Speaker 1: It's a late fifteen to ten touchdown sack.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: Welcome into a very special edition of Chargers Weekly, as always,
Speaker 3: joined by Matt Muddy Smith in person, though today top
Speaker 3: golf El Segundo. The Chargers have just selected Joe Alt
Speaker 3: fifth overall, the big massive tackle from Notre Dame and
Speaker 3: money do you want to give a give an eye?
Speaker 1: Told you so? No, I don't you. You've been saying it.
Speaker 1: You've been saying it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, I think it's it's a product of what the
Speaker 2: Chargers are and what they want to be and what
Speaker 2: their identity is. And that is so important in this
Speaker 2: particular sport is to have an identity, to establish a culture,
Speaker 2: to be a particular type of football team that you
Speaker 2: know when you walk into the facility every single day.
Speaker 4: That's just how we play football.
Speaker 2: And I think it's something that's been missing and one
Speaker 2: of the reasons why when we talked about who do
Speaker 2: you want him to hire? I said, I want to
Speaker 2: hire a winner, And there's nobody that they could hire
Speaker 2: that we better than Jim Harbaugh to walk through that
Speaker 2: door and say I have won here, I've won here,
Speaker 2: I've won here, I've won here. This is how we
Speaker 2: do it. Follow me. You know, your losers, I'm a winner.
Speaker 2: Let's make you winners along with me. And this is
Speaker 2: the first step. You know, well it's not the first step,
Speaker 2: but this is a step toward that result. And that's
Speaker 2: we're gonna play physical football. It's not lip service. When
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh's at the owners meeting and says, offensive line,
Speaker 2: what's the most important? Yeah, you know, exactly, five fingers
Speaker 2: on a glove. You know, it's a fist. You work together,
Speaker 2: and every other position group on the team benefits from
Speaker 2: the offensive line and they don't benefit from anybody else.
Speaker 4: Like that's.
Speaker 2: That's that's what was announced. When when you draft Joe Alt,
Speaker 2: when Malik Neighbors and Roma Dounsday and any defensive player
Speaker 2: you want are there, and you take a six foot nine,
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty pound guy that is going to
Speaker 2: beat the snot out of opponents with Rashaun Slater on
Speaker 2: the other side, that's what you're announcing. Yet you better
Speaker 2: strap it up, man, better be ready to go, because
Speaker 2: we're gonna beat your ass for sixty minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's no surprise.
Speaker 3: And you know you hear coach Bischoff saying this is
Speaker 3: gonna be an offensive line centric football team. And I
Speaker 3: think if you're a charges fan, you should feel good
Speaker 3: that this team has an identity and it's been established
Speaker 3: from the beginning. You already had Rashaun Slater who was
Speaker 3: here earlier, with Zion Johnson.
Speaker 1: Right now, you bring.
Speaker 3: Joe Alton and you're able to protect Justin Herbert and
Speaker 3: really bring this running game to life. Money this is
Speaker 3: this is another big component of what they want to
Speaker 3: do is run the football and Joe Alt's.
Speaker 1: Going to provide that on the other side with Slater, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the key.
Speaker 2: So you know, a couple of things there doing the show,
Speaker 2: you know, doing the draft party. Here, we had Rashaan,
Speaker 2: we had Zion, we had a Looie Gilman. We could
Speaker 2: not have picked three better people to have won. A
Speaker 2: Loe Notre Dame who gave us some insight into what
Speaker 2: I'll start there. So a Looie when we were talking
Speaker 2: to him, said, listen, offensive line at Notre Dame is
Speaker 2: a special, exclusive group of people. That is the identity
Speaker 2: of that football team. And he talked about how how
Speaker 2: great it is. And I just happened to come back
Speaker 2: from Hawaii, so and I happened to know somebody who
Speaker 2: played at the same high school he did, Kahuku, which
Speaker 2: is known as like they're known as, you know, the
Speaker 2: butt kickin high school team.
Speaker 4: They're up by on the north Shore.
Speaker 2: It's not Punaho, it's not Saint Louis. It's in kind
Speaker 2: of the nicer part of town. It's kind of the
Speaker 2: we're big, we're strong, you're gonna feel it. So he
Speaker 2: got excited when we brought that up. And then he
Speaker 2: brought up Notre Dame. He's like, just know, like, when
Speaker 2: you're a football player at Notre Dame, you're in an
Speaker 2: exclusive group. Playing football at that place is special, he said.
Speaker 2: But then there's another sub sect, which is the offensive
Speaker 2: lineman in Notre Dame. And he said, they're in their
Speaker 2: own little sort of category and their own group. And
Speaker 2: you know, he played with McGlinchey, with Quinton Nelson Nelson,
Speaker 2: and so he brought those guys up. He said, to
Speaker 2: know that Joe Alt he was juiced, he was excited.
