Speaker 1: A league fifteen to ten touchdown.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty four NFL Draft in the books. Welcome
Speaker 2: into a special edition to Chargers Weekly has always joined
Speaker 2: by Matt Muddy Smith. Buddy, A lot has transpired since
Speaker 2: I left Top Golf in El Segundo with you. What
Speaker 2: a draft for the Chargers, you know, I think a
Speaker 2: lot of teams can say that right afterwards, everyone's happy
Speaker 2: with the selections and kind of the future of their franchise,
Speaker 2: And we truly won't know in two or three years
Speaker 2: as to you know, how some of these guys develop
Speaker 2: and turned into NFL players. But I think Joe Ortiz
Speaker 2: did a heck of a job in his first year's
Speaker 2: general manager, really shape it out this roster, addressing needs
Speaker 2: and getting potential starters on Day three.
Speaker 1: That's the key. You know, you always want to come
Speaker 1: out of the draft of three starters, you know, three pluses.
Speaker 1: But pretty much most teams say, can we get out
Speaker 1: of each draft with three plus starters? And I have
Speaker 1: no doubt that they got out with three. I mean,
Speaker 1: those first three picks, those are starters, Those are high end.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the best offensive tackle in the draft,
Speaker 1: the best prospect we've seen in about a half decade.
Speaker 1: It's the best linebacker in the draft, the one that
Speaker 1: coordinated the defense for Jesse Minner and and Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: to the tune of a national championship. And it's the
Speaker 1: uh and it's a wide receiver that that's got more
Speaker 1: juice than anybody on the team right now. So certainly
Speaker 1: you're you're talking about, you know, three players that are
Speaker 1: going to make an immediate impact. I know everybody's probably
Speaker 1: already talked about it. It makes too much sense that,
Speaker 1: you know, Junior Colson's going to be the starting middle
Speaker 1: linebacker and he's he's going to be the green dot.
Speaker 1: He just he knows the defense too well. He's he's
Speaker 1: been in it, you know, for multiple years, through multiple
Speaker 1: playoff runs to a national championship. It's the DJ said
Speaker 1: it on the broadcast, and it was, you know, he's right.
Speaker 1: He's like, it's going to be weird having a rookie
Speaker 1: come in and telling Khalil Mack and Joey Bose and
Speaker 1: Derwin James what they're doing and explaining the defense. Joe,
Speaker 1: but that's what it's going to be. And man, that's
Speaker 1: to me, that was that was the steal right that
Speaker 1: that to me was like the steal of the draft.
Speaker 1: And I thought for sure it was going to be
Speaker 1: blake Korm. Everybody was talking about Blake Korm. That's the
Speaker 1: range where you figured he was a third down back
Speaker 1: and we know how much Coach likes him. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think he was floored that Colson was on the
Speaker 1: board there and and that's that's it. I know we
Speaker 1: can get into all the picks, and there's so much
Speaker 1: to get into, but that's that's the first thing that
Speaker 1: jumped out of me.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, DJ, nobody's better than DJ at this
Speaker 2: and in his top fifty he had mcaukey I think
Speaker 2: at thirty he had all at eight, but you know,
Speaker 2: a bunch of quarterbacks in front of him, so you know,
Speaker 2: the fifth overall prospect of the draft. And he had
Speaker 2: Colson inside his top fifty and he goes at sixty nine,
Speaker 2: And like you said, it addresses a need, uh, And
Speaker 2: it just checks that box of knowing Jesse Minter's scheme,
Speaker 2: being able to call the defense. The familiarity I think
Speaker 2: is huge, and we'll get into some of the guys
Speaker 2: that they selected and just the connections to Jim Harball
Speaker 2: or some other coaches on the staff. But yeah, you know, buddy,
Speaker 2: we were doing the pod on Thursday during the draft
Speaker 2: like we were in like the early twenties. I think
Speaker 2: when we started, and wide receivers started to fly off
Speaker 2: the board towards the end, they save you're worthy. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know, Kean Coleman went on day two, Xavier Legett
Speaker 2: went with the last pick, so they started to fly
Speaker 2: off the board. And we talked about lad McConkey on Thursday,
Speaker 2: and I mentioned the fact that when Keenan Allen was here,
Speaker 2: that fit didn't make as much sense. But now the
Speaker 2: Keenan Allen has departed, you bring in a guy who
Speaker 2: can get open at a moment's notice, who's fast, who
Speaker 2: did so many things with the football in his hands
Speaker 2: at Georgia, and you know the Chargers really want because
Speaker 2: they moved up the thirty four to get him. So
Speaker 2: you get the best tackle in the draft. And then
Speaker 2: you get a weapon that I think is really Taylor
Speaker 2: made for Justin Herbert. So when you can rely upon
Speaker 2: to get open, you know where he's going to be
Speaker 2: at all times, and he could also do things with
Speaker 2: the ball in his hand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I just want to make sure I
Speaker 1: had it because you look at the twenties, right, twenty
Speaker 1: three Brian Thomas, twenty eight, the Chiefs jump up to
Speaker 1: take Xavier Worthy. Then you have Ricky Piersal go at
Speaker 1: thirty or oneven and Xavier Legett go at thirty two.
Speaker 1: So now your run is on. And then as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you start day two and it continues and it's Keon Coleman.
Speaker 1: And this is where you credit Georgie's and Jim Harbaugh
Speaker 1: for just saying, no, we got four receivers in the
Speaker 1: last five picks. We got to get our guy. And
Speaker 1: I have no doubt that this was their guy. I
Speaker 1: think you can make You can make a case for
Speaker 1: Keon Coleman just because of the Mike Williams comparisons. You know,
Speaker 1: it just looks different on the field, faster on the
Speaker 1: field than he clocks in in the forty and Kean
Speaker 1: had a miserable you know, forty time. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: when you watch him, there's those fifty to fifty balls
Speaker 1: the high pointing just how young and raw he is.
Speaker 1: So that was the other one I thought of. I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, this is to me. The second is
Speaker 1: one of two things. I was thinking, it's either one
Speaker 1: of these corners that slipped Cooper de Jen Kool aid,
Speaker 1: it's the center, it's Jackson powers Johnson, it's Zach Frasier,
Speaker 1: it's that just just lock up the offensive line, or
Speaker 1: it's the wide receivers. And as soon as they traded up,
Speaker 1: I knew that's what it was. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought it might be eighty Mitchell. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, is that Where are they going with this?
Speaker 1: But it's definitely wide receiver. And I think that's sort
Speaker 1: of what we were talking about in the last pod.
Speaker 1: It's not about pick five. It's about the nine selections
Speaker 1: that they have and what do they come out with
Speaker 1: the draft with And who would have guessed after picking
Speaker 1: Joe Walt at five if I were to tell you, hey,
Speaker 1: they're going to come out with three bites at this apple,
Speaker 1: at this wide receiver apple. Of all the positions they draft,
Speaker 1: receivers going to be the one. They take multiple players
Speaker 1: at two corners, but they end up getting three wide
Speaker 1: receivers in a Jim Harbard Joe Ortiz draft. Because I
Speaker 1: think people and look, you don't know what their board looks.
Speaker 1: Like and people were, you know, given Joe Ortiz flak
Speaker 1: for saying Joe Halt was the best Joe Aalt was
Speaker 1: the best player available. They were like, he was really
Speaker 1: best player available, and he's like, yeah he was. And
Speaker 1: now I think you see it. You see that Lad
Speaker 1: McConkie was the best player available with you know, with
Speaker 1: Junior Colson on the board, with edge Cooper on the board,
Speaker 1: with Jackson powers Johnson on the board, Cooper to gene
Speaker 1: these players that slid. Mcconkiy was their best player on
Speaker 1: the board, and so they took them. And then the
Speaker 1: third Junior Colson was the best player on the board,
Speaker 1: so they took him. And in the fourth boy Bee
Speaker 1: was the best player on the board, so they took him.
Speaker 1: And especially in the seventh, that's where it really I
Speaker 1: think was was crystallized and became clear, Yeah, it's a beat,
Speaker 1: it's a b PA team because they took two wide
Speaker 1: receivers that one of which nobody expected to be there
Speaker 1: in the seventh and Brndan West most had him going
Speaker 1: in the fifth, you know, maybe late fourth to early fifth,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, he slid and they just snatched
Speaker 1: him up. And that's that's how this front office operates. Clearly,
Speaker 1: it is best player available, and that's a pretty good
Speaker 1: way to draft players. And and I think that's also evident,
Speaker 1: you know, in the in the still pick, in the
Speaker 1: in the the he'd still picked.
Speaker 2: He's still and cam Hart go back to back corners.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's that, you know, And and Still
Speaker 1: nobody really knew who he was. He was not cam
Speaker 1: hert was mentioned at length because he's a freak and
Speaker 1: he's giant. He six y three, and he's a corner
Speaker 1: and he can run, you know, lights out. So yeah,
Speaker 1: but nobody I didn't know Tarry Still was. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie and watch a lot of Maryland football. I
Speaker 1: went back, though, and I dug up the box score
Speaker 1: from the game of Michigan versus Maryland. What was star
Speaker 1: he's still freaking guy was nails against the run. What
Speaker 1: does Michigan like to do that? I like to run
Speaker 1: the ball. Well, here's a corner that made four tackles
Speaker 1: three run stops, which is a you know, is categorized
Speaker 1: by Pro Football Focus a solo tackle or sack that
Speaker 1: leads to an offensive failure. That's and and Tari's still
Speaker 1: had three of those in that game that was tight
Speaker 1: for Michigan thirty one twenty four. So you know there's
Speaker 1: there's some of that in this draft as well, which
Speaker 1: I know you'll get into.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe Hartiz mentioned that, you know he scouted that
Speaker 2: that Maryland secondary. Some players have come out of that
Speaker 2: secondary of the last couple of years, and he said,
Speaker 2: at some points you couldn't tell if it was still
Speaker 2: or another guy that he was scouting in that secondary.
Speaker 2: But let's go back to the first round two money,
Speaker 2: because the tackles flew off the board. So I really
Speaker 2: think Roma Dudesay or Malik Neighbors were the two wide
Speaker 2: receivers that you probably could have selected at five.
Speaker 1: But if you.
