Speaker 1: Late fifteen to ten touched up sucks. What's up?
Speaker 2: Guys?
Speaker 1: Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly, as always,
Speaker 1: joined by Matt Muney Smith. Buddy, We are less than
Speaker 1: a week away from the NFL Scouting Combine Q and
Speaker 1: A with the fans today, but I cannot wait for
Speaker 1: next week. We got a lot of surprises, we do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was kind of going through the questions to
Speaker 2: prep for today's pod, and I know there was kind
Speaker 2: of there were a couple in there about the combine,
Speaker 2: but I'll just kind of knock one out, sorry, Chris
Speaker 2: real quick, you know, because you said the combine. When
Speaker 2: are we gonna start hearing from coaches at the combine?
Speaker 2: I think we'll probably catch up with a couple of
Speaker 2: the coaches. Position coaches go out to the combine to
Speaker 2: evaluate the talent they fly in for the day of
Speaker 2: the drills for their respective position groups that they coach,
Speaker 2: and so the hope is that we'll catch up with
Speaker 2: a few of them while we're out there. But I'm excited.
Speaker 2: Obviously used to cover the Combine for a decade plus
Speaker 2: with the NFL Network and NFL dot Com. Some of
Speaker 2: my favorite things, if not my favorite thing I've ever
Speaker 2: done in sports. When they, you know, before the NFL
Speaker 2: realized the mistake they had made, they would put us
Speaker 2: on the field. They would let me just have complete
Speaker 2: free reign of the field with Bucky dj when he
Speaker 2: first got started, lanzerline, Ike Taylor, Maurice Jones, Drew, They're
Speaker 2: about seven or eight of us, and we just had
Speaker 2: all access. We could go anywhere, stand exactly wherever we wanted.
Speaker 2: I was maybe ten feet from Justin Herbert during his
Speaker 2: throwing drills when he came out. I remember the RG
Speaker 2: three and Andrew luckyar standing at the finish line when
Speaker 2: they're running their forties, watching Andrew Luck doing the vert
Speaker 2: and the broad jump, and so the combine has always
Speaker 2: had a I've always had a very special connection. You know.
Speaker 2: I really enjoy it. I know some people think it's
Speaker 2: a bit ridiculous, but just having been in the thick
Speaker 2: of it for as many years as I was, I
Speaker 2: do know how important it is and how much can
Speaker 2: change coming out of the combine. People try to minimize it,
Speaker 2: but I've seen it firsthand. I've seen Tron Armstead go
Speaker 2: from someone absolutely nobody knew who he was Arkansas pine
Speaker 2: Bluff to a mid round pick, and now one of
Speaker 2: the best should have been a first round pick, but
Speaker 2: everyone's still like, eh, I don't know about the production,
Speaker 2: but you could see it on the field, just the
Speaker 2: way he moved. Things like that end up happening every
Speaker 2: single year at the Combine, So I'm excited.
Speaker 1: It's my favorite event on the NFL calendar by far.
Speaker 1: I think the Draft is second. Everybody has hope in March,
Speaker 1: and there's just so many things happening at the Combine. Money,
Speaker 1: independent of the workouts and the interviews. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: a starter free agency, just new coaches especially. I think
Speaker 1: the last time I was there was the Herbert year
Speaker 1: pre pandemic. And when you have a top five pick
Speaker 1: or a top ten pick, or if you have a
Speaker 1: new coach, new GM, it just makes the event even
Speaker 1: more magnified. So I can't wait to dig in and
Speaker 1: talk to some of the position coaches and just look
Speaker 1: at some of these prospects, because at number five overall,
Speaker 1: we talked to Joe a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like this is a team that
Speaker 1: could do so many different things at number five, and
Speaker 1: a lot of it is just contingent on the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Like the quarterbacks don't affect the Chargers because they don't
Speaker 1: need one, but they do because if somebody wants one
Speaker 1: and one's available at number five. Overall, you may get
Speaker 1: a haul that in years past you wouldn't get because
Speaker 1: this class is so strong, and I think they're projecting
Speaker 1: that this class in comparison to next year's class, if
Speaker 1: you want a quarterback, this is probably the year to
Speaker 1: get it.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, it's not close as far as just especially
Speaker 2: at the top. Caleb Williams, Drake May when you're talking
Speaker 2: about next year at the top, and you know, I
Speaker 2: guess Quinn Youwers is probably the headliner as it stands
Speaker 2: right now. I don't know what kind of Carson Beck's
Speaker 2: going to have at Georgia, but yeah, that's that's probably
Speaker 2: that's going to be a reason why someone could reach
Speaker 2: for a And JJ McCarthy is the one I think
Speaker 2: we're talking about. I don't think Jaden Daniels gets out
Speaker 2: of the top five. I think he have to weigh
Speaker 2: in really light at the combine and I would assume
Speaker 2: we saw it last year with you know, Bryce Young
Speaker 2: ends up getting over two hundred pounds and you know
Speaker 2: immediately gets back down into the one high one eighties,
Speaker 2: you know, one nineties. So we'll see that with Jayden
Speaker 2: as well. He'll come in over two hundred pounds. I
Speaker 2: don't know if they want to see him over two
Speaker 2: ten or what they want him to be, but you
Speaker 2: can make that happen with water weight. So I suspect
Speaker 2: those guys will go one, two three, I'd be I'd
Speaker 2: be really surprised if they didn't. But I think what
Speaker 2: we're seeing and you saw it in DJ's latest mock
Speaker 2: draft at NFL dot com. JJ McCarthy at eight to
Speaker 2: the Falcons and JJ is is going to end up
Speaker 2: being a very popular quarterback by the time the draft
Speaker 2: rolls a And I think that's where that number five
Speaker 2: pick can come into play for a quarterback, because that's
Speaker 2: when you're really going to get the Hall if if
Speaker 2: the Vikings, and that's I could see the Falcons or
Speaker 2: the Vikings and look, a lot of this is going
Speaker 2: to depend on free agency and Russell. You know, what
Speaker 2: happens with Russell Wilson, what happens with Justin Fields, what
Speaker 2: happens with Kirk Cousins. You know, there are some free
Speaker 2: Jimmy Garoppolo. There are going to be some free agent,
Speaker 2: you know, free agent. There's going to be some free
Speaker 2: agent movement that may dictate whether or not all of
Speaker 2: those teams have filled their their whole or not. But
Speaker 2: I suspect I'd be very surprised if someone didn't trade
Speaker 2: up to number five to get McCarthy, if DJ's projecting
Speaker 2: him at number eight to the Falcons, if he's as
Speaker 2: popular as we think he is, you know, specifically in
Speaker 2: light of what brock Purty has done. You know, someone
Speaker 2: who looks as though they're going to excel and that
Speaker 2: style of offense, someone who uses the middle of the field,
Speaker 2: someone who's got that athleticism that is a very quick
Speaker 2: process or that you know is on time, that is accurate.
Speaker 2: There's gonna be I think about the Rams, the Vikings
Speaker 2: are the first two. The Falcons and come to mind,
Speaker 2: you know, Raheem v and Sean McVay. Yeah, so I
Speaker 2: think those particular teams are going to be really interested
Speaker 2: in JJ McCarthy and might want to trade up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we dove into this last week a little bit.
Speaker 1: Would you trade with the Broncos or Raiders knowing that
Speaker 1: they would want jj McCarthy. I don't know, if I
Speaker 1: don't know if the you know, Jim, Jim was talking
Speaker 1: about him being the number one quarterback in this draft,
Speaker 1: so knowing that you'd have to play him twice a year,
Speaker 1: it's probably something you have to think twice about.