Speaker 2: He's like, I can tell you man, that's where we
Speaker 2: picked him, and that's what I've heard about. The Chargers
Speaker 2: got a heck of a football player today that's going
Speaker 2: to come in and help continue to set this tone
Speaker 2: of how they expect to play football.
Speaker 3: And I just talked to a Lowhi too, And you know,
Speaker 3: how does the offensive line help the entire team?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: And Jim Harball alluded to that, like it helps everybody,
Speaker 3: it helps the defense. Time of possession. This would be
Speaker 3: a time of possession football team too.
Speaker 1: Money. If you run the ball, you sustain.
Speaker 3: Drives, you get first downs, You're gonna have that defense
Speaker 3: well rested on the sideline. And I just I think
Speaker 3: that that's another element to how they're gonna play football,
Speaker 3: starting with a guy like Joe Wall.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And look, maybe the defense doesn't even have to come
Speaker 2: back on the field for a change. Right, how many
Speaker 2: times have we got the game to the end of
Speaker 2: game situation, you know, calling the game and all the
Speaker 2: Chargers have to do is pick up one, maybe two.
Speaker 4: First downs, and they can't get it. They can't even
Speaker 4: get a couple of yards. You know.
Speaker 2: You think about the Jacksonville playoff game and you're talking
Speaker 2: about six carries for thirteen yards when you're up, you know,
Speaker 2: twenty eight nothing. And that's what happens to the run game.
Speaker 2: So you know, it is the running game that's what
Speaker 2: we're talking about. It's Gus Edwards. You know, we had
Speaker 2: Zion up here, and so two things stood out from
Speaker 2: that Zion he said, I said, you know kind of
Speaker 2: you know what it's like the block for runners, and
Speaker 2: what are you thinking when you see JK.
Speaker 4: Dobbins and Gus Edwards walking through there?
Speaker 2: He's like, oh, he's like Gus Edwards, He's like, man,
Speaker 2: that's that's a big guy.
Speaker 4: Like that's a running back that I'm blocking for. So
Speaker 4: you get that.
Speaker 2: And then the other thing I said, you know that
Speaker 2: we asked him was you know, offensive line, there's pass
Speaker 2: pro backing up and then there's run blocking pushing forward.
Speaker 2: And I said, how much different is it in terms
Speaker 2: of what you're being asked to do pushing forward? And
Speaker 2: he literally sat up and he's like, oh man, he goes,
Speaker 2: you know how much better it is for offensive linemen
Speaker 2: to push forward? How much more excited you are about
Speaker 2: coming to work every day when you know you're pushing forward.
Speaker 2: You're the one punishing the opponent and it's not the
Speaker 2: other opponent that's pushing you and you're just doing your
Speaker 2: pass sets and trying to set up That's what these
Speaker 2: guys want man, that's what they want to do. They
Speaker 2: want to dominate, they want to punish, they want to
Speaker 2: push forward. And that's what Greg Roman and Jim Harbar
Speaker 2: are all about. And that's what Joe Alt is going
Speaker 2: to be a big part of because now he had
Speaker 2: six foot nine, thirty five plus inch arms on the
Speaker 2: right side of that line, pushing forward and getting nasty
Speaker 2: like those Notre Dame you know, offensive linemen.
Speaker 3: Do you know sometimes you wonder you hear all these
Speaker 3: mock drafts and experts and you know, money and I
Speaker 3: were at the combat a couple of months ago talking
Speaker 3: to all these different people, and you just wonder, what
Speaker 3: do the teams actually think.
Speaker 1: And the board right now, we're.
Speaker 3: In the twenties right now as we take Steelers are
Speaker 3: on as we tape this twenty twenty exactly you know what,
Speaker 3: you know what GMS and the league are saying that
Speaker 3: tackle matters, yeah, right, because Latham goes off the board
Speaker 3: right after all, and there has been a run on tackles.
Speaker 1: So you wonder for the people. And over the last
Speaker 1: couple of.
Speaker 3: Months, we've talked about the wide receivers, right, We've talked
Speaker 3: about Marvin Harrison Junior and Roma Dunsday and Elik Neighbors,
Speaker 3: and how any of those three guys would have a
Speaker 3: perfect fit for the Chargers when Marvin Harrison goes at four.
Speaker 3: I think that's where it got really interesting. If two
Speaker 3: part question money, if Marvin Harrison was there at five,
Speaker 3: do you think the pick would have been different? And two?
Speaker 3: What would you say to the fan that says we
Speaker 3: should have taken Molak Neighbors?
Speaker 1: What are we doing? We got to take my league neighbors.
