February 7, 2025 • 44 mins
On this episode of Chargers Weekly, hosts Chris Hayre and Matt “Money” Smith recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. In a wide-ranging fan Q&A, the hosts break down the biggest decisions facing General Manager Joe Hortiz & Head Coach Jim Harbaugh in building the 2025 Chargers this offseason, including who to target on the trade market featuring Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett & Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, which internal free agents should be a priority to bring back, and whether or not to draft a tight end like Penn State’s Tyler Warren or Michigan’s Colston Loveland in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's Up?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Guys. Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly,
as always, joined by the voice of the Chargers man
Money Smith. Super Bowl Week. Don't really want to talk
about the game, Money Eagles Chiefs, Right, we didn't want
this matchup.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I mean no, this is the matchup that we got.
The matchup we wanted Commander's Bills is not what it
ended up being. But you know what, you think back
to the I was thinking about this, You think back
to that last Super Bowl and went a great super Bowl.
It was a couple of years ago, and then I
remember the way it ended with the penalty, and I
was like, oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot it was
a third and eight and the Eagles might have had
(00:46):
an opportunity to win that game, but no, there's a
flag and the Chiefs win. So yes, it was again
just remarkable that the I saw funny tweet earlier today
that said, yes, mister bookmaker would like to take the
money line and the Eagles for the first fifty eight
minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's like, that's pretty much mean know how this is
gonna go.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's what's gonna happen. Then you know, the Chargers have
to deal with this Kansas City Chiefs team who is
on the verge of a three peat and h we
ask for questions, We got like forty questions. So I
don't know if we'll get to start burning man, but
we started burning through him. A lot to do with
just the rumors out there with free agency in the
draft and how the Charges could eventually surpass those Chiefs.
(01:30):
But let's just start with some of the big news
this week. You know, Miles Garrett requested a trade. Yeah,
so I think that means all thirty one teams are interested.
This is from Bandar. Would you let go of Mac
and Bosa to get Miles Garrett? And then number two?
Is our cap space enough for Slater new contract plus
Miles Garrett plus T Higgins? So a lot first of all,
(01:52):
a lot of T Higgins and Miles Garrett rumor questions.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Let's just hit those.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Let's just hit those now.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So one to answer the question about cap, absolutely, they've
they've got plenty of room for all those guys, for Garrett,
for Higgins, for Slater. And then some remember, you you
can build contract however you want. It's you know, you
can front load it, you can backload it, you can
do a bigger signing bonus, you can do guarantees that
are easily attained that help you massage that. You can
(02:19):
rework contracts to lower their numbers that are already on
the books. So there's a million ways to get around that.
But just the simple answer to that is, yeah, they
could totally absorb you know, three salaries in the average
you know, annual average of twenty eight to thirty one
million dollars, which is what you're talking about with Garrett,
Slater and Higgins, and be fine because the first year
(02:41):
is not going to be thirty one minutes. It's not
how it works. You know, they're backloaded. And the idea
is you're either going to re you know, you're going
to restructure, you're going to redo a deal, all of
those sort of things to make it all work when
you kick it down the road. So that's number one
two to the Miles Garrett question. Yeah, he's he's the
best defensive player in football. So you said it, Chris,
all thirty one teams are gonna line up. I would
(03:04):
assume I heard our friend DJ, and it's funny. I
was thinking the exact same thing as I was listening
to his pod. Because the good news for a team
like the Chargers. I don't think the Browns want capital
for twenty five. You know, it's not a quarterback draft,
so I could totally see them if that dual Carter's there,
take him, Travis Hunter, take him, t Mac take him.
(03:26):
I mean there's a number of ways they could go
Mason Graham like, just and load up for next year
like they want next year because next year, Arch Manning like,
you're you're talking about a quarterback draft. So Chargers could
still keep their one this year, offer up future twenty
twenty six, you know, one and how it's one to one,
(03:47):
if it's two ones, if it's a one and two
two something like that, it lines up, so you know,
and then the third part of it, would you get
rid of Mac and Bosa? I don't think those two
things are are necessarily joined together. I think, you know,
they definitely want him back, so see if they can
make that work. And Bosa, you know, is right now
with thirty six million dollar number. That's something that's going
(04:07):
to have to get figured out.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Ye Andrew Barry is playing to write whether or not
he wants to drive or let go of Miles Garrett.
He says he doesn't, right, Yeah, so that means that
the price is going to go up. And for some reason,
I just I don't know if the Browns are really
gonna trade him in the conference. I think if he
goes anywhere and maybe the NFC, and it's going to
be a lot of picks, and there's there's just other
(04:28):
teams with ammunition that I think maybe superior to the
Chargers in terms of cap Listen, you can give up anything.
I mean, you could kick picks down the road. I'd
love to see Miles Garrett and powdered Blue, no doubt.
I just don't know the likelihood of that happening. When
you see other teams in the conference or in the
(04:49):
NFC rather that may have more cap space, that may
have more picks to give, And at that point it's like,
all right, well, what does Cleveland do? I agree with you,
though I do think that they need to on this year.
If they draft up Dual Carter in the top three,
there's your Miles Garrett Michael Parsons clone. But I I
just don't know where Miles Garrett is going to go.
(05:10):
I I would think the NFC would be the more
likely NINGX spot.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Now, No, I think to me, it's just it's not
gonna be in division, Like it's not gonna be Cincinnati, Baltimore,
Pittsburgh right once. You just if you're just trading him
in conference, you know, think about the Chiefs trade and
Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. It's like, Okay, we might
see in the playoffs, we might see you, you know
once every few years. It's it's not as big of
a deal.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's the best thing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, And so I think it's who's gonna come up?
And you know, that's where the question comes in. If
you're a team like Detroit and you feel like you're
a piece away, and it's like, if we can pair
Aiden Hutchinson with Miles Garrett to go with our offense
and all of these weapons in Jumior Gibbs and Saint
Brown and Laporte in this offensive line, and like they
may just give up three ones or something like that.
So that's to me, that's the bigger competition is what
(05:56):
is someone willing to give up for someone who clearly
demonstrated man he plays football unlike I mean, unlike ninety
nine percent of the people in the league. He is
a true difference maker.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Let's keep this theme going and I'm gonna just kind
of bundle some questions together power GOA. Is Cooper Cup
an option, Richard? Do you think we land DK and
Higgins or just one of them? Okay, So just to
kind of to put a button on the wide receiver rumors.
First of all, Cooper Cup, I think there's a reason
why the Rams are trading him because they think he's
(06:34):
lost a step and he's got a pretty big cap number.
So I don't think that they're going to be able
to just straight up trade him. They're gonna have to
pay some of this salary, and at that point, I'd
prefer to have keenan Allen over Cooper Cup. As far
as T. Higgins is concerned, that's another guy who There's
five or six teams in the league that are wide
receiver desperate with a lot of cap space. I don't
(06:56):
know if the Chargers one of those teams it's going
to pay thirty million dollars for T. Higg If I
could be wrong, I just don't know if that's going
to be realistic. I think a DK Metcalf trade or
a Tyreek kill trade or a trade of a veteran
that has maybe a smaller cap number, a little bit
of a smaller cap number with a couple of years left,
maybe the more realistic avenue. But I'm curious to hear
your thought.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, so, Popper and I got into this last week
pretty extensively, and we both you know, for lack of
a better term, just you know, got ear to ear
grins when it comes to Higgins. He's just he's too perfect,
he's young, he's exactly he is the exact piece that
would fit into this wide receiver room where Lattice in
the slot. T is your ex Now Q can be
(07:39):
your Z. Q is never your downfield fifty to fifty
guy because T is one of the best in the
league at that. So you have that and Q can
get back to doing what he's really good at, and
that's you know, using him in motion and those quick
hitters and those slants and you know, the things that
really he excelled at all season long, as opposed to
asking him to kind of you know, fit into you know,
(08:01):
to drive in a lane that's not necessarily a strength
when he has other strengths. Is T Higgins is that guy.
He can beat press, he's fast, he's he is a
nightmare for defensive backs because he's a giant. I mean,
he is a massive human being and he's twenty five.
So like that's the other Like Cooper Cup is on
(08:23):
the other side of thirty, Tyreek Hill is on the
other side of thirty situations with situation with DK, and
like here's the thing with t is he can.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Choose the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
You know, the Seahawks have power over where Dick DK
goes because it's gonna have to come with a you know,
with with the right package. So the same thing with Tyreek.
You know, that's a trade. So you now have to
give up assets, draft capital to go get them. The
team has to be willing to engage with Tea is
just I want to win a Super Bowl. I'm gonna
(08:54):
catch pass from Joe Burrow. I'm gonna go catch him
from Justin Herbert. I saw what he and Mike Williams
did and those downfield balls, and I got Ladmac running
underneath and and you know, dealing. They got to deal
with him in the slot. So you can't double both
of us. It could lead you know. So that's The
thing about Tea as far as DK goes, you know,
he'll probably want an extension. So he's going in the
(09:14):
last year of his deal. So when you trade for him,
you're also going to now have that conversation of what
would you pay T Higgins versus what are you willing
to pay DK Metcalf and how does all of that
line up? But if you know and look and if
those two things don't work out, you know, the thing
with Cooper Cup is he just he works out of
the slot.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That's what he does.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
He's a big slot, you know, like Keenan was a
big slot, and and that's kind of where you're at.
And you're talking about someone who has missed a lot
of games and feels feels like he's, you know, a
pretty pretty good distance away from the triple crown year
of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
If T Higgins is available, would would you pay him thirty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
More whatever he wants?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, to me, that's that's my That would be my
absolute number one priority because it just it changes everything,
It sets everything up. You cannot crowd the box with
him because look what they did the lad in the
Houston game. Like when you think about Lad and how
effective he became once he really hit his stride, and
(10:17):
teams were just committing all these resources to him because
they knew there was they just weren't. They didn't feel
they had to really commit resources anywhere else. It's like,
we've got to stop this guy. So now imagine Ladd
with none of that ever, because you can't do it
with tea, you just you can't. He will torch one
on one coverage. So all of that falls into place
(10:37):
if that's the guy that you signed, So to me,
it would be my after Rashaan Slater gets his extension
squared away, next in line would be t Higgins. And
then look again, he's got thirty thirty one other teams
that he can choose and that may not line up.