Speaker 2: But uh, the with the Broncos to Chris that they're
Speaker 2: they're low on picks, you know, they don't have a second,
Speaker 2: so you're talking about the Raiders do, so I think
Speaker 2: that's kind of to me. That's the more interesting part
Speaker 2: is if I think you want picks in the top
Speaker 2: one hundred. So if you're going to trade back that far,
Speaker 2: you're going to trade back to twelve or thirteen, you're
Speaker 2: gonna want another one in the top sixty for sure,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna probably want a third as well. It
Speaker 2: would be my guess. If that's how far back you're going,
Speaker 2: you're gonna probably want their two and their three and
Speaker 2: maybe a conditional for next year or something along those.
Speaker 2: You know, another three next year like that. That's gonna
Speaker 2: that's a big drop. You know, when you're going seven
Speaker 2: eight spots back. It's not like going to eight and
Speaker 2: you go from five to eight and you grab their two,
Speaker 2: you know, something like that. So to me, because we
Speaker 2: talked about it last week, the more I thought about it,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what, I think it just comes
Speaker 2: down to the package. I think about what Joe said
Speaker 2: in his introductory press conference about Coppicks and and how
Speaker 2: this is really it's a top heavy draft, but it's
Speaker 2: also a deep draft, and I think that that to
Speaker 2: me would ultimately like whatever, you know what, We're not
Speaker 2: gonna worry about JJ McCarthy to the Broncos or the Raiders.
Speaker 2: If they're the ones that are gonnaive us their second
Speaker 2: and their third and maybe a one next something crazy
Speaker 2: like that, then yeah, whatever, take them. Well, We're comfortable
Speaker 2: with Justin Herbert is maybe being the best quarterback you
Speaker 2: know who can eventually become the best quarterback in the division.
Speaker 2: You know, all due respect to Patrick Mahomes, but just
Speaker 2: someone who has the ability to perhaps dethrone him with
Speaker 2: the right coaching and the right pieces around him.
Speaker 1: The Patriots are the biggest wildcard here because if we
Speaker 1: believe the Caleb Williams is gonna go to Chicago and
Speaker 1: the Commanders are going to select their quarterback of the future,
Speaker 1: the Patriots they have a young roster, do you bring
Speaker 1: in a veteran and pair them with Marvin Harrison junior?
Speaker 1: So whatever they do, I think is going to really
Speaker 1: change the complexion of the draft and what the charges
Speaker 1: may get at number five too, because let's say the
Speaker 1: Raiders want Jayden Daniels and they're going to give the
Speaker 1: Patriots an offer they can't refuse, and they just stack picks.
Speaker 1: They end up getting JJ McCarthy or bo Nix or
Speaker 1: Penix later in the first round and have a haul
Speaker 1: of picks. I mean, I just look at those first
Speaker 1: three picks. They all need quarterbacks money. It's just depended
Speaker 1: on I guess what direction they go. Some of these
Speaker 1: questions that we got, I almost feel like we should
Speaker 1: save some of them for next week, like with with
Speaker 1: some of these analysts that we talk to, because you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about fifth, sixth, and seventh round a tier aligneman.
Speaker 1: I think maybe right guys like Lance or DJ or
Speaker 1: whoever may be better suited to answer those questions in
Speaker 1: late February. But let's just get right to some of
Speaker 1: these questions.
Speaker 2: I would say something just real, real quick, Chris, before
Speaker 2: we before we start with the Q and A you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking at the mock draft, you know, just
Speaker 2: kind of the draft order off the screen. I think
Speaker 2: it's also you know, it depends what the Chargers board
Speaker 2: looks like like. You don't how closely grated out or
Speaker 2: if it's offensive line, you know, how close is Joe
Speaker 2: Walt to Vashanu to Fuaga to Latham. Because justin Jefferson's
Speaker 2: going to make the most money of any player that's
Speaker 2: not a quarterback. That's what this contract's going to look like.
Speaker 2: And when you start talking about that and having to
Speaker 2: pay a wide receiver thirty two to thirty three million
Speaker 2: dollars a year, you know, if you have you know,
Speaker 2: if you think Terry and Arnold or Nate Wiggins or
Speaker 2: Quinyan Mitchell, one of those corners you know, are graded
Speaker 2: very similarly to what you might get at eight or
Speaker 2: nine or five brock Boers. If you think he's gonna
Speaker 2: slide to fifteen or something, one of these teams could
Speaker 2: trade a Haul to jump up to get a Douneesay,
Speaker 2: Neighbors or Harrison because of just the economics, I mean
Speaker 2: the fact that you can lock these guys in for
Speaker 2: five years in a franchise tag six years wide, receivers
Speaker 2: were becoming that valuable because of what we're going to
Speaker 2: see with contracts, you know, when you've got to pay.
Speaker 2: We saw it with Tennessee. We saw it with Stefon
Speaker 2: Diggs and Buffalo and you know, getting Jefferson on that
Speaker 2: rookie contract because they did not want to pay Steffan Diggs.
Speaker 2: They didn't want to pay A. J. Brown. They thought
Speaker 2: they were going to replace him with Traylon Burg's with
Speaker 2: the first round pick. Like, I think there's still potential
Speaker 2: outside of the quarterback where you could end up picking
Speaker 2: up two and a four or something along a two
Speaker 2: and a high three, you know, to go back for
Speaker 2: one of these teams that may want to jump up,
Speaker 2: you know, to get at the Colts, the Saints, you know,
Speaker 2: to get one of those three elite receivers that are
Speaker 2: gonna end up going in the top eight picks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great point. And we also don't know
Speaker 1: what what the charge is gonna do with Mike Williams
Speaker 1: and Keenan Allen. Like if if if a Doonsay Neighbors
Speaker 1: and one of those guys that Marvin Harrison, one of
Speaker 1: those guys will be there at five, and if if
Speaker 1: the Chargers have a super high blue chip grade on
Speaker 1: one of those guys and said, hey, this is the
Speaker 1: best player in the draft, stick and pick right, like like,
Speaker 1: just start start building Justin's weapons. See if you can
Speaker 1: get more out of Quentin Johnson. In the year two
Speaker 1: you got Joshua Palmer, and then we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with with Keenan and Mike. But there's just there's just
Speaker 1: so many really solid options for the Chargers at five,
Speaker 1: which leads me to this first question by Alex Murray.
Speaker 1: With a limited amount of funds the Bolts have to
Speaker 1: spend in the offseason, which positions would you prioritize to
Speaker 1: a free agent signing. That's a good question. I'll just
Speaker 1: start off with one position. I think running back is
Speaker 1: an intriguing position in free agency because you can get
Speaker 1: guys for maybe a little bit cheaper. I mean running backs,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. That's the cost of doing
Speaker 1: business being a running back in the NFL. So I
Speaker 1: look at the like the Ravens roster. They have a
Speaker 1: lot of unrestricted free agents that Joe knows, not saying
Speaker 1: they're going to go to that well the entire time,
Speaker 1: but you know, there's some guys like Gus Edwards, there's
Speaker 1: some other I think running backs that could be very
Speaker 1: intriguing with what Greg Roman and Jim Harball want to.
Speaker 2: Do, probably depend on how they feel about the draft.
Speaker 2: You would much rather have a running back because you
Speaker 2: can get them in the middle rounds. You can get
Speaker 2: them late day two, you can get them early day three,
Speaker 2: you know, late third round, fourth round, in that range.
Speaker 2: And now instead of paying them, you know, four and
Speaker 2: a half million bucks, you're paying them seven hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty grand. And that goes a long way when you're
Speaker 2: talking about the cap situation the Chargers are in. But
Speaker 2: you make a great point, Chris, because you think about
Speaker 2: what the what the Lions did last year with Montgomery
Speaker 2: and how important he was to them, and and so
Speaker 2: you can get these players Jamal Williams going to the
Speaker 2: Saints on just a tiny deal. You know there are
Speaker 2: going to be players available. You mentioned Gus Edwards, someone
Speaker 2: that that Ortiz is certainly very familiar with. So you
Speaker 2: can get players that seem, you know, that are relative bargains.