Speaker 4: I get it, I get it.
Speaker 2: You know we talked to Matt Harmon last week about
Speaker 2: all the receivers and yeah, man, watching I call play
Speaker 2: by play, you don't think I want to call Justin
Speaker 2: Herbert's seventy yard bombs to Melik Neighbors. You know what
Speaker 2: It's gonna be like me calling, hey, Joe, all just
Speaker 2: clean house man, and we got six yards on that
Speaker 2: first down carry. I'm I'm gonna say that a lot,
Speaker 2: and it's not as exciting as having a touchdown call.
Speaker 1: Well you can make it, yeah, but you know.
Speaker 2: Like they can clip those they play them on Sunday
Speaker 2: Night Football. Of course I wanted Elik Neighbors, you know,
Speaker 2: or Roma Dunze. You know which I was not shy
Speaker 2: about talking about how he was one of my favorite
Speaker 2: players in this draft. But at the same time, I think,
Speaker 2: what kind of what happens? And and look, this isn't
Speaker 2: just this isn't just fans, Like there are head coaches
Speaker 2: in the league in the NFL that get that have
Speaker 2: sway and they get into the first round and they
Speaker 2: make that first round pick and then they tell the
Speaker 2: front office, yeah, you guys do the rest. Wait a minute,
Speaker 2: this is not a one player draft. This is you're
Speaker 2: hoping to come away with, in the case of the
Speaker 2: Chargers right now, nine players that will make your team
Speaker 2: second rounder, third rounder, your high fourth round. Those guys
Speaker 2: better be starters. Like, this is not about one player.
Speaker 2: This is about how what are these nine players that
Speaker 2: you're going to get over this three day span gonna
Speaker 2: look like? And how is that gonna change your team?
Speaker 2: And it's not for twenty twenty four. It's you know,
Speaker 2: something to Tom Tellescoud always say to us, He's like,
Speaker 2: we're not drafting a guy for seventeen games. We're drafting
Speaker 2: him for five years and hopefully a second contract in
Speaker 2: ten years. So understand the Chargers look panay Sewell just
Speaker 2: got a twenty eight million dollar dollars a.
Speaker 1: Year to play right tackle, eighty eight guaranteed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like he's a right tackle, look you know, and
Speaker 2: look he could be the left tackle, but they just
Speaker 2: you know, a decker that that's how they play it.
Speaker 4: But you get the point, like.
Speaker 2: Rashaun Slater's gonna sign a twenty eight million dollars a
Speaker 2: year deal. He's an All Pro, he's a left tackle.
Speaker 2: So think of this as a five year because you're gonna,
Speaker 2: you know, if everything goes as we suspect it's going to,
Speaker 2: and I don't know why it wouldn't, you're gonna pick
Speaker 2: up Joel's fifth year option. So now you've got your tackles,
Speaker 2: which very well could end up being the best tackles
Speaker 2: in the league, All pro Slater, I think Joel's going
Speaker 2: to be an All Pro as well. And now you
Speaker 2: have them locked up for five years at an average
Speaker 2: cost of about twelve million bucks a year for the
Speaker 2: two of the best tackle Like that changes the math
Speaker 2: on everything when you can save all that money at
Speaker 2: a premium position.
Speaker 4: So I just I get it.
Speaker 2: Just to answer you're coming back and ask the questions,
Speaker 2: you can reset it like, I get it. I get
Speaker 2: why you'd be excited about neighbors and why you desperate
Speaker 2: number eight neighbors.
Speaker 4: Are we riot? You know, God knows the amount of incoming.
Speaker 2: I've taken over the last two weeks for talking about
Speaker 2: what I think they're gonna do.
Speaker 4: But there is no throwing downfield if you're.
Speaker 2: Not pushing forward and you're not establishing the run and
Speaker 2: you're not protecting the quarterback.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad you mentioned the Lions, because the Lions
Speaker 3: started in the trenches, right They got Decker, they got Seul,
Speaker 3: they built up both of their lines so they could
Speaker 3: then grab Jamiir Gibbs. I'm and ross Saint Brown is
Speaker 3: the highest paid receiver in the league right now, where'd
Speaker 3: he go after Joshua Palmer?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, so Brown?
Speaker 3: So starting in the trenches, that's what the Chargers are doing.
Speaker 3: They already have Slater in tow. I think Zion is
Speaker 3: gonna take a big step forward this year. I think
Speaker 3: that this can light a fire under Trey Pipkins. Keep
Speaker 3: in mind, like, yeah, we're talking about starting five, but
Speaker 3: when when coach Bischoff says offensive line centric, you're gonna
Speaker 3: need all these guys, you're gonna need to have depth
Speaker 3: that's required to win and kind of sustain a seventeen
Speaker 3: game season, but kind of been here to forward to
Speaker 3: the wide receiver position. I'm glad we had Harmon on
Speaker 3: recently too, because he talked about some of these other
Speaker 3: guys late in the first round. Second round eighty Mitchell
Speaker 3: still on the board, Xavier Worthy is still on the.
