Speaker 1: Only fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2: What's been a special week here in Indianapolis. Chargers Weekly
Speaker 2: as always joined by Bat Buddy Smith. This is podcast
Speaker 2: number four of the week. I don't even know how
Speaker 2: many interviews we've done a lot, but we'll enter on
Speaker 2: a high note with Matt Miller, Brett Coleman Money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Brett Partner partners with us and the Chargers does
Speaker 3: an awesome job. So I'm guessing a lot of folks
Speaker 3: that listen and subscribe to the pod or watch the
Speaker 3: pod on YouTube are very familiar with his work. If
Speaker 3: you're not, make sure you follow him. Check out his
Speaker 3: YouTube channel. There's a reason why he's got four hundred
Speaker 3: thousand people that subscribe to it. He does a break
Speaker 3: job of breaking things down on film, and he, like
Speaker 3: our friend Lancer line from earlier, this week is one
Speaker 3: where you can throw any name at him that might
Speaker 3: get drafted, including the top one hundred undrafted free agents.
Speaker 3: And Brett's got an answer for you. Knows exactly what
Speaker 3: you're talking about, has already done his write up and
Speaker 3: his work up on him, and has a scouting report.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna nice thing about you know being here
Speaker 3: is you have so many different you know, people that
Speaker 3: are either heavily invested in the draft and it's what
Speaker 3: they do, it is their primary focus, like Lance, like Brett,
Speaker 3: and then you have the people that are on the
Speaker 3: team side, that are a little more on the NFL
Speaker 3: side and kind of talk about fit and transactional you know,
Speaker 3: work that the Chargers may have to do to get
Speaker 3: cap compliant, to trade down, to acquire picks, to build depth,
Speaker 3: all of those sort of things. In the case of Brett,
Speaker 3: it's someone that's already done hundreds of hours of work
Speaker 3: on all of these players, and it's going to be
Speaker 3: able to kind of walk you through different rounds and
Speaker 3: how you can get to certain players and sleepers and
Speaker 3: this particular gem that can be found there. And that's
Speaker 3: always fun because you know that's your how do I
Speaker 3: get the A plus plus plus plus on my mock draft?
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what Brett helps us get through.
Speaker 2: Great conversation about players that we probably in front haven't
Speaker 2: talked about this week and not to this point, but
Speaker 2: we'll start with Matton Miller all suited up for ESPN's
Speaker 2: kind of enough to join us, and great conversation with him.
Speaker 2: Brett later, here's Matt Buddy. Yet another friend of the podcast,
Speaker 2: Matt Miller joins us. ESPN's Matt Miller. Matt did great
Speaker 2: work for us during the draft a couple of years ago,
Speaker 2: and it's a pleasure to have you back, bro.
Speaker 1: Yeah, appreciate.
Speaker 4: It's still weird to, you know, hear the ESPN after
Speaker 4: your name, you know, like you dream of it as
Speaker 4: a little kid, that when it happened, you're like, wait,
Speaker 4: what okay, yeah, yeah, that is where I work.
Speaker 3: Now that's great fun. You're on TV every day. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we love watching. You know, we keep an eye on
Speaker 3: when the article's post. It's the top fifties, the mock drafts,
Speaker 3: the positional rankings. Matt does it all. And certainly, you know,
Speaker 3: as as Chris said, you know haven't worked with us.
Speaker 3: This is kind of some serious sizzle, maybe the most
Speaker 3: that we've had since twenty seventeen when the Charters moved
Speaker 3: to LA Yeah.
Speaker 4: No really, and I think especially since the quarterback draft
Speaker 4: for you guys, you know of like, hey, there's what
Speaker 4: are we doing at the top, you know, to be
Speaker 4: in an early pick and something I said you guys
Speaker 4: off airs, it's so great to have an early pick
Speaker 4: and have a great quarterback, Like very few people get
Speaker 4: that opportunity to be drafting early. But no, and we've
Speaker 4: got an all pro caliber quarterback that we're building around.
Speaker 4: He's young, he's you know, still relatively inexpensive, so you're
Speaker 4: still in that building window with a great young quarterback,
Speaker 4: but you have the luxury of not just in the
Speaker 4: first round, you have a luxury of early picks in
Speaker 4: every round. So it's gonna be fun to see how
Speaker 4: they build this out.
Speaker 3: At Joe Burrow Jamar Chase, I mean, that's what it was, right,
Speaker 3: he gets next thing, you know, there's Jamar Chase.
Speaker 1: Now moving forward.
Speaker 2: You know, we've asked this, I think in a variety
Speaker 2: of different ways, and we probably will up until Draft day.
Speaker 2: But at number five overall, we talked about the flexibility
Speaker 2: that the Chargers have stick and pick blue chip guy,
Speaker 2: whether it's a tackle or a wide receiver, or is
Speaker 2: there a fourth quarterback in this draft that a team's
Speaker 2: gonna fall in love with and maybe trade with the Chargers.
Speaker 2: So basically all lies are on JJ McCarthy absolutely right,
Speaker 2: is that the guy that yeah, we should be taking.
Speaker 4: Your head coach, is gonna do a great job of
Speaker 4: he already has, you know, like, this is the best
Speaker 4: quarterback in the draft. Yeah, I expect we're gonna hear
Speaker 4: a lot more of that out of la of Hey,
Speaker 4: this McCarthy kids, somebody better come get him. But really, though,
Speaker 4: someone might need to come up and get him, you know,
Speaker 4: because not only do you have to So let's say
Speaker 4: you're the Atlanta Falcons, you're at eight, you have to
Speaker 4: worry about someone jumping you if that's the guy that
Speaker 4: you're targeting. You know, if you're the Minnesota Vikings at eleven,
Speaker 4: same thing. You know, every team eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen
Speaker 4: could draft a quarterbacks, so you have to have that
Speaker 4: in your mind of Okay, maybe we have this guy
Speaker 4: ranked in the teams, which is where I have him
Speaker 4: number seventeen overall, but you have to worry about someone
Speaker 4: jumping you. And so I do think for Charger fans, yes,
Speaker 4: coach Harball has done a very good job of singing
Speaker 4: the praise of JJ McCarthy, who only lost one game
Speaker 4: for him, by the way, in college, so he was
Speaker 4: very accomplished there. But also, you know, I know the
Speaker 4: hardball's convicted about how great JJ is. But also it
Speaker 4: wouldn't hurt you guys at all for someone to fall
Speaker 4: in love with him.
Speaker 1: Does he get a test, well, yeah, he's gonna test.
Speaker 4: Well. It's also great because you know he's the only
Speaker 4: guy top guy testing and so you don't have that
Speaker 4: apples to apples comparison. Last year we got to watch CJ. Stroud,
Speaker 4: Will Levis and Anthony Richson throw like boom boom boom.
Speaker 4: It was like, oh wow, this is fun. I can
Speaker 4: compare these guys. For me, I'm sitting in the stands
Speaker 4: like this is the greatest thing ever. You know, I
Speaker 4: get to just watch this play out in front of me.
Speaker 4: This year, because we don't have Kayla Williams, Jayden Daniels
Speaker 4: or Drake May throwing, it's a big opportunity for j J.
Speaker 4: McCarthy to not only say I'm competitive unlike those other
Speaker 4: guys who don't want to do this, which is what
Speaker 4: I would be saying if I were him, but also
Speaker 4: I'm not afraid to spin it. And he does have
Speaker 4: a big arm, he does have good mobility, so I
Speaker 4: think he's gonna impress a lot of people.