That nothing against Joe Ortiz and the charges that they
don't land him, But I would imagine their looking at
(11:00):
that and saying, you know, the exact same thing, like,
let's figure out a way and look, Cincinnati may just
give him another franchise tag and say screw it, we're
gonna eat it.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Let's see That's what Burrow. Burrow was on First Take
this morning and said that we need to find a
way to keep everybody. Yeah, and that's easier said than done,
especially if if you're the Bengals and you have Jamar Chase,
who's going.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
To have to it's gonna make thirty five million bus.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's gonna be the best, Yeah, the highest paid receiver
of football. So how can you give two guys a similar.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Let's oh they can't.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's possible. It's just hope they can't.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
But they're gonna try because He's like, it's I mean,
that's the Cincinnati offense.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's you know, when you think about when it was Boyd,
Higgins and Chase, they were unstoppable. And that's kind of
the vision that I have, you know, with think about
what that looked like when you put Higgins here. Well,
now it's Higgins, Maconkey and Q, and you know you
can get there, You can get to a similar place.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It goes to that that that five year window that
they had with with all those guys on rookie contracts, right,
they got to a super Bowl because of it, and
then how quickly things change with economics and and now
I don't think there's any possible way that te Higgins
goes back to Cincinnati at that number, knowing that you
have to give Jamar Chase something, so that gives the
Charges a lot of hope in terms of getting a
(12:13):
guy like that. From a tight end perspective, this is
from yeah, hey, br what's the Charger's biggest need outside
of wide receiver? This offseason? Seems like tight end is
a need. But the tight ends they had last season
were decent. Where do you fall in line as far
as tight ends are concerned.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
It's a good draft. It's a good draft for really
good draft.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Free agency not so much.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
No, there's no one in free I think Cocklan's like
the number one guy in free agency. So now there
are some rumors that George Kittle may be made available,
you know, so that there's always the trade market. And
obviously Kittle is like your prototypical Jim Harbaugh ge or
T style tight end, right, someone that can block effectively
but is also an incredible receiver downfield. Those guys are
(12:54):
hard to find, so you happen to have two of
them in the draft.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
You have.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
You know, Tyler Warren will not be there at twenty two.
We'll see if Colston Lovelin is.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's where DJ has them mocked now to the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, and you know, so you see that, And it's
funny because he always points out, you know, the the
top fifty are how I value guys based on you know,
those are my evaluations when I watched film and I
put my board together. This is my board one through fifty.
The mock draft is what I think teams will do,
like what their needs are, how their front office operates,
(13:29):
the positions they invest in in the first round, those
sort of things. So he's got Colston Lovelin as his
number seven player that he's evaluated, and yet he's got
them going all the way down at twenty two. And
to me, you know, the situation in Vegas doesn't help
the Chargers out, Like I think when you see and
(13:49):
neither of these guys, they're both really really good.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
They're not Rock Bauers. Nobody is.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That's why we were talking about them two years ago
before the draft. But I think you saw that production
and what a tight end can do even on an
offense that didn't have a running game, that didn't have
a quarterback, that had a leaky offensive line, that really
had s Jacobe Myers and nobody. And here's brock Bauers
going for twelve hundred yards and six touchdowns and breaking
records all over the place. And that's the sort of
(14:15):
vision general managers can have for those two. Now you look,
you know, kind of coming out of Senior Bowl and
you're starting to feel pretty good about that group. I know,
Mason Taylor's got a ton of buzz right now. So
you could, you know, if you don't if neither of
those guys makes it to you in the first round,
I think you can realistically, as I'm kind of looking
through it now, Gunner Helm, Elijah Royo, they're all like
(14:37):
it's a deep class down to even Harrold Fannin from
Bowling Green Ferguson from Oregon, Jess, I'm looking at this.
I mean, how many guys is that? That's six guys? One, two, three, four, five,
say that's seven guys. So if it's not Lovelin, but
I think the to the point that you know, the
person is that, who is it that's asking the question?
It was uh whatever, Hey yeah, hey, yeah he be
(15:00):
okay that you're making is I think it's a position
that needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, listen, we'll Disley fantastic year. I had a fantastic year,
awesome here. Probably thought he wasn't going to catch the
ball as much as he did. You know, hate hers
had unfortunate injury luck. We had a question about Stone
Smart in here, and we may as well just get
to it now as we're on the subject at tight
end Fernie Junior. Should we expect to see more of
Stone Smart?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I hope so.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I hope so as well.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah, you know, he's been a developmental player since he
arrived a quarterback, you know, on old dominion. So you're
talking about someone that's continuingly you know, it's continuing to
understand the position, learn the position. I love Stone Smart
when he's on the field. Man, he's you know, he's
an exceptional receiver. He's got crazy athleticism. And you know,
(15:48):
another year with this coaching staff, Coach Bischoff and you know,
Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh. I think you're talking about
continuing to build up your blocking ability and to have
that sort of athleticism, you know, as that third tight end,
you know, with Disley and whoever that draft pick is
going to be and Smart, I think that's a really
good tight end room.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
You know, this is our guy Sean parmin Or. Where
do you think the priority for the roster is this offseason?
Draft or free agency? Who are the highest priority internal
free agents? Thanks fellas well. Both are going to be
equally weighted. Yeah, in terms of draft of free agency.
You know, internal, there's a ton of guys. There's a
(16:29):
ton of guys who are on one year deals. I
think JK. Dobbins is somebody we have to look at strongly.
A guy like Elijah Molden is Denzel free agent Denzel.
I mean guys who made immediate impacts, really impactful players
in Jim Harball's first year that are going to be
unrestricted free agents. And as far as the drafts is concerned,
(16:50):
I mean, gosh, you saw what happened in the fifth
round last year, getting all in Mconkeye in the first
two picks. I mean what Joe Ortiz did. Just you know,
you mirror that to this year. There's gonna be tons
of guys that they draft that will make immediate contribution.
So yeah, both are very.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Important, Yeah, no doubt. And look, they're gonna have a
lot more picks this year. I think they're based on
the comp formula. Looks like they're gonna have ten, so
you're gonna have more picks than you had last year.
Not only did they draft great players, but they maneuvered
the board perfectly. You know, they decided that it wasn't
worth sliding back. Stock took Alt's top ten tackle in
the league now after a rookie season, and you pair
(17:29):
them with Slater and now you've got your foundation there,
and then they're able to move up in the second
round to make sure they didn't, you know, and it's
just three picks, but you're willing to give up a
five to go up the three or at least swap
and you know, lose thirty seven spots there. And obviously
we saw it in action, you know, in New England
and what Lad was able to do. So it's clearly
(17:50):
a front office with Joe Ortiz and Chad Alexander and
that whole crew, you know, James Fierson and Kevin Kelly,
and they're just so good at what they do and
evaluating talent. So yeah, Cam Hart, you know, Tarib still starter, starter,
Joe Walt starter, Lad McConkey starter. Don't know what Junior
could have been because of the injury unfortunately, but maybe
projected started I'm assuming, yeah, this coming year, that's gonna
(18:13):
be a pretty special tantem. So to be able to
pull that many starters out of one single draft, Yeah,
that's going to be a priority. As far as free
agency goes, Yeah, Look that they had last year was
so different than this year because they were so far
over the cap that they had to sign all of
these one year deals. That's all they could afford. That
was the market that they were shopping in. So it's
one year proven deals for JK for Puna, for Elijah
(18:36):
for you know, the trades that they made for Christian Fulton,
like all these guys that were going to be up.
So as far as like how I stack it, I
think you just kind of you look at what coach said,
and that's that he wants everyone to come back. He
loves this team and he thinks this team can win
a Super Bowl. So I think they're going to try
to bring a lot of those guys back. If I
had to like rank them, you know, to me, look,
(18:58):
it was the number one defense in the league, right,
seventeen points per game, So let's get some of those
guys back, you know, let's get Punafford back. I think
Elijah Molden to me is he would be the next
contract I did right after Slater just because it you know,
Derwin can be Drwin when you have a LOWI and
Elijah out there. That's what allowed Derwin to have this
all Pro season. So that's like, those would be my
(19:21):
top Oh. I did this with Popper last week too.
Khalil Mack obviously he's a tone setter, He's an important
part of this team. So you know, but those, you know,
I keep forgetting these free agents. So yeah, it would
be that's where I would start. And then right behind
that I start to think about offense, and obviously jks
at the top of that list.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So let's let's keep the theme of the edge room
because this is a good question from coach rs Lago.
Let's get into the edge room, head to Hortiz and
company address it. If it took Tulli and Joey to
get Garrett, would you do it? Is Khalil for sure
coming back This room sneakily became a big deal this offseason.
So as far as Miles Garrett thing, I think we
discussed everybody's going to leave those stone unturned in terms
(20:03):
of seeing if they can acquire Miles Garrett, and I'm
sure that everybody will give their best shot to do so.
I would want to give up Toolly Joey again. You
guys talked about it at Ausium last last week, and
then is Khalil coming back? So this was this was
the one room when Joe Ortie's and company decided to
keep Joe and Khalil and add Bud and we had
(20:24):
Tooley here. That was the most set of any position group.
Now it's a little bit in flux. How do you
think they do address this draft?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I think it's possible, depending it's a deep edge draft,
so you could end up, you know, there's it's a
good offense. You know, I shouldn't say it's not like
last year when it came to tackles, but it's a
solid offensive line.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
They got the guy at tackled last year.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
But I just mean in terms of you saw what
happened last year in the draft when when tackles were
evaluated to be high level tackles, you'll get six or
seven of them off the board. So I'm just doing
the calculus of if you assume Abdul Carter is going
to be the number one, number two or number three pick. Overall,
you get behind him and you have Peers from Tennessee,
(21:07):
and Michael Williams from George, and Shamar Stewart from A
and M. And then I think the one interesting player
that if he's there, you know, if you're sitting there
and there's you know, Tyler Booker, the just anchor of
that Alabama offensive line, the interior offensive lineman. If there's
Colston Loveland, if there's let's say Genty slips to you,
(21:28):
Let's say Genty sitting there, it's a conversation. But if
Mike Green is there, you know after that Senior Bowl week,
that's the kind of that's that's what's going to be
interesting about the draft because of some of these position
groups are deep where you could end up getting a
guy that you know, this this regime, this front office
may have you know, at like number eleven or number twelve,
(21:50):
and all of a sudden you're staring at him at
twenty two and you're like, oh, wow, we've got really
good problem here, because we've got great And then that's
where positional value can come in. Is Like, as much
as you love the idea of putting Colston Lovelin with Herbert.