Speaker 1: Board as we take this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, mconkey, pure saul le Get and I know that
Speaker 3: there's been mixed it's a mixed bag on the get.
Speaker 3: But there's a lot of guys that justin Herbert can
Speaker 3: get the football too, and maybe that starts in the
Speaker 3: second round. Money.
Speaker 2: Look, you know how many how many Stanford games I
Speaker 2: called where they had a sixth offensive lineman and three
Speaker 2: tight ends out there. So who knows, Maybe Pipkins is
Speaker 2: a sixth little lineman, you know, and that's what you do.
Speaker 4: You run a lot of that.
Speaker 1: So it all played tight end, didn't he?
Speaker 2: Yes, all was a tight end for two that's like.
Speaker 2: And that's the other thing too. I'm glad you mentioned
Speaker 2: that because for the people you're gonna you're gonna make
Speaker 2: a left tackle right tackle.
Speaker 4: Guy was a tight end for two years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he figured out left tackle pretty quick, so you know,
Speaker 2: it didn't take him too long to transition from tight
Speaker 2: end to left tackle. I think he'll be fine going
Speaker 2: left tackle to right tackle. In terms of the wide receivers,
Speaker 2: I think there's just so many different ways, and look,
Speaker 2: I've just whatever. I basically people like, oh, you're a shill,
Speaker 2: you're a charger shill. You work for the team, You're
Speaker 2: gonna push whatever they do is the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: But I feel like I've been pretty consistent and I
Speaker 2: would not have been surprised if they would have taken
Speaker 2: to do and say, or if they would have taken neighbors,
Speaker 2: it would not have surprised them at all. I would
Speaker 2: have said, I get it, they're exceptional players. Maybe that
Speaker 2: was the best player on the board, and that's just
Speaker 2: what they're gonna do, and they'll find another offensive lineman
Speaker 2: in the second round and coach them up and be fine.
Speaker 4: But you know, I think what is important.
Speaker 2: There's a couple of things that we can kind of
Speaker 2: speak to and you brought it up with the Lions.
Speaker 2: Is there any team in the NFL that has more
Speaker 2: of an identity as a football team that's connected to
Speaker 2: the identity of their head coach.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 2: It is Dan Campbell came in with that attitude, I
Speaker 2: am going to turn this place around. You guys have
Speaker 2: been losers for three decades, and we're gonna figure this out.
Speaker 2: We're gonna figure it out together. And he built a
Speaker 2: team of ass kickers and and line dominant players. And
Speaker 2: he drafted Piney Sewell, and he drafted Aiden Hutchinson and
Speaker 2: he you know, and he's got that line built around
Speaker 2: Ragnow and Decker, and he drafted Jumior Gibbs when everybody
Speaker 2: was coming at him for trading up to twelve to
Speaker 2: do that. And and look, they were damn near in
Speaker 2: the super Bowl. You know, they were close to being
Speaker 2: in the super Bowl because that's their identity.
Speaker 1: And the Chargers have more talent than the Lions.
Speaker 3: When when Campbell came in, I'm saying not now, but
Speaker 3: when they when they when they started this kind of rebuild,
Speaker 3: the one thing that stuck with me is they were
Speaker 3: losing and losing and losing, but they were like fighting their.
Speaker 4: Right face, were losing close games.
Speaker 1: They were losing close games.
Speaker 3: And so my point is that the Chargers have more
Speaker 3: talent than the Lions did when Dan Campbell started.
Speaker 1: So I don't look at it as like a Lion
Speaker 1: rebuilt per se.
Speaker 3: But I do think that it's it's gonna take a
Speaker 3: little time to really build a culture and an identity,
Speaker 3: uh that you haven't had in ever really with the
Speaker 3: Chargers in terms of what Harball's trying to bring.
Speaker 2: I think the thing with with the Chargers, you know,
Speaker 2: and I just I just bring it up to compare,
Speaker 2: like how important it is if you if you preach.
Speaker 4: That identity, then you need to back it up.
Speaker 2: You need you need to have the players to back
Speaker 2: it up to play that style of football. And that's
Speaker 2: what Dan Campbell did. We're gonna bite your kneecaps and
Speaker 2: we're gonna bite it again on the way up.
Speaker 4: Well yeah, that's a line.
Speaker 1: That's speaking of a line. Steelers just took it.