Speaker 2: I just don't know if they're enough of them, if
Speaker 2: even that is enough of a bargain. The Singletary contract,
Speaker 2: the you know, the the Montgomery contract, the Jamal Williams contract.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if that's enough of a bargain
Speaker 2: to make it worthwhile to attack that position. You know,
Speaker 2: there's look, they're gonna sign free agents. I don't think
Speaker 2: there's any doubt about that. What I think, you know,
Speaker 2: coach Harbaugh and Joe Ortiz are going to be looking
Speaker 2: for is sort of you know what these this new
Speaker 2: coaching staff believes they can coach up. You know, hey,
Speaker 2: there's hidden value here and in these oldlignment. I believe
Speaker 2: there's hidden value in this center and centers typically. You know,
Speaker 2: can we can we find value in that position? That's
Speaker 2: to me, that's and I think you'll probably find some
Speaker 2: because they need to build depth on the old line.
Speaker 2: I think you'll see some some of those lower numbered
Speaker 2: signings at that position. Group linebacker is always interesting because
Speaker 2: they tend not to make a lot of money. But
Speaker 2: I think it's important to remember there's premium positions. I
Speaker 2: think you hit it on the head right, it's not
Speaker 2: going to be it's probably not going to be wide receiver,
Speaker 2: defensive end, you know, offensive tackle, corner. You know what
Speaker 2: you're what you probably could look like is interior line, linebacker, safety,
Speaker 2: running back is sort of you know, maybe a blocking
Speaker 2: tight end, which they desperately need. I think it's it's
Speaker 2: sort of that path that I would be looking for.
Speaker 2: I don't think is going to be much in terms
Speaker 2: of a free agent splash. I'd be surprised.
Speaker 1: Yeah, someone had a question about Cody white Hare getting released.
Speaker 1: The positional versatility is a garden center, I think, if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, I think the Rams are going to
Speaker 1: release Brian Allen their center, and you know Zeitler's a
Speaker 1: free agents so there's there's a lot of potential free
Speaker 1: agent options to kind of bolster the interior line. I
Speaker 1: do think center is going to be a priority, trying
Speaker 1: to get your center of the future as opposed to
Speaker 1: maybe a guy who you have for a couple of years,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's something they do in the draft.
Speaker 2: It's also no important, Chris to remember compicks. You know,
Speaker 2: Joe Ortiz specifically brought it up three or four times.
Speaker 2: You don't get compicks by signing free agents, especially when
Speaker 2: the Chargers aren't going to have a whole lot going out.
Speaker 2: You can't cut a guy that then gets signed as
Speaker 2: a free agent and get a compic. It's when they
Speaker 2: leave an unrestricted free agency and because they don't have
Speaker 2: a lot, there's Kenneth Murray, there's a lowie Gilman. You know,
Speaker 2: like you're trying to get that. You're trying to get
Speaker 2: that math to work out in your favor so you
Speaker 2: get those Coppicks and you're not gonna that. That's not
Speaker 2: going to happen if you're busy signing a bunch of
Speaker 2: guys when you don't have a lot of guys going
Speaker 2: out this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point. This is from Don provided
Speaker 1: Mayor Daniels is there at number five and the Chargers
Speaker 1: are offered a haul for the pick. What's the lowest
Speaker 1: number they would trade back for and what position would
Speaker 1: they select? And he put cornerback, right, tackle, center, edge,
Speaker 1: and why I'll go first, real quick money. I just
Speaker 1: think free agency is going to dictate a lot of
Speaker 1: what they do and who they get a free agency,
Speaker 1: who they're comfortable with on the roster, and how far
Speaker 1: back they're willing to go is how much the package is.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think the Chargers have a number
Speaker 1: of positions that they could attack. You mentioned corner. You know,
Speaker 1: this is a pretty good corner class, and I would
Speaker 1: be surprised if they didn't select a corner early in
Speaker 1: this draft because they just they need to kind of
Speaker 1: stockpile that position. But what do you think, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of different well I think the Chargers
Speaker 1: could use right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's deep at it's really pretty. It's pretty deep
Speaker 2: at two particular positions. And it happens to be two
Speaker 2: positions based on what happens with Mike Williams and Keenan
Speaker 2: Allen that the Chargers you could you could argue have
Speaker 2: as listed as needs. And that's tackle. It's an incredibly
Speaker 2: deep tackle class. It's tackle and it's wide receiver. It's
Speaker 2: a deep you know, I don't know where Brian Thomas
Speaker 2: is going to go, but you know, if he's you know,
Speaker 2: I had the most touchdowns in football and obviously was
Speaker 2: overshadowed by Milike Nahbors at LSU. But like you're you're
Speaker 2: talking about a deep you could end up having seven, six, seven,
Speaker 2: maybe eight wide receivers go in the first round. You're
Speaker 2: probably gonna end up having seven tackles go in the
Speaker 2: first round. So just think about that. You know, if
Speaker 2: you've got a first round grade, let's say there's a
Speaker 2: first round grade on four receivers. You've got a first
Speaker 2: round grade on let's say three tackles, Wiggins, Mitchell, and Arnold.
Speaker 2: That's now seven, you've got a first round grade on
Speaker 2: probably I would guess five tackles Altaishano, Fuaga, Latham, and
Speaker 2: probably Shoot, it's escaping me the name out of Washington.
Speaker 2: You got those those five guys you've got, so, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's a lot if you're talking about four quarterbacks. Now
Speaker 2: now you're talking about maybe going down as far as sixteen,
Speaker 2: because like here's and look, this might just be my philosophy,
Speaker 2: but I would assume it's it's subscribed to by most gms.
Speaker 2: To me, the first round draft, a premium position draft,
Speaker 2: to tackle draft, the defensive end draft, a corner draft,
Speaker 2: a wide receiver draft, the quarterback. You know, that's to me,
Speaker 2: that's important because they're just you tend to be able
Speaker 2: to find the other positions late. It's something the Rams
Speaker 2: have been really good at. They have not had those
Speaker 2: first picks, and when you look at all of their selections,
Speaker 2: when they have these twos and threes and fours, they're linebackers, safeties,
Speaker 2: tight ends, guards. You can really stock your roster and
Speaker 2: build some depth in those later rounds. So when I
Speaker 2: think about four corners, the five wide receivers, brock Bowers like,
Speaker 2: there's enough there where you could trade back to the
Speaker 2: to the late teams, maybe the mid to late teens,
Speaker 2: and still feel really good about the player are going
Speaker 2: to get. Now I'm gonna make this even longer. There's
Speaker 2: also the idea, like you said earlier, Chris about the
Speaker 2: blue chip do we wanna do we really want to
Speaker 2: get out of the range of neighbors a Doonzay Harrison,
Speaker 2: Junior alt Fashanu Bowers to do we want to remove
Speaker 2: ourselves from those six players? Would also be the conversation
Speaker 2: or Terry and Arnold if he's in there, Quinian Mitchell
Speaker 2: if he's you know what I mean like that to
Speaker 2: that's the secondary conversation. How big of a drop is
Speaker 2: it from what we have listed? Is this top heavy,
Speaker 2: really really talented at the top draft and where we
Speaker 2: want to find ourselves.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can go past fifteen, but
Speaker 1: I just do you subscribe to this though? Money like
Speaker 1: because you have justin Herbert and we've seen what he's
Speaker 1: done with guys like Geiden and t Billy. You can
Speaker 1: get away with getting an extra second or a future
Speaker 1: first and draft a guy like Brian Thomas and then
Speaker 1: have an extra pick to restock your secondary or to
Speaker 1: get another edge player, to get another interior lineman or
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. Like I think those are the conversations in
Speaker 1: terms of roster building and team building that you probably
Speaker 1: have to have. Is yes, Roman Donza and Neighbors and
Speaker 1: Marvin Harrison. Yeah, those are like slam dunk Blue Chippers.