It's like, yeah, but this is an edge you know
we can we can probably And that goes to what
we discussed last year when people were freaking out that
they didn't take Malik Neighbors and they took Alt. And
(22:12):
it's like, Okay, it's not just Joealt. It's Joe Alt
and Lad mcconki versus Malik Neighbors and who to the
Chiek Kingsley Suamatial, you know, like that's what you're you
have to take the tackle there because of how quickly
they're going to go off the board. So that's kind
of to speak to the edge room. Yeah, I think, look,
something's got to be done with Joey's contract. What it is,
(22:34):
I don't know. I think they want Khalil back. I
think he would have retired if he didn't think the
Chargers wanted him back. I don't give the sense he
wants to uproot his family and go somewhere for a
year to chase a Super Bowl. I think he thinks
he can win it here and that's why he's going
to play another year. So I think he'll be back,
and I'm excited about the future for Tully. I think
I still fully believe that he's going to be a
great player at that position.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Let's go to Antonio Gates should be in the Hall
of Urban Champion at seventy six.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, we agree with that un percent and he will
be hopefully that's go get.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It this year. Why trade for an aging receiver when
we know Hortiz is going to find talent in the draft.
Seems like a move in the opposite direction after getting
out of the Keenan and might contracts. That's another thing
that I wanted to pose to you is it's pretty
good wide receiver class too. It's okay, it's so, I mean,
it's it's probably not what it was last year, but
(23:24):
you can get you can get some talent maybe in
the second third round. Would you go down that route
of hey, let's get maybe a transitional veteran that a
couple of years left on their deal and then.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Draft another So you're saying, like T Higgins not available, DK,
not of these guys that are twenty five twenty six. Like,
to me, it's because it's a known commodity, like we didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You know, we've talked about too money, We've talked about Alave,
We've talked about Garrett Wilson, what's gonna happen in New
York exactly? You know with dte Adams, like, there's a
lot of other moving parts that go beyond just T Higgins.
T Higgins is the bell of the ball, right, everybody
wants Tea. But if you don't get them, there may
be other avenues to maybe get a veteran maybe on
a shorter term deal while drafting another young wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, and so to answer the just really to answer
the question, it's why do you do it? Because it's known.
You know what you're getting when you trade for for
DK Metcalf or you commit all this money to T Higgins,
or like you said, let's say Garrett Wilson becomes available,
they want pick twenty two for Garrett Wilson. Take it
it's yours. Sign them to a thirty million dollars a
year deal. I'm done, absolutely, So I just don't think
(24:29):
they'll do it. But so, yeah, that's why, because you
know what you're getting. You know what you have at quarterback,
you know what you have it at tackle, and that
that player can be productive and it's worth you know,
the draft asset plus the actual salary cap capital that
you commit, So that's why you would do it. But yeah,
it's a great point you know that you're making, is
(24:50):
it's not just two or three guys. As free agency
shakes out, as you know player, as teams have to
figure out how to get cap compliant, all of that
that's going to happen as soon as the Super Bowl
is over. It's gonna all those gears are going to
start turning.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
We're gonna be right in the center of it at
the combine when these conversations start to take ze right
and we're going to be having a lot more I
think questions out there as to what rosters are going
to look like and who's going to be in the
mix for what respective team. This is a couple of
questions I can combine here, Jeff, what's more important for
you two interior offensive line or interior defensive line? What
(25:26):
positions are better source to the draft versus free agency? Example,
rookie wide receiver Approven Vet. We talked about that. And
then what's the biggest change we need to make to
improve our run game? This is from Alex So. Interior
offensive line is a kind of a group. Let's say
that we think that they are going to upgrade probably
in both free agency in the draft, and with that,
(25:48):
I think that's going to improve.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The run Dame.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, it's a good it's a good year in free
agency for interior linemen. A lot of them out there,
a lot of young guys out there. Tray Smith the
head of it, you know, and we talked about, you know,
talk about this at nauseum, like, hey, you get one
of the best interior alignment in the league and you
take him away from the Chiefs and that's you know,
that's a win win. So you know that's the kind
(26:11):
of thing you're talking about in free agency.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Draft.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, you know, absolutely. I think Trey did a great
job of trying to make that transition from tackle to guard.
But Popper made the great point. It's like, yeah, if
you're a nine million dollar tackle, that's great value for
the team. When you're a nine million dollar guard, that's
a different deal. So that's kind of how that whole
thing shakes out. What do I think is more important?
I'll just echo something that I said earlier last week,
(26:37):
and that's sorry, Jesse Minning or just you're too good.
You know, you're really good at what you do. So
I'm gonna if you're telling me where I'm gonna put
the where I'm gonna have to invest in. I trust
that whatever we give Jesse Minner, he's going to figure out.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Because anything that.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Was dropped in his lap worked, you know, whether that
was Marcus May three days later, Eddie Jackson two days later.
I mean just to Poona and tier Tart and like
just think about Denzel param and all of these players
that just showed up. And but really, like you think
about the practice squad guys and how what Eli Apple
forty snaps in Cleveland, you know, like that's yeah, So
(27:15):
to me, it's like let's give let's give Greg some
horses and let's just say, hey, Jesse, just you know,
you do go.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Figure it out, do it? You don't cook.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Speaking of that, Riley Steele, realistic expectations for dayon Tarhebe
and cam Hart for next year and then their career
in general. And it goes to the point you listened
a lot of veterans, but just the player development from
these rookies and what they did, I mean, realistic expectations
they're going to continue to be starters, and you hope
the Tarhebe and Cam Hart are high level quarters for
(27:45):
the next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
So you know, like I think people that you know,
when you just watch the games, you see how they perform, right,
But then when you kind of you know, when we're
here and you're around, you can kind of dig in
a little bit deeper, and like you can't minimize the
impact that Denzel had on day On. Like those two
were thicke as thieves and and like that's so like
that's where those conversations come in of can you bring
(28:09):
Denzel back? What's the number? What's it worth? If maybe
he's now the third guy and you're really playing dime
a lot and Derwin's your dimebacker and he's playing slot
and a lot, you know, and you have Junior and Dan.
So like those are the sort of conversations that get
real tricky when it's Ed maguire and Joe and they're
trying to figure out how to spend all this money
and make sure it all fits together. But yeah, look,
(28:31):
I think you know, they put sort of you know,
day On in there with the with the two rookie corners,
So I think it's two separate conversations, right. I think
it's is you know, dayon and Junior going forward, as
you know, a third year guy and a second year guy,
but essentially two second year guys and then are you
comfortable with two rookie corners out there?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And so.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It'll be interesting. You know, I think Christian Fulton played
well before he kind of got dinged up. I think
it'd be great to have him back.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And Zoun's a free agent. You know, we don't, you know,
he was he was hurt all this year, he was
we didn't have a chance to really see him in
this system.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
So and now with Fuller coming in to be the
safety's coach, you know, he was a Sante's DC in
Florida when they were playing at a really high level.
So we'll see how that effects. And that's the other
thing that can't be minimized is that Chris O'Leary did
an unbelievable job with the safeties. So, you know, and
I was going to be a DC at Western Michigan
with absolutely so. But you know, coach Clink has been
has been unbelievable with these corners. And that's you know,
(29:27):
that's something that I think people have to though I
shouldn't say it that way. That's something that I'm excited
about is it's clear of these coaches are exceptional. It's
not just coach Harbaugh. It's not just Greg Roman and
Jesseman are these position coaches have done a heck of
a job in developing talent on both sides of the
ball at every single position group. You know, we were
(29:48):
talking about Will Disley and coach Bischoff, and you're talking
about a guy that's just essentially been a blocking tight end,
catch a couple of pass passes here and there, and
that's what you end up getting out of them.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
You know, same thing.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
With with with dev And and coach Hardwick on that
offensive line and all those moving pieces and the new
pieces you had to drop in there, and you know
that's that's why how whatever they do, it's it feels
so different, you know from what kind of it had
felt like moving forward. You just feel like, man, these
(30:18):
coaches really know how to coach, and whatever you drop
in there is gonna work.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know, just a.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Piggyback off of that. And I'm not saying anybody's going
to take a hometown discount, but all these veterans that
have their contract up, guys who got to experience what
this first year with coach Harbaugh was like, they want
to be back, they'd love to be back, and you
hope that that plays into their decision making in addition
to the money, because listen, you don't play this game
(30:46):
for a long time. You want to get paid and
you want to be somewhere where you're appreciated. But I
do think if all things equal, you know, you may
get the edge here because of what happened this past.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah, that's you've hit it on the head there with
the last part, Chris.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I think that's just if you know, you have a
good organization and a good you know, from top to bottom,
when things are close, they want to stay. And that's
and you can't expect them to stay if things aren't close,
because again, it's too violent a game. Your career is
too short. Things can happen any given week that could
end at all, you know, and now you're looking for
your next career at twenty eight, So get as much
(31:22):
money as you possibly can, and then you just hope,
all right, that's what you got out there on the market,
here's what we're offering. It's close, and that's when you
hope they're like, yeah, I love it here. Let's let's
stick around. Yeah, and tax me thirteen percent from the state.
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Cool, they paid no mind of the taxes. Guys, Griffin Lee,
what are the charges need to do to get into
this Chiefs Ravens Bills category? Do you guys see that
happening this coming season? Time to start beating teams that
you that you're supposed to lose to. Okay, So I
think after that first Monday night game against the Ravens,
you and I talked on this pod to say, hey,
(31:57):
you know what, this is kind of where you're stre
to get to, and you hope your two of Coach
Harball is the year where you start to put yourself
in that conversation, because to me, after that first game,
it was clear to me that they were still rung
behind the Ravens and the Bills and the Chiefs, even
though you play the Chiefs so closely every single year.