Speaker 4: There you go.
Speaker 2: You know who by the way, very you know, you
Speaker 2: think about the Steelers, and if I know we we
Speaker 2: think of the Steelers and we think a defensive line obviously,
Speaker 2: and great wide receiver play. But like the first position
Speaker 2: I think of what the Steelers is centers. They've always
Speaker 2: had incredible centers yep, I would not be surprised if
Speaker 2: that guy ends up becoming their center and becomes the
Speaker 2: best center in the league. Like that's the thing about
Speaker 2: you know, and whatever. That's just on the screen. Thought,
Speaker 2: uh sorry, where was I?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: The other thing like.
Speaker 2: If that's if you have Jim Harbaugh and coach Bischoff
Speaker 2: talking about we're an O line team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well guess what, guys, we're not bsing. We're not.
Speaker 4: This isn't lip service. This is who we are. I
Speaker 4: said it.
Speaker 2: I said it to the media, and now we're proving
Speaker 2: it to you. So when we tell you to go
Speaker 2: out there and push forward and to fight and we're
Speaker 2: playing a physical brand of football, yeah, we're gonna get
Speaker 2: you to the players to do that too, and they're
Speaker 2: all going to help you out. The other thing I
Speaker 2: bring up to is with the wide receiver position. Look,
Speaker 2: I think just kind of look at look at the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: That's that's probably the best way I can pick a
Speaker 2: bunch of different teams to illustrate this point. But just
Speaker 2: look at the Chiefs, right, they let Tyreek kill go,
Speaker 2: the most explosive and dangerous player in the NFL outside
Speaker 2: of the quarterback position, A guy that keeps defensive coordiners
Speaker 2: up at night.
Speaker 1: They let him go.
Speaker 4: Just yeah, go ahead, get out of here, walk out
Speaker 4: of the walk out of here.
Speaker 2: And you're the reason why we've been so one of
Speaker 2: the reasons why we've been so so.
Speaker 4: That's well, they let him go.
Speaker 2: Two, did they invest any first rounders and wide receivers. No,
Speaker 2: But what they did was trade a first rounder for
Speaker 2: Orlando Brown. That made Joe Toney the highest paid guard
Speaker 2: in the league. They invested in Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith.
Speaker 2: They just paid Juwan Taylor. They overpaid him based on
Speaker 2: past performance because they were like, look, we just got
Speaker 2: to get someone in here. Like they invested in an
Speaker 2: offensive line because they know how important it is. Rashi
Speaker 2: Rai's second rounder Ye Sky like MVS low budget free
Speaker 2: agent acquisition, Kadarius Tony mid round pick. Let's see if
Speaker 2: it's a reclamation project.
Speaker 1: They get it.
Speaker 2: They get it, you know, like and granted they can
Speaker 2: do that because they have Travis Kelcey, who's one of
Speaker 2: the biggest mismatches in the NFL.
Speaker 4: But that's my point is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what the Chargers are missing it. They're missing
Speaker 3: the the either the Kelsey or the they'll kind of
Speaker 3: number one explosive outside weapon that they could potentially get
Speaker 3: in the second round. You know, I sat that with
Speaker 3: Hayden Hurst this week, and I think a decent year's
Speaker 3: coming for Hayden. Like I'm not saying that he's gonna
Speaker 3: be a top five, top eight tight end in the league,
Speaker 3: but like I just I think that there's new characters
Speaker 3: that we're gonna be introduced to this year, from JK.
Speaker 3: Dobbas to Gus Edwards, the Hayden Hurst. You're gonna win
Speaker 3: a certain way. And oh, by the way, in the
Speaker 3: second round, there could be a game changer that the
Speaker 3: Chargers land on. Like you know, I was thinking, like
Speaker 3: you know what, LADDI Mcconaukye's not gonna work because we
Speaker 3: got Keenan Allen here. Like Ladd mcconukeey could work right
Speaker 3: now for the for the Chargers.
Speaker 2: Or don't forget there's two sides of the football. They
Speaker 2: gotta they gotta show up that.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing too, Like we're talking about corner.
Speaker 2: Linebackers, defensive tackles. You know, they they've got to identify that. Look,
Speaker 2: the Dobbins signing is huge, you know, how I feel
Speaker 2: about that. And I had been hoping, like you said,
Speaker 2: you manifested it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, we had been pushing for that.
Speaker 2: And I think there's more, there's more opportunities like that
Speaker 2: out there where you can take some Christian Fulton's, you know,
Speaker 2: former high pick injury issues, see.
Speaker 4: If you can get them. You know. So that's kind
Speaker 4: of what I think the past is.