Speaker 1: But if you can get a couple extra picks in
Speaker 1: this draft and you really like some of these position groups,
Speaker 1: is it worth getting the fourth or fifth best receiver
Speaker 1: in this draft or maybe brock Bauers drops a little
Speaker 1: bit because of just some of the needs at the
Speaker 1: top of the draft, and then you get an extra
Speaker 1: corner or you gets your future center in the second round.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think those are the conversations that you
Speaker 1: have to have, right.
Speaker 2: Certainly, and just the team needs depth, and I think
Speaker 2: that's where it really comes in is and to me,
Speaker 2: once you for me, once you get out of those
Speaker 2: to me, Thomas is going to work his way into
Speaker 2: that that conversation of being probably top half of the
Speaker 2: first round again just because of the economics. So I
Speaker 2: think once you get outside of that, yeah, wait, it's
Speaker 2: there's seventeen. Yeah, I think DJ's got or maybe it
Speaker 2: was Dan Brugley I heard say he's got seventeen receivers
Speaker 2: in his top one hundred, So you know, you can wait,
Speaker 2: that's where I would then.
Speaker 1: Let's get that.
Speaker 2: Let's try to get a high second rounder and just
Speaker 2: stack the O line, get the center, get the tackle,
Speaker 2: and now you have depth. Now you have depth with Pipkins,
Speaker 2: you have depth with Solur you can you can maybe
Speaker 2: find a starting center out there, you know, or another
Speaker 2: center to create some depth on your offensive line. We
Speaker 2: know how Jim Harbaugh wants to play. How did he
Speaker 2: beat Ohio State three years in a row. How did
Speaker 2: he win a national championship? Physical line play, dominating at
Speaker 2: the lines, taking a team we say it all the time,
Speaker 2: into the deep end in the fourth quarter and and
Speaker 2: pulling him under. That's the way he plays football. It's
Speaker 2: way he's always played football, so to me, and it's
Speaker 2: it's Fatanu out of Washington and Marius Mims. I forgot
Speaker 2: about it. Was just an absolute mammoth human being out
Speaker 2: of Georgia. Like you're talking about six tackles, so you
Speaker 2: could trade back and feel real good. And now if
Speaker 2: you know you're looking at again, if you're if you're
Speaker 2: looking at centers, because clearly the way they restructured Corey
Speaker 2: Lindsley's contract, it appears as though he's gonna retire in
Speaker 2: you know, start a June, and this was just some
Speaker 2: cap math to help them out. But if you look
Speaker 2: at centers, now you can get both. Now you can
Speaker 2: get your tackle, and who knows, maybe you decide tackles
Speaker 2: really deep and you just love Jackson Powers Johnson, because
Speaker 2: that guy's gonna go in the top twenty, and you
Speaker 2: have him rated just considerably higher than Zach Fraser, who's
Speaker 2: a name that we've talked about here, and I know
Speaker 2: DJ likes the guy on a do quite a bit,
Speaker 2: who's technically a guard but very well could end up
Speaker 2: transitioning or I think he was a tackle, but he's
Speaker 2: projected as a guard.
Speaker 1: Yes him, he's the top guy too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So it's one of those where you're now
Speaker 2: doing the math. We need to get deep. We need
Speaker 2: a lot of picks and that's a long answer.
Speaker 1: But great segue though into our next question money from
Speaker 1: David Thompson. You can only double dip on one position
Speaker 1: group in the draft. Which do you choose and why?
Speaker 1: For me, it's interior or offensive line and in defensive line.
Speaker 1: I know the defensive line class isn't really heavy. It's
Speaker 1: not great, Uh, but you need to build that the
Speaker 1: way that Harball wants to play. You gotta build your lines.
Speaker 1: So I think you know, double dip on the on
Speaker 1: the lines offensive line, defensive line.
Speaker 2: At one hundred percent agree, I would. I would go corner.
Speaker 2: I just feel it's the thinnest group. Mike Davis is
Speaker 2: a free agent. Jac Jackson did not work out. He's
Speaker 2: going to kunt of twenty million bucks against the cap.
Speaker 2: Gotta sante. They need corners. You got Patrick Mahomes in
Speaker 2: the division, you got Joe Burrow and the conference, Josh
Speaker 2: Allen and the Conference. You you you got Tyreek Hill
Speaker 2: and Jayden and Jaylen Waddle down in Miami. You need
Speaker 2: corners desperately so and they're great. What did Brandon Staley
Speaker 2: always tell us favorite special teams players were corners? Was
Speaker 2: always going to populate the roster with corners, especially with
Speaker 2: those late round picks, because he believes they're the best
Speaker 2: special teams player and we saw that with Dean Leonard
Speaker 2: and jaw and those guys on special teams. So you
Speaker 2: get that double dip there great special teamers along with
Speaker 2: the position that's probably the thinnest outside of running back
Speaker 2: because of the free agents with Austin and Joshua Kelly.
Speaker 2: So that would be the one that I would love
Speaker 2: to see attacked.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it just speaks to the fact that you
Speaker 1: need depth, and this team needs depth at a lot of
Speaker 1: key positions. You know some of the questions, and you know,
Speaker 1: it makes sense a lot of a lot of fans
Speaker 1: want to talk about the running back and the wide
Speaker 1: receiver and the tight end, but it's just it's not
Speaker 1: a seven on seventeen, right, Like you really have to
Speaker 1: build your team through the draft, and it may not
Speaker 1: be sexy to talk about the offensive line, the defensive line,
Speaker 1: and maybe some of the quarter positions, but this team
Speaker 1: really needs to identify how they're going to play football,
Speaker 1: how they're gonna protect Justin Herbert and obviously get him
Speaker 1: weapons too. So it's it's so fun to talk about
Speaker 1: I remember last year we talked about John Robinson and
Speaker 1: Zave Flowers and all these different wide receivers and running
Speaker 1: backs that could be potential toys for Justin Herbert. But uh,
Speaker 1: it goes a little bit deeper than that too. Let's see, umm,
Speaker 1: flock with me, what's a position to two that you
Speaker 1: both think the draft can't answer for us that we
Speaker 1: would need to find in free agency or via trade.
Speaker 1: That's a good question.
Speaker 2: Well, so much of it is like we don't know
Speaker 2: what they're gonna do with with these players, Like we
Speaker 2: what if what if they go to Mike and say
Speaker 2: we're I let you go and you're coming off in
Speaker 2: a cl and and Mike's camp says I on another
Speaker 2: crack at it, just look at it as a free
Speaker 2: agent year. Let's let's reset this. Let's make it a
Speaker 2: one year prove it deal. I feel really good about
Speaker 2: this coaching staff and what I have to contribute. And
Speaker 2: and now you're keeping everyone, and now you've got Mike
Speaker 2: and Keenan and Josh Palmer and and Q. So now
Speaker 2: you're deep there. And same thing with Bosa. No I
Speaker 2: want to play for Jesse Minner, I know, so I
Speaker 2: would much rather do that than be traded some So
Speaker 2: I think that's such a big part of it because
Speaker 2: to me that that's the one concern is that, Okay,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna if you're gonna trade away Joey and
Speaker 2: Khalil and you only have two lee what and it's
Speaker 2: not a real deep edge class, how are you going
Speaker 2: to find that second pass rusher? And is it Matta
Speaker 2: bk Like, are you willing to invest a bunch of
Speaker 2: money there? Because now you've cut all this money out
Speaker 2: because Mike and Joey and Khalil are all gone and
Speaker 2: Keenan's restructured, and and now you've got forty fifty million
Speaker 2: dollars in money to spend, So so much can change
Speaker 2: based on how they want to approach those four contracts.