(32:18):
But is this the year that they can put themselves
into that conversation where they're actually competing, where Justin Herbert
is in the divisional round of the playoffs playing against
Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
So look at those three teams, right, Bill's Ravens Chiefs.
What are they all have in common? Their quarterback and
their head coach have been together their entire careers. Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes have played for one head
coach their entire career. And I know Josh Allen has
kind of had a bit of a revolving door at
oh see.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
But mcdermot's been this this is rookie year exactly.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
So it's kind of That's what we're talking about, is
finally getting Justin Herbert some continuity, you know, with and
not you know, bringing in Greg and saying, hey, Greg,
you know, sorry, but Mike Williams is being released, and
we're trading Keenan and you need to put a tackle
at guard and we're signing Bradley Boseman as your center,
(33:12):
and we're crossing our fingers on JK and we got
a low money deal on Gus. Like people that are
taking shots at Rome and I'm like, like, do you
not remember what this thing looked like to get started?
How they're just trying to put tape on these leaks
and crossing their fingers And he made it sing, you know,
I know it was you know, predominantly a defensive driven,
(33:32):
you know team this season with seventeen and a half
points allowed per game, But at the same time you
started to see some rhythm. It got sideways on them
in that game against the Texans, but I think it exposed.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Just to maybe put a.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
More of a fine point on it, to answer the question,
I think what your limitations are, what your weaknesses are,
are exposed in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
There's a reason why that's a cliche. So you saw it.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
What you saw in Houston is what will be addressed
and moving forward, I think this last year's team will be,
on paper, you know, on paper, the least talented team
that we'll see for the next half decade. It's own
that this team is only going to be better on
paper moving forward because of kind of what they inherited
(34:18):
cap wise and draft wise.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah uh o x J Sizzle, Oh I love that guy.
Yeah right? And what world do we address both into
your offensive line and wide receiver needs this offseason? And
then the second part, confidence level. If Joey Bosa stays
one to ten, I mean, I think they're gonna address
both of them. They're gonna address both of them, and
I you know, this goes with another. We have so
many questions. Let me just put this one into LAFC Daniel.
(34:42):
Do you expect the Charges to splash on a premium
free agent. I think that they won't make a They
will attempt to make a couple splash.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
I think multiple Yes, I would just answer that with
multiple Yeah, I think you're talking not Look do you
think the number one guard on the market is a
splash note?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
But it is? So.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
I think they'll probably spend on a receiver, spend on
a guard. I could see them spending on I'm trying
to think who's out there. The edge is interesting, you know,
depending on what they what they do with with Khalil
and and Joey at thirty six million, how they deal
with that. You've got some edge talent out there as
(35:18):
well in free agency. So yes, I would. I would.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I envisioned that this team's gonna spend money.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Uh has sheiezh Jackson? What's the most realistic outcome this
free agency? Well, the Charges make a big splash signing
with DK. But if we've talked about Garrett, let's see
a lot of DK people want DK by the way.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, look I would too, And you're reuniting him with
his wide receiver coach. And you saw what a great
job Sanjay Lal did the wide receivers coach here, who
came down from Seattle, who was there when DK was drafted.
And there's a reason why DK slipped to the second
round because they were like, Okay, he does one thing.
You know you can take away the one thing you
do and make you do other things. And and coach
Law was able to coach him up and make him
(36:02):
a more complete receiver and a serious threat. So I
could totally see DK wanting to reunite with him, and
Sanja and coach lall wanting to have him down here.
I'd be excited about that too. I still, just because
DK's had some injury concerns, I would still if I
could rank him, Yeah, I'd like to have te one
(36:23):
and then I DK would be like right behind.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
That Cemac game day. What is your opinion of the
impact of Ben Herbert less injuries, more gas in the
tank in the fourth quarter. Will we see better results
once Ben has a full year to work with the team.
I thought as the season went on, you saw few
and fewer injuries. I thought that they had a pretty
much a full compliment of guys towards the back half
(36:46):
the year. Yeah, I thought Ben Herbert was awesome.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, echoed that. I don't need to add to that,
He's great. You never saw this team get run off
the field late. You didn't see them give up leads late.
You know, this was a team that closed games out,
that played better in the fourth quarter than they did
in the first. And so I think everything that he
preached and everything that we talked about, Look, guys are
going to get hurt. Every single team has guys that
(37:11):
get hurt.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
It's impossible not to. So do you remember when we
spoke with him and he talked about how, hey, listen,
the way I talked to Joey and Khalil gonna be
a little different than how I talked to a rookie
at the beginning. And I just think of the strides
of the rookie class made Ben Herbert played a big
role in that. When you talk about Alt and mccaukey
(37:32):
and the two corners, you know, like to have that
guy with you at the beginning of your NFL career,
I think speaks volumes.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, look, it's you know, I think in terms of
like Asante and you know, some of the longer term
injuries like those are those are injuries like, that's not
what we're talking about. It's like our guys missing games
with soft tissue, you know, with groins, with hammies, with
things like that, and are they out for an extended
period of time. And I just felt like we did
not have much of that at all. And that's an
(38:00):
that's a tribute to And look beyond what we're talking about,
what people are asking via social media and what we're
talking about on the pod, just ask the players. They
love them, man, Yeah, they freaking love them.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
So Antonio g In will the Chargers host a game
in Brazil? And there was another question about would you
rather go to Brazil or London. I don't know what's
on the horizon internationally, but it would be fun to
go to Brazil or London, or Germany or Spain or Australia.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Yeah, I think the way, you know, the way it
lines up, just in terms of the teams they've already announced. Look,
if I had to guess, yeah, get your passport, I
think we're going somewhere. And if I had to guess where,
I think it's Brazil. I just I think it lines up.
You know, the teams on the East Coast have you know,
(38:48):
a much easier talking about and I know you can
go over the pole, so it's not as drastic as
it's made out to be. But you know, you can't
minimize how much easier it is to get to London
from New York and the East and cboard than it
is from LA So you know, Brazil is pretty much
equal for almost everybody. You're talking about eleven twelve hours
from here and eleven twelve hours from anywhere else because
(39:10):
it's just a straight shot down. So where would I
like to go? Yes, you know, I like going to
those places. Now Brazil, you know, so Paolo has got
some pretty sweet waves. So it's got some friends who
work with fu Wax, the famous surf bri frand get
redicated in and so.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
We're doing a Matt Muddy Smith surfing segment of Brazil
if it happens.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
So yeah, so selfishly, I would love to get down
there and hopefully connect with your questions from a board. Yeah,
that will paddle out with me so I don't get
murdered because they are very violent about their waves and
who has rights to waves and who drops in on who.
So I would have to make sure I find the
right chaperones to paddle out with and they can tell
me when I can go and I can go have
(39:51):
some fun. So yeah, selfishly, that's what I'd like to do.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Jake from Australia wants the charges of go to Melbourne
to play the Rams of twenty twenty six. I'd like
to go to Australia.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I would.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
Again, what do they have in Australia? Ala, So yeah,
I would. I would absolutely love that.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Sign me up. I'm not the guy.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Look, I'm not the guy that's got to get out
there and play and adjust to the timing and and
figure out how to get my body right when I'm
you know, Brazil. And that's the other thing about Brazil
is in terms of the players, like yeah, time zone, whyse,
you're great, you know, and it's if it's October, I mean,
oh it's peak like spring to summer season down there.
It's absolutely beautiful. So yeah, let's go, all.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Right, last one, uh, because we got to go. We
appreciate all the questions, try to get as many as possible.
A theor if Herbert becomes the seventh quarterback in NFL
history to win MVP and Super Bowl MVP same season.
Are you nervous as a GM? And what does the extension.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Look like for Herbert?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
For Herbert, he's locked in a theory.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I don't know. I don't care. Whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
A billion dollars the MVP of the league and Super
Bowl MVP, what do you want? I mean, that's the
nice thing about Justin's contract that I think people and
it's look what Patrick Mahomes is done. You know when
he signed that whatever six hundred million dollar deal is,
it became the bank of Mahomes. Anytime they had to
withdraw money to sign a player, they were able to,
(41:16):
you know, restructure. Here's some more signing bonus. Patrick, here's
a couple more years on the back end, and now
we can lower your number and pull that money out
and pay fill in the blank or acquire this player.
And that's the one nice thing about having a player
that's operating at that level where you give them that
massive of a contract that you can play with, you know,
and you can sort of take from here and push
(41:38):
this over there. And now we've got an extra twenty
million bucks. So I mean, he just signed it. He
just started that deal. So it's yeah, we're good. We're
good for a little bit. It's not it's going to
take a year. Maybe it's going to take at least
two more years before they can really kind of get
their hands into that thing.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
There was one question about putting a bug in coach
hardballs eer to get Mason Graham or a bigmillan from servit.
I think there are both gonna go in the top ten,
top five.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, yeah, I mean T Max guys. Guys, Yeah, T
mact is like a He's like a T Higgins, you know.
I mean that's that's sort of the same idea. Mason
Gramm will go top seven. Yeah, a couple of surve
byck guys.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Huh uh, all right, this is the last one outside
of charges free agency. Who are three realistic players that
you guys would like to see on the team? And
why we think we mentioned T Higgins that'd be one.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Uh wow, let's see, So who who would I like
to see? And why read the corner that'd be nice?
Wouldn't mind that the Jets corner? We already talked about
T Higgins. Uh here, let me just pull up so
I can just look at teams and uh, that's all
I want to do all.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Right, So Bill's Dolphin's future. It's just just Cowboys Giants.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Oh you have the guard from Indianapolis or I already
said Tracey Smith, So yeah, Trey Smith guard T Higgins, Uh,
T Higgins wide receiver corner.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
There you go. How's that done?
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I think that you know what off season and depending.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
On how things go with Khalil and Joey, maybe a
sound Reddick you know as an edge that that's another
one that's gonna be available. Who else is a free
agent this I'm looking at this. No, no, no, but yeah,
that that works.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right, good way to end it. Uh, what's your score Sunday?
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Uh, it's gonna be chiefs By, Like what's the spread?