Speaker 2: Select one of those those guys at five, who's there
Speaker 2: at thirty four or thirty seven when they were picking
Speaker 2: at tackle, nobody there was nobody there a tackle, So
Speaker 2: you get the best tackle in the draft, and then
Speaker 2: I think you get one of the best fits for
Speaker 2: this offense in Lad mccaukey in the second round. And
Speaker 2: Joe Klatt said this, I think to Rich Eisen and
Speaker 2: I one hundred percent agree with this, and I think
Speaker 2: this is a good way to look at it. If
Speaker 2: you're a Charger fan, do you want Justin Herbert to
Speaker 2: be in second and eleven and third and long or
Speaker 2: do you want him to be third and five, second
Speaker 2: and five with a running game and with protection. And
Speaker 2: if you put Justin Herbert in situations that are a
Speaker 2: little bit more manageable on second and third down, he's
Speaker 2: going to light people up. So the running game is
Speaker 2: going to help Justin Herbert protecting Justin Herbert's paramount, especially
Speaker 2: because he's the franchise and now you have bookends and
Speaker 2: Rashaun Slater and Joe Alt for the next decade, protecting
Speaker 2: your franchise quarterback. So I think it's a good way
Speaker 2: to look at it is that there would have been
Speaker 2: no tackles even close to the caliber of Joe Alt
Speaker 2: available in the second round.
Speaker 1: No, I I think you know then you can play
Speaker 1: the exercise out multiple ways. One is like that, you
Speaker 1: know that, look, Joe Walt's the number you got, the
Speaker 1: number one tackle in a draft, a blue chip prospect
Speaker 1: that pretty much anybody that covers the draft describes as
Speaker 1: can't miss as the highest floor player perhaps of any
Speaker 1: position in the draft. He and Marvin Harrison Junior, the
Speaker 1: floor is just so incredibly high you cannot visualize either
Speaker 1: of those players not at least being just rock solid
Speaker 1: average to above average NFL starter is and the ceiling
Speaker 1: is so high that they could end up being the
Speaker 1: best player at their position after that. So that's what
Speaker 1: you take with your number five overall, pick the number
Speaker 1: one guy at his position at a premium position. We
Speaker 1: get the number one guy at the premium position. Not
Speaker 1: you know, Marvin Harrison Junior went right before you, So
Speaker 1: you were picking perhaps behind who you had as the
Speaker 1: number one guy, but instead you get number one at
Speaker 1: a premium position. Behind him, you get a wide receiver
Speaker 1: that is anywhere from five to seven. That's pretty much
Speaker 1: where Matt mcfruckey was coming in and like, to me,
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in this, and it was sort
Speaker 1: of one of the things that we you know, discussed
Speaker 1: last year when they drafted Quintin which I totally understood
Speaker 1: the pick and the traits and what you saw. I
Speaker 1: just you know, when we were talking about it and
Speaker 1: going into that draft, what what did we mention? We said, Hey, man,
Speaker 1: give me the route runner, give me the explosiveness. That
Speaker 1: to me, that is a better projection of NFL success
Speaker 1: than any trait a wide receiver could have better than
Speaker 1: a four to two forty, better than six foot three, and
Speaker 1: can move, you know, in is an athlete. Show me
Speaker 1: the guy that's got the footwork, that understands how to
Speaker 1: get in and out of breaks, that creates separation, that
Speaker 1: makes himself available with a wide target for his quarterback.
Speaker 1: And that's Lad McConkie and spades. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: what he does. He's he's got probably the best footwork
Speaker 1: of any receiver in this draft. Like it's crazy. Don't
Speaker 1: look at his stats. Go watch some Lad McConkey highlights
Speaker 1: and watch how he sets guys up and gets in
Speaker 1: and out and you know, so why did he slide? Then?
Speaker 1: You know why did a guy that Matt Harmon came
Speaker 1: on here and described him as Tyler Lockett knowing how
Speaker 1: you know impactful that guy is and how many teams
Speaker 1: would line up to have him as a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: And I think that's interesting because Tyler plays on the
Speaker 1: outside even though he's a smaller guy, you know, And
Speaker 1: that's what a lot of people say about Lad mccacky.
Speaker 1: He's not a slot. He can play outside and you know,
Speaker 1: I do think you can maybe draw this. You can
Speaker 1: you can connect these two, right, Okay, So what's in Seattle?
Speaker 1: Became that Calf? Why did he slide just kind of
Speaker 1: ran one or two routes and you know, had some
Speaker 1: issues with refinement. Well you hire his wide receiver coach.
Speaker 1: That helped develop them into one of the greatest threats
Speaker 1: in the NFL. He's paired up with Tyler Lockett. Well
Speaker 1: maybe now with you know, with Quinton, you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's see if we can get Let's see if we
Speaker 1: can crack this code. And now you've got your Tyler Lockett,
Speaker 1: and you hope is at least somebody who was built
Speaker 1: like him. DK Metcalf with Josh Palmer just picking up
Speaker 1: where Keenan left off. You know what did Josh always
Speaker 1: say to us, He just all he did was shadow
Speaker 1: keen and everywhere he went, everything he did, that was
Speaker 1: his that was his process. I want to be the
Speaker 1: next Keenan Allen. And that's how maybe you can visualize
Speaker 1: this thing working out. I don't know if Quentin's an AX.
Speaker 1: I don't know that. I don't think we saw anything
Speaker 1: that would suggest he was last year. So that's the
Speaker 1: part of this that's got to be worked on. But
Speaker 1: that's where Brennan, Rice and and Cornelia gosh, what's his name,
Speaker 1: Jolis Johnson come into play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and who knows if that wide receiver room is
Speaker 2: still incomplete, maybe they do add a veteran just for
Speaker 2: competition to training camp. I don't think it's a.
Speaker 1: Bad eye in it now. Some guys aren't going to
Speaker 1: be there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt about that. Also with mccaukey, keep
Speaker 2: in mind he's sharing a field with Brock Bowers. Adie
Speaker 2: Mitchell was there before he went to Texas, So you
Speaker 2: know you're not going to be able to put up
Speaker 2: like ridiculous number when you have like first second round
Speaker 2: picks on your team over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: So I was quick before we move off of lad Chris,
Speaker 1: I do want to add because Jim Harbaugh said it,
Speaker 1: and I think this is this is super important. It's
Speaker 1: it's route running, but it's also transition, and it's that
Speaker 1: transition of catch point. And we talked again this goes
Speaker 1: back to two pods ago with Matt Harmon. What do
Speaker 1: you view as we were talking about Roman Wilson and
Speaker 1: I can't remember who else we were talking about, but
Speaker 1: just I think it might have been a don say
Speaker 1: just snatching the ball in immediately transitioning, you know, it
Speaker 1: was it's do you have those solid hands at that
Speaker 1: catch point and can you immediately transition into a runner
Speaker 1: after the catch is secured? And how fast can you
Speaker 1: do that? And that's one of the things that everybody
Speaker 1: brought up about brock Bauers is how incredibly elite Unlike
Speaker 1: almost all tight end prospects, you see, the way that
Speaker 1: guy transitions from catch to run after is better than
Speaker 1: anybody we've seen. That's what Jim Harbaugh said about mcconkeye.
Speaker 1: He's like, hey, when this guy gets the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands, as soon as it's there, bang it is on.
Speaker 1: And and that's when he planted. When you plant that
Speaker 1: seed and you all go and you watch some some
Speaker 1: highlights and some some some film of some games of
Speaker 1: Lad McConkie, that's what you're gonna see. It's just that
Speaker 1: catch and then boom, he's off in a different direction.
Speaker 1: He recognizes where he needs to be to, you know,
Speaker 1: to make the play as explosive as possible.
Speaker 2: All right, before I forget, uh, I can't tell you
Speaker 2: how many colts I've gotten about your Joe Old George
Speaker 2: Carleftis podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm getting.
Speaker 2: I'm getting requests like it's a DJ now. They want
Speaker 2: to they want they want a Ladd McConkey, they want
Speaker 2: a Ladd mccaukeey catch, and they want you to still
Speaker 2: keep George Carloftis in the play.
Speaker 1: So I don't know about that. Let me try to
Speaker 1: get my hat around it now. I'll try to get
Speaker 1: that at the end. Yeah, that's well. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I'm projecting that because and we're going to find out
Speaker 1: here in the next week or two, I won't be
Speaker 1: the least bit surprised. And I'd love it. I would
Speaker 1: absolutely love it if it's Chiefs Chargers to start the
Speaker 1: season on NBC on Thursday night. I know they have Buffalo,
Speaker 1: and I think they have Cincinnati as well, if I
Speaker 1: remember right, I think no, they definitely don't, because yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah they do. I think they have Cincinnati at home,
Speaker 1: and I think they have Buffalo at home exactly right,
Speaker 1: because yeah, yeah, I think so. Because right we have
Speaker 1: we have the Patriots, and we have who were last
Speaker 1: place in the East, and we have the NFC North
Speaker 1: or the FC North, so so it'll be one of us.
Speaker 1: But anyway, that's why I was doing the call on
Speaker 1: Carl Lofti's nothing against the great Greek from pretty you
Speaker 1: know how much I love for you players. But I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what, I could totally see us
Speaker 1: opening on Thursday night, get the Harbaugh Mahomes versus Herbert
Speaker 1: that to get it out of the way to kick
Speaker 1: off the season, you know, with a suit with two
Speaker 1: of the great football coaches, just real football guys, you know,
Speaker 1: and two guys that have a ton of respect. You'll
Speaker 1: get that shot before the game of those two guys
Speaker 1: just chopping it up, you know, talking football. And that's
Speaker 1: that's what's gonna be interesting, is I can't wait to
Speaker 1: just see the Jim Harbaugh with other head coach conversations,
Speaker 1: just how different they are, how different each one is.
Speaker 1: But I could totally see he and Andy Reid just
Speaker 1: getting along famously because they're both just total football junkies.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was at the Chargers new practice facility on
Speaker 2: Friday getting a tour with Joe Alt and his dad, John,
Speaker 2: and I got to talk to John a little bit,
Speaker 2: who spent thirteen years with the Kansas City Chiefs, and
Speaker 2: he's over the moon for his son and just to
Speaker 2: be able to you know, he's gonna put on that
Speaker 2: powder blue. He said, I've already I've already switched over.
Speaker 2: We're good in the old household. So it'll probably be
Speaker 2: a fun moment for him to go to Arrowhead and
Speaker 2: see his son beat up on the team that he
Speaker 2: used to play for. That That interview with Joe is
Speaker 2: eric today on CBS this activision in Ky Call to Knight,
Speaker 2: So check that out if you're if you're listening to
Speaker 2: this on a Sunday. But buddy, let's let's keep rolling here.
Speaker 2: Third round, Uh, Junior Colson hand in glove fit. Like
Speaker 2: when Sanders still went off the board to the Commanders,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that would have been nice. That
Speaker 2: would have been nice in the third round. But you
Speaker 2: realize that Chris Jenkins was still there and Junior Colson
Speaker 2: was there, and then you know, Jenkins goes off the
Speaker 2: board to Cincinnati and you're like, Okay, well there's.