Speaker 2: It's safety is not a real deal. There aren't great
Speaker 2: safeties and they need a safety. Aloe is a free agent.
Speaker 2: So is there a safety out there that they can
Speaker 2: go get that they think fits the system that jesse
Speaker 2: Minner is going to be playing. You know, in terms
Speaker 2: of just position groups that aren't deep, tight end is
Speaker 2: not deep. So outside of brock Bauers, you've got a
Speaker 2: pretty big drop off. It's there there isn't really an
Speaker 2: elite running back in this in this draft. You talked
Speaker 2: about that earlier. So yeah, there are some position groups
Speaker 2: that you may have to to fill via free agency,
Speaker 2: and the good news is they're not typically high priced
Speaker 2: no position guys like.
Speaker 1: Hunter, Henry, Dalton Schultz. Uh, those are some of the
Speaker 1: tight ends that are out there, you know, and.
Speaker 2: With Hunter, yeah, you know if you tell me you've
Speaker 2: got to pass on Bowers, but you're gonna get Hunter
Speaker 2: Henry and a team friendly number along with now your
Speaker 2: draft and a tackle and a center or a blue
Speaker 2: chip wide receiver and in an interior alignment like in
Speaker 2: a corner, great one hundred percent. I would We know
Speaker 2: how much Justin loved having Hunter around, and we know
Speaker 2: that he's a full service tight end, so that that's great.
Speaker 2: Point like that would be an ideal free agent signing
Speaker 2: to bring him back.
Speaker 1: Bottom line is you know, like you said, between Mike, Keenan,
Speaker 1: Joey and Khalil, all that needs to be hashed out
Speaker 1: before we can even kind of see the plan come
Speaker 1: into place with free agency and then the draft. And
Speaker 1: we're going to have so many different Thursdays where we
Speaker 1: have different iterations of this podcast and what they may
Speaker 1: do based on what's happened in free agency. Yeah, great, Kim,
Speaker 1: I know this guy. If you were a draft project,
Speaker 1: what day of the combine would you prefer to do
Speaker 1: your drills money Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Speaker 2: So interesting about the combine. Every player isn't there at
Speaker 2: the same time. They fly the groups in based on
Speaker 2: what day they work out, So it's not like everybody
Speaker 2: gets to the combine on Monday, then you're weight in.
Speaker 2: If you're a corner, you got to sit around till Sunday.
Speaker 2: Now you fly in on Friday if you're the corner
Speaker 2: and you get all your medical done and then Saturday
Speaker 2: you're doing your interviews. Sunday you're doing your drills, and
Speaker 2: you're out. So they stack it where the guys aren't
Speaker 2: there at the same time. The one day I wouldn't
Speaker 2: want to be is Sunday because for the most part,
Speaker 2: a lot of the GMS and and Team you know,
Speaker 2: Team Brass are gone. They leave on Saturday. Sunday is
Speaker 2: a ghost town. So that's just the one day I
Speaker 2: wouldn't I if i feel like I've got something to
Speaker 2: prove at the combine and this is gonna help my stock.
Speaker 2: I would want to do it in front of the
Speaker 2: head coach in the GM. As much as I appreciate
Speaker 2: the DC and the and the and the secondary coaches
Speaker 2: being there who can go back and report, I'd like
Speaker 2: to have that head coach and that GM be wowed
Speaker 2: by what I did out there. So that would that
Speaker 2: would probably be the one day that I would not
Speaker 2: want to be there because it's interesting. I don't know
Speaker 2: how to explain it, because the corners are typically the
Speaker 2: best athletes there and they do put on a show
Speaker 2: and it's and it's the most fun drill. They do
Speaker 2: the Gauntlet drill, you know, on Sunday, and it's a
Speaker 2: lot of fun and it's just kind of this back
Speaker 2: and they do the gauntlet drill for the wide receivers,
Speaker 2: but they do these games with the corners and it
Speaker 2: ends up being a lot of fun. But that'd be
Speaker 2: the one day just because a lot of people are
Speaker 2: already gone and they're just they're over it. They're they're
Speaker 2: ready to get the heck out of there. Haven't been
Speaker 2: there since Monday. They want to get out of town.
Speaker 1: Yeah, give me, just give me day one. I want
Speaker 1: to be the first first in make a good impression. Uh,
Speaker 1: here we go. What kind of answered this one? Thoughts
Speaker 1: on trading down and trying to get Powers Johnson, Listen,
Speaker 1: anything's a possibility there reasonable.
Speaker 2: Now you trade down and get a blue chip that's
Speaker 2: what you want. Yeah, trade down, but don't trade down
Speaker 2: so far that you lose out on what you have
Speaker 2: a first a first round grade on and someone you
Speaker 2: know is going to be able to help you. That's
Speaker 2: why Powers Johnson's so interesting. It's not the sexiest position,
Speaker 2: but people are really freaking out over how good of
Speaker 2: a center he is.
Speaker 1: How would you guys feel if the Chargers walked away
Speaker 1: with Brock Bowers, Xavier Lyget from South Carolina, who I've
Speaker 1: had some nice highlights and the Notre Dame running.
Speaker 2: Back fine for me? Whoever. I just I have so
Speaker 2: much confidence in this front office I do. I feel
Speaker 2: like the coaching and the and the front office folks
Speaker 2: are are in sync. That Greg Roman is is going
Speaker 2: to dial up this run offense. He's going to tell
Speaker 2: you what he needs. That there's so many people that
Speaker 2: have been so successful everywhere they've been that I'm just
Speaker 2: whichever direction they go, I can see it. Making sense.
Speaker 2: I can I can see brock Bauers making a ton
Speaker 2: of sense. I can see Joe Alt or Fuago or Forshanu.
Speaker 2: I could see Terry and Arnold or Dallas Turner. And
Speaker 2: now you've got your two edges with tu Lean Turner
Speaker 2: set for for a while, you know, Byron Murphy, because
Speaker 2: you need someone on the interior line, like there's so
Speaker 2: many need I don't know what it says about the team.
Speaker 2: It just feels like there's so many directions they can
Speaker 2: go that make a ton of sense.
Speaker 1: The only issue I would have with that is that
Speaker 1: it's all skill position guys. When right, we've also talked
Speaker 1: about building the offensive line of defensive line, and those
Speaker 1: guys all to be you know, first, second, third round picks.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a likely path. If you go
Speaker 2: receiver first, you're going to see some line in the
Speaker 2: And that's why the trade down makes so much. I'm
Speaker 2: sure I would imagine that that Geordie's and Jim Harbar
Speaker 2: are doing everything they can to pump up JJ McCarthy
Speaker 2: and how this guy is it? And you're gonna want
Speaker 2: to come up to get because they want to trade down. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: that's what they want. They know they need to stock
Speaker 2: restock this team, and so they're looking for two extra
Speaker 2: picks and if they can somehow figure out a way
Speaker 2: to trade down twice, Let's say they can trade from
Speaker 2: five to six.
Speaker 1: What if what if.
Speaker 2: You know, what if Malik Neighbors and Marvin Harrison are
Speaker 2: both taken. What if that's the move? And now the
Speaker 2: Giants are like, hey, we want a Duneesay, we'll give
Speaker 2: you a third if you just let us move up
Speaker 2: one spot. Great, Now you're at six. And now someone's like,
Speaker 2: we want Jayden Daniels and now you can trade back
Speaker 2: to eight, and like, that's what they want to do.