Speaker 3: What about it? Is there another quarterback? I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: you look at Bonix is certainly accomplished. Like what else,
Speaker 3: what else could maybe throw you know this thing I
Speaker 3: guess in the Chargers favor where that number five pick
Speaker 3: becomes that value. Is it just that one guy or
Speaker 3: could you see somebody else?
Speaker 4: I think he's just that one guy. I like Bonnicks
Speaker 4: a lot, and it's fun because we've watched him play
Speaker 4: sixty one games up to this point. He's experienced, He's
Speaker 4: put everything you need to see on tape.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I don't know that he's necessarily to me like a
Speaker 4: quote unquote workout warrior type guy. But he is a
Speaker 4: good athlete. He does have a good arm. He's a gamer,
Speaker 4: you know, he's a lights on type player. So I
Speaker 4: don't think we could see anything that could potentially push
Speaker 4: him into that top five. But I can remember saying
Speaker 4: that about Daniel Jones here and he went six overall.
Speaker 4: So crazy things happen when teams need quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: We always hear from teams, you know, we draft the
Speaker 2: best player. We draft the best player, regardless of position.
Speaker 2: When you look at the top of this draft class
Speaker 2: and obviously take quarterback out of it. With the Chargers,
Speaker 2: it seems like the best players are these three wide receivers.
Speaker 2: Is that fair to say even ahead of these maybe
Speaker 2: four tackles who I think people have in different order.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 4: So my number one player kill Williams. Take him off
Speaker 4: the table right as you said. Number two is Marvin
Speaker 4: Harrison Junior. Number three Lake Never's number four roam with Donesday.
Speaker 4: That's my board is the top four players, you know.
Speaker 4: And so those receivers are great, and you can evaluate
Speaker 4: them individually, they would all be a number one receiver
Speaker 4: in almost every draft class, you know, outside of like
Speaker 4: having Jamar Chase, you know, in a draft class, or
Speaker 4: Calvin Johnson, Like they're that talented of players to where
Speaker 4: I put a ninety eight on Marvin Harrison Junior, and
Speaker 4: I even like doubted myself, like that is a big
Speaker 4: grade to give a player. Then I turn around put
Speaker 4: a ninety six on Neighbors and a Doosday. So it's like,
Speaker 4: either I'm just in a great mood this year, or
Speaker 4: these guys are the good players. But you know, everyone
Speaker 4: I talked to kind of says the same thing, like, gosh,
Speaker 4: there's not a whole lot of holes in their game,
Speaker 4: and they're ready made to produce in the NFL as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the you know, one of the things that jo
Speaker 3: Ortis said for at the you know, at the lectern
Speaker 3: yesterday was it's a deep wide receiver class.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, Chris and I have been talking about it
Speaker 3: this whole week of I'm reading into that as him saying,
Speaker 3: I know you want the next Larry Fitzgerald, but it's
Speaker 3: a deep class. We can still get a guy that
Speaker 3: is going to contribute to this team in a big
Speaker 3: way in the second or third round.
Speaker 1: Is that absolutely to.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think we'll see where the run happens.
Speaker 4: You know. To that point, a lot of the teams
Speaker 4: of the back end of the first round need wide receivers.
Speaker 4: Kansas City, as you guys know, sure scary proposition, but
Speaker 4: they need a wide receiver. Baltimore is in that mix.
Speaker 4: They could draft a wide receiver. We'll see what San
Speaker 4: Francisco does with the soon to be expiring contract for
Speaker 4: Brandon Ayuk. They could be in that market as well.
Speaker 4: So it is a deep wide receiver class. I'll be
Speaker 4: very curious to see where the run happens on Thursday
Speaker 4: night in Detroit. And the guy that you want to
Speaker 4: watch is Brian Thomas junior from LSU. If he goes
Speaker 4: in the top fifteen of the runs happening. Yeah, if
Speaker 4: he goes maybe like twenties. Okay, wait, we've got some
Speaker 4: talent that's still gonna be on the board. So that'll
Speaker 4: be the domino effect for you guys to watch if
Speaker 4: wide receiver isn't the first pick.
Speaker 2: I go back to the draft when the Falcons moved
Speaker 2: up to get Julio, and it was a big jump
Speaker 2: realizing that all three of these guys are the top
Speaker 2: of your board and the depth of the class. Could
Speaker 2: you see a team saying, you know what, I like
Speaker 2: Brian Thomas, I like Franklin, but I really want to
Speaker 2: get neighbors. I really want to get room with Dunesay,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna move up in order to get him. Basically,
Speaker 2: is is it just not quarterback at five that somebody
Speaker 2: could move up and get a get a wide receiver atsel?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean I think, you know, even for New
Speaker 4: England at three, they have to have those conversations of hey,
Speaker 4: maybe we don't want to draft the quarterback here just yet.
Speaker 4: What about somebody who wants to come up and get
Speaker 4: a marquee wide receiver? You know whomever that might be,
Speaker 4: you know, whether it's the Giants or the Titans or
Speaker 4: the New York Jets. We could run down the list
Speaker 4: of teams that haven't eed at wide receiver. So absolutely,
Speaker 4: I think these guys are talented enough. Last year we
Speaker 4: saw a team move up to three to draft a
Speaker 4: defensive end and they gave up historic value to do that.
Speaker 4: So I think when when teams fall in love with
Speaker 4: the guy and they identify him as the player, you know,
Speaker 4: you go get him. And wide receiver has become one
Speaker 4: of the most important positions in football by virtue of
Speaker 4: how much they're paid, how impactful they are, So I
Speaker 4: do think you can make an argument.
Speaker 1: For that, you know.
Speaker 3: And it's it's interesting because you think about what we
Speaker 3: what many people thought the Texans were going to be,
Speaker 3: what they end up being, and now you look at
Speaker 3: what the draft capital that was surrendered. It's a late
Speaker 3: first rounder, not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you feel a little better, right, And I'm.
Speaker 3: Wondering if a lot of that was because they looked
Speaker 3: to the twenty twenty four draft and if they did,
Speaker 3: in fact, say, I don't know, if it's a great
Speaker 3: edge class, let's get Will Anderson right now. How does
Speaker 3: that line up this year? Like the Chargers need to
Speaker 3: fix that offensive line. Yeah, is this wait, I'm not asking.
Speaker 3: I know it might be way too early to ask
Speaker 3: about twenty twenty five, but it does seem like this
Speaker 3: is a special year for tackles to get one of
Speaker 3: those in this first year.
Speaker 4: This is especially a specially year, especially special for right tackles,
Speaker 4: which is what you guys need. And I think that's
Speaker 4: what makes you interested. Because Joe Alt from Notre Dame
Speaker 4: and o Fashano from Penn State are college left tackles.
Speaker 4: They could probably play on the right side like a
Speaker 4: Pina swool and be really good. But then you get
Speaker 4: to that next tier of tackles, they're all right tackles.
Speaker 4: Tealise Fluaga Oregon State only played right tackle. JC Laitham Alabama,
Speaker 4: Marius Mems Georgia Tyler Guiding from Oklahoma, like, these dudes
Speaker 4: only played right tackle. So I think that is what's
Speaker 4: interesting about this class is Yeah, we could see seven
Speaker 4: tackles go in the first round. What's really notable about
Speaker 4: that is five of them might be right tackles, whereas
Speaker 4: normally you would say, you know, like DeShawn Slater left
Speaker 4: tackles are going left tackles, but that right side has
Speaker 4: become so valuable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had Lance on earlier this week and we
Speaker 2: talked about just how there's a lot of different opinions
Speaker 2: on who the best tackle is. Who's the best fit
Speaker 2: you think for the Chargers when you take into account
Speaker 2: Rashawn's on the one on the left side already right
Speaker 2: tackle Jim Harball, or they want to run the football,
Speaker 2: who do you think is the best fit?