One and a half, So it'll be cheapd By like
to point though they'll be like two. They'll win by two.
They'll be down one in the final minute, and you
know there's gonna be a p I or an off
sides free play, you know, lined up in the neutral zone,
my homes fines, you know, Hollywood Brown downfield to set
(43:47):
up Bucker for the game win.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
We knows Bucker is gonna end it with the game
winning field.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
You know, whatever just give me my give me my wings,
my Frank's Red Hot chicken dip with my with my chips.
You know that little rest appear on the back of
the Frank's Red Hot that I make every year for
the Super Bowl. There's like seven thousand calories and worth
every freaking one of them. So that's all I care about.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
And the best thing for Chargers fans is after the game,
everybody zero and zero again exactly, we start over back
at the next one, combine in a couple of weeks.
We did it right last week last year, and it's
gonna be fun this year.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. Looking forward
to it. Hopefully just kind of repeat exactly what we
did last year with all our friends down there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
So looking forward to that for sure.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Cool. All right, for money, I'm Chris. This has been
Chargers Weekly. We'll see you next week.
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's Up?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Guys. Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly,
as always, joined by the voice of the Chargers man
Money Smith. Super Bowl Week. Don't really want to talk
about the game, Money Eagles Chiefs, Right, we didn't want
this matchup.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I mean no, this is the matchup that we got.
The matchup we wanted Commander's Bills is not what it
ended up being. But you know what, you think back
to the I was thinking about this, You think back
to that last Super Bowl and went a great super Bowl.
It was a couple of years ago, and then I
remember the way it ended with the penalty, and I
was like, oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot it was
a third and eight and the Eagles might have had
(00:46):
an opportunity to win that game, but no, there's a
flag and the Chiefs win. So yes, it was again
just remarkable that the I saw funny tweet earlier today
that said, yes, mister bookmaker would like to take the
money line and the Eagles for the first fifty eight
minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It's like, that's pretty much mean know how this is
gonna go.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's what's gonna happen. Then you know, the Chargers have
to deal with this Kansas City Chiefs team who is
on the verge of a three peat and h we
ask for questions, We got like forty questions. So I
don't know if we'll get to start burning man, but
we started burning through him. A lot to do with
just the rumors out there with free agency in the
draft and how the Charges could eventually surpass those Chiefs.
(01:30):
But let's just start with some of the big news
this week. You know, Miles Garrett requested a trade. Yeah,
so I think that means all thirty one teams are interested.
This is from Bandar. Would you let go of Mac
and Bosa to get Miles Garrett? And then number two?
Is our cap space enough for Slater new contract plus
Miles Garrett plus T Higgins? So a lot first of all,
(01:52):
a lot of T Higgins and Miles Garrett rumor questions.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Let's just hit those.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Let's just hit those now.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So one to answer the question about cap, absolutely, they've
they've got plenty of room for all those guys, for Garrett,
for Higgins, for Slater. And then some remember, you you
can build contract however you want. It's you know, you
can front load it, you can backload it, you can
do a bigger signing bonus, you can do guarantees that
are easily attained that help you massage that. You can
(02:19):
rework contracts to lower their numbers that are already on
the books. So there's a million ways to get around that.
But just the simple answer to that is, yeah, they
could totally absorb you know, three salaries in the average
you know, annual average of twenty eight to thirty one
million dollars, which is what you're talking about with Garrett,
Slater and Higgins, and be fine because the first year
(02:41):
is not going to be thirty one minutes. It's not
how it works. You know, they're backloaded. And the idea
is you're either going to re you know, you're going
to restructure, you're going to redo a deal, all of
those sort of things to make it all work when
you kick it down the road. So that's number one
two to the Miles Garrett question. Yeah, he's he's the
best defensive player in football. So you said it, Chris,
all thirty one teams are gonna line up. I would
(03:04):
assume I heard our friend DJ, and it's funny. I
was thinking the exact same thing as I was listening
to his pod. Because the good news for a team
like the Chargers. I don't think the Browns want capital
for twenty five. You know, it's not a quarterback draft,
so I could totally see them if that dual Carter's there,
take him, Travis Hunter, take him, t Mac take him.
(03:26):
I mean there's a number of ways they could go
Mason Graham like, just and load up for next year
like they want next year because next year, Arch Manning like,
you're you're talking about a quarterback draft. So Chargers could
still keep their one this year, offer up future twenty
twenty six, you know, one and how it's one to one,
(03:47):
if it's two ones, if it's a one and two
two something like that, it lines up, so you know,
and then the third part of it, would you get
rid of Mac and Bosa? I don't think those two
things are are necessarily joined together. I think, you know,
they definitely want him back, so see if they can
make that work. And Bosa, you know, is right now
with thirty six million dollar number. That's something that's going
(04:07):
to have to get figured out.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Ye Andrew Barry is playing to write whether or not
he wants to drive or let go of Miles Garrett.
He says he doesn't, right, Yeah, so that means that
the price is going to go up. And for some reason,
I just I don't know if the Browns are really
gonna trade him in the conference. I think if he
goes anywhere and maybe the NFC, and it's going to
be a lot of picks, and there's there's just other
(04:28):
teams with ammunition that I think maybe superior to the
Chargers in terms of cap Listen, you can give up anything.
I mean, you could kick picks down the road. I'd
love to see Miles Garrett and powdered Blue, no doubt.
I just don't know the likelihood of that happening. When
you see other teams in the conference or in the
(04:49):
NFC rather that may have more cap space, that may
have more picks to give, And at that point it's like,
all right, well, what does Cleveland do? I agree with you,
though I do think that they need to on this year.
If they draft up Dual Carter in the top three,
there's your Miles Garrett Michael Parsons clone. But I I
just don't know where Miles Garrett is going to go.
(05:10):
I I would think the NFC would be the more
likely NINGX spot.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Now, No, I think to me, it's just it's not
gonna be in division, Like it's not gonna be Cincinnati, Baltimore,
Pittsburgh right once. You just if you're just trading him
in conference, you know, think about the Chiefs trade and
Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. It's like, Okay, we might
see in the playoffs, we might see you, you know
once every few years. It's it's not as big of
a deal.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's the best thing.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, And so I think it's who's gonna come up?
And you know, that's where the question comes in. If
you're a team like Detroit and you feel like you're
a piece away, and it's like, if we can pair
Aiden Hutchinson with Miles Garrett to go with our offense
and all of these weapons in Jumior Gibbs and Saint
Brown and Laporte in this offensive line, and like they
may just give up three ones or something like that.
So that's to me, that's the bigger competition is what
(05:56):
is someone willing to give up for someone who clearly
demonstrated man he plays football unlike I mean, unlike ninety
nine percent of the people in the league. He is
a true difference maker.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Let's keep this theme going and I'm gonna just kind
of bundle some questions together power GOA. Is Cooper Cup
an option, Richard? Do you think we land DK and
Higgins or just one of them? Okay, So just to
kind of to put a button on the wide receiver rumors.
First of all, Cooper Cup, I think there's a reason
why the Rams are trading him because they think he's
(06:34):
lost a step and he's got a pretty big cap number.
So I don't think that they're going to be able
to just straight up trade him. They're gonna have to
pay some of this salary, and at that point, I'd
prefer to have keenan Allen over Cooper Cup. As far
as T. Higgins is concerned, that's another guy who There's
five or six teams in the league that are wide
receiver desperate with a lot of cap space. I don't
(06:56):
know if the Chargers one of those teams it's going
to pay thirty million dollars for T. Higg If I
could be wrong, I just don't know if that's going
to be realistic. I think a DK Metcalf trade or
a Tyreek kill trade or a trade of a veteran
that has maybe a smaller cap number, a little bit
of a smaller cap number with a couple of years left,
maybe the more realistic avenue. But I'm curious to hear
your thought.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, so, Popper and I got into this last week
pretty extensively, and we both you know, for lack of
a better term, just you know, got ear to ear
grins when it comes to Higgins. He's just he's too perfect,
he's young, he's exactly he is the exact piece that
would fit into this wide receiver room where Lattice in
the slot. T is your ex Now Q can be
(07:39):
your Z. Q is never your downfield fifty to fifty
guy because T is one of the best in the
league at that. So you have that and Q can
get back to doing what he's really good at, and
that's you know, using him in motion and those quick
hitters and those slants and you know, the things that
really he excelled at all season long, as opposed to
asking him to kind of you know, fit into you know,
(08:01):
to drive in a lane that's not necessarily a strength
when he has other strengths. Is T Higgins is that guy.
He can beat press, he's fast, he's he is a
nightmare for defensive backs because he's a giant. I mean,
he is a massive human being and he's twenty five.
So like that's the other Like Cooper Cup is on
(08:23):
the other side of thirty, Tyreek Hill is on the
other side of thirty situations with situation with DK, and
like here's the thing with t is he can.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Choose the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
You know, the Seahawks have power over where Dick DK
goes because it's gonna have to come with a you know,
with with the right package. So the same thing with Tyreek.
You know, that's a trade. So you now have to
give up assets, draft capital to go get them. The
team has to be willing to engage with Tea is
just I want to win a Super Bowl. I'm gonna
(08:54):
catch pass from Joe Burrow. I'm gonna go catch him
from Justin Herbert. I saw what he and Mike Williams
did and those downfield balls, and I got Ladmac running
underneath and and you know, dealing. They got to deal
with him in the slot. So you can't double both
of us. It could lead you know. So that's The
thing about Tea as far as DK goes, you know,
he'll probably want an extension. So he's going in the
(09:14):
last year of his deal. So when you trade for him,
you're also going to now have that conversation of what
would you pay T Higgins versus what are you willing
to pay DK Metcalf and how does all of that
line up? But if you know and look and if
those two things don't work out, you know, the thing
with Cooper Cup is he just he works out of
the slot.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That's what he does.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
He's a big slot, you know, like Keenan was a
big slot, and and that's kind of where you're at.