Speaker 1: Still some guys.
Speaker 2: Blake Koram's there, Junior Colson's there, and they get Colson. Uh,
Speaker 2: they fill that need at linebacker. They get the green
Speaker 2: dock guy who knows Jesse Miners defense and uh, the
Speaker 2: one highlight for me throughout the weekend where just these
Speaker 2: these phone calls with Jim Harball. Are the Chargers video
Speaker 2: team did it? Just an incredible job of capturing all
Speaker 2: the calls and just seeing how animated that war room
Speaker 2: was there. We have a clip. I'm gonna throw it
Speaker 2: to this. Uh Steven Melody and Junior Colson with with Coach.
Speaker 1: Harball, Junior.
Speaker 3: Coach calling, what's so? How are you doing? You're ready
Speaker 3: to be a Charger? Yes, sir, I am.
Speaker 2: You already know it.
Speaker 3: Who's got better than us?
Speaker 2: Nobody?
Speaker 3: Man, nobody, Let's think it happened. It's happening.
Speaker 1: It's happening right now, right right now.
Speaker 3: You're ready TV.
Speaker 1: You Melanie? Yeah, yeah, my mom's right there.
Speaker 3: Let me see Hi, Coach, I'm Melody.
Speaker 2: How are you, Coach?
Speaker 1: I'm great, I'm great, so.
Speaker 2: Happy, Yes, sir, we love California, super excited, big coach.
Speaker 3: Hey, se are we doing Hell to the victor?
Speaker 1: Hell not cockering?
Speaker 3: He rose, Helma and yeah, hell to not cockering? Here
Speaker 3: the champions of the.
Speaker 1: West, Blue.
Speaker 2: And Coach singing the fight song too, Buddy, I mean,
Speaker 2: who's got it better than us? And the fact that
Speaker 2: he said that to every every guy and some of
Speaker 2: them were like no one, and he goes nobody.
Speaker 1: Exactly right, get it right, get it nobody that look
Speaker 1: the that that's and again tip of the cap to
Speaker 1: to the to the video team and and everybody you know,
Speaker 1: led by Jason. But you know, whether it's we can
Speaker 1: lie it, we can name them all off, you know,
Speaker 1: Tyler and and Brian and and Andrew and everything, Greg
Speaker 1: and all of our all of our guys that help
Speaker 1: us with the podcast as well. Just what a kick
Speaker 1: ass job they did. Like it really it really does
Speaker 1: remind you that, you know, these guys are so different
Speaker 1: and and it's where the word culture comes in. Let's
Speaker 1: let's get to let's get to the Kamani Vidal. Let's
Speaker 1: just get the calls out of the way here. Chris
Speaker 1: will knock them all out. Let's get the Kamani Vidal
Speaker 1: went in here, because this is my favorite moment of
Speaker 1: all of the calls that they shared at Chargers dot Com.
Speaker 3: It's coach Ken, Uh, you got where are you at?
Speaker 3: You got family there?
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, I do? Are they excited?
Speaker 3: Are they excited?
Speaker 1: In the background.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, very very very excited.
Speaker 1: Let's hear him. Let's hear them.
Speaker 3: How excited are they?
Speaker 1: Let's hear them. That's wow, that's what we got.
Speaker 3: Some enthusiasm down man, We've got.
Speaker 1: Some shoes, all right, Oh yeah, let's test.
Speaker 2: Let's let's test the draft room here.
Speaker 3: How excited is everybody here?
Speaker 1: All right, let's go. And so they're like, can you
Speaker 1: imagine You've got you know, Dean and John and a
Speaker 1: g Spanos in there. You can see Jeanie the head
Speaker 1: of business in the background. Fred is like all of
Speaker 1: these people that we know that that are great, and
Speaker 1: we get to see a side of them that fans
Speaker 1: don't and we love being on the road with them
Speaker 1: or being at the facility with them, and we've gotten
Speaker 1: to know their personalities. But between ownership, you know, front office,
Speaker 1: business side staff, all those scouts. I just love that
Speaker 1: it's not only Vidal's you know, family that's being asked
Speaker 1: to how excited are you? But now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you've got all these people screaming and yelling, and it's
Speaker 1: just like, that's culture. That's what we're talking about. That's
Speaker 1: that enthusiasm. As he likes to say, you know, unknown
Speaker 1: to man, and that's what this guy is bringing, just
Speaker 1: that juice. And just imagine you hang up that phone
Speaker 1: if you're Comini Vidal and you've been waiting around until
Speaker 1: the sixth round, and you know you're maybe bummed, and
Speaker 1: you're like, god, I think I'm better than some of
Speaker 1: these guys. And I just I led the FBS and
Speaker 1: tackles broken in yards after contact and all these touchdowns
Speaker 1: and I got to I'm still sitting here, and you
Speaker 1: hang up that phone and you're like, let's go, man.
Speaker 1: I am, I Am, I Am. I just had an
Speaker 1: entire room of scouts and GMS and pro personnel and
Speaker 1: owners screaming and yelling because they're excited I'm coming to town.
Speaker 1: Like there's just something so different about him than anybody
Speaker 1: else you could play for.
Speaker 2: It feels good to be wanted to when you're a
Speaker 2: draft picks, especially late, you know you're bummed that you
Speaker 2: didn't go as high as you thought you were gonna go.
Speaker 2: And we'll get to Brendan Rice, but yeah, to have
Speaker 2: that support, and I have to believe money that fans
Speaker 2: feel it too. Like we've interviewed Joe on this podcast
Speaker 2: and just to hear him talk throughout this weekend. I
Speaker 2: thought he did a bang up job. And he's just
Speaker 2: such a personable like I feel like fans should feel
Speaker 2: like they're a part of this family, right Joe. Joe
Speaker 2: comes across as just like a friend, a buddy, a
Speaker 2: family member. And the way that he shouted out everybody
Speaker 2: from Josh and the communications crew, to Duddy and the
Speaker 2: video crew, to Weedmeire and just everybody that went into
Speaker 2: the draft and made it what it was right. It
Speaker 2: takes a team effort from video to communications to film,
Speaker 2: and I really feel like they're building this culture where
Speaker 2: everybody is involved, including the fans, and it's a special
Speaker 2: thing to watch. And it's only been a few months.
Speaker 1: Yeah you said it. There are all names that we
Speaker 1: know that maybe die hard fans, no, but it is great.
Speaker 1: People like to be acknowledged for all the work they're
Speaker 1: putting in. And I don't know if anyone's ever you know,
Speaker 1: tipped the cap to our man Duddy. We love Duddy.
Speaker 1: He's one of the great just energy guys. You know,
Speaker 1: you get on a plane after a win, he gets on,
Speaker 1: he starts barking, and he's just he's awesome. And so
Speaker 1: to get you know, in this big moment where you
Speaker 1: have a huge press, so that a lot of people
Speaker 1: are paying attention to uh, Smitty. We love Chris, who's
Speaker 1: who's always there for me. We go on the road
Speaker 1: and I am a I'm a bit absent minded and
Speaker 1: can be an absolute and can be a total mess.
Speaker 1: And I'll forget a sweatshirt or a polo. It's too
Speaker 1: hot and all I brought was a sweatshirt. And the
Speaker 1: booth is right in the path of the sun. And
Speaker 1: I'll give Chris a call and be like, hey, bit,
Speaker 1: he's got you. I get a polo? Man, can I get?
Speaker 1: I get something? I am cooking up here and I
Speaker 1: don't feel like sweating my brains out for sixty minutes
Speaker 1: calling this game. And you know, people that that we
Speaker 1: that we appreciate and that that we rely upon. I
Speaker 1: love that that Joe made sure to reach out. And Chris,
Speaker 1: by the way, is the guy in the in the
Speaker 1: video with Joe giving him the number one who's probably
Speaker 1: about the same. I think I might be a little
Speaker 1: bit taller than Smitty, but just to put it in perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm clocking in a little over five ten
Speaker 1: here to see he looked like he was four foot
Speaker 1: two and in that jersey Joe left. You know, Chris
Speaker 1: is probably in that five to nine range, and he
Speaker 1: looked like he was about four foot two standing next
Speaker 1: to Alt. And I think that's one of the other
Speaker 1: things that really came out of this is after the
Speaker 1: you know, some of the people and I look, we
Speaker 1: were obviously you know how I felt about the Joe
Speaker 1: Alt pick. I was all over it and loved it.
Speaker 1: I think it's a statement pick. But for all the
Speaker 1: incoming that the organization took that that, you know, people
Speaker 1: for whatever reason decided to air their grievances with me
Speaker 1: and my mentions. I'm just someone who's projecting what I
Speaker 1: think is going to happen and what I personally would
Speaker 1: would like to see happen. Whatever. But yeah, I got
Speaker 1: a lot of it. And and I think now they
Speaker 1: recognize now when all these people are like, my god,
Speaker 1: look at this human being. Look at how and you
Speaker 1: were able to stand next to him and walk around
Speaker 1: the tour and you're like that big and that athletic
Speaker 1: with that you know, bloodline of a guy that played
Speaker 1: for double you know, decade plus as a tackle in
Speaker 1: the league. Okay, now we get it. Now, if one guy, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to bet on one guy to come out
Speaker 1: of this thing, that's I don't. I have no question
Speaker 1: that's the guy I would put my money on. It's
Speaker 1: not even close. I'm going to bet on one guy
Speaker 1: to make a Pro Bowl in the next two years.
Speaker 1: He's the first guy I would put my money on.
Speaker 2: I don't have the exact stats in front of me,
Speaker 2: but I think he gave up like two sacks of
Speaker 2: his career Notre Dame, like two one two penalties, two
Speaker 2: penalties like just he's and he's twenty one years old. Man, right,
Speaker 2: he's nearly six ' nine. He's gigantic, and like I
Speaker 2: know that coach said Rashaw had locked in a left tackle,
Speaker 2: but who's to say it a couple of years they switch.
Speaker 2: I it's I think it's such a luxury to have
Speaker 2: two guys who are so talented and versatile that are
Speaker 2: go to protect Justin for for as long as as
Speaker 2: long as they have him.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and that was the other thing that coach
Speaker 1: said right after that pick. We you know when we
Speaker 1: did it, we did it before you know the press
Speaker 1: and all the or maybe we didn't. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if they had talked or not, but
Speaker 1: you know, best five, so you know, if Trey wants
Speaker 1: to to get out.
Speaker 2: Here, he said Trey was best five too, so.
Speaker 1: He's say, hey, there you go, start working on being
Speaker 1: a guard dude, you know, and now if you've got him.