Speaker 2: They want to amass more than their three picks in
Speaker 2: the top one hundred. They want to try to get
Speaker 2: six or seven in the top one hundred like Arizona has.
Speaker 1: That's what the Ravens do too. Man, Like you talked
Speaker 1: about Kyle Hamilton a couple years ago, glowingly like like
Speaker 1: this is the dude, and the Ravens end up with
Speaker 1: them at like thirteen. You know, it's they find ways
Speaker 1: to win the draft always. So you know, Joe's been
Speaker 1: a lot of those war rooms. Jake Nelson asks a
Speaker 1: two parter, could you guys explain how compensatory picks are
Speaker 1: acquired how fast the Chargers could start accumulating them? And
Speaker 1: then number two, any veterans slash role players you see
Speaker 1: taking a leap this year due to the mint Roman
Speaker 1: scheme changes the compensatory pick, So it looks like that's
Speaker 1: gonna be announced soon, and based on over the cap,
Speaker 1: it seems like the Chargers may just get one because it's.
Speaker 2: Your seventh rounder. Yeah, they got a seventh rounder coming,
Speaker 2: that's it. So the way they work is it's what
Speaker 2: goes out versus what comes in, and there's different rules
Speaker 2: that go into that formula of how you are dinged,
Speaker 2: what level of free agency you you know, what type
Speaker 2: of players you sign. If you sign someone another player's cut,
Speaker 2: it's different than an unrestricted free agent if basically, it's
Speaker 2: how many of your players that are unrestricted free agents
Speaker 2: that end up being particularly coming off their rookie contract,
Speaker 2: that that get signed by other teams versus how many
Speaker 2: you've signed to join your team. Determine what the compensatory
Speaker 2: pick awards are and how good is that player versus
Speaker 2: you know, however good that player happens to be will
Speaker 2: determine is it a seventh, six, fifth, fourth, or third
Speaker 2: rounder where you get your compensatory Think about Baltimore CJ.
Speaker 2: Moseley gets signed by the Jets, that's a third round
Speaker 2: compensatory pick. You mentioned Drew Trank, Will Chargers let him go.
Speaker 2: They sign Eric Kendricks, but Trank will goes out like
Speaker 2: that's a seventh round pick because he had a better
Speaker 2: year than you know, And Kendricks doesn't count against that anyway,
Speaker 2: because he's, you know, a vested vet. So that's kind
Speaker 2: of what we're talking about, is how and how soon?
Speaker 2: Not soon, because they're not going to have a lot
Speaker 2: of those top tier free agents that are going to
Speaker 2: be signed away, So it's gonna happen to you guys.
Speaker 1: You think this your money, Like Kenneth Murray, potentially.
Speaker 2: Kenneth Murray Belowie Gilman Austin, Yeah, I think that's kind
Speaker 2: of what you're looking at. Like Kenneth Murray would probably
Speaker 2: be the biggest one just because of his draft status
Speaker 2: and because he's got potential to be an impact player,
Speaker 2: So Murray would probably be the one. Then you got
Speaker 2: a lowie Gilman, but they don't have a lot like
Speaker 2: there's not going to be and there's and remember like
Speaker 2: other teams are playing the same game, so they're going
Speaker 2: to follow the same rules. You don't want to sign
Speaker 2: that player in the first wave of free agency. That's
Speaker 2: a loss in the compensatory formula. You want to signm
Speaker 2: in the second wave. And that's how you can play
Speaker 2: this game and end up building that war chest. So
Speaker 2: but the second part of that, when can it happen?
Speaker 2: Not soon, which is why they have to manipulate the
Speaker 2: draft to try to acquire more picks in order to
Speaker 2: fill the void of lack of compensatory picks. What was
Speaker 2: the second part of that question?
Speaker 1: Second part was a veteran slash role players that could
Speaker 1: take a leap due to the mentor Roman scheme. Quickly,
Speaker 1: I'll just I'll add, you know, I think Touley's just
Speaker 1: going to take a leap in general and in this
Speaker 1: scheme and is going to be great. I think Henley's
Speaker 1: another guy. And you know, somebody in the interior, like
Speaker 1: you look at just the history of the Michigan defensive
Speaker 1: lines and just the good interior play, someone like Tito
Speaker 1: Abonia could could maybe take a leap and then offensively,
Speaker 1: real quickly. For me. Quintin Johnston, I think he can
Speaker 1: only go up. And if you you talked about these
Speaker 1: TCU specials, if they can get him in a groove,
Speaker 1: catching the football and and just having a specific role
Speaker 1: on this football team. Uh, I hope big things for
Speaker 1: Quinton and here two.
Speaker 2: So he already had a great year, but he need
Speaker 2: Jesse Minner needs to Lee to be great because it's
Speaker 2: all about edge pressure. They need that edge pressure. So
Speaker 2: that's that's one you already said, Henley, He's got an opportunity.
Speaker 2: You think about those you know, those linebackers and what
Speaker 2: they're able to do at Michigan. Derwin is an obvious one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Derwin didn't have the best of year last year and
Speaker 2: and so I would expect him to have a huge
Speaker 2: bounce back year.
Speaker 1: But how do you feel about the defensive line right now?
Speaker 2: Money you help, there's a ton I mean, they're all gone,
Speaker 2: you know, Sebastian Joseph Day obviously was cut. Austin Johnson's
Speaker 2: a free agent. Love Scott Matt Loocke, love Tito and
Speaker 2: hopefully they'll they'll be able to provide some death. But
Speaker 2: they need players on the interior line. No doubt they
Speaker 2: need it, and whatever they decide to do with Joey
Speaker 2: and Khalil will determine if they need edge. So it's
Speaker 2: there's a lot of work to do defensively, a lot
Speaker 2: of work to do defensively offensively. If I were to
Speaker 2: pick one Zion Johnson, I think Zion had a rough
Speaker 2: goal last year, and with Devlin and Nick Hardwick, I
Speaker 2: feel like he's got all the tools to be a
Speaker 2: great interior lineman and just needs better coaching and I
Speaker 2: would suspect that he'll get that from those two guys.
Speaker 1: So last year, the big name was Bijeon Robinson. I
Speaker 1: feel like we got a Bjeon Robinson question every time
Speaker 1: we did this. I can't tell you how many brock
Speaker 1: Bauers questions there are. Yeah, I love that we have
Speaker 1: an early pick. Do you think he's worth a fifth pick?
Speaker 1: There are many options. That's from Eddie Roberto. How do
Speaker 1: you guys feel about Bowers? I feel like he's the
Speaker 1: the missing elite tight end the Chargers haven't had our
Speaker 1: boy Brian Rick has. Has Bowers fully healed from his injury?
Speaker 1: Will that affect his draft value in your opinion? To
Speaker 1: where we could possibly trade back a few spots and
Speaker 1: still grab him. Brock Bowers is on the minds of
Speaker 1: Chargers fans.
Speaker 2: Money, it'd be great. He's an exceptional player. The thing
Speaker 2: about look Bowers is a mismatch. He's so good, he's
Speaker 2: got incredible hands, he's fast, he's very long, so he's
Speaker 2: not a big dude. And everybody saw that photo that
Speaker 2: was circulating from Super Bowl of him standing next to Gronk,
Speaker 2: and it's like, whoa Gronk is? A is a freak.
Speaker 2: He's the ultimate outlier because he was that big and
Speaker 2: that athletic like.
Speaker 1: Angles and photos made you just I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's that SMA smaller.
Speaker 2: He's pretty small. Like Bowers in terms of tight ends,
Speaker 2: is not the biggest guy. He's listed at six ' four.