Speaker 2: And it's not again, it's hard to It's hard to
Speaker 2: sell because I do believe this team will be good
Speaker 2: enough to make a playoff run and will be good
Speaker 2: enough to give the Chiefs all they can handle in
Speaker 2: the AFC West. I just I have that belief in
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh and this staff and the fact that they've
Speaker 2: got plenty. You've got Justin Herbert, You've got Joey Bosa,
Speaker 2: Khalil Mack. I believe in the second year players and
Speaker 2: Tully and some of the younger players. We've talked about
Speaker 2: the offensive line, Zion Johnson in year three. I think
Speaker 2: that you're talking about enough talent to be able to
Speaker 2: do it. But it's not about twenty twenty four. This
Speaker 2: is you got to it's it's you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: a wash. You're washing the deck man and so, and
Speaker 2: now you've got to get it back together, shuffle it
Speaker 2: and deal it out again. And I think that's something
Speaker 2: to remember. It's not just about one pick. It's not
Speaker 2: about number five at all. It's about all these picks,
Speaker 2: and it's about twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six
Speaker 2: and building something that's sustainable. And that's what he did
Speaker 2: at Stanford and in San Francisco. He walked in to
Speaker 2: a very talented team, very talented team. Offensive line was
Speaker 2: already assembled. Staley's already there. You know, that whole offensive
Speaker 2: line was already intact. Vernon Davis a freak of freaks
Speaker 2: at tight end, Frank Gore a freak of freaks.
Speaker 4: At running back.
Speaker 2: So and not to mention just the defensive line, Alden Smith,
Speaker 2: Justin Smith, the mod Brooks, Patrick Willis.
Speaker 4: I mean that that defense stupid is a rookie. So
Speaker 4: he inherited all of that.
Speaker 2: So I think it's important to remember that thirteen and
Speaker 2: three turnaround and what he had in front of him
Speaker 2: from a six and ten team. So I guess you know,
Speaker 2: my big takeaway is is you always want a coach
Speaker 2: to be authentic. You hear that all the time. You know,
Speaker 2: if you're going to change a culture and establish a culture,
Speaker 2: the most important thing is to be yourself and be authentic.
Speaker 1: He's told no lies, He's told no lies.
Speaker 4: This is what did Bucky Brooks tell us.
Speaker 2: I would bet my house that the first pick is
Speaker 2: not going to be a wide receiver of the Jim
Speaker 2: Harvoy era.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would bet my.
Speaker 3: House buy Bucky's house is safe. Just to paint a
Speaker 3: picture for you guys, we are top golf El segundo.
Speaker 3: It is freezing outside. It's freezing. The draft is still
Speaker 3: going on, and I'm looking down just to see if,
Speaker 3: if anything wild has happened. One of the things that
Speaker 3: stands out to me is we kind of push it
Speaker 3: forward to tomorrow money rounds two and three.
Speaker 1: No corner has been selected.
Speaker 3: We're in the twenties, all right, So no quinnyin Mitchell,
Speaker 3: No Terryn, Arnold, kool Aid McKinstry is still on the board.
Speaker 3: Wiggins from Clemson. So like, as much as I'm thinking,
Speaker 3: you know, wide receiver could be an option, Quarner quarter
Speaker 3: quarter could be another option for the Chargers early in
Speaker 3: the second.
Speaker 4: Oh, they need one.
Speaker 2: And then that's see and that's And now it's gonna
Speaker 2: sound like I'm talking down to the people that follow
Speaker 2: and listen, and I'm not. I appreciate you, but I
Speaker 2: think it's just natural. Like what about our wide receiver room.
Speaker 2: It's the worst wide receiver from the room in the league. Okay,
Speaker 2: how about the cornerback room? You know, how about the
Speaker 2: corner room, Like Mike Michael Davis is gone.
Speaker 4: You know you've got Yes, we got Zon. That's it.
Speaker 2: That's like in Christian Fultons, who they just signed. Like
Speaker 2: nobody's saying, what about our wife?
Speaker 4: What about our corner room?
Speaker 2: You know what corton quarterbacks are in the NFL, And
Speaker 2: like nobody's saying, what about our Why wouldn't we trade
Speaker 2: down and take you know, Quinnon Mitchell, or trade down
Speaker 2: to take Terry and Arnold, or trade down and take
Speaker 2: Nate Wiggins. We never got one of those. It was
Speaker 2: all drap the wide receiver, our wide receiver. And I think,
Speaker 2: and I think that's the I think that's the the
Speaker 2: trouble I'm having connecting is, yeah, we all want Justin
Speaker 2: Herbert to be the best quarterback in the league. But
Speaker 2: the idea that you're gonna sacrifice his stats for wins
Speaker 2: and for identity, like, well, we need we.