And you're talking about someone who has missed a lot
of games and feels feels like he's, you know, a
pretty pretty good distance away from the triple crown year
of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
If T Higgins is available, would would you pay him thirty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
More whatever he wants?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, to me, that's that's my That would be my
absolute number one priority because it just it changes everything,
It sets everything up. You cannot crowd the box with
him because look what they did the lad in the
Houston game. Like when you think about Lad and how
effective he became once he really hit his stride, and
(10:17):
teams were just committing all these resources to him because
they knew there was they just weren't. They didn't feel
they had to really commit resources anywhere else. It's like,
we've got to stop this guy. So now imagine Ladd
with none of that ever, because you can't do it
with tea, you just you can't. He will torch one
on one coverage. So all of that falls into place
(10:37):
if that's the guy that you signed, So to me,
it would be my after Rashaan Slater gets his extension
squared away, next in line would be t Higgins. And
then look again, he's got thirty thirty one other teams
that he can choose and that may not line up.
That nothing against Joe Ortiz and the charges that they
don't land him, But I would imagine their looking at
(11:00):
that and saying, you know, the exact same thing, like,
let's figure out a way and look, Cincinnati may just
give him another franchise tag and say screw it, we're
gonna eat it.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Let's see That's what Burrow. Burrow was on First Take
this morning and said that we need to find a
way to keep everybody. Yeah, and that's easier said than done,
especially if if you're the Bengals and you have Jamar Chase,
who's going.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
To have to it's gonna make thirty five million bus.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's gonna be the best, Yeah, the highest paid receiver
of football. So how can you give two guys a similar.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Let's oh they can't.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's possible. It's just hope they can't.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
But they're gonna try because He's like, it's I mean,
that's the Cincinnati offense.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's you know, when you think about when it was Boyd,
Higgins and Chase, they were unstoppable. And that's kind of
the vision that I have, you know, with think about
what that looked like when you put Higgins here. Well,
now it's Higgins, Maconkey and Q, and you know you
can get there, You can get to a similar place.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It goes to that that that five year window that
they had with with all those guys on rookie contracts, right,
they got to a super Bowl because of it, and
then how quickly things change with economics and and now
I don't think there's any possible way that te Higgins
goes back to Cincinnati at that number, knowing that you
have to give Jamar Chase something, so that gives the
Charges a lot of hope in terms of getting a
(12:13):
guy like that. From a tight end perspective, this is
from yeah, hey, br what's the Charger's biggest need outside
of wide receiver? This offseason? Seems like tight end is
a need. But the tight ends they had last season
were decent. Where do you fall in line as far
as tight ends are concerned.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
It's a good draft. It's a good draft for really
good draft.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Free agency not so much.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
No, there's no one in free I think Cocklan's like
the number one guy in free agency. So now there
are some rumors that George Kittle may be made available,
you know, so that there's always the trade market. And
obviously Kittle is like your prototypical Jim Harbaugh ge or
T style tight end, right, someone that can block effectively
but is also an incredible receiver downfield. Those guys are
(12:54):
hard to find, so you happen to have two of
them in the draft.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
You have.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
You know, Tyler Warren will not be there at twenty two.
We'll see if Colston Lovelin is.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's where DJ has them mocked now to the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, and you know, so you see that, And it's
funny because he always points out, you know, the the
top fifty are how I value guys based on you know,
those are my evaluations when I watched film and I
put my board together. This is my board one through fifty.
The mock draft is what I think teams will do,
like what their needs are, how their front office operates,
(13:29):
the positions they invest in in the first round, those
sort of things. So he's got Colston Lovelin as his
number seven player that he's evaluated, and yet he's got
them going all the way down at twenty two. And
to me, you know, the situation in Vegas doesn't help
the Chargers out, Like I think when you see and
(13:49):
neither of these guys, they're both really really good.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
They're not Rock Bauers. Nobody is.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That's why we were talking about them two years ago
before the draft. But I think you saw that production
and what a tight end can do even on an
offense that didn't have a running game, that didn't have
a quarterback, that had a leaky offensive line, that really
had s Jacobe Myers and nobody. And here's brock Bauers
going for twelve hundred yards and six touchdowns and breaking
records all over the place. And that's the sort of
(14:15):
vision general managers can have for those two. Now you look,
you know, kind of coming out of Senior Bowl and
you're starting to feel pretty good about that group. I know,
Mason Taylor's got a ton of buzz right now. So
you could, you know, if you don't if neither of
those guys makes it to you in the first round,
I think you can realistically, as I'm kind of looking
through it now, Gunner Helm, Elijah Royo, they're all like
(14:37):
it's a deep class down to even Harrold Fannin from
Bowling Green Ferguson from Oregon, Jess, I'm looking at this.
I mean, how many guys is that? That's six guys? One, two, three, four, five,
say that's seven guys. So if it's not Lovelin, but
I think the to the point that you know, the
person is that, who is it that's asking the question?
It was uh whatever, Hey yeah, hey, yeah he be
(15:00):
okay that you're making is I think it's a position
that needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, listen, we'll Disley fantastic year. I had a fantastic year,
awesome here. Probably thought he wasn't going to catch the
ball as much as he did. You know, hate hers
had unfortunate injury luck. We had a question about Stone
Smart in here, and we may as well just get
to it now as we're on the subject at tight
end Fernie Junior. Should we expect to see more of
Stone Smart?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I hope so.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I hope so as well.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah, you know, he's been a developmental player since he
arrived a quarterback, you know, on old dominion. So you're
talking about someone that's continuingly you know, it's continuing to
understand the position, learn the position. I love Stone Smart
when he's on the field. Man, he's you know, he's
an exceptional receiver. He's got crazy athleticism. And you know,
(15:48):
another year with this coaching staff, Coach Bischoff and you know,
Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh. I think you're talking about
continuing to build up your blocking ability and to have
that sort of athleticism, you know, as that third tight end,
you know, with Disley and whoever that draft pick is
going to be and Smart, I think that's a really
good tight end room.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
You know, this is our guy Sean parmin Or. Where
do you think the priority for the roster is this offseason?
Draft or free agency? Who are the highest priority internal
free agents? Thanks fellas well. Both are going to be
equally weighted. Yeah, in terms of draft of free agency.
You know, internal, there's a ton of guys. There's a
(16:29):
ton of guys who are on one year deals. I
think JK. Dobbins is somebody we have to look at strongly.
A guy like Elijah Molden is Denzel free agent Denzel.
I mean guys who made immediate impacts, really impactful players
in Jim Harball's first year that are going to be
unrestricted free agents. And as far as the drafts is concerned,
(16:50):
I mean, gosh, you saw what happened in the fifth
round last year, getting all in Mconkeye in the first
two picks. I mean what Joe Ortiz did. Just you know,
you mirror that to this year. There's gonna be tons
of guys that they draft that will make immediate contribution.
So yeah, both are very.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Important, Yeah, no doubt. And look, they're gonna have a
lot more picks this year. I think they're based on
the comp formula. Looks like they're gonna have ten, so
you're gonna have more picks than you had last year.
Not only did they draft great players, but they maneuvered
the board perfectly. You know, they decided that it wasn't
worth sliding back. Stock took Alt's top ten tackle in
the league now after a rookie season, and you pair
(17:29):
them with Slater and now you've got your foundation there,
and then they're able to move up in the second
round to make sure they didn't, you know, and it's
just three picks, but you're willing to give up a
five to go up the three or at least swap
and you know, lose thirty seven spots there. And obviously
we saw it in action, you know, in New England
and what Lad was able to do. So it's clearly
(17:50):
a front office with Joe Ortiz and Chad Alexander and
that whole crew, you know, James Fierson and Kevin Kelly,
and they're just so good at what they do and
evaluating talent. So yeah, Cam Hart, you know, Tarib still starter, starter,
Joe Walt starter, Lad McConkey starter. Don't know what Junior
could have been because of the injury unfortunately, but maybe
projected started I'm assuming, yeah, this coming year, that's gonna
(18:13):
be a pretty special tantem. So to be able to
pull that many starters out of one single draft, Yeah,
that's going to be a priority. As far as free
agency goes, Yeah, Look that they had last year was
so different than this year because they were so far
over the cap that they had to sign all of
these one year deals. That's all they could afford. That
was the market that they were shopping in. So it's
one year proven deals for JK for Puna, for Elijah
(18:36):
for you know, the trades that they made for Christian Fulton,
like all these guys that were going to be up.
So as far as like how I stack it, I
think you just kind of you look at what coach said,
and that's that he wants everyone to come back. He
loves this team and he thinks this team can win
a Super Bowl. So I think they're going to try
to bring a lot of those guys back. If I
had to like rank them, you know, to me, look,
(18:58):
it was the number one defense in the league, right,
seventeen points per game, So let's get some of those
guys back, you know, let's get Punafford back. I think
Elijah Molden to me is he would be the next
contract I did right after Slater just because it you know,
Derwin can be Drwin when you have a LOWI and
Elijah out there. That's what allowed Derwin to have this
all Pro season. So that's like, those would be my
(19:21):
top Oh. I did this with Popper last week too.
Khalil Mack obviously he's a tone setter, He's an important
part of this team. So you know, but those, you know,
I keep forgetting these free agents. So yeah, it would
be that's where I would start. And then right behind
that I start to think about offense, and obviously jks
at the top of that list.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So let's let's keep the theme of the edge room
because this is a good question from coach rs Lago.
Let's get into the edge room, head to Hortiz and
company address it. If it took Tulli and Joey to
get Garrett, would you do it? Is Khalil for sure
coming back This room sneakily became a big deal this offseason.
So as far as Miles Garrett thing, I think we
discussed everybody's going to leave those stone unturned in terms
(20:03):
of seeing if they can acquire Miles Garrett, and I'm
sure that everybody will give their best shot to do so.
I would want to give up Toolly Joey again. You
guys talked about it at Ausium last last week, and
then is Khalil coming back? So this was this was
the one room when Joe Ortie's and company decided to
keep Joe and Khalil and add Bud and we had
(20:24):
Tooley here. That was the most set of any position group.