Speaker 4: So I would still say Joe Alt from Notre Dame,
Speaker 4: even though he was a college left tackle. He's six
Speaker 4: foot eight, he's enormous, He could play on the right side,
Speaker 4: and he's not gonna surrender any of that power that
Speaker 4: you traditionally want to have. So I think, all if
Speaker 4: you stay at five and you say, okay, we're going
Speaker 4: to tackle Jim Harball, we're running the football, I think
Speaker 4: Joe Walt is the guy Fashanu to me, the run
Speaker 4: game was where he actually struggled the most this year
Speaker 4: on tape, which is why he went from someone preseason
Speaker 4: we were talking about.
Speaker 1: Maybe a top five pick.
Speaker 4: Now it's maybe you know that that range might be
Speaker 4: seven to twelve now because of some of the run
Speaker 4: game problems?
Speaker 1: What what do you think happens with Brock Powers Man?
Speaker 4: I love if you asked me to just say, who
Speaker 4: are the five best football players in this draft, he
Speaker 4: would be on that list. But because he's a tight end,
Speaker 4: he probably comes off the board more in like the
Speaker 4: fifteen range. And I know he was popular to the
Speaker 4: Chargers in some mock drafts, and we all know Harball's
Speaker 4: history with tight ends.
Speaker 5: Loves him.
Speaker 4: But you got you gotta also think about asset management
Speaker 4: and how much you know you're passing up wide receivers,
Speaker 4: left tackle or right tackles, pass rushers, corners for a
Speaker 4: tight end. That's a hard argument to make and so
Speaker 4: monetary even Yeah, and also like in the importance of
Speaker 4: the position, you know, especially when you know Travis Kelcey
Speaker 4: was not a first round pick, George Kittle was not
Speaker 4: a first round pick, Mark Andrews not a first round pick.
Speaker 4: Even Sam Laporta was not a first round pick. So
Speaker 4: I think it's easy to look at that spot and say,
Speaker 4: you know, like I love Rock Bowers, but what about
Speaker 4: Jatavian Sanders from Texas? Are they are they thirty picks
Speaker 4: different on our board? No, like they're not. They're the
Speaker 4: range is not that big, so you would like to
Speaker 4: value better in the second round than in the first
Speaker 4: at that position.
Speaker 2: Corners in age, I like this Jesse min Or defense.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to replenish some of these positions. Probably
Speaker 2: too early to take a corner or an edge player
Speaker 2: at five. Yeah, if you trade back or maybe early
Speaker 2: second round, who are some of the corners that you
Speaker 2: like in that spot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I will sit Terry on On from Alabama. I love,
Speaker 4: Like I've done mock drafts recently.
Speaker 1: We're at five. I'm like, maybe.
Speaker 4: Maybe because he's that good, so he's he would be
Speaker 4: in that mix. But I think when you get into
Speaker 4: the second round, it's which corners fall is really the
Speaker 4: important question, because I think that's what's gonna happen, is
Speaker 4: someone like a lastedter from Georgia could fall, you know,
Speaker 4: to that range. Because ns Rake Straw and Quinyon Mitchell
Speaker 4: have pushed themselves up, that's gonna slide guys back to
Speaker 4: where Akkulid McKinstry could be available at the top of
Speaker 4: the second round, just because not because he's done anything wrong,
Speaker 4: just guys have pushed up ahead of him.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's we're talking about wide receivers, tackles, quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Do you think we're gonna see like incredible value on
Speaker 3: the defensive side of the ball just because of how
Speaker 3: important offense has become and how expensive offenses has become.
Speaker 4: You know, like Dallas Turner from Alabama is a really
Speaker 4: really good pass rusher. I think in most years we
Speaker 4: would say you draft that guy five and don't worry
Speaker 4: about it. Now it's he might be there in the
Speaker 4: teams because of how much teams are loading up on offense.
Speaker 4: Also how much talent there is this year on offense.
Speaker 4: But there could be you know, we might only see
Speaker 4: one defensive tackle drafted in the first round. There's gonna
Speaker 4: be great detackle value in round two. We might see
Speaker 4: four edge rushers in the first round. Like think of
Speaker 4: what that does you know in that value in the
Speaker 4: second round and linebacker and safety we will not see
Speaker 4: a first round or I feel comfortable about.
Speaker 1: But you need depth at those spots.
Speaker 4: You know, you don't know what the future is some
Speaker 4: of those you know, veteran players of those positions for
Speaker 4: you guys, So looking at second round, third round, there's
Speaker 4: gonna be really really good value in the middle of
Speaker 4: the defense man.
Speaker 2: I think one of the hesitations with wide receivers because
Speaker 2: Quintin Johnson was selected in the first round last year
Speaker 2: and you want to make sure that, hey, he can
Speaker 2: develop and.
Speaker 1: We're not sure if he's going to be a wide
Speaker 1: receiver one or two.
Speaker 2: Based on what you saw on film and how you
Speaker 2: evaluated him, what do you think his sophomore season will break.
Speaker 2: Do you think he can get his confidence back and
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh can can do some things to make him effectively.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So, And I also think, you know, having Justin healthy
Speaker 4: for the whole year is a big part of that
Speaker 4: as well. You know, going going from one quarterback to
Speaker 4: another is significant that that's an adjustment, and so that's
Speaker 4: my hope. You know, my evaluation of him at TCU
Speaker 4: was there's a lot of drops, and that was my
Speaker 4: big concern, you know with him, was how's he going
Speaker 4: to clean up the drops because they showed up consistently.
Speaker 4: And also the fact that you know, he got quiet
Speaker 4: against good teams at times, especially down the stretch in
Speaker 4: their playoff runt. So I think that's just the key
Speaker 4: of we knew he was a developmental player like that
Speaker 4: was the word on him. It is making it make
Speaker 4: sure you get that confidence back. And having someone like
Speaker 4: Jim Harball believe in you, I think is going to
Speaker 4: help any young player who can say like, hey, I
Speaker 4: was the coach at Michigan we played you. You know
Speaker 4: like I've seen what you can do. Let's let's figure
Speaker 4: out how to get that guy back.
Speaker 3: Well, you're busy, we know what. We certainly appreciate you
Speaker 3: you stopping by. Maybe we'll have a return engagement. We
Speaker 3: can get into fullbacks because I think we need.
Speaker 4: I love fullbacks and I'll tell you anytime you guys
Speaker 4: need me to come to LA, I will make that
Speaker 4: sound guy yes, and come and sit on the beach
Speaker 4: and we can talk football.
Speaker 1: Matt Miller, thank you so much for.
Speaker 2: Another friend of the show, Brett Coleman, who does great
Speaker 2: work for the Chargers, the NFL and just the league
Speaker 2: in general.
Speaker 1: Man's good to see you at the combine. This is
Speaker 1: my first one, believe it or not, is it really? Yeah?
Speaker 5: I had no idea what this.
Speaker 1: Whole week was. All right, So what did you do
Speaker 1: last night? What did we start there?