Speaker 1: And obviously they did not draft the center. They had
Speaker 1: multiple opportunities to do that. We talked about Norris Ad
Speaker 1: and Bordelini. They had chances to do that. But they
Speaker 1: must feel good about Bozeman and perhaps about the potential
Speaker 1: that one of these guys could become a center. So
Speaker 1: it's it's you feel good about that group. I think
Speaker 1: we all feel like we said a lot better about
Speaker 1: the wide receiver room today than we did on Thursday night.
Speaker 1: And that's why we said it's nine picks and there's
Speaker 1: still free agency. There is now still no comp pick
Speaker 1: formula to worry about. Now you've got that second wave
Speaker 1: of free agency where you can start looking at some
Speaker 1: of these vets that that you might think. But remember
Speaker 1: right now, there's already seven guys in that room. So
Speaker 1: there's not going to be seven guys in that room
Speaker 1: at the started season, So that's kind of something you
Speaker 1: got to remember when it comes to trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how you're going to get this thing to line up.
Speaker 2: You know, another need on this team we talked about
Speaker 2: throughout this process was a defensive tackle. Defensive line, just
Speaker 2: continue to bolster it. And right off the rip, Day three,
Speaker 2: Justin a boy bee from Alabama, who I guess it's
Speaker 2: hard to go under the radar at Alabama, but apparently
Speaker 2: he did up until this year had a breakout season.
Speaker 2: Dan Brugler talked about it. DJ called Justin a temperament
Speaker 2: pick because of his effort, his toughness, his physicality, and
Speaker 2: obviously Jim Harbaugh saw this guy up close last year
Speaker 2: at the Rose Bowl. And that's one of the themes
Speaker 2: I think throughout this process is I don't think he
Speaker 2: played against Notre Dame when Joe Alt was there, but
Speaker 2: he's got a coach on the staff that knows Joe Alt,
Speaker 2: Ladi McConkey. They played against Junior Colson, he coached a
Speaker 2: boy Bee, saw him up close, and this is a
Speaker 2: pick that I really liked because everything you hear in
Speaker 2: terms of his effort is toughness, his physicalit and the
Speaker 2: fact that he could play a lot of different positions
Speaker 2: across the line. Them getting their hands on Justin I
Speaker 2: think could be a good thing in his rookie season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think one thing that jumps out to me
Speaker 1: from you know, Junior, from Junior Colson, Justin a Boydbee
Speaker 1: and Lad McConkey is you're talking about and this is
Speaker 1: something you hear through the draft process and I think
Speaker 1: some people don't quite get it. It's like whatever, but
Speaker 1: do you love football in the NFL? You have to
Speaker 1: love football because man, it will beat you to a pulp.
Speaker 1: Your body is going to take a pounding and if
Speaker 1: you don't love it's that's going to catch up. It's
Speaker 1: going to catch up. And your willingness to turn plays
Speaker 1: down or your willingness to get back out there after injury.
Speaker 1: You know, are you injured or are you hurt? Oh
Speaker 1: I'm hurt, but I don't feel like playing because I
Speaker 1: don't love football. Man. This is a great opportunity for
Speaker 1: make a lot of money in a very small window,
Speaker 1: but it's not something that I love. Look at those
Speaker 1: three guys, right Lag McConkie back injury, coming back from that,
Speaker 1: to get back out there and fight and get on
Speaker 1: the field to try to win a national championship game.
Speaker 1: You know, Justin mcboygbe just a horrible, just tragedy in
Speaker 1: his life and losing his brother and also a neck
Speaker 1: injury that some people thought could be career ending. Through
Speaker 1: all of that, realizing how much he loves football and
Speaker 1: just wanted to get back on the field and this
Speaker 1: is not going to be career ending. And Junior Colson,
Speaker 1: you know who, he said, played with one and one
Speaker 1: hand was completely broken. The other hand had two broken fingers,
Speaker 1: and he's going out there two broken bones and he's
Speaker 1: take whatever, just tape them both up. We got it
Speaker 1: with national championship to win. I think that's like those
Speaker 1: are important guys too, you know. And then Joe, you know,
Speaker 1: and then even the other like we said, Joe Alt.
Speaker 1: Listen to that guy, watch those promotional videos. Listen to
Speaker 1: him talk about dominating and what it means to him
Speaker 1: to go out there and how much he just loves
Speaker 1: it in the camaraderie and that that room and what
Speaker 1: it means, you know, to him to be one of
Speaker 1: those fingers on that glove. Like there's a very common
Speaker 1: theme in a lot of these players and I think
Speaker 1: the idea of some adversity that that also plays a
Speaker 1: part in Hey, these are you know, and look, football
Speaker 1: is in adversity sport. The majority you have to be
Speaker 1: you know, you've got to have a little something going
Speaker 1: on in order to be willing to do what these
Speaker 1: guys are willing to do, just in general. But that
Speaker 1: is something that jumped out at me from a character standpoint.
Speaker 1: Some of that there was that connection between a number
Speaker 1: of these picks.
Speaker 2: You heard Jill Ortiz say, you know, the best player
Speaker 2: available for the Chargers, right, these are the traits that
Speaker 2: they were identifying to. The toughness, the competitiveness, and you know,
Speaker 2: I think you're one hundred percent spot on when when
Speaker 2: you talk about fighting through adversity and some of the
Speaker 2: things that that Colson and boyd By have been through
Speaker 2: on the field off the field. To h to really
Speaker 2: have that translate with the Chargers is going to be huge.
Speaker 2: And you know you talk about the defensive line for
Speaker 2: the Chargers. You got Khalil. By the way, I saw
Speaker 2: Khalil and Morgan Fox courtside at the Laker game last night.
Speaker 2: They were in the mix. Caleb Williams was there, the
Speaker 2: Bear New Bears quarterback. But I saw he had Morgan
Speaker 2: and Khalil had better seats than Caleb. But that that
Speaker 2: defensive line, that defensive line coming together, the mix of
Speaker 2: veterans and then you know guys who they have drafted
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. Where do you see a
Speaker 2: boy bee fitting in across this line?
Speaker 1: I guess we'll find out competition. He's a big body,
Speaker 1: you know. I'm just pulling up his six five ninety two.
Speaker 1: He's a big guy, you know. And he had had
Speaker 1: a great grade in that in that game, had fourteen
Speaker 1: key plays that he was part of. In the playoff
Speaker 1: game against Michigan, was out there for fifty two snaps,
Speaker 1: twenty eight against the run, twenty four in a pass rush.
Speaker 1: Like you said, this was his first full year as
Speaker 1: a start, and you watched the highlights from this year.
Speaker 1: All seven of those sacks. Some of them are explosion
Speaker 1: plays where he just sheds the guy right away. Some
Speaker 1: of them are you know, just fight through it, never
Speaker 1: stop until a beat after the whistle, plays where he
Speaker 1: does not let the play die, thinking that maybe someone's
Speaker 1: just opening downfield. Now you keep kept with it another sack.
Speaker 1: The thing also that I noticed is they line him
Speaker 1: up all over. He's he's lined up his nose, he's
Speaker 1: lined up his three four I two I, you know,
Speaker 1: inside the tackle. He's lined up wide as as a
Speaker 1: six outside the tight end. So very similar to Tooley
Speaker 1: where and Joey where. Now jesse Minner is probably like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is my guy, man. We can we can put
Speaker 1: him inside, we can put him outside, we can we
Speaker 1: can mix this this up on the front with Morgan
Speaker 1: Fox and you know, with with boy b with Tooley,
Speaker 1: with Bosa, with Khalil, where you don't know where it's
Speaker 1: coming from. And that's one of the things about jesse
Speaker 1: Minner and and and you know him and the McDonald
Speaker 1: defense as well, So you don't know where it's coming from.
Speaker 1: That's that's the key. It's the old simulated pressure that
Speaker 1: you hear so much about. And so to be able
Speaker 1: to have someone that can rush, to have Bosa Tooley
Speaker 1: and now a boy who can rush from the inside
Speaker 1: or USh from the edges, that's a huge you know,
Speaker 1: I have enough bend and speed to rush from the edge,
Speaker 1: is enough power to rush from inside. That's a huge
Speaker 1: advantage for this defense. So that's and that was something
Speaker 1: they desperately need. I think a lot of people as
Speaker 1: I kind of pull up, I want to pull up
Speaker 1: the fourth here, and just to remind myself of what
Speaker 1: corners were still on the board. Yes, he had Kyrie
Speaker 1: Jackson go right after him, you had, you had Richardson
Speaker 1: nice tweet, raiders go at it, you know, just right
Speaker 1: after him. And yeah, so to me, like again, BP
Speaker 1: a best player available. Yeah, well we'll figure it out
Speaker 1: with corner. But nobody is higher than a bugbe right
Speaker 1: now for us. And it also happens to be a
Speaker 1: position of need, So that's it's. Yeah, I think he's
Speaker 1: I think every one of these players. I will not
Speaker 1: be surprised when you think about the corner room and
Speaker 1: it being Santae, Samuel Jr. Dean Leonard, Jaseir Taylor, and
Speaker 1: now you add cam Hart Anti he's still to that mix.
Speaker 1: I think it's wide open. I wouldn't be the least
Speaker 1: bit to surprise to see one of those two fifth
Speaker 1: rounders out there at Christian Fulton I forgot as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, chances are it's gonna be a Sante and
Speaker 1: Christian and then we'll see if I can still be
Speaker 1: the slot you know, or or could could you know,
Speaker 1: is cam Hart at his six foot three, four to
Speaker 1: four speed, you know, gonna be one of those outside
Speaker 1: guys and you push, you know, one of these other
Speaker 1: guys inside. I don't know that there's because I know
Speaker 1: they did say that Still had inside outside versatility, so
Speaker 1: maybe he's the starting nickel. But it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna be a competition at every one of
Speaker 1: these positions, and I think you're going to see a
Speaker 1: lot of these young players play immediately.
Speaker 2: As Jim said, competitors are welcome. Tarheve Still and cam
Speaker 2: Hart the next two players off the board, both corners.
Speaker 2: Uh Still from Maryland. Michigan played Maryland. And this is
Speaker 2: the This is just the advantage that I think this
Speaker 2: coaching staff is going to have going in the next
Speaker 2: year is seeing guys uploads and personal in the Big
Speaker 2: ten and then having guys that you've coached, right, So
Speaker 2: Junior Colson comes in, Jesse Mener coached him, Cam Hart
Speaker 2: comes in. Safety's coach. Chris O'Leary coach Cam Hart at
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. I think he was a freaks list guy too.
Speaker 2: Bruce Velvin voiceless guy right, six three two oh two.