Now it's a little bit in flux. How do you
think they do address this draft?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I think it's possible, depending it's a deep edge draft,
so you could end up, you know, there's it's a
good offense. You know, I shouldn't say it's not like
last year when it came to tackles, but it's a
solid offensive line.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
They got the guy at tackled last year.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
But I just mean in terms of you saw what
happened last year in the draft when when tackles were
evaluated to be high level tackles, you'll get six or
seven of them off the board. So I'm just doing
the calculus of if you assume Abdul Carter is going
to be the number one, number two or number three pick. Overall,
you get behind him and you have Peers from Tennessee,
(21:07):
and Michael Williams from George, and Shamar Stewart from A
and M. And then I think the one interesting player
that if he's there, you know, if you're sitting there
and there's you know, Tyler Booker, the just anchor of
that Alabama offensive line, the interior offensive lineman. If there's
Colston Loveland, if there's let's say Genty slips to you,
(21:28):
Let's say Genty sitting there, it's a conversation. But if
Mike Green is there, you know after that Senior Bowl week,
that's the kind of that's that's what's going to be
interesting about the draft because of some of these position
groups are deep where you could end up getting a
guy that you know, this this regime, this front office
may have you know, at like number eleven or number twelve,
(21:50):
and all of a sudden you're staring at him at
twenty two and you're like, oh, wow, we've got really
good problem here, because we've got great And then that's
where positional value can come in. Is Like, as much
as you love the idea of putting Colston Lovelin with Herbert.
It's like, yeah, but this is an edge you know
we can we can probably And that goes to what
we discussed last year when people were freaking out that
they didn't take Malik Neighbors and they took Alt. And
(22:12):
it's like, Okay, it's not just Joealt. It's Joe Alt
and Lad mcconki versus Malik Neighbors and who to the
Chiek Kingsley Suamatial, you know, like that's what you're you
have to take the tackle there because of how quickly
they're going to go off the board. So that's kind
of to speak to the edge room. Yeah, I think, look,
something's got to be done with Joey's contract. What it is,
(22:34):
I don't know. I think they want Khalil back. I
think he would have retired if he didn't think the
Chargers wanted him back. I don't give the sense he
wants to uproot his family and go somewhere for a
year to chase a Super Bowl. I think he thinks
he can win it here and that's why he's going
to play another year. So I think he'll be back,
and I'm excited about the future for Tully. I think
I still fully believe that he's going to be a
great player at that position.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Let's go to Antonio Gates should be in the Hall
of Urban Champion at seventy six.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, we agree with that un percent and he will
be hopefully that's go get.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It this year. Why trade for an aging receiver when
we know Hortiz is going to find talent in the draft.
Seems like a move in the opposite direction after getting
out of the Keenan and might contracts. That's another thing
that I wanted to pose to you is it's pretty
good wide receiver class too. It's okay, it's so, I mean,
it's it's probably not what it was last year, but
(23:24):
you can get you can get some talent maybe in
the second third round. Would you go down that route
of hey, let's get maybe a transitional veteran that a
couple of years left on their deal and then.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Draft another So you're saying, like T Higgins not available, DK,
not of these guys that are twenty five twenty six. Like,
to me, it's because it's a known commodity, like we didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You know, we've talked about too money, We've talked about Alave,
We've talked about Garrett Wilson, what's gonna happen in New
York exactly? You know with dte Adams, like, there's a
lot of other moving parts that go beyond just T Higgins.
T Higgins is the bell of the ball, right, everybody
wants Tea. But if you don't get them, there may
be other avenues to maybe get a veteran maybe on
a shorter term deal while drafting another young wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, and so to answer the just really to answer
the question, it's why do you do it? Because it's known.
You know what you're getting when you trade for for
DK Metcalf or you commit all this money to T Higgins,
or like you said, let's say Garrett Wilson becomes available,
they want pick twenty two for Garrett Wilson. Take it
it's yours. Sign them to a thirty million dollars a
year deal. I'm done, absolutely, So I just don't think
(24:29):
they'll do it. But so, yeah, that's why, because you
know what you're getting. You know what you have at quarterback,
you know what you have it at tackle, and that
that player can be productive and it's worth you know,
the draft asset plus the actual salary cap capital that
you commit, So that's why you would do it. But yeah,
it's a great point you know that you're making, is
(24:50):
it's not just two or three guys. As free agency
shakes out, as you know player, as teams have to
figure out how to get cap compliant, all of that
that's going to happen as soon as the Super Bowl
is over. It's gonna all those gears are going to
start turning.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
We're gonna be right in the center of it at
the combine when these conversations start to take ze right
and we're going to be having a lot more I
think questions out there as to what rosters are going
to look like and who's going to be in the
mix for what respective team. This is a couple of
questions I can combine here, Jeff, what's more important for
you two interior offensive line or interior defensive line? What
(25:26):
positions are better source to the draft versus free agency? Example,
rookie wide receiver Approven Vet. We talked about that. And
then what's the biggest change we need to make to
improve our run game? This is from Alex So. Interior
offensive line is a kind of a group. Let's say
that we think that they are going to upgrade probably
in both free agency in the draft, and with that,
(25:48):
I think that's going to improve.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The run Dame.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, it's a good it's a good year in free
agency for interior linemen. A lot of them out there,
a lot of young guys out there. Tray Smith the
head of it, you know, and we talked about, you know,
talk about this at nauseum, like, hey, you get one
of the best interior alignment in the league and you
take him away from the Chiefs and that's you know,
that's a win win. So you know that's the kind
(26:11):
of thing you're talking about in free agency.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Draft.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, you know, absolutely. I think Trey did a great
job of trying to make that transition from tackle to guard.
But Popper made the great point. It's like, yeah, if
you're a nine million dollar tackle, that's great value for
the team. When you're a nine million dollar guard, that's
a different deal. So that's kind of how that whole
thing shakes out. What do I think is more important?
I'll just echo something that I said earlier last week,
(26:37):
and that's sorry, Jesse Minning or just you're too good.
You know, you're really good at what you do. So
I'm gonna if you're telling me where I'm gonna put
the where I'm gonna have to invest in. I trust
that whatever we give Jesse Minner, he's going to figure out.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Because anything that.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Was dropped in his lap worked, you know, whether that
was Marcus May three days later, Eddie Jackson two days later.
I mean just to Poona and tier Tart and like
just think about Denzel param and all of these players
that just showed up. And but really, like you think
about the practice squad guys and how what Eli Apple
forty snaps in Cleveland, you know, like that's yeah, So
(27:15):
to me, it's like let's give let's give Greg some
horses and let's just say, hey, Jesse, just you know,
you do go.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Figure it out, do it? You don't cook.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Speaking of that, Riley Steele, realistic expectations for dayon Tarhebe
and cam Hart for next year and then their career
in general. And it goes to the point you listened
a lot of veterans, but just the player development from
these rookies and what they did, I mean, realistic expectations
they're going to continue to be starters, and you hope
the Tarhebe and Cam Hart are high level quarters for
(27:45):
the next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
So you know, like I think people that you know,
when you just watch the games, you see how they perform, right,
But then when you kind of you know, when we're
here and you're around, you can kind of dig in
a little bit deeper, and like you can't minimize the
impact that Denzel had on day On. Like those two
were thicke as thieves and and like that's so like
that's where those conversations come in of can you bring
(28:09):
Denzel back? What's the number? What's it worth? If maybe
he's now the third guy and you're really playing dime
a lot and Derwin's your dimebacker and he's playing slot
and a lot, you know, and you have Junior and Dan.
So like those are the sort of conversations that get
real tricky when it's Ed maguire and Joe and they're
trying to figure out how to spend all this money
and make sure it all fits together. But yeah, look,
(28:31):
I think you know, they put sort of you know,
day On in there with the with the two rookie corners,
So I think it's two separate conversations, right. I think
it's is you know, dayon and Junior going forward, as
you know, a third year guy and a second year guy,
but essentially two second year guys and then are you
comfortable with two rookie corners out there?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And so.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It'll be interesting. You know, I think Christian Fulton played
well before he kind of got dinged up. I think
it'd be great to have him back.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
And Zoun's a free agent. You know, we don't, you know,
he was he was hurt all this year, he was
we didn't have a chance to really see him in
this system.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
So and now with Fuller coming in to be the
safety's coach, you know, he was a Sante's DC in
Florida when they were playing at a really high level.
So we'll see how that effects. And that's the other
thing that can't be minimized is that Chris O'Leary did
an unbelievable job with the safeties. So, you know, and
I was going to be a DC at Western Michigan
with absolutely so. But you know, coach Clink has been
has been unbelievable with these corners. And that's you know,
(29:27):
that's something that I think people have to though I
shouldn't say it that way. That's something that I'm excited
about is it's clear of these coaches are exceptional. It's
not just coach Harbaugh. It's not just Greg Roman and
Jesseman are these position coaches have done a heck of
a job in developing talent on both sides of the
ball at every single position group. You know, we were
(29:48):
talking about Will Disley and coach Bischoff, and you're talking
about a guy that's just essentially been a blocking tight end,
catch a couple of pass passes here and there, and
that's what you end up getting out of them.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
You know, same thing.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
With with with dev And and coach Hardwick on that
offensive line and all those moving pieces and the new
pieces you had to drop in there, and you know
that's that's why how whatever they do, it's it feels
so different, you know from what kind of it had
felt like moving forward. You just feel like, man, these
(30:18):
coaches really know how to coach, and whatever you drop
in there is gonna work.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know, just a.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Piggyback off of that. And I'm not saying anybody's going
to take a hometown discount, but all these veterans that
have their contract up, guys who got to experience what
this first year with coach Harbaugh was like, they want
to be back, they'd love to be back, and you
hope that that plays into their decision making in addition
to the money, because listen, you don't play this game
(30:46):
for a long time. You want to get paid and
you want to be somewhere where you're appreciated. But I
do think if all things equal, you know, you may
get the edge here because of what happened this past.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah, that's you've hit it on the head there with
the last part, Chris.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I think that's just if you know, you have a
good organization and a good you know, from top to bottom,
when things are close, they want to stay. And that's
and you can't expect them to stay if things aren't close,
because again, it's too violent a game. Your career is
too short. Things can happen any given week that could
end at all, you know, and now you're looking for
your next career at twenty eight, So get as much
(31:22):
money as you possibly can, and then you just hope,
all right, that's what you got out there on the market,
here's what we're offering. It's close, and that's when you
hope they're like, yeah, I love it here. Let's let's
stick around. Yeah, and tax me thirteen percent from the state.