Speaker 5: Of course, high velocity, that's the spot to be It's
Speaker 5: kind of like this bar is attached to JW. Marriott
Speaker 5: and then everybody just seems to end up Prime every
Speaker 5: single night, and so I ended up there just to
Speaker 5: see the massive humanity and it's a nightmare.
Speaker 1: Name somebody in the NFL and they're probably there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly until three am because this thing. Now that
Speaker 3: the NFL has been kind enough to push everything back,
Speaker 3: you know, we used to have to get here at
Speaker 3: like six am and stuff would get rolling at eight nine.
Speaker 3: Now that everything's in prime time and it starts at
Speaker 3: three o'clock, I mean, Prime is just it's awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, events should be done at Prime.
Speaker 3: Completely completely changed the game, it is. It's funny though, Brett,
Speaker 3: as someone you know, you you obviously are are ready
Speaker 3: for the draft already, you're ready for the combine. You've
Speaker 3: broken down a million of these prospects. It's interesting that
Speaker 3: the coaches aren't there yet. They're still like they are
Speaker 3: still in warm up mode. Hey, we're just getting to
Speaker 3: know who these players are. It's it's interesting how this
Speaker 3: is all of the preparation that scouts in front offices
Speaker 3: have done for the last six months and the coaches
Speaker 3: are now just getting their first introduction to all of
Speaker 3: these players that will probably have their fortunes, their future
Speaker 3: fortunes in their hands.
Speaker 5: I think the best teams at drafting are the ones
Speaker 5: who handle that kind of second wave of opinions the best,
Speaker 5: where you know, these scouts are not just working on
Speaker 5: these guys for all of last season, but you know
Speaker 5: when they're freshmen, when they're sophomores, you know, even at
Speaker 5: this point through multiple transfers, you know, like they're doing
Speaker 5: cross checks for years on these kids, and then the
Speaker 5: coaches kind of sometimes get in the process in the
Speaker 5: last six months. And the teams that are most successful
Speaker 5: are the ones that can marry all the work that
Speaker 5: was done over the last few years with the coaches
Speaker 5: coming in and saying, but I prefer this for this
Speaker 5: spot and here's why. And the coaching staves that are
Speaker 5: able to translate what they want better to the scouting
Speaker 5: staves are the ones who draft the best because the
Speaker 5: scouting scafs the scouting STAPs and then like go through
Speaker 5: all their notes and kind of be like, Okay, well,
Speaker 5: if you need this exact skill set, this is actually
Speaker 5: the guy we want in the third round instead of
Speaker 5: the one in the first round. Then we can kind
Speaker 5: of come up with like a better package of players
Speaker 5: that fit with our coaches. The Chargers, I think are
Speaker 5: actually in a very unique position because Jim knows all
Speaker 5: these these guys. He was working the portal, like he
Speaker 5: was recruiting these guys. You know, he's eighteen kids here
Speaker 5: from Michigan. So, like, I think the Chargers have a
Speaker 5: potential to kind of pull like an early twenty ten
Speaker 5: Seahawks where Pete came in right, and he knew all
Speaker 5: these kids, and you know, he took Earl Thomas over
Speaker 5: Taylor Mays. He just had it. But that's that's real, right,
Speaker 5: That's real. And so Jim's one of the few head
Speaker 5: coaches in the NFL now that is not just coming
Speaker 5: into this.
Speaker 1: Class right now.
Speaker 5: He's he's been on this class since before they were
Speaker 5: even in college. So the Chargers have an opportunity here,
Speaker 5: and I think they will ultimately have a phenomenal draft
Speaker 5: just because they have that institutional base that nobody else does.
Speaker 2: We get so hung up on five for good reason.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of our conversation starts with what
Speaker 2: are the Charges going to do at five? And I
Speaker 2: think there's a split among fans some fantasy like, hey,
Speaker 2: we don't need a receiver. We just drafted one in
Speaker 2: the first round. We have Keenan Allen Mike Williams fan. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, we'll figure out what happens with the cap,
Speaker 2: but can you just kind of put into context why
Speaker 2: we're talking about the wide receivers at five, because those
Speaker 2: are the best players overall I think in this draft.
Speaker 2: You know, defensive tackle is something I think we need
Speaker 2: to talk about among charges fans, corner a number of
Speaker 2: different positions. But the reason we're so hung up on
Speaker 2: the wide receivers at five is because those are the
Speaker 2: best players in this draft.
Speaker 1: They are like full stop there.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously Marvin Junior is incredible, and Rome is amazing,
Speaker 5: and obviously in the Laigue neighbors, I would even I
Speaker 5: would consider brock Bowers in that kind of tier of
Speaker 5: just pass catcher. We're just talking about weapons, right, But
Speaker 5: at the same time, I think a pitfall that's snuck
Speaker 5: up on me. I don't know, I can't speak for
Speaker 5: you guys, but at least it snuck up on me
Speaker 5: our last couple of years, where you know, we go
Speaker 5: in it every year and we're like, oh, man, I
Speaker 5: really like this Chargers roster. They got a top tier quarterback,
Speaker 5: they got left tackle. When the receivers are healthy. You know,
Speaker 5: we like the receiver. We like all the weapons, right,
Speaker 5: they got a pass rushing trio that we like. So
Speaker 5: you got the meat and potatoes, but you don't have
Speaker 5: the veggies. Like the rest of the roster was just
Speaker 5: it was not deep enough to sustain through the rigors
Speaker 5: of an NFL season. And I think if you're looking
Speaker 5: at what to do at five, yes, you could get
Speaker 5: another pass catcher and that would make us all feel
Speaker 5: good and you know, it'd be awesome to go through
Speaker 5: highlights and just get excited about that. Is it gonna
Speaker 5: help you stop Isaiah Pacheco in December?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 5: Is it gonna help you try to cover DeVante Adams?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 5: Probably not. And that's kind of what the actual problems are,
Speaker 5: not to mention, like, this is a team that's gonna
Speaker 5: be going, that's gonna be making a lot of financial
Speaker 5: decisions over the next couple of weeks. They need picks,
Speaker 5: they need cheap talent, they need a volume of talent,
Speaker 5: kind of similar to what we what we've seen with
Speaker 5: other teams where you know, we saw Indy have like
Speaker 5: fourteen picks last year. You know we saw the Rams
Speaker 5: have fourteen picks like that. That's what the Chargers need.
Speaker 5: They need picks, They need guys because one guy is
Speaker 5: not going to fix everything, and I ultimately that's why
Speaker 5: I advocate for a trade down. Honestly, the Holy Grail
Speaker 5: scenario is a double trade down where like, hey, let's
Speaker 5: say a quarterback sitting there at five, we ransom him
Speaker 5: off to Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Okay, we got JJ McCarthy's sitting.
Speaker 5: There at eight, and I know Jim's loves JJ McCarthy,
Speaker 5: so he knows that teams are gonna watch j.
Speaker 1: You're just thinking Jaden slips to five.
Speaker 5: If Jaden slips to five, trade down, trade down again
Speaker 5: to like eleven, just get picks.
Speaker 1: Do you think Jayden slips to five?
Speaker 5: Though?
Speaker 2: Like, I don't think Washington can afford not selecting a quarterback.
Speaker 5: So I if I had to guess, and again I
Speaker 5: have no inside knowledge on this quarterback at one, quarterback
Speaker 5: at two, and then Marvin is just so good. I
Speaker 5: think he goes three, and then Arizona's going to be
Speaker 5: open for business at four, But that could be Drake
Speaker 5: ba three, it could be or I mean, any of
Speaker 5: the top three quarterbacks. One's gonna be Kleb. But like,
Speaker 5: I think Arizona is gonna be open for business, and
Speaker 5: I think the Chargers to be open for business because
Speaker 5: both teams just need picks really bad.