Speaker 4: Need he needs a wide receiver. You can't do this,
Speaker 4: Just sure you can.
Speaker 1: Justin stoked.
Speaker 2: You get a tackle like you pair a tackle like
Speaker 2: Slater with Joe Walt and nobody more happy than Justin
Speaker 2: Herbert right now.
Speaker 4: I mean, you get JK.
Speaker 2: Dobbins next to him for play action because he's ripping
Speaker 2: off six yards per clip like he has his whole career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's excited. You know, he's happy about this.
Speaker 1: So there's guys out there.
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert will be fine, Yeah, he'll He'll be fine.
Speaker 2: This is how we played football at Oregon. This is
Speaker 2: Mario christobal football, O.
Speaker 4: Line run game.
Speaker 2: When I need to make a play, Justin, You're gonna
Speaker 2: go out there and make a play. And that's what
Speaker 2: he did at Oregon and that's why some people dinged
Speaker 2: him coming into the league. He's now a stranger to this, like,
Speaker 2: this is what he did at Oregon and it led
Speaker 2: to a Rose Bowl victory for Oregon over I think
Speaker 2: it was Wisconsin they played. But like he knows, he's
Speaker 2: comfortable playing this way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Justin maybe Justin uses his legs a little
Speaker 3: bit in this offense as well. Yeah, we've seen him
Speaker 3: as a runner and he does a very good job
Speaker 3: of protecting himself when he runs safe for maybe the
Speaker 3: first game he's ever played against the Chiefs when he
Speaker 3: leveled the linebackerund or bounds. But it's just gonna be
Speaker 3: a different style of offense. But you're right, money, Like
Speaker 3: we've kind of neglected talking about the defense because I think,
Speaker 3: especially around the draft, it's just an exciting position to
Speaker 3: talk about wide receiver and you envision Justin Herbert and listen,
Speaker 3: if it was Moleak Neighbors or Marvin Harrison or Roam
Speaker 3: with dunesday, it would have been we would have been
Speaker 3: thrilled up here talking about that.
Speaker 2: I know, I say it all the time and it's
Speaker 2: gotta be tiring for the people listening. But I wish
Speaker 2: those of you that could have lived the life that
Speaker 2: I lived when I was calling Stanford football and when
Speaker 2: I got to go up on the farm. And I
Speaker 2: can't begin to tell you after seeing it, like the
Speaker 2: first two times, when I'm looking at my schedule and
Speaker 2: what games I get to call, and I see Stanford, Oregon,
Speaker 2: Stanford CAL Big Game, Stanford USC and I know I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go watch Toby Gerhart punish dudes. It was fun, man,
Speaker 2: it was fun watching those fourth quarters.
Speaker 4: Dude.
Speaker 2: I watched USC quit at the Coliseum. I watched them
Speaker 2: quit a football game, literally quit to the point where
Speaker 2: I was told after the game that that someone came
Speaker 2: up to Toby and was like, hey, man, are we
Speaker 2: not done? And there was still like eight minutes left
Speaker 2: in the game. They're like, you're really gonna keep. That
Speaker 2: was fifty five to ten games, and that was the
Speaker 2: what's your Deal game?
Speaker 1: What's your deal?
Speaker 4: They quit?
Speaker 2: Like you know how much fun it is to watch
Speaker 2: a team make another team quit because they just.
Speaker 4: Don't want to the pounding anymore. Like it's fun. It
Speaker 4: is fun.
Speaker 2: And I watched and I called a ton of those
Speaker 2: San Francisco games with Frank Gore and Colin Kaepernick, and man,
Speaker 2: it was fun. It was a lot of fun. I
Speaker 2: remember that open I think it was the opener. It
Speaker 2: was Green Bay, San Francisco, a candlestick I called from
Speaker 2: that stinking shipping container that was bolted at the top
Speaker 2: of candlestick where had to call those games from. And
Speaker 2: watching Jim Harbaugh and those tight ends and Delaney Walker
Speaker 2: and Frank Gore just pound those guys was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. And I think it's hard to wrap your
Speaker 2: head around right now, but trust me, you're you're gonna
Speaker 2: come around to it. You're gonna dig it. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be it's gonna be different. And it's just one pick,
Speaker 2: and who knows, maybe the next three picks are wide receivers.
Speaker 1: They could it could be.
Speaker 3: But but making teams submit, I think that that's probably
Speaker 3: the theme and what they're trying to accomplish this year,
Speaker 3: and especially in the fourth quarter, playing sixty minutes of
Speaker 3: football and not as a cliche like we are literally
Speaker 3: we're playing sixty minutes of football.
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts is we get out of here money?