Speaker 2: So with Cam Heart, we're talking about all the traits
Speaker 2: that translate. I believe that he played wide receiver if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, to start his career similar to a
Speaker 2: Richard Sherman like Jim Harbaugh comp and then you talk
Speaker 2: about still Hortiz said that inside outside versatility, being able
Speaker 2: to play outside, also being able to play nickel. This
Speaker 2: is gonna be a competition. And I wouldn't be shocked
Speaker 2: if if one of these guys gets substantial playing time
Speaker 2: this upcoming season.
Speaker 1: Immediately, Yeah, I mean, like, so why does a why
Speaker 1: does a freaks list guy slide? And that's you know,
Speaker 1: there's different reasons. There's traits guys there are, you know,
Speaker 1: which is what he is. He's a trades guy. At
Speaker 1: the same time, he only allowed I think one or
Speaker 1: two receptions over twenty five yards this past season. So
Speaker 1: but you know, they talk about, oh, what's the issue.
Speaker 1: There's a little bit of stiffness there, a little lack
Speaker 1: of fluidity, got a little handsy, you know. It was
Speaker 1: kind of all those sort of things that will knock
Speaker 1: you down. But that's what coaches are for. That's why
Speaker 1: coaches get paid, you know, coach them up here here's
Speaker 1: a guy, like you said, and I want to make
Speaker 1: sure I get I want to get it all right.
Speaker 1: But here's, like you said, someone who's coming in a
Speaker 1: legitimate full six foot three. I don't remember what his
Speaker 1: wingspan is. I do know it's freakish though it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a freakish wingspan. He just didn't have like the
Speaker 1: ball production at Notre Dame. Yeah, that the PBUs and
Speaker 1: the i iNTS aren't there. But you know, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that comes out with an elite grade from this
Speaker 1: past year from PFF. And and again you know how
Speaker 1: I feel about their grades. It's the last thing I
Speaker 1: look at. But as I'm pulling it up, it's it's
Speaker 1: certainly the one thing that jumps out at you. And
Speaker 1: that's that's so. So you're basically still is the production
Speaker 1: guy and Heart is the trades guy. That's what that's
Speaker 1: what you took. Still had great production numbers, and Heart
Speaker 1: has the traits, So why not take one of each
Speaker 1: in the fifth round and let's see what you can do.
Speaker 1: And again that that's in addition to what trades guy
Speaker 1: Dean Leonard and and someone that we've seen play pretty
Speaker 1: well when asked to start and play some snaps in
Speaker 1: John Taylor. So now you feel a lot better about
Speaker 1: that corner room. And you didn't have to use a
Speaker 1: first you didn't have to trade down and you know,
Speaker 1: and take a corner and add that first pick or whatever.
Speaker 1: And who knows what was available to them. You know,
Speaker 1: some people say that the Jets wanted to jump up
Speaker 1: to number five and that that was there and that
Speaker 1: that was a possibility. Whatever they get. The number one
Speaker 1: tackle set the tone and I think, you know, based
Speaker 1: on what their evaluations are, where we thought some of
Speaker 1: these players, I mean still I think is the only
Speaker 1: one that and Johnson are the only two that you
Speaker 1: really were like, okay, maybe they reached the lit little bit,
Speaker 1: but they're higher on the chargers board than anybody else's board,
Speaker 1: you know, but everybody else is. You know, Colson was
Speaker 1: expected to go in the second maybe high second. McConkie
Speaker 1: was thought to be a back end of the first,
Speaker 1: very very high second guy either right where he was
Speaker 1: supposed to go, or you got a value there, a
Speaker 1: boy be. When you think about the production, I think
Speaker 1: that seems about right. There weren't a lot of interior
Speaker 1: tackles outside of those top players.
Speaker 2: Joe said they had some third grade, third round grades
Speaker 2: and maybe a couple of second round grades on.
Speaker 1: A boy B. So yeah, so so there you go.
Speaker 1: And then obviously Brnnan Rice, which we're going to get
Speaker 1: to super just incredible value in the seventh round.
Speaker 2: Yeah, real quick. Kim Hart, So I'm from the DMV area.
Speaker 2: He went to the rival high school, Good Council. He
Speaker 2: was the number ninety seven wide receiver nationally coming out
Speaker 2: of Maryland, number twelve player from Maryland, number thirty two
Speaker 2: wide receiver Nashley, number eight player from Maryland. So he
Speaker 2: goes into college as a wide receiver, and I believe
Speaker 2: that's how Richard Sherman's path was right played.
Speaker 1: Well, he played. Richard Sherman played a couple of years
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver and when when Harbaugh got hired,
Speaker 1: he did that with a lot of guys and that
Speaker 1: that's something that if you want to change the culture,
Speaker 1: coaches will tend to do. They'll flip it. They'll they'll
Speaker 1: flip you know, full backs, the linebackers, wide receivers to corners.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's what he did with Sherman. And you
Speaker 1: see how that played out. So and Cam Heart certainly
Speaker 1: you could tell was emotional in the video that they
Speaker 1: had to him. Thought he should have gone a lot higher.
Speaker 1: And again, if you're not going to get drafted in
Speaker 1: the first in the first round, where you get that guaranteed,
Speaker 1: you know, four or five years with the with the
Speaker 1: option go to the go to where you fit invest
Speaker 1: man and get to your second Contract's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure you know both cam Hart and Still
Speaker 1: and all these guys Vidal, Rice, they're all pretty darn
Speaker 1: excited they're going to end up here and have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to make all that money on that second contract
Speaker 1: because they landed in a really good situation for them.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm looking at the next guy's up here.
Speaker 2: Kamai Vidal.
Speaker 1: The running back from Troy's a fun video to watch,
Speaker 1: by the way, folks, go go over to YouTube and
Speaker 1: watch the Kamani Vidal highlights from from Troy. He's first
Speaker 1: of all, we got Tangleman, we got.
Speaker 2: We got the great nephew of Hank Aaron and the
Speaker 2: son of Jerry Rice back to back with that, So.
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't overlook that. With the Rice thing, you know,
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to be a coach guy's made just
Speaker 1: tens of millions of dollars. He gets paid to indoors.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the coaching is a grind. And I
Speaker 1: don't think you can overlook, you know, coach Harbaugh who
Speaker 1: was with the Raiders when Jerry was there in the
Speaker 1: twilight of his career, thinking yeah, you know, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: rookie camp, maybe maybe Jerry wants to kind of hang out.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't mind him in this how young, this wide receiver
Speaker 1: room is. See if you can get Jerry over there
Speaker 1: talking to Quinton a little bit, you know, training camp,
Speaker 1: mini camps. You know, not a bad deal. He al right,
Speaker 1: Wardan will come out, want to hang out, hang out
Speaker 1: and you know, watch Brennan. You're you're more than welcome.
Speaker 1: Doors open for you, man. I don't think, hey John,
Speaker 1: all thirteen years you want to kind of come out
Speaker 1: and hang out with dev and Nick Hardwick and watch
Speaker 1: your son. We we'd love to have you out there
Speaker 1: on the field. Free, free to come on out here
Speaker 1: and you know, chop it up. Just just hang out
Speaker 1: and if you see anything, just wait and go ahead.
Speaker 1: Like I don't. I don't think there's anything. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's anything wrong with thinking that that that could
Speaker 1: be also just a fringe benefit of those two guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, uh Vadoll five eight, two thirteen. Between
Speaker 2: the tackles runner physical, can catch the ball, can can
Speaker 2: pass protect, and he'll be another running back in that
Speaker 2: room competing for touches money.
Speaker 1: Again, all I would say, like the stats are are
Speaker 1: one thing, and the stats are incredible, like that is
Speaker 1: one Yeah, go go look at the stats. Go look
Speaker 1: at at at Kamani vidalts as at matter. I'll just
Speaker 1: give him to you right now because they're stupid if
Speaker 1: and again I don't think they have the advanced stats here.
Speaker 1: They don't.
Speaker 2: Sixteen sixty one one thousand, six hundred and sixty one
Speaker 2: yards in FBS last season.
Speaker 1: Yeah so, but it's the it's the yards after contact,
Speaker 1: it's the broken tackles, it's the mistackles. So just go watch,
Speaker 1: go watch the highlights, and and and again it's it's Sunbelt.
Speaker 1: Sun Belt's pretty damn competitive. It's it's not, you know,
Speaker 1: a power five, but at the same time, it's and
Speaker 1: he got better every year every year, you know, played
Speaker 1: fourteen games last year, played fourteen games this year, went
Speaker 1: from eleven hundred and thirty to sixteen hundred and sixty,
Speaker 1: went from four nine to five six to carry, went
Speaker 1: from ten touchdowns to fourteen touchdowns. But he's I don't
Speaker 1: I hate putting comparisons on because I you know, the
Speaker 1: the I don't want to stick a label on him,
Speaker 1: but watching him just for me, and and a lot
Speaker 1: of this goes back to you know what your frame
Speaker 1: of reference is. But I remember calling a lot of
Speaker 1: Oregon State games and Quiz Rogers just short but thick,
Speaker 1: and even though he was small, you're like, my god,
Speaker 1: this guy is tossing six foot one linebackers like they
Speaker 1: don't have a chance against him. And he's just so
Speaker 1: low to the ground, and that lateral quickness and that
Speaker 1: jump cut ability, that's what jumped out. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if he has the same I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't have it in front of me.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he has the same explosiveness as
Speaker 1: as Quiz. Quiz was explosive. But he's got receptions. He's got,
Speaker 1: you know, receiving tds, he's got, So that's all there.
Speaker 1: So there's there's a lot that to me looks like
Speaker 1: that that to me looks like a guy that's gonna stay.
Speaker 1: That's that that's not a sixth rounder. That's hey, let's
Speaker 1: see if we can sneak him through on the practice squad.
Speaker 1: I'd be very surprised if if it wasn't, you know,
Speaker 1: because look, that's a stacked room now too, Elijah Dotson,
Speaker 1: you know, we know what they thought of him and
Speaker 1: through training camp last year. Obviously, Spillers might be younger
Speaker 1: than Vandal for all I know, you know, because he
Speaker 1: was so he was the youngest player in the draft
Speaker 1: two years ago and and Vandals a four year guy.
Speaker 1: So it's possible that Isaiah Spiller is still younger than him.
Speaker 1: But to me, that's that's going to be a hell
Speaker 1: of a camp battle. Which one of those guys is
Speaker 1: the third bat. Because you already got Ben Mason as
Speaker 1: your fullbacks, you're carrying a full back. They signed him
Speaker 1: and they want him. Jim Rba likes playing with a
Speaker 1: full back, so they're going to carry three, and that's
Speaker 1: going to be a hell of a battle between those
Speaker 1: three guys, between Vidal, Spiller, and Dotson.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Vodal, you know, you talk about the competition level.