Speaker 3: I just can't envision him making it to five. I
Speaker 3: think that's the thing. Like, I get what you're saying
Speaker 3: that New England could just feel like this is Larry
Speaker 3: Fitzgerald Part two. It's Marvin Harrison. Think about what he
Speaker 3: meant to that franchise, So we'll take him. But then
Speaker 3: I would just assume if you're Arizona, you'd probably want
Speaker 3: to trade down right to take advantage of it.
Speaker 5: I would, unless they have just an astronomical grade any
Speaker 5: of these receivers, Yeah, which they might, Yeah they might,
Speaker 5: you know, because these guys are better than you know,
Speaker 5: the most receivers that have come out.
Speaker 1: That the thing.
Speaker 3: And this is the first time we brought it up
Speaker 3: third day, but I think you just you phrased it
Speaker 3: so perfectly bright it it kind of made it click
Speaker 3: for me. The reason why you want to trade down
Speaker 3: repeatedly with this particular team right now is just look
Speaker 3: what they did at Michigan you're talking about and look,
Speaker 3: I'm not saying they weren't getting a top twenty class,
Speaker 3: but they're not Ohio State, they're not Alabama. They're taking
Speaker 3: a lot of three star kids and they got eighteen
Speaker 3: of them here. This is a staff that knows how
Speaker 3: to develop. So you want more fourths, more fifths, more
Speaker 3: six because of how good they are. Those are still
Speaker 3: four star kids they're getting drafted into the NFL. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just how good they were at developing talents didn't really
Speaker 3: click until you just said that, Like, hey, get ten
Speaker 3: twelve picks because this coaching staff is incredible. Ben Herbert
Speaker 3: is incredible at turning three stars into five stars by
Speaker 3: the time he's done with them.
Speaker 5: Not to mention, like we had the conversation about, Hey,
Speaker 5: this coaching staff knows this draft class better than anybody else.
Speaker 1: Why not weaponize that. Why not let them the year
Speaker 1: to do it. This is the year to do it.
Speaker 5: They know all these guys, So the hit rate, if
Speaker 5: we go for a high volume strategy, the hit rate
Speaker 5: for the Chargers will be higher than any team in
Speaker 5: the NFL that tries to do the same thing because
Speaker 5: they know all these guys. So use that to the advantage.
Speaker 5: You know, go get you know, a pass rusher out
Speaker 5: of Colorado State named Mo Kamara who's second and pressure
Speaker 5: is in the entire college for like you can you
Speaker 5: can get him in the third round. And they know
Speaker 5: this guy, right, they've seen him for years, like they
Speaker 5: recruited him. So like that's that's what I'm advocating for. Like,
Speaker 5: you want as many second and third round picks in
Speaker 5: this class as you can possibly get, and I think
Speaker 5: they're gonna try to do that.
Speaker 2: Defensively, Let's go back to the just the lines, right,
Speaker 2: because when Minter was at Michigan, he had Hutchinson a
Speaker 2: Java one year and then those guys leave and then
Speaker 2: they really relied on guys like Mason Graham and Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 2: When you look at the Chargers line. Now, we don't
Speaker 2: know what's gonna happen with Joey and Khalil. We know
Speaker 2: two leaves in tow. Defensive tackle is kind of bear
Speaker 2: right now in terms of like top level starters. How
Speaker 2: do you attack that position both in free agency and
Speaker 2: the draft, Because there's some good defensive tackles in this draft,
Speaker 2: but it's just not as top heavy as I think
Speaker 2: in pastures.
Speaker 1: I think for.
Speaker 5: Once you get past like the first five or six guys,
Speaker 5: you know there is a there is a drop off, right,
Speaker 5: I mean it's top five to six with like a
Speaker 5: lot like Byron Murphy is super explosive. Uh, Newton's not
Speaker 5: gonna work out, but like he's a freak. But once
Speaker 5: you get past that, there is a shelf and there's
Speaker 5: only so many guys in like the third to fifth
Speaker 5: round range that that you feel good about. By the way,
Speaker 5: Christian Boyd Northern Iowa, keep an eye on him. He's
Speaker 5: not here at the Combine. He was at Shrine Bowl.
Speaker 5: He was one of the best players on the field
Speaker 5: and like every team was hold on, who's that right? So,
Speaker 5: but he's like the only one in that range. He's
Speaker 5: like the only one where hey, if we miss out
Speaker 5: on the top, we can come back. And so I
Speaker 5: kind of feel like that's one of the position groups
Speaker 5: where we use free agency for other stuff and we
Speaker 5: use draft for defensive tackle because if we're gonna hit it,
Speaker 5: we got to hit it early. We won't have a
Speaker 5: second chance. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is about those players that
Speaker 3: we always have this you know he's gonna go on
Speaker 3: the third round. I remember what Tron Arms said, lit
Speaker 3: up the combine and everyone said, oh wow, that guy
Speaker 3: just worked himself into the third round. It's like, if
Speaker 3: everybody's decided he's going in the third round, draft him
Speaker 3: in the second. If everybody decided that man hurts is
Speaker 3: gonna be this great interior alignment, draft him at the
Speaker 3: back end of the first or the like. That's it
Speaker 3: always surprises me that we have these conversations about these
Speaker 3: players we attach around. Cooper Cup was tied to the
Speaker 3: Rams in like the third or fourth round. Forever, go
Speaker 3: take them in the second. Like, I don't understand how
Speaker 3: we these guys get stuck with these labels and everyone
Speaker 3: just lets them sit there, and then five years later
Speaker 3: we say, why wasn't that guy taken in the first round?
Speaker 1: Everybody had a high grade on them. It's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 5: You know what it is, It's the Dunning Kruger effect,
Speaker 5: And if you're not familiar with what that is, it's basically
Speaker 5: like a curve of how much you know. It directly
Speaker 5: impacts your confidence in how much you know, and then
Speaker 5: so you kind of start out super confident when you
Speaker 5: first know something and then you start to know a
Speaker 5: little bit more than you realize how little you know,
Speaker 5: and then you become like a master towards the end,
Speaker 5: but you still don't have any confidence. And I feel
Speaker 5: like when it comes to the draft, we all we
Speaker 5: all have that where we start out it's like, oh,
Speaker 5: I don't know, just draft all the good players right right,
Speaker 5: And then you kind of get to the bottom of
Speaker 5: the curve and you're trying to do like value hunting,
Speaker 5: and it's like, oh, no, I have to wait twenty
Speaker 5: more picks to get this guy to match up with
Speaker 5: you know, whatever the numbers tell me his value for
Speaker 5: a certain position.
Speaker 1: Pff grade will be too low if I take him here.
Speaker 5: And then you bomb and then eventually you get back.
Speaker 5: You know, maybe just draft the good players, Like we
Speaker 5: all end where we start. And I'm at that point
Speaker 5: now where it's like, Hey, if a dude pops on
Speaker 5: film and he tests really well and he interviews very well,
Speaker 5: he's probably going to.
Speaker 3: Be a good player. Yeah, just draft him and figured it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Like Lance brought it up yesterday about the center at
Speaker 3: Penn State. He's like, Oh, this guy's going to go
Speaker 3: on the fourth fifth ro awesome, And I was like, well,
Speaker 3: why is he going in the fourth fifth round? If
Speaker 3: you're telling me he's destroying Newton in their game and
Speaker 3: just threw him around like a rag doll, well then
Speaker 3: maybe he should go on the second round.