Speaker 2: He's probably six ' three and change. Maybe he's listed
Speaker 2: at two forty, probably more like two thirty, so he's
Speaker 2: not big. But he's got really long arms, and he's
Speaker 2: incredibly strong, and he's just so sudden and so quick
Speaker 2: as a tight end, and he has explosiveness so once
Speaker 2: the ball's in his hand, you know, tight ends tend
Speaker 2: to be steam routes. And I'm gonna get to the
Speaker 2: middle of fil I'm able to shay, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 2: faster than your line if you're the elite ones, I'm
Speaker 2: faster than your linebacker. I'm stronger than your safety. Bowers
Speaker 2: has elite athleticism. He's like he is shaking guys off
Speaker 2: off the line of scrimmage, and he's quick into his cuts.
Speaker 2: He snatches the ball. Think about the stuff we were
Speaker 2: talking about with Quinton that he struggled with gathering body catcher,
Speaker 2: that he had to work on to to continue to
Speaker 2: evolve his game. Bowers does not break stride. Man. He
Speaker 2: is snatching that thing out in front of him, and
Speaker 2: he is in a dead ass run and if you've
Speaker 2: got a linebacker on him, you're dead to rights. And
Speaker 2: if you watch the Georgia tape games, if you watch
Speaker 2: the Bowers tape, so much of it are just flares
Speaker 2: and smoke and screens and just passes to the flat
Speaker 2: and you just watch him explode and he's got the
Speaker 2: angle like they can't catch up to him because he's
Speaker 2: that fast. So he's just a different type of player now.
Speaker 2: And the thing with the size, why it's such a
Speaker 2: big deal. As you talk about is why is he
Speaker 2: a full service tight end? It appears to be strong enough.
Speaker 2: He's not going to be elite in that category, but
Speaker 2: he's good enough where I don't think he's getting app
Speaker 2: where he's a waist inside. So it's he certainly seems
Speaker 2: like a Jim Harbaugh player. I mean he is tough
Speaker 2: as nails. And look how important was Sam Laporta to
Speaker 2: the Lions offense this year?
Speaker 1: I mean gigantic.
Speaker 2: You could argue he was the most important pass catcher,
Speaker 2: even ahead of a Monro because of what he meant
Speaker 2: in the red zone on third down, critical downs, he
Speaker 2: was the guy. So, like, just think of it that way.
Speaker 2: Think of had the Chargers taken Sam Laporta last year
Speaker 2: in the first round. What we beat talking about right now?
Speaker 2: Just how good and he's he's really a receiving tight end.
Speaker 2: He's more in that Travis Kelsey mode. Where So, just
Speaker 2: would you use a first round pick on Sam Laporta?
Speaker 2: Of course you would, knowing now what you know, So
Speaker 2: to me, bowers make sense. So here's the flip side
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: Would you take him at five? Right?
Speaker 2: That's the flip side. Probably not, because you're talking about position.
Speaker 2: You can't take brock Bauers at five if Roma Dunsay,
Speaker 2: Malik Neighbors, or Marvin Harrison Junior are there. Why because
Speaker 2: the second you take brock Bauers, he becomes one of
Speaker 2: the five highest paid players at his position. So immediately,
Speaker 2: immediately and by the time he's on his fifth year option,
Speaker 2: will be the third or second highest paid tight end.
Speaker 2: So that's the thing. When you get a Doonsay or
Speaker 2: Harrison or a tackle like alt think about the contract
Speaker 2: Rashon Slea going to sign and this offseason it's Larimie
Speaker 2: Tunzel's making twenty five to twenty eight million bucks a year,
Speaker 2: so Travis Kelcey's making thirteen. Like that's why you can't
Speaker 2: take the tight end that high, or why it's it's
Speaker 2: hard to take him that high, because if Justin Jefferson's
Speaker 2: going to make thirty three million bucks a year, I
Speaker 2: want to take Roma Doonzay or Malik Neighbors so I
Speaker 2: don't have to pay a receiver thirty three million dollars.
Speaker 2: I've got a top ten receiver in the league for
Speaker 2: six million bucks in his fourth year. That's which you
Speaker 2: don't you have a tight end in his fourth year
Speaker 2: for six million bucks. Congratulations, you got one of the
Speaker 2: fifth highest paid tight ends in the league. So that's
Speaker 2: where that the economics of it come into play and
Speaker 2: why it's so hard to draft someone like that that high.
Speaker 1: Yep, excellent, point a couple more, and you know, we
Speaker 1: we have so many. We'll get to some of these
Speaker 1: next week too. We'll ask some of our over yes,
Speaker 1: some of these questions. But our boys from Thunder down Under.
Speaker 1: A lot of FAI online seemed to hate the idea
Speaker 1: of the Bolts sticking at five and picking an offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: which was floated in DJ's mock. How would you both
Speaker 1: feel about it? First of all, DJ has so many
Speaker 1: iterations of this thing he's got. He's he's on two
Speaker 1: point zero I think right now, so he's gonna have
Speaker 1: like five or six more. But it fills a need,
Speaker 1: that's it. It fills a need. Uh, And the Chargers
Speaker 1: have a lot of them. So I don't have a
Speaker 1: problem with Joe Alt going at number five. If if
Speaker 1: fourte's in company, think that that's the guy.
Speaker 2: Look again, I'll go back to the Lions. How do
Speaker 2: you feel about having pinas Soul and Taylor Decker? Like,
Speaker 2: how do you feel about having that offensive line. Do
Speaker 2: you think the Lions got to where they were because
Speaker 2: of as good as Jamior Gibbs was, or a mon
Speaker 2: Ross Saint Brown is, or we already talked about Sam Laporte. No,
Speaker 2: they got there because of their line. It's the best
Speaker 2: blocking line in football, and they have time to operate.
Speaker 2: Jared Goff does not operate well in a muddy pocket.
Speaker 2: Pocket was clean for them most part on their march
Speaker 2: to the NFC Championship game. So lines are important. And
Speaker 2: guess what if you take all and he's as good
Speaker 2: as we think he is, and we know Slater is
Speaker 2: an all pro level tackle. On the other side, you
Speaker 2: know how much better Keenan Allen, Josh Palmer and Quentin
Speaker 2: Johnson are going to be because he's got time now,
Speaker 2: They've got time.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Keenan's got time to break his guy down because he's
Speaker 2: the best route runner in the league. Quentin's got time
Speaker 2: to get that foot in the ground and start to
Speaker 2: get that inside leverage on those slants. Mike Williams has
Speaker 2: got time to get a fifty to fifty ball down there.
Speaker 2: Josh Palmer, Like that's a tackle is the foundation of
Speaker 2: an offensive play. If protection holds up, there's so much
Speaker 2: more you can do. Think about how miserable the run
Speaker 2: game was and has been really for seven years. Alt
Speaker 2: is a massive human being, a giant of a human being.
Speaker 2: And when if you move Zion back to that side,
Speaker 2: you're talking about two of the biggest players at their
Speaker 2: position that are now on the right side your run
Speaker 2: are typically your run heavy side of the line. Now
Speaker 2: your running games working well. Guess what now? Play action
Speaker 2: is now in play again. Whereas before nobody bet on
Speaker 2: play action whatever run it, we don't care, so win
Speaker 2: for us. So all of that stuff comes into play
Speaker 2: and is upgraded because of your line. It's not just
Speaker 2: picking Joe Alt, it's picking Joealt keep the pocket clean.
