot that
Speaker 1: that we're gonna throw your way.
Speaker 3: Charges Weekly is chargers week long. Charge charges week long
Speaker 3: is where we're gonna call it through the copy at
Speaker 3: all right, all right, guys, So for buddy, I'm Chris.
Speaker 2: This has been Charges Weekly. We'll see you next week.