Speaker 2: You know, guy, you look at the rankings, he's not
Speaker 2: even like in the top ten of centers in a
Speaker 2: lot of you know, analyst rankings. It's just it's just
Speaker 2: funny how things change. Opinions are very different, and then
Speaker 2: it's going to be like that all the way up
Speaker 2: until the draft.
Speaker 5: The exact same thing happened with the same position at
Speaker 5: the same school last year with Juwe Scruggs, where he
Speaker 5: went to the Shrine Bowl and everybody's like, I don't
Speaker 5: really know much about Jewice Scruggs, and like we interviewed
Speaker 5: him on our podcast and he's incredibly smart, and then
Speaker 5: he you know, tests out of his mind because of
Speaker 5: course he's Penn State. And then he goes in the
Speaker 5: second round. Nobody's like, where'd that come from? And it's like,
Speaker 5: cause he's good. Yeah, that's what happens, Brett.
Speaker 1: I saw that.
Speaker 2: You just had I think a video on Brian Thomas
Speaker 2: from LS seventeen touchdowns last year, so his production was insane.
Speaker 2: We've talked so much about the guys up top, but
Speaker 2: another name that we haven't talked about Lad McConkey. He
Speaker 2: gets he's getting a lot of love as well, and
Speaker 2: maybe he's in that early second range.
Speaker 1: I don't know, late first who knows.
Speaker 5: I think he's firmly in play for like the first
Speaker 5: five picks of day two, Like he's gonna be one
Speaker 5: of the names where the night after day one, you
Speaker 5: know how there's always like a scramble of like people
Speaker 5: trying to reposition everything like that, he's gonna be one
Speaker 5: of the names that I think people reposition for, because.
Speaker 1: Yes, this is a very good receiver class. But as
Speaker 1: far as just separators.
Speaker 5: Like if you need just somebody who's gonna get open, Like, hey,
Speaker 5: it's third and seven, we're seeing one rat the newke
Speaker 5: Keenan Allen. Yeah, put up her, shut up, go get open. Right,
Speaker 5: that's him. And there's not as many of those in
Speaker 5: this class as you think. Right, there's a bunch of
Speaker 5: high weight speed guys, like there's post up guys, there's
Speaker 5: yak machines like Malachai Corley, But in terms of just hey,
Speaker 5: it's man coverage, Go get open. He's one of like
Speaker 5: five that I feel good about, and.
Speaker 3: It feels like it's McConkie and Wilson are the two
Speaker 3: that everybody is sort of talking about as the go
Speaker 3: get open, which to me, I feel like as expensive
Speaker 3: as wide receivers are, and we can remember who we
Speaker 3: were talking about it with yesterday, but just kind of like,
Speaker 3: where's the run that there you could end up maybe
Speaker 3: they're not going to be there on day two, that
Speaker 3: you could just end up having that back end of
Speaker 3: the first round run or in that twenties like we
Speaker 3: had last year, right where it went Smith and Jigba, Johnston,
Speaker 3: Flowers and Addison, Like when the run comes for that,
Speaker 3: it just feels like that's a position where there's always
Speaker 3: a run.
Speaker 5: I'll give you a couple of names for down the
Speaker 5: board guys that I think would be good complimentary weapons
Speaker 5: for what the Chargers have right now. Malik Washington, receiver
Speaker 5: out of Virginia. He's a transfer. In this last year
Speaker 5: over fourteen hundred yards, led the nation in almost everything.
Speaker 1: He is a monster.
Speaker 5: He's like five nine five, so he's gonna dip just
Speaker 5: because of size, but like I say, short but not small,
Speaker 5: Like he's rocked.
Speaker 1: Up, he's physical, he's great after the catch.
Speaker 5: He's a I again talk to him for fifteen twenty
Speaker 5: minutes just going through film, talking about he's super smart,
Speaker 5: very well trained. He's a pro's pro already, like he
Speaker 5: checks so many boxes. He just happens to be five
Speaker 5: to nine. And so he's gonna go somewhere again and
Speaker 5: probably the third to fourth range. But he's gonna play
Speaker 5: for eight years and he's gonna be a fan favorite
Speaker 5: because he's one of those guys where hey, it's third
Speaker 5: and seven, co get open right, Like he's gonna get
Speaker 5: open right?
Speaker 1: What about speed guys?
Speaker 3: You do?
Speaker 1: Oh, there's a lot.
Speaker 2: So you know, I think that's been the biggest I
Speaker 2: think issue that you know, when fans watched the team,
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, well, you know Mike was hurt and
Speaker 2: then Jalen Geiton got hurt, and you know there were
Speaker 2: so many speed guys on this team, Darius Davis, but
Speaker 2: you know you didn't really use him in that role.
Speaker 2: Who are some guys who could just stretch the field
Speaker 2: and really maximize Justin's arm?
Speaker 5: Roman Wilson I think is gonna roll. I'd say sub
Speaker 5: four four Taj Washington the other Washington for USC. I
Speaker 5: love that kid. Again, he's a smaller frame, but I
Speaker 5: think he's gonna end up being like a Taylor Gabriel type,
Speaker 5: you know, where it's like he's the number three where
Speaker 5: if you need a chunk, he can get a chunk.
Speaker 5: Great contested catcher, by the way, for his size, like
Speaker 5: over sixty percent contest to catch eight for a guy
Speaker 5: his frame is not normal.
Speaker 1: Great tracker of the ball. Again, very smart.
Speaker 5: I think Justin and him would get along very well
Speaker 5: and develop chemistry very well because he played with somebody
Speaker 5: with Caleb who had similar arm talent where especially deep
Speaker 5: down the field, it's more about reading safeties and running
Speaker 5: to a spot that it is about running a route
Speaker 5: how it's drawn up. And he's very smart post snap
Speaker 5: in terms of understanding where to get and reading a
Speaker 5: safety the same way as quarterbacks and read safety.
Speaker 1: And he's just really could happen.
Speaker 3: It's interesting, and you know we're asking so many wide
Speaker 3: receiver questions because that's what we get peppered with. And
Speaker 3: I get it. You have Justin Herbert. You want to see,
Speaker 3: you want to maximize that arm talent and that brain
Speaker 3: and that processor. But at the same time, like I
Speaker 3: like Josh Palmer. Josh Palmer's a good receiver. I love it,
Speaker 3: and it's yeah. So like for me, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well maybe new coaching staff, let's let's use quit in
Speaker 3: the right way. It sounds like sure as heck. Sounds
Speaker 3: like they're bringing Keenan back. I mean, if they didn't,
Speaker 3: it would be an incredible surprise based on what all
Speaker 3: the coaches said. I'd be stun so, you know, and
Speaker 3: I don't know what happens with Mike because of the
Speaker 3: injury and what's available out there for him. If you
Speaker 3: can have a conversation with him and the agents and
Speaker 3: try to see if you can make that work, because
Speaker 3: I can't imagine if they cut him loose what that
Speaker 3: market would look like. So to me, I'm like, they
Speaker 3: need tight ends, they need running backs, they need O line,
Speaker 3: they need D line.
Speaker 1: But the two.