Speaker 2: We just had a guy leave from Western State, who
Speaker 2: was with her, who was with the Charges for seven
Speaker 2: years at Austin Eckler. Right, you know, so competition necessarily.
Speaker 2: You know, if you could play ball, you could play ball.
Speaker 2: And uh Vodal is definitely going to be in the
Speaker 2: mix in that that running back room which I'm just
Speaker 2: so fascinated by. We know Gus Edwards is going to
Speaker 2: be there if JK. Dobbins is back to form, we
Speaker 2: know what he is going to provide, and he could
Speaker 2: be really the dark horse in terms of just really
Speaker 2: breaking out and comeback player that year, tight capability in
Speaker 2: an offensive line centric Charges offense the last.
Speaker 1: Tier for Chris, I'm at the NFKFF page right now,
Speaker 1: the PFF ultimate page. So yeah, this is what guy had.
Speaker 1: Three hundred carries, right, three hundred and five carries. We
Speaker 1: talked about the overall numbers they have him with seventeen
Speaker 1: forty seven. They have yards after contact eleven to fifteen,
Speaker 1: and that's not that big of a deal. A lot
Speaker 1: of times that can just speak to you don't have
Speaker 1: a great offensive line, so you know you got somebody
Speaker 1: there and you're just kind of getting bumped off of
Speaker 1: them and you're trying to make something happen. So but
Speaker 1: to me, it's this miss tackles forced on runs ninety
Speaker 1: eight misstackles. That's not yards after contact, that's not a
Speaker 1: little you know shit, that's if that's to be accurate,
Speaker 1: misce tackles per attempt zero point three to two thirty
Speaker 1: two percent. So you know you're talking about a mistackle,
Speaker 1: mistackle forced on every third run like that's that to
Speaker 1: me speaks to strength, elusiveness, explosiveness, being able to work
Speaker 1: three arm tackles and stuff. And that's what you get
Speaker 1: when you're five eight. That's small, that elusive and two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen pounds. I mean, my gosh, that is
Speaker 1: that is an incredible amount of weight and power to
Speaker 1: carry on a frame at five foot eight.
Speaker 2: Best player available for the Chargers, as as Joe Ortiz
Speaker 2: said before they dressed the Joe allt and it goes
Speaker 2: all the way down to Bataal in the second in
Speaker 2: the sixth round rather seventh round two receivers. We talked
Speaker 2: about commodity of it all in the sixth Brendan Rice
Speaker 2: going in the seventh and by all indications, everybody that
Speaker 2: we spoke to or who had a big board had
Speaker 2: Brendan Ryece going in the fourth round, maybe the third round.
Speaker 2: I think Dane Brugler had him in like one.
Speaker 1: Five up Danes. I'm pulling up Danes list right now.
Speaker 1: So he had Rice ranked as his let's see, where
Speaker 1: is it. I'm looking right here as his eighteenth receiver,
Speaker 1: third to fourth round grade.
Speaker 2: Okay, So why did he drop money? Why do we
Speaker 2: think he dropped?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. I think because the
Speaker 1: productions there, right, twelve touchdowns, that's there, and the yards were.
Speaker 2: Catch seventeen point six in the PAC twelve, so that's there.
Speaker 1: My guess is probably needs to needs to shore up
Speaker 1: some route running, you know, like we said, that's that's
Speaker 1: something that is more valuable than anything. So here's weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Average separation. Separation's important what we talked about with Mconkie's
Speaker 1: the best separator in the draft. Doesn't consistently play up
Speaker 1: to his size, loses battles against physical corners below average
Speaker 1: on fifty to fifty balls, accelerates well out of break
Speaker 1: tendency to get a head start and round select routes,
Speaker 1: body strength to slip off the jam, and needs to
Speaker 1: develop his release techniques. Willing, an aggressive blocker, but inconsistent
Speaker 1: in space. Never let the team in catches or receiving
Speaker 1: yards in any of the season. So there's the weaknesses
Speaker 1: from Dane. But at the same time, this is a
Speaker 1: seventh round pick. It's a guy who's six oh two three,
Speaker 1: so he's just he's six two and a third, he's
Speaker 1: two hundred ten pounds, he's got massive he's got nine
Speaker 1: to five eighths in tan's got seventy eight inch wing spanning.
Speaker 1: He's a four to five to forty guy. And he's
Speaker 1: Jerry Rice's kid, and he put up twelve touchdowns for
Speaker 1: SC last year. So in the seventh round kidding me
Speaker 1: like that, that's someone that I would absolutely be willing
Speaker 1: to bet on.
Speaker 2: And then right after that, Cordelius Johnson from Michigan, somebody
Speaker 2: that Jim Harbaugh knows. The one thing that it stood
Speaker 2: out to me is in here ring Chad Alexander talk
Speaker 2: about him perhaps the best blocking wide receiver in the
Speaker 2: entire draft. So this guy's going to help you on
Speaker 2: special teams if he can block. He has a job,
Speaker 2: you would think, and he'll compete in that room. I
Speaker 2: think lanzerol I talked about his route running leaves a
Speaker 2: lot to be desired.
Speaker 1: But yeah, other than a lot of production there, so
Speaker 1: so not a lot of production. But you said it.
Speaker 1: You know, the way you have to build special teams
Speaker 1: now is going to be different. You're going to get
Speaker 1: bigger guys out there. It's not necessarily just your smaller
Speaker 1: fast corners that you want. You're going to start putting linebackers,
Speaker 1: bigger wide receivers out there because of the way that
Speaker 1: that kickoff is going to work moving forward. So that's
Speaker 1: you know, that's kind of what you're speaking to there, Chris,
Speaker 1: is that this is someone that's got a chance to
Speaker 1: make the team because of what he can do on
Speaker 1: the special team side. So but now you got seven
Speaker 1: receivers in that room, right, Semi Fojoco, Josh Palmer, Darius Davis,
Speaker 1: and Quinton We're already there and now you add these three.
Speaker 1: So that's going to be all of a competition. And
Speaker 1: who knows what happens in free agency. You know, if
Speaker 1: there is a Michael Thomas or a Tyler Boyd or
Speaker 1: one of these guys where there's not a compic involved
Speaker 1: now that you'd be interested in bringing in, and what
Speaker 1: that means for that room. So and that's good. It's
Speaker 1: better to have a better to have it and not
Speaker 1: need it than to need it and not have it.
Speaker 2: So do we think at Joshua paulber wide receiver one
Speaker 2: right now and Lad mcconukey two or Flick.
Speaker 1: I don't think of it as a one to two
Speaker 1: or a three. I just think of who can you
Speaker 1: put out there and how do they fit? You know,
Speaker 1: is josh the X because he's been asked to play
Speaker 1: X when Keenan's out there and Mike's out and he's
Speaker 1: been able to excel at that. Is he the slot
Speaker 1: because that's sort of what he has done his first
Speaker 1: three years here, is just shadow Keenan and be that
Speaker 1: big slot and try to replicate everything Keenan did, where
Speaker 1: the majority of those you know as the best slot
Speaker 1: receiver in the NFL, which is what Keenan's been for
Speaker 1: the majority of his career. You know, mconukey to me
Speaker 1: is more of a z I think you know he did.
Speaker 1: He's not the biggest guy. He's one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: pound and sort of that was one of the knocks
Speaker 1: on him is that it's hard to put weight on
Speaker 1: it's been hard for him to keep weight on. So
Speaker 1: it's hard to be an X when you're when you're
Speaker 1: that light unless you're really good, you know, unless you're
Speaker 1: just really good in your initial your your initial burst
Speaker 1: and you know, off the snap where you can shed
Speaker 1: that press quickly and they can't even get their hands
Speaker 1: on you, which wouldn't surprise me. He played seventy percent
Speaker 1: of his snaps outside. He can play outside. I just
Speaker 1: don't know if it's as a Z or as an X,
Speaker 1: and then can you work with quick because look, Quinton's
Speaker 1: built like an X. That's that's six three two fifty pounds,
Speaker 1: fifteen pounds. He should be an X, you know, he
Speaker 1: should have the strength and with the explosion numbers that
Speaker 1: he has, the vert, the broad the forty like that,
Speaker 1: that's all X. I don't know why it's not lining up,
Speaker 1: So it's perhaps coaching mental what he was asked to do.
Speaker 1: So if you can, if you can make that work,
Speaker 1: then that's you know, That's that's how I would see it.
Speaker 1: Is that And by the way, how often is this
Speaker 1: team going to be in a lie? Even I don't
Speaker 1: think very often. I would be really surprised if they're
Speaker 1: that's a good point.
Speaker 2: That's probably key point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like this is a team to me, that's that's
Speaker 1: going to be playing with full back, running back. That's
Speaker 1: it's gonna be playing in twenty one or it's gonna
Speaker 1: be playing in twelve more often than not. So this
Speaker 1: is not a This is not a heavy eleven personnel team,
Speaker 1: is you know, from from what I would imagine. So
Speaker 1: I think that's where the whole Maybe it's not which
Speaker 1: three are out there, it's which two are out there,
Speaker 1: and that's where the Cornelius Johnson comes in because he
Speaker 1: can block his tail off and maybe he's out there
Speaker 1: for a lot of these plays.
Speaker 2: Also, I saw a video if you go on X
Speaker 2: or TikTok or whatever, Quentin Johnson working out with Barbaron
Speaker 2: Harrison Junior.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: This this this offseason and leading up to the draft
Speaker 2: process for for Marvin, and.
Speaker 1: That's great for him. Yeah, you know, get those X
Speaker 1: reps in man, you know, if that's if that's what
Speaker 1: the team said, and that's what they believe you can
Speaker 1: be and and they can instill because that's the thing
Speaker 1: with Q. It's not physical, it's all mental. It's all
Speaker 1: concentration and it's all confidence with him because he's fast enough,
Speaker 1: he's big enough. Part you know, here we are with
Speaker 1: the Stuart Smalley, right, you know, he's big enough, he's
Speaker 1: fast enough and got got it. He should be catching
Speaker 1: these balls. So I think it's just a for me.
Speaker 1: It's it's finding that right coach that can crack that
Speaker 1: code and say all we're doing is we are just
Speaker 1: tracking the football over your head. That's what we're working on. Once,
Speaker 1: because you've got the speed. I mean, we saw it
Speaker 1: in the Green Bay game. He's wide open, he's beating
Speaker 1: the corner, he shook off the press, he's got two
Speaker 1: steps and he just couldn't concentrate to haul it in,
Speaker 1: which would have been a win. And maybe the Jordan
Speaker 1: love story has never written, you know, because they're they're
Speaker 1: two in or whatever, they're three and six at that
Speaker 1: point and they don't have a chance to take off.