Speaker 2: It's picking Joealt because now a tackle guard tandem can
Speaker 2: connect and build a wall on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: I think DJ also referenced money that the Ravens selected
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ogden and had him as a guard his first
Speaker 1: his first year. Yeah, so you get the best guy
Speaker 1: and you figure it out. And when you have elite players,
Speaker 1: they can play different positions, and an Alt slater one
Speaker 1: two punch is pretty good in an AFC West. That's
Speaker 1: loaded and you need to beat the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: When you have justin Herbert's arm. It's not just the receiver,
Speaker 2: it's the time for the route to develop. Like when
Speaker 2: you have that kind of talent that can push the
Speaker 2: ball sixty yards in the air, keep the pocket clean
Speaker 2: and guess what it's gonna be able to push the
Speaker 2: ball downfield more?
Speaker 1: Excuse me, last one? What is the projected split between
Speaker 1: eleven twelve personnel going to be with Roman and Harball
Speaker 1: calling the shots? How important is having three wide receivers
Speaker 1: on the field compared to extremely potent two tight end sets.
Speaker 1: Most teams these days are running around sixty five seventy
Speaker 1: five percent eleven personnel. The days of Mike keenan Quinton
Speaker 1: or another capable wide receiver will likely change greatly. It's
Speaker 1: a great question, and I think what they decide to
Speaker 1: do will dictate the personnel and the decisions they have
Speaker 1: to make, especially at the wide receiver position.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's one of the things about what Stanford
Speaker 2: did when Jim Harbach showed up, is when he was
Speaker 2: run in with six offensive linemen two tight ends because
Speaker 2: the Pac twelve didn't have the personnel to deal with it.
Speaker 2: It was a quarterback passing conference, and so he just
Speaker 2: did the math. He's like, okay, well everybody is running
Speaker 2: eleven personnel and everyone's trying to get enough corners to
Speaker 2: keep up with it. Now they've got enough corners because
Speaker 2: that's what they've populated their roster with. All their linebackers
Speaker 2: are lighting the ass. So because they've got to keep
Speaker 2: up with all of these pass catchers running all over
Speaker 2: the place, well guess what we're going to go out
Speaker 2: there with. And I called a ton of these Stanford games.
Speaker 2: The splits were so tight, it was the craw I
Speaker 2: just remember watching it, going, my god, this is so
Speaker 2: different than everything else we're watching. They've got six offensive
Speaker 2: linemen and two tight ends, and I mean you couldn't
Speaker 2: put a credit card between those bodies and they would
Speaker 2: snap the ball and just wreck shop. So I think
Speaker 2: it's all math, and it's what what do we do
Speaker 2: to think about what Greg Roman did in Baltimore when
Speaker 2: they got Lamar Jackson. They're like, you know what, we're
Speaker 2: gonna run a ton of twelve. We're gonna run a
Speaker 2: bunch of thirteen, and you know, and we're gonna run
Speaker 2: three tight ends and we're gonna run and Lamar is
Speaker 2: going to be the ultimate X factor because they started
Speaker 2: doing that, they were doing you know, and Patrick Riccard
Speaker 2: is whatever. He is a full back, an extra offensive lineman.
Speaker 2: Guy's three hundred and five pounds like, So that to
Speaker 2: me is is it's whatever they think the math is.
Speaker 2: If they feel like they want to play ball like
Speaker 2: they did in Baltimore, and they want to play ball
Speaker 2: like they did at Stanford, then yeah, you're gonna see
Speaker 2: a lot more twelve. You're gonna see a sixth offensive lineman.
Speaker 2: You're gonna see some thirteen, and you're gonna see you know,
Speaker 2: Greg Roman's a run guy. He is, he is all.
Speaker 2: He is the best. He is one of, if not
Speaker 2: the best. Look, there's Kyle Shanahan who is incredible with
Speaker 2: the run, no doubt about it. That is what that
Speaker 2: offense is. It is predicated on the success of the run.
Speaker 2: Same with Sean McVay. So I can't call him the
Speaker 2: best in terms of offensive run calling, but he's up
Speaker 2: there like he's really good at it. So yeah, there's
Speaker 2: probably going to be a lot of twelve. But if
Speaker 2: you again, let's just say Mike Williams wants to come back.
Speaker 2: You don't want Mike Keenan Josh Clinton like, you don't
Speaker 2: want three of those guys on the field at the
Speaker 2: same time. If if that's your advantage, it's whatever. It's
Speaker 2: whatever you think you have an advantage at is what
Speaker 2: you're going to do. It's not just Roman saying, hey,
Speaker 2: we got to play in twelve, got to play with
Speaker 2: two tight ends every snap. That's not how it works.
Speaker 2: It's what's our advantage. How do we how do we
Speaker 2: gain an advantage with our numbers, And that's what it'll
Speaker 2: come down to.
Speaker 1: The best. The best coaches look at their personnel first
Speaker 1: and then cater their system around the personnel that they have.
Speaker 1: Right justin Herbert's a different quarterback from Lamar Jackson, and
Speaker 1: you know, you go down the line of the history
Speaker 1: of Greg Roman, he's had different guys, but he's been
Speaker 1: effective at running the football, which should be music to
Speaker 1: charges fans. Ears after what we've seen the last few
Speaker 1: years running the ball, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: run the foot for some money.
Speaker 2: It's been so strange with Baltimore, and we saw it
Speaker 2: firsthand in twenty whatever it was twenty eighteen. They come
Speaker 2: out and they just start throwing the ball all over
Speaker 2: and it's like thank you, because remember Chargers are playing
Speaker 2: with Adrian Phillips is their only linebacker. Yeah, and they
Speaker 2: start throwing the ball after two weeks prior on a
Speaker 2: Saturday night, they ran it down the Charger's throats. It's
Speaker 2: the weirdest thing ever. So I think that's it's important
Speaker 2: to it's important to just remember it's it's not about philosophy.
Speaker 2: It's about personnel and opponent and advantage, and that's what
Speaker 2: will dictate how you play.
Speaker 1: Yep. By the way, I think Helio would did interviews
Speaker 1: with Roman Mentor and Ficken which was coming to Charge soon,
Speaker 1: and get a little more insight on their philosophies and
Speaker 1: how they want to play ball in Los Angeles. That's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for us money, anything else before we
Speaker 1: pack our bags go to Indy. We got a lot
Speaker 1: of fun stuff next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just keep an eye because it's not gonna be
Speaker 2: the Thursday pod. We're gonna probably post two, maybe three
Speaker 2: of these things. And I know we already have Lancer Line,
Speaker 2: whose dad one of the great offensive line coaches ever,
Speaker 2: and nobody knows more about offensive line in the draft
Speaker 2: than Lance he's gonna join us. I know Nate Tice
Speaker 2: also dad, one of the great offensive line coaches in
Speaker 2: the NFL of all time, and Nate is great at
Speaker 2: breaking it down for the athletic He's gonna join us.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna get a lot of people. We've got
Speaker 2: a lot of friends out there. We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 2: wrangle them, throw them in the chair and have a
Speaker 2: chance to catch up with them and get some of
Speaker 2: that outside perspective about what they think the Chargers need
Speaker 2: and what they're gonna do. It's gonna be a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. And just please keep keep tabs because it's
Speaker 2: not just gonna be a Thursday pod. You're gonna see
Speaker 2: a lot more than that. Maybe it'll be short you
Speaker 2: videos at Chargers dot com or you know videos at
Speaker 2: Chargers dot com of those one offs, or it'll be
Speaker 2: multiple pods, maybe even every day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, something
Speaker 2: along those lines.
Speaker 1: Yeah, keep keep tabs on the subscription. And man, I
Speaker 1: think I say it every time, but just I we
Speaker 1: appreciate the questions, so many good ones, a ton of
Speaker 1: them this this time around, and we'll use some of
Speaker 1: these questions that you guys have for our guests next
Speaker 1: week too, to get another opinion, an outside opinion on
Speaker 1: this Chargers team and the draft moving forward. So that'll
Speaker 1: do it for money. I'm Chris. We will see you
Speaker 1: in Indie next week