Speaker 3: Positions, like the one position that we are not talking
Speaker 3: about nearly enough. They need corners. Man, this team makes
Speaker 3: corners for days. And that's what I'm trying to figure out. Like,
Speaker 3: it's too bad there isn't a sauce gardener or something
Speaker 3: like that at the top of the draft, because then
Speaker 3: you'd feel comfortable of, Okay, well they couldn't get the
Speaker 3: haul at five, but premium position, premium player, perfect match,
Speaker 3: let's go. And that's just not the case this year.
Speaker 3: They're going to be heavily linked to Terran Ardold.
Speaker 2: Right, he's on the fringe right of being in that
Speaker 2: top ten conversation.
Speaker 1: Everybody loves him in the first round.
Speaker 5: When you talk to different people, they all have different
Speaker 5: opinions about how high in the first round ultra talented.
Speaker 5: You know, he will go somewhere in the top twenty.
Speaker 5: I just don't know exactly how high. But because of
Speaker 5: the positional need and the fact that, like clearly he
Speaker 5: is a first round talent, they are going to be
Speaker 5: heavily linked to him. But if they go a different direction,
Speaker 5: let's say they go tackle, Let's say they do that
Speaker 5: double trade down Holy Grail and they get like Bowers
Speaker 5: at eleven, right, but they still have to address corner,
Speaker 5: the one that I am honed in on for the Chargers,
Speaker 5: ideally early on day two, because I think there's no
Speaker 5: way he goes late on tape to Ronaldo Green, Florida, State.
Speaker 5: One of the best pressman corners in all of college football.
Speaker 5: He went up against Malie Neighbors and Brian Thomas Junior
Speaker 5: in the in the first week and allowed combined on
Speaker 5: I think it's forty press coverage snaps against both of them.
Speaker 5: He allowed two catches for twenty yards against two guys
Speaker 5: that are gonna go in the top fifteen. He's phenomenal.
Speaker 5: He reminds me a lot of Jonathan Joseph. Line him
Speaker 5: up in man coverage and just let him do his
Speaker 5: thing for an entire day, which is what they need,
Speaker 5: Like truly, they need a boundary pressman corner.
Speaker 1: He doesn't get.
Speaker 5: Talked enough about at all. I think he's a lock
Speaker 5: for top fifty. I would love him in LA.
Speaker 2: Just doing this exercise with you, it just makes you
Speaker 2: realize how many needs there are on this team in
Speaker 2: terms of just depth, right, and we lock in on
Speaker 2: one of the one or two positions. And I think
Speaker 2: that every exercise that we have, it's like, okay, if
Speaker 2: you get if you get a Duneesay at five and
Speaker 2: then you turn around you get Powers Johnson in the
Speaker 2: second round, Like that's a good job. But one now
Speaker 2: you need a corner of defensive tackle. So where's that
Speaker 2: coming from? So I guess my last question to you is,
Speaker 2: knowing that they're not gonna have a ton of money
Speaker 2: to spend a free agency, what are some potential discounts
Speaker 2: that you think are out there that makes sense for
Speaker 2: a Jim Harball team.
Speaker 1: For like free agents. Yeah?
Speaker 5: Oh, man, See the corner market's about to get reset
Speaker 5: in a nasty way.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: The Jerry's gonna get paid, Janel John's gonna get paid.
Speaker 1: And we already went down that road with j C.
Speaker 3: Jackson. Yeah, it's still paying them. Yeah, we got an
Speaker 3: eighteen million dollar corner on the team.
Speaker 5: I just feel like because the market, like you remember
Speaker 5: when Christian Kirk got paid and then all of a
Speaker 5: sudden every receiver is making ten million money worth the
Speaker 5: year before. I think it's about to happen with corner,
Speaker 5: Which is why I think, if anything, corner is what
Speaker 5: you draft, right because with the slotted contracts in the draft,
Speaker 5: corners about about to be one of those positions, probably
Speaker 5: one of the top three positions in the NFL where
Speaker 5: value for rookie contract is at a premium. I think
Speaker 5: tight end you can still work fairly cheaply in free agency.
Speaker 5: I feel like defensive tackle is something that, again depending
Speaker 5: on the role, if you're looking for a nose, if
Speaker 5: you're looking for a three, you might be able to
Speaker 5: either trade for a guy who's a team is trying
Speaker 5: to fix their own cap and so they're jettisoning. You
Speaker 5: can need a trade for a guy, or you can
Speaker 5: try to find like a mercenary deal, right, like a
Speaker 5: one year thing. Corner is not something I think is
Speaker 5: gonna that it's going to be reasonable financially to fix
Speaker 5: a free agency because of what the.
Speaker 1: Market's going to do.
Speaker 5: So that's I feel very confident they're going to draft
Speaker 5: one of the first two rounds because the money just
Speaker 5: makes too much sense.
Speaker 3: I think it's you know, and I get it. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, we all are a product of our experiences.
Speaker 3: And when the Chargers drafted Zion, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I get it. Tom was in Indianapolis. They never addressed
Speaker 3: offensive line, Andrew Luck got us block knocked off and
Speaker 3: it affected the team considerably. So do whatever you can
Speaker 3: to make sure the front's for it. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: it's like you got Truent McDuffie sitting right there, corner
Speaker 3: is a premium position. Yeah, so that's I mean, in
Speaker 3: all your research, Brett, is that a fair assessment that
Speaker 3: the teams that are best at drafting almost always draft
Speaker 3: premium positions with their first maybe two picks. It's always
Speaker 3: O line corner. It's that, and then we'll find our guard,
Speaker 3: our linebackers are safeties toward the back end. Because it
Speaker 3: just it feels like, maybe I'm crazy, but I just
Speaker 3: feel like the grades are so much closer at those
Speaker 3: positions that, yeah, the guy you're great on, a guy
Speaker 3: in the fourth round at linebacker is probably very similar
Speaker 3: to a guy that's going in the first round.
Speaker 5: I mean, I the NFL is littered with third round
Speaker 5: guards that made the Pro Bowl. Yeah, it is what
Speaker 5: it is, right, But like, corner is one of those spots.
Speaker 5: And again not to go too heavy on the financials,
Speaker 5: but that's one of those spots where you can get
Speaker 5: you know, dollars for production, crazy value receiver, quarterback, I
Speaker 5: would even say left tackle, right edge rusher, And.
Speaker 1: Those are the teams that are succes.
Speaker 5: Like it's not the premium positions are premium because of
Speaker 5: the finances behind.
Speaker 1: It, and so I struggle to believe they're gonna move.
Speaker 5: Away from that model that has been very successful around
Speaker 5: the league. Of hey, draft premium draft, the best players
Speaker 5: at premium positions, figure out everything else in a financially
Speaker 5: responsible way. Weaponize the fact that your coaches know this
Speaker 5: class so they know which guys to take and which
Speaker 5: guys to avoid. And then within two years everything's cleaned
Speaker 5: up financially. You have a deep, talented roster. You have
Speaker 5: one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 5: We can go on a real run like they're gonna
Speaker 5: be fine. It's gonna take a couple of years, but
Speaker 5: they're gonna be fine. And I just want Chargers fans
Speaker 5: to realize that the best days are still ahead. You
Speaker 5: can be confident in that, but they're gonna have to
Speaker 5: do it the right way.
Speaker 1: It's good way to end it.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm gonna end it with this right because when
Speaker 3: we have someone that knows as much about the draft
Speaker 3: is Brett, it's fun to do this exercise. You have
Speaker 3: to take a Michigan player, Okay, you will take him
Speaker 3: where you have him slotted in that round, so you're
Speaker 3: gonna maximize value of I'm gonna get this guy in
Speaker 3: this round for this team, with this coaching staff, Which
Speaker 3: which one would you take? Which one do you think
Speaker 3: is maximized for you know, talent plus round.