Speaker 1: And that's that's what we're talking about. So I think
Speaker 1: that's sort of the way because I had somebody when
Speaker 1: I had posted something on Twitter about now can we relax?
Speaker 1: Now do you see you take the tackle one? And
Speaker 1: there is no At the time when I tweeted it,
Speaker 1: I was like, there's not been another tackle taken where
Speaker 1: it picked like sixty five and no other tackle has
Speaker 1: gone yet. There's a ton of wide receivers that have
Speaker 1: flown off the board because of how deep the position
Speaker 1: group was. And that's what you have to do, all right,
Speaker 1: if we take our wide receiver here, which are we
Speaker 1: getting to tackle here? And so that in that clearly
Speaker 1: was no, you're not, They're gonna all yes, and yes,
Speaker 1: it's set the record for the most tackles taken in
Speaker 1: the first round of the NFL Draft. They were gone.
Speaker 1: Teams were jumping up like crazy to get those guys.
Speaker 1: So and when I brought that up, they're like, well,
Speaker 1: there's you a wide receiver one. And I was like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. It does not matter. Do you have
Speaker 1: the personnel on the field that you need to be
Speaker 1: on the field. Is he a starter? Put whatever number
Speaker 1: you want next to McConkey. He's a starter. He's gonna
Speaker 1: get a ton of snaps because of the way he
Speaker 1: separates the routes that he runs, and just visualizing him
Speaker 1: as a Keenan Allen type player for Justin to make
Speaker 1: himself available and be exactly where he's supposed to be
Speaker 1: with the separation he's supposed to have.
Speaker 2: The number one thing Quentin Johnson eats in year two
Speaker 2: is confidence. He's just these confidence and and this is
Speaker 2: the coaching staff and the coaches to instill it. And
Speaker 2: I said this on Thursday. Everybody was peppering Joe and
Speaker 2: Jim with questions about the wide receiver, and listen, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's they're good questions because Justin heeds weapons excuse me,
Speaker 2: and he says bye. By the sound of all these questions.
Speaker 2: Let's not bet against Joshua Palmer and Quinton Johnson too.
Speaker 2: And that's what I love about what Jim Harball is
Speaker 2: as a leader is he's always got his guys backs,
Speaker 2: and he's going to try to instill confidence in the
Speaker 2: guys who are in that room right now. And let's
Speaker 2: not give up on Quintin. He was a first round
Speaker 2: pick for a reason. He had all the trades. He
Speaker 2: had some tough moments, but guess what, the entire team
Speaker 2: last year had tough moments. And you could point to
Speaker 2: a lot of different players who are still on this
Speaker 2: roster and who are no longer here that had tough
Speaker 2: moments last year in a in a season that I
Speaker 2: don't think anybody expected last thing about out the wide
Speaker 2: receiver's money. Our producer Shorten Air Andrew just sent me
Speaker 2: this this thing on Brenda Rice Ig yesterday.
Speaker 1: I just want to read it real quick.
Speaker 2: Yesterday I began to drop four rounds from where I
Speaker 2: was supposed to go. Today, I laid my brother to
Speaker 2: rest in Dallas. He was at a funeral yesterday trying
Speaker 2: to mourn, but also waiting for a phone call. I
Speaker 2: don't know what happened to me to drop, but I'm
Speaker 2: glad God gave me the ability to focus on him,
Speaker 2: and I felt as a God as well as Keith
Speaker 2: brought me back to my faith. Now the journey up
Speaker 2: the mountain once again, you will feel my pain. So
Speaker 2: you have a motivated player coming in here who doesn't
Speaker 2: have to go far. And he talked about throughout this
Speaker 2: process wanting to play for a guy like coach Harpball.
Speaker 1: He gets his wish. Yeah, it is so much more
Speaker 1: important to go to the right situation as a seventh
Speaker 1: round pick than the wrong situation as a third round pick.
Speaker 1: I fully believe that football is so circumstantial, and careers
Speaker 1: at every position have been made and ruined based on
Speaker 1: fit and coaching and how you're used and what you
Speaker 1: have around you. So you if you're let me just
Speaker 1: kind of pull up. If you go in if you
Speaker 1: go in the third to Carolina, or you go in
Speaker 1: the third to New York, or you go on the third.
Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to take shots at those quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, let's like, let's say you're going
Speaker 1: in the third to Pittsburgh, you know, or you're going
Speaker 1: in the third to just pick any of them, you know, Baltimore,
Speaker 1: Or you're going to go to a place where they're
Speaker 1: stacked at wide receiver like Tampa, but they already got
Speaker 1: Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Are you going to Cincinnati
Speaker 1: where they've already got you know, Jamar Chase. Hey man,
Speaker 1: this thing's open. There's competition, and you got Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: throwing you the football. There are going to be opportunities
Speaker 1: for you to catch the ball. And that's what it's
Speaker 1: all about.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: It is all about opportunity, circumstance, the ability to Like
Speaker 1: I saw Joel talking Joe Klatt talking about how everybody's wondering, what,
Speaker 1: you know, what the Falcons are thinking. He's like, what
Speaker 1: about what Michael Pennix is thinking. It's a guy who's
Speaker 1: twenty three years old, is the most pro ready quarterback
Speaker 1: in the draft, and he's got a GM and a
Speaker 1: presser saying we could let him sit for four or
Speaker 1: five years, and I'm like four or five years, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go now, Like I'm the most pro ready
Speaker 1: of all these guys. I've got five years under my belt.
Speaker 2: I wish you had to talk about that pick, by
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's just one of those like that's the
Speaker 1: thing with Brendan Rice is, Hey, you're gonna have opportunities.
Speaker 1: You know, you are going to have opportunities to play.
Speaker 1: And we've seen it. You know, we've seen late round
Speaker 1: picks and undrafted free agents become great players. It's not
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary. So I know, I know for
Speaker 1: certain that I'm sure they're very happy that they were
Speaker 1: able to take him and get all that value it.
Speaker 1: And that's going to be a heck of a competition. Man.
Speaker 1: It's because they're not all gonna make it. They're not
Speaker 1: carrying seven wide receivers. So the one I'm interested in,
Speaker 1: because you want to talk about playing with fire so
Speaker 1: you got the best, one of the best returners in football,
Speaker 1: you know, and Darius Davis, but how much can you
Speaker 1: use him as a wide receiver now? And with the
Speaker 1: explosiveness and elusiveness of lad McConkie, does that become a
Speaker 1: battle for a spot?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Is Darius Davis in trouble despite having this incredible rookie
Speaker 1: season as a returner because McConkie is a four to
Speaker 1: three guy with elusiveness and can fill that role, you know.
Speaker 1: So that's I think something to keep an eye. Just
Speaker 1: then it comes to these seven guys and getting it
Speaker 1: down to five, you know, sot like how much team
Speaker 1: that doesn't need wide receivers really because the way they're
Speaker 1: gonna play foball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's like how much you're gonna put on
Speaker 2: Malconukye's played if if if you if you are gonna
Speaker 2: be a rd centric team and say, hey, we think
Speaker 2: Black can handle this too. It makes it interesting because
Speaker 2: Darius Davis was awesome last year, so like it'd be crazy,
Speaker 2: he'd be like that, it'd be twenty five teams right now.
Speaker 1: They'd be like, put the way is why I don't
Speaker 1: think it's realistic that that's it. But there's gonna they
Speaker 1: all you know, there's there's there is. It was a
Speaker 1: it was a light room. Now it's a heavy room
Speaker 1: and it's gonna have to get somewhat lighter. So not
Speaker 1: everyone's going to be staying in there, and it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see which ones end up making through the
Speaker 1: whole process.
Speaker 2: That's the beauty of yesterday. We were with A Lohi
Speaker 2: Gilman on Thursday, sixth round pick got a second contract
Speaker 2: with the Charges, and his advice to the rookies were
Speaker 2: you come in listen now now it doesn't matter the
Speaker 2: the the pick you were, the round you were selected
Speaker 2: is all out the window. And we've seen guys we
Speaker 2: talked about Austin Ekl early undrafted guy, A Loohi Gilman,
Speaker 2: sixth round. I just I go back to twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: Justin Jackson and his contry to getting that team to
Speaker 2: where they went to twelve and four that year. Was
Speaker 2: a hero at Sunday Night Football against the Steelers, scored
Speaker 2: a touchdown on Thursday Night Football against the Chiefs. You
Speaker 2: can get these late round picks that can make immediate
Speaker 2: impacts in year one and Brendan Rice and guys like
Speaker 2: Cornelia should take heat and know that, hey, we have
Speaker 2: a chance now to make an impact. And you know
Speaker 2: Jim Harball is going to play the best players who
Speaker 2: are the most competitive that that buy into what he's selling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. And it's you know, I'll leave it
Speaker 1: with this of the draft in totality, like the thing
Speaker 1: that jumps out at me again, I'll go back to
Speaker 1: where I started with the Junior Colson pick, right, Like
Speaker 1: imagine saying, hey, would you like to spend the money
Speaker 1: on Kenneth Murray and keep Eric Kendricks around, or I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you Junior Coulson which one would rather have?
Speaker 1: Like it's crazy to think that's how impactful this guy
Speaker 1: is going to be that you would take him over
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray, who got an eighteen million dollar deal from
Speaker 1: Tennessee Eric Kendricks, who's been one of the best linebackers,
Speaker 1: middle linebackers and the leaders in the NFL for the
Speaker 1: last ten years. And it's like, no, give me, give
Speaker 1: me number twenty five, give me give me Junior Colson.
Speaker 1: That's who I'd like to see leading a team with
Speaker 1: Derwin James, Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack on the same
Speaker 1: field as him when the when they take the snap,
Speaker 1: I want that guy to lead that unit. Like that's
Speaker 1: how exceptional a player they got at that position. And
Speaker 1: the idea that that that that the other side of
Speaker 1: that is, you know, the other side of the ball
Speaker 1: that now well you can only run left. The right
Speaker 1: side just has not been able to open any holes.
Speaker 1: And now every defense is just loading up on the
Speaker 1: left side because they know that's the only side you
Speaker 1: can run behind. So now you can't run the ball.
Speaker 1: The idea that you're going to have those two guys
Speaker 1: Slater and Alt is just complete dogs set in the
Speaker 1: tone on that side, you know, as tackles and the
Speaker 1: ability to run the football now with and we haven't
Speaker 1: even we barely talked about JK. Dobbins and just what
Speaker 1: I think that has the potential to be that that
Speaker 1: it could be a Gus Edwards JK. Dobbins if his
Speaker 1: injuries are right, Holy Kyle, talk about a pair of runners.