Speaker 3: I'm looking Chop Robinson just went No corner has been
Speaker 3: selected right now, and I feel like the Eagles probably
Speaker 3: will take one. If you guys are listening to this,
Speaker 3: you already knew who the Eagles took.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's true, you know, yeah, No. I In
Speaker 2: terms of next pick, I think, hey, listen, man, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be surprised if it's O line on line and
Speaker 2: there's a center sitting there. Jackson powers Johnson slips out
Speaker 2: Sax Frazier. If Graham Barton is there and Barno like Zach,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised. And Neck Fraser state champion wrestling exactly.
Speaker 2: You know Nick Hardwick, wrestler turned turned offensive lineman at center. Yeah,
Speaker 2: give me, give me all the wrestlers. I am all
Speaker 2: about it, you know, Lorenzo O'Neil, you know, state champion
Speaker 2: out of Fresno State and conference champion out of Fresno State.
Speaker 2: Fingers strength, you know, that's what it's all about, especially
Speaker 2: at the center position. So there's gonna there's gonna be
Speaker 2: a lot of great players available when they pick again,
Speaker 2: just because you had six quarterbacks go off the board
Speaker 2: in the first twelve. So now your pick thirty four
Speaker 2: becomes pick twenty eight, which is kind of thirty four
Speaker 2: to thirty five. That no, thirty thirty seven becomes thirty one.
Speaker 4: There you go.
Speaker 2: So you're essentially you get a back end of the
Speaker 2: first round, or is what your second round pick becomes
Speaker 2: because of all the quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Just real quick reaction to Bondecks going to Denver and
Speaker 3: brock Bowers, Yeah, going to the Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 4: Interesting.
Speaker 2: Our friend Tom Telesco not you know, it's very interesting
Speaker 2: because they just took Michael Mayor in the second round
Speaker 2: a year ago. But I think that speaks to Bowers
Speaker 2: being more of a weapon than just a tight end.
Speaker 2: Let's just put him out there at Yeah, deal with it.
Speaker 2: How are you gonna how are you know? What are
Speaker 2: you going to cover Brock Bowers with? If we have
Speaker 2: Mayor attached to the line and Bowers is in the slot,
Speaker 2: how are you going to do that? You know, you're
Speaker 2: you're your linebacker and your safety. You're too slow, your
Speaker 2: corners too, you're too small. Good luck figure it out.
Speaker 2: So it's interesting. I thought for sure the Jets were
Speaker 2: going to take them. Uh they took Shano instead, which
Speaker 2: I get. You know, you can't really trust to thirty
Speaker 2: five year old tackles to make it through the season
Speaker 2: with Aaron Rodgers back there, But I really thought the
Speaker 2: Jets were going to take him. So, yeah, we'll see
Speaker 2: Brock Bowers twice a year. Looking forward to that. Bonnick's rookie,
Speaker 2: looking forward to that. Absolutely give us all of that.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go see Drake may in New England, another
Speaker 2: rookie on the on the schedule. We'll get to see
Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison. They're playing the Arizona Cardinals this year, so
Speaker 2: you're gonna get a heavy dose of that. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be It's gonna be fun. It's definitely gonna be fun.
Speaker 2: I'm excited, as you can tell. I'm all about it.
Speaker 2: I I wanted Jim Harbor to be the head coach
Speaker 2: of the team, and that means I signed up for
Speaker 2: the way Jim Harball plays five.
Speaker 3: All right, I'm gonna close the podcast like this. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna put you on the spot. I want you to
Speaker 3: pretend like you're calling a seven yard Gus Edwards rush.
Speaker 3: But Joe Alt just destroyed the man in front of them.
Speaker 4: All right, go all right, let me let me visualize it.
Speaker 4: Here we go.
Speaker 2: I had Chargers left Hash at their own thirty five
Speaker 2: with a first and ten. They were able to force
Speaker 2: three and out on the opening POSSESSI let's see if
Speaker 2: they can establish a tone here at Arrowhead and we
Speaker 2: got offset. I as in the backfield is Gus Edwards,
Speaker 2: Joe Alt, the new right tackle out there getting his
Speaker 2: first taste of some regular season action. And here we go,
Speaker 2: is under center Herbert snap hands to Edwards and oh
Speaker 2: my god, George carl Is okay, he may not survive
Speaker 2: all still just laying on top of him like he's
Speaker 2: taking a nap, and Edwards goes for seven second down
Speaker 2: of three.
Speaker 1: That's the perfect way to it. We'll be with you
Speaker 1: throughout the weekend.
Speaker 3: We'll recap round Steward three and obviously everything the Charges
Speaker 3: do throughout the weekend for Buddy of Chris from Top
Speaker 3: Golf El Segundo's is Chargers week