Speaker 1: Value and give us offense and defense? Offensive defense? Okay?
Speaker 5: Chris Jenkins, Okay, I would say, is a do it
Speaker 5: all He's probably gonna be the third round, I would say,
Speaker 5: and I would feel comfortable there, do it all defensive
Speaker 5: lineman who he's He's played it a variety of different
Speaker 5: sizes of between.
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll be a third after this? After
Speaker 1: he puts on a show here? Oh that's true. He
Speaker 1: is about theball today. He's got to put this place unnoticed.
Speaker 5: But hey again, holy Grail, trade down if you have
Speaker 5: a late too or in business, right, But I I.
Speaker 1: Love Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 5: I think he's somebody who you could do some just
Speaker 5: unholy things with him and Tuley, moving them both around
Speaker 5: all the playing off to each other.
Speaker 1: Uh so on defense and then on offense.
Speaker 5: Cornelius Johnson, Michigan receiver, probably gonna go somewhere midday three.
Speaker 5: I would say, six round. He is a sleeper profile
Speaker 5: that reminds me a lot of another Michigan receiver, Nico Collins. Okay,
Speaker 5: six three four four speed, very athletic. He played a
Speaker 5: role and everybody, everybody that Michigan offense played a role
Speaker 5: that that did not did not give them the best
Speaker 5: box score. But when you throw in the tape, you're like, boy,
Speaker 5: he gets open a lot.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: He he was their leading receiver by a mile on
Speaker 5: first and second down. Roman Wilson did a lot of
Speaker 5: the third down work. But in terms of you know,
Speaker 5: heavy play action. Take a shot down the field, like
Speaker 5: here's a here's a big dude that runs really fast
Speaker 5: and also is a very good route runner and he
Speaker 5: catches everything. Love that great contested catcher and also just
Speaker 5: a great kid.
Speaker 1: Great kid. Love talking to him. Cornelius Johnson.
Speaker 5: I think if if we're doing the receiver thing right, hey,
Speaker 5: six round, let's go, and this is the staff that's
Speaker 5: gonna do it because they know him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you said, holy grow, you have all these picks,
Speaker 2: don't worry about receiver five.
Speaker 1: And then get guys like cornelis cho seven six yeah, and.
Speaker 5: Then we're gonna look up and he's gonna have forty
Speaker 5: catches for like seven hundred yards and be like, oh yeah,
Speaker 5: it's pretty good.
Speaker 1: Check Justin Herberts's quarterback. Yeah, I'll take it, Brett. Awesome stuff, man,
Speaker 1: We know you're a busy man. Enjoy the rest of
Speaker 1: the week, you guys too, so Mondy, what a week.
Speaker 2: Uh so many great opinions and you learn so much
Speaker 2: about the draft and the combine and some players that
Speaker 2: frankly we haven't talked about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what I learned. I learned you can't
Speaker 3: pour a vitamin C booster into a Celsius or else
Speaker 3: it'll explode like you drop a mento?
Speaker 1: Who did that?
Speaker 3: Harman b r Matt Brian decided to drop little This
Speaker 3: was feeling the effects maybe of a little bit of
Speaker 3: a late night there at the Kilroys for the I
Speaker 3: don't know third night in a row, and was like,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get one
Speaker 3: of these great Celsius drinks and I'm gonna put some
Speaker 3: vitamin C in it and then I'm gonna watch it
Speaker 3: explode all over. It's like pop rocks, like like pop
Speaker 3: rocks into a soda. So that's if you're asking you,
Speaker 3: it was my top takeaway from the week.
Speaker 1: That's it. There was a there was a put a
Speaker 1: vitamin C booster in anything but a bottle of water.
Speaker 1: There was a pedia LIGHTE situation.
Speaker 3: Earlier at this media light Yeah, yeah, we had. We
Speaker 3: had a lot of a lot of good action here
Speaker 3: in town along with our great football analysis. You know,
Speaker 3: I think we could do a fifth pod on everything
Speaker 3: around the combine.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: In draft, we've already we've already called out Carly and
Speaker 3: we've already we haven't mid mention of Tyler.
Speaker 1: Who's Who's probably he's given us the stink guy right now.
Speaker 3: I mean, Tyler's a warrior's he's He's someone who's gonna
Speaker 3: if you ask me, I got to put my money
Speaker 3: on one that's gonna be able to power through, like
Speaker 3: the one a M. And everyone's like, hey, should we
Speaker 3: call the uber? Tyler's like, nah, let's let's let's get
Speaker 3: one more.
Speaker 2: After the bar after the barbecue tonight, Tyler. I think
Speaker 2: if I could, it's gonna go late rounds.
Speaker 3: Whether or not this stuff gets edited out because Brian's
Speaker 3: in charge of it anyway, and I'm guessing it might.
Speaker 3: But if it doesn't, let me just make my case.
Speaker 3: I think this group needs to be sent to Detroit.
Speaker 3: I think they should be sent to Detroit for the draft.
Speaker 3: I think they should spend some time out there, and
Speaker 3: I think Monday, you got to get out there, get
Speaker 3: the the land, you know, work your way through a
Speaker 3: lot of the prospects and uh, you know, do some time,
Speaker 3: do some food tours, restaurants, and I'll say, do something
Speaker 3: similar that they did to here. Find a nice house,
Speaker 3: find a nice house right there in the city, and
Speaker 3: really get after it. That's what my takeaway is. It's
Speaker 3: a lot of inside, a lot of inside baseball part
Speaker 3: in the story.
Speaker 1: This is this is, this is where we're at because
Speaker 1: we're at the end of the.
Speaker 3: Week, exactly right the end of the week, and it
Speaker 3: was a great week and we appreciate all of you
Speaker 3: a lot of action around the pods and that's why
Speaker 3: we were able to come out here and do this
Speaker 3: and and get to visit with a lot of our
Speaker 3: friends that we typically see between you know, on our
Speaker 3: computer screens and not in person. It's always good to
Speaker 3: kind of catch up and grin and grip and hang
Speaker 3: out with people.
Speaker 2: And it's important for us to get you guys as
Speaker 2: much information as possible. Man, we know how much you
Speaker 2: love the Chargers and just to get different opinions from
Speaker 2: all around the country, different analysts and names to know
Speaker 2: as we.
Speaker 1: Get closer and closer to late April. So that'll do it.
Speaker 1: Anything else.
Speaker 3: I think next year, as I'm looking around and I
Speaker 3: see all the step in repeats for the for all
Speaker 3: that which is for those of you that don't know
Speaker 3: the term, it's the curtain that goes behind you, that
Speaker 3: that you have as a backdrop with your logo or
Speaker 3: your sponsor. I think if I could, if I could
Speaker 3: make the pitch to the Chargers next year, can we
Speaker 3: get a step and repeat And I'd like it to
Speaker 3: be just a portrait of Dave drinking the pedialyte Max.
Speaker 3: That's what I would like that I think is appropriate.
Speaker 3: That's that's what I would put on there. And that's
Speaker 3: all I got.
Speaker 1: I'm done. Final PSA, don't put vitamin C in a
Speaker 1: Celsius drink.
Speaker 2: You know that's just hot A hot tip from Indy
Speaker 2: that we'll bring to Southern California for Buddy.
Speaker 1: I'm Chris. This has been charges Weekly podcast, number four
Speaker 1: of the week.