Speaker 2: Yeah, telling you, man, comeback player of the Year. That's
Speaker 2: he's got that, he's got that in him.
Speaker 1: They'll have the opportunities if they want to give him
Speaker 1: to him, no doubt uh, you.
Speaker 2: Know this will be for another podcast, but just I
Speaker 2: think about the class last year and the impact that
Speaker 2: those guys could make that we really didn't see last year,
Speaker 2: Big Fadden and and Henley, you know, talk about j T.
Speaker 2: Woods for a couple of years ago, like these are
Speaker 2: the players that you hope Jesse Mitzer and and Jim
Speaker 2: Harball can get the most out of two So like,
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of young guys Quentin Johnson of course,
Speaker 2: like who didn't contribute in the way that maybe we
Speaker 2: envisioned last year. They have an opportunity with this new
Speaker 2: regime to to make an impact to money.
Speaker 1: I'm so they didn't have. I'm okay, let me go
Speaker 1: back to Keenan's year, because I think Junior Colson has
Speaker 1: a chance to be the best third round pick since
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen and I don't think that's a stretch at all.
Speaker 1: So I'm even going to go before Keenan. What's another
Speaker 1: So Vincent Brown was pretty good? Okay, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: see here, who's the third? Nope? Nope, now who Charlie
Speaker 1: Whitehurst certainly not. I'm going through this Chargers. Okay, So
Speaker 1: let's say you got Keenan. Nick Hardwick was a third
Speaker 1: rounder in two thousand and four. So we're talking the
Speaker 1: last twenty years, right, You got Hardwicck, you got Keenan
Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen, and since then, your third round picks
Speaker 1: have been Chris Watt, Craig Mager, Max Turrek, Dan Feeney,
Speaker 1: Justin Jones, Trey Pipkins, Josh Palmer, JT. Woods, dayone Henley
Speaker 1: like those have been your thirds. You know, there's some
Speaker 1: good in there. There's two greats in there, and Keenan
Speaker 1: and Nick and some in place could get on the field,
Speaker 1: could never make an impact, like Junior Colson is who
Speaker 1: that's exciting. Now, that's that's something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, let's close it this way. I told
Speaker 2: you this was coming, uh, I was. Here's here's a
Speaker 2: specific ask Fundy to do another call of a letter
Speaker 2: Vidal touchdown, and I'm hoping Carl Laftis is involved once again.
Speaker 1: We are late in the fourth two and a half
Speaker 1: minutes left Chargers high red Zone trail by four at
Speaker 1: the twenty two of Pittsburgh. Crowd is on its feet,
Speaker 1: renegade blaring, of course, and exciting contest as both of
Speaker 1: these teams fighting for a playoff spot here in week thirteen.
Speaker 1: That's going to go a long way in terms of
Speaker 1: tie breakers should either of them end up in the
Speaker 1: wildcard despite fighting for the division title. We got an
Speaker 1: offset eye and it is Vidal who has been the
Speaker 1: hot hand in this one. Kind of been split carries
Speaker 1: for Edwards, Dobbins and Vidal, but he is on the
Speaker 1: field with this second and six, we get an offset.
Speaker 1: I've been Mason in front of him. Strength of the
Speaker 1: line is right distany outside of all and here's the
Speaker 1: snap and it's pitch right side, stretching it out at
Speaker 1: all alters in the next level. Patrick Queen gets cleaned
Speaker 1: out right sideline at all five into the end zone. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Chargers take the lead by one. There we go.
Speaker 2: Patrick Queen got it.
Speaker 1: Patrick, Hey, you got his money. He's gonna get it.
Speaker 1: You got his funny. Uh, very well done. That works.
Speaker 1: That was in there. So there's a lot of time,
Speaker 1: a lot of time at the line of scrimmage they
Speaker 1: were trying to figure it out. I was able to
Speaker 1: get all that in there.
Speaker 2: It was a couple of delayed games.
Speaker 1: Games in there, A little bit, a little bit sorry,
Speaker 1: maybe get my head around it.
Speaker 2: We'll get a We'll get a lad Jet sweeping there
Speaker 2: at some point before before Ts are over. Uh, that's
Speaker 2: gonna do it.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: Anything else about this draft, I think we covered it all.
Speaker 1: A good weekend for the Bolts, Yeah, no doubt. I
Speaker 1: think it speaks to the culture set from the new regime.
Speaker 1: All the picks you can see, Like we said, there's
Speaker 1: so many characteristics from them, either production traits and that's
Speaker 1: any team. But I think overcoming adversity, passion for football.
Speaker 1: And I'll finish with this, Chris, you know, beyond this class,
Speaker 1: I think it's clear that the Chargers have a distinct
Speaker 1: advantage over other teams right now because of the program
Speaker 1: that Jim Harbaugh comes from, the recruiting that they're able
Speaker 1: to do. They can recruit anyone nationally, so they're reaching
Speaker 1: out to players from all over the country. They're a
Speaker 1: national powerhouse. Not just build defense around our city and
Speaker 1: our state and let's get all the best players to
Speaker 1: play for Michigan. No, they recruit nationally and this is
Speaker 1: going to be a benefit for the next three years.
Speaker 1: You're talking about guys that are coming in freshmen that
Speaker 1: coach Harbaugh and his staff are recruiting in. So many
Speaker 1: of those assistant coaches are on this team as coaches.
Speaker 1: And it's not just guys from Michigan, but all the
Speaker 1: players that they have this scout that they faced in
Speaker 1: games and prepare for and right up Scot who reports
Speaker 1: on this is how we're going to attack this player.
Speaker 1: This is this is a player that's going to give
Speaker 1: us a problem. We got to make sure we account
Speaker 1: for that. Like, that's what they're going to get the
Speaker 1: benefit of. You know, someone like a boy Be to
Speaker 1: me comes to mind, where you're a team that wants
Speaker 1: to run the ball, You're a team that's in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and it's like, hey, who do we have to worry
Speaker 1: about that Dallas Turner? Yet? You gotta worry about Dallas
Speaker 1: Turner Terryan Oarnold Coolater great, but don't forget about a
Speaker 1: boy Be. This guy makes big plays in big moments.
Speaker 1: We cannot allow him to derail us in this game.
Speaker 1: Like those are the things that they're going to benefit
Speaker 1: from with this staff, not just Jim Harbaugh, but all
Speaker 1: the coaches that he brought in, who are expected to recruit,
Speaker 1: who are expected to advance scout, and that's going to
Speaker 1: pay dividends, not just in the twenty twenty four draft,
Speaker 1: but probably in the next two to three at least
Speaker 1: because of their familiarity with these guys. Money.
Speaker 2: It's it's late April, and I hate to do like
Speaker 2: prisoner of the moment stuff, but just the juice in
Speaker 2: the bounts that I think fans have with Jim Harball here,
Speaker 2: it's different.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: It is unlike anything I have ever ever seen since
Speaker 2: this team moved up to Los Angeles, and just the
Speaker 2: excitement level. I feel like fans feel like they're a
Speaker 2: part of it, and just watching the identity of this
Speaker 2: team takes shape the culture of this team. It has
Speaker 2: to be a thrill for you knowing that you're going
Speaker 2: to be calling games this year with Jim Harball as
Speaker 2: the head coach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you mentioned that. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: this will be because as we're at past an hour
Speaker 1: and ten minutes now, this will be my last point.
Speaker 1: You hear it all the time, coaches say it, and
Speaker 1: too often it's lip service. Be your authentic self. These
Speaker 1: guys will see through it. There is no one more
Speaker 1: authentic in the NFL than Jim Harball. Guy's wearing a
Speaker 1: plaid shirt with a plaid suit jacket, no gel. His
Speaker 1: hair is all weird looking. When he's doing press conference,
Speaker 1: he gets out, he meets Joe All he's got these
Speaker 1: goofy looking pants on them. He's pulling them up and
Speaker 1: you know, and he's grabbing John and Joe and like, hey,
Speaker 1: let's do a hype test. He's just so authentic and
Speaker 1: the energy is so authentic and just the excitement you
Speaker 1: can feel it. It's like it's not manufacturer, It's just
Speaker 1: it's all train of thought and it just comes to
Speaker 1: him like that, What is is that? Do I hear
Speaker 1: people in the room. You got a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the room. Is that what I'm hearing in the background? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I gotta I got a house package. Well are they excited?
Speaker 1: Let me hear him like it's all authentic, And I
Speaker 1: think that's that's they They say it, coaches say it
Speaker 1: all the time. You have got to be authentic. You
Speaker 1: cannot pretend to be somebody you're not and try to
Speaker 1: be this. I'm gonna throw the desk through the wall, guy,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna, you know, dog, cush you if that's
Speaker 1: not you. And that's why Philip Rivers is so beloved
Speaker 1: by this fan base because he was his authentic self
Speaker 1: and he never allowed anybody to change him. And that's
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh. He is he is is author himself man,
Speaker 1: and he is different than anybody else. And it's it's awesome.
Speaker 1: It is awesome to have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, uh we're thrilled for the fans and thrill for
Speaker 2: us that you get to cover a guy like Jim
Speaker 2: Harriball who's won at every level. And uh, I feel
Speaker 2: like he's got a lot to prove. And this staff
Speaker 2: has really come in with this like home focus of Okay,
Speaker 2: we're we're coming, like we're we're coming for the AFC West.
Speaker 2: We're coming for the AFC. I don't know how long
Speaker 2: it's gonna take money, but enjoy the ride if you're
Speaker 2: in Chargers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the key. Enjoy the ride. He's a football guy.
Speaker 1: He loves This guy is a competitor and he loves
Speaker 1: football and that's what he wants to do. He wants
Speaker 1: to coach football. He wants to get these guys to
Speaker 1: be the best they can be, and he wants to
Speaker 1: compete and he wants to dominate. And that's you can
Speaker 1: just see it that's what he's all about. Football, football, football, football,
Speaker 1: and and that's it's gonna be exciting. It's it's gonna
Speaker 1: be and we'll be doing this, you know, in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks talking rookie camp. So cannot wait to
Speaker 1: get that going. Yep.
Speaker 2: Uh, thanks for hanging with us all weekend, guys for money,
Speaker 2: I'm Chris. This has been charges weekly. Uh, we'll see
Speaker 2: you this upcoming Thursday. I'm sure we have some some
Speaker 2: surprises up our sleeve in this upcoming podcast, but appreciate
Speaker 2: you guys listening. We'll see you next week.