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Cool, they paid no mind of the taxes. Guys, Griffin Lee,
what are the charges need to do to get into
this Chiefs Ravens Bills category? Do you guys see that
happening this coming season? Time to start beating teams that
you that you're supposed to lose to. Okay, So I
think after that first Monday night game against the Ravens,
you and I talked on this pod to say, hey,
(31:57):
you know what, this is kind of where you're stre
to get to, and you hope your two of Coach
Harball is the year where you start to put yourself
in that conversation, because to me, after that first game,
it was clear to me that they were still rung
behind the Ravens and the Bills and the Chiefs, even
though you play the Chiefs so closely every single year.
(32:18):
But is this the year that they can put themselves
into that conversation where they're actually competing, where Justin Herbert
is in the divisional round of the playoffs playing against
Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
So look at those three teams, right, Bill's Ravens Chiefs.
What are they all have in common? Their quarterback and
their head coach have been together their entire careers. Josh Allen,
Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes have played for one head
coach their entire career. And I know Josh Allen has
kind of had a bit of a revolving door at
oh see.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
But mcdermot's been this this is rookie year exactly.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
So it's kind of That's what we're talking about, is
finally getting Justin Herbert some continuity, you know, with and
not you know, bringing in Greg and saying, hey, Greg,
you know, sorry, but Mike Williams is being released, and
we're trading Keenan and you need to put a tackle
at guard and we're signing Bradley Boseman as your center,
(33:12):
and we're crossing our fingers on JK and we got
a low money deal on Gus. Like people that are
taking shots at Rome and I'm like, like, do you
not remember what this thing looked like to get started?
How they're just trying to put tape on these leaks
and crossing their fingers And he made it sing, you know,
I know it was you know, predominantly a defensive driven,
(33:32):
you know team this season with seventeen and a half
points allowed per game, But at the same time you
started to see some rhythm. It got sideways on them
in that game against the Texans, but I think it exposed.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Just to maybe put a.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
More of a fine point on it, to answer the question,
I think what your limitations are, what your weaknesses are,
are exposed in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
There's a reason why that's a cliche. So you saw it.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
What you saw in Houston is what will be addressed
and moving forward, I think this last year's team will be,
on paper, you know, on paper, the least talented team
that we'll see for the next half decade. It's own
that this team is only going to be better on
paper moving forward because of kind of what they inherited
(34:18):
cap wise and draft wise.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah uh o x J Sizzle, Oh I love that guy.
Yeah right? And what world do we address both into
your offensive line and wide receiver needs this offseason? And
then the second part, confidence level. If Joey Bosa stays
one to ten, I mean, I think they're gonna address
both of them. They're gonna address both of them, and
I you know, this goes with another. We have so
many questions. Let me just put this one into LAFC Daniel.
(34:42):
Do you expect the Charges to splash on a premium
free agent. I think that they won't make a They
will attempt to make a couple splash.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
I think multiple Yes, I would just answer that with
multiple Yeah, I think you're talking not Look do you
think the number one guard on the market is a
splash note?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
But it is? So.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
I think they'll probably spend on a receiver, spend on
a guard. I could see them spending on I'm trying
to think who's out there. The edge is interesting, you know,
depending on what they what they do with with Khalil
and and Joey at thirty six million, how they deal
with that. You've got some edge talent out there as
(35:18):
well in free agency. So yes, I would. I would.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I envisioned that this team's gonna spend money.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Uh has sheiezh Jackson? What's the most realistic outcome this
free agency? Well, the Charges make a big splash signing
with DK. But if we've talked about Garrett, let's see
a lot of DK people want DK by the way.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, look I would too, And you're reuniting him with
his wide receiver coach. And you saw what a great
job Sanjay Lal did the wide receivers coach here, who
came down from Seattle, who was there when DK was drafted.
And there's a reason why DK slipped to the second
round because they were like, Okay, he does one thing.
You know you can take away the one thing you
do and make you do other things. And and coach
Law was able to coach him up and make him
(36:02):
a more complete receiver and a serious threat. So I
could totally see DK wanting to reunite with him, and
Sanja and coach lall wanting to have him down here.
I'd be excited about that too. I still, just because
DK's had some injury concerns, I would still if I
could rank him, Yeah, I'd like to have te one
(36:23):
and then I DK would be like right behind.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
That Cemac game day. What is your opinion of the
impact of Ben Herbert less injuries, more gas in the
tank in the fourth quarter. Will we see better results
once Ben has a full year to work with the team.
I thought as the season went on, you saw few
and fewer injuries. I thought that they had a pretty
much a full compliment of guys towards the back half
(36:46):
the year. Yeah, I thought Ben Herbert was awesome.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, echoed that. I don't need to add to that,
He's great. You never saw this team get run off
the field late. You didn't see them give up leads late.
You know, this was a team that closed games out,
that played better in the fourth quarter than they did
in the first. And so I think everything that he
preached and everything that we talked about, Look, guys are
going to get hurt. Every single team has guys that
(37:11):
get hurt.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
It's impossible not to. So do you remember when we
spoke with him and he talked about how, hey, listen,
the way I talked to Joey and Khalil gonna be
a little different than how I talked to a rookie
at the beginning. And I just think of the strides
of the rookie class made Ben Herbert played a big
role in that. When you talk about Alt and mccaukey
(37:32):
and the two corners, you know, like to have that
guy with you at the beginning of your NFL career,
I think speaks volumes.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, look, it's you know, I think in terms of
like Asante and you know, some of the longer term
injuries like those are those are injuries like, that's not
what we're talking about. It's like our guys missing games
with soft tissue, you know, with groins, with hammies, with
things like that, and are they out for an extended
period of time. And I just felt like we did
not have much of that at all. And that's an
(38:00):
that's a tribute to And look beyond what we're talking about,
what people are asking via social media and what we're
talking about on the pod, just ask the players. They
love them, man, Yeah, they freaking love them.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
So Antonio g In will the Chargers host a game
in Brazil? And there was another question about would you
rather go to Brazil or London. I don't know what's
on the horizon internationally, but it would be fun to
go to Brazil or London, or Germany or Spain or Australia.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Yeah, I think the way, you know, the way it
lines up, just in terms of the teams they've already announced. Look,
if I had to guess, yeah, get your passport, I
think we're going somewhere. And if I had to guess where,
I think it's Brazil. I just I think it lines up.
You know, the teams on the East Coast have you know,
(38:48):
a much easier talking about and I know you can
go over the pole, so it's not as drastic as
it's made out to be. But you know, you can't
minimize how much easier it is to get to London
from New York and the East and cboard than it
is from LA So you know, Brazil is pretty much
equal for almost everybody. You're talking about eleven twelve hours
from here and eleven twelve hours from anywhere else because
(39:10):
it's just a straight shot down. So where would I
like to go? Yes, you know, I like going to
those places. Now Brazil, you know, so Paolo has got
some pretty sweet waves. So it's got some friends who
work with fu Wax, the famous surf bri frand get
redicated in and so.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
We're doing a Matt Muddy Smith surfing segment of Brazil
if it happens.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
So yeah, so selfishly, I would love to get down
there and hopefully connect with your questions from a board. Yeah,
that will paddle out with me so I don't get
murdered because they are very violent about their waves and
who has rights to waves and who drops in on who.
So I would have to make sure I find the
right chaperones to paddle out with and they can tell
me when I can go and I can go have
(39:51):
some fun. So yeah, selfishly, that's what I'd like to do.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Jake from Australia wants the charges of go to Melbourne
to play the Rams of twenty twenty six. I'd like
to go to Australia.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I would.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
Again, what do they have in Australia? Ala, So yeah,
I would. I would absolutely love that.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Sign me up. I'm not the guy.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Look, I'm not the guy that's got to get out
there and play and adjust to the timing and and
figure out how to get my body right when I'm
you know, Brazil. And that's the other thing about Brazil
is in terms of the players, like yeah, time zone, whyse,
you're great, you know, and it's if it's October, I mean,
oh it's peak like spring to summer season down there.
It's absolutely beautiful. So yeah, let's go, all.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Right, last one, uh, because we got to go. We
appreciate all the questions, try to get as many as possible.
A theor if Herbert becomes the seventh quarterback in NFL
history to win MVP and Super Bowl MVP same season.
Are you nervous as a GM? And what does the extension.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Look like for Herbert?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
For Herbert, he's locked in a theory.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I don't know. I don't care. Whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
A billion dollars the MVP of the league and Super
Bowl MVP, what do you want? I mean, that's the
nice thing about Justin's contract that I think people and
it's look what Patrick Mahomes is done. You know when
he signed that whatever six hundred million dollar deal is,
it became the bank of Mahomes. Anytime they had to
withdraw money to sign a player, they were able to,
(41:16):
you know, restructure. Here's some more signing bonus. Patrick, here's
a couple more years on the back end, and now
we can lower your number and pull that money out
and pay fill in the blank or acquire this player.
And that's the one nice thing about having a player
that's operating at that level where you give them that
massive of a contract that you can play with, you know,
and you can sort of take from here and push
(41:38):
this over there. And now we've got an extra twenty
million bucks. So I mean, he just signed it. He
just started that deal. So it's yeah, we're good. We're
good for a little bit. It's not it's going to
take a year. Maybe it's going to take at least
two more years before they can really kind of get
their hands into that thing.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
There was one question about putting a bug in coach
hardballs eer to get Mason Graham or a bigmillan from servit.
I think there are both gonna go in the top ten,
top five.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, yeah, I mean T Max guys. Guys, Yeah, T
mact is like a He's like a T Higgins, you know.
I mean that's that's sort of the same idea. Mason
Gramm will go top seven. Yeah, a couple of surve
byck guys.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Huh uh, all right, this is the last one outside
of charges free agency. Who are three realistic players that
you guys would like to see on the team? And
why we think we mentioned T Higgins that'd be one.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Uh wow, let's see, So who who would I like
to see? And why read the corner that'd be nice?
Wouldn't mind that the Jets corner? We already talked about
T Higgins. Uh here, let me just pull up so
I can just look at teams and uh, that's all
I want to do all.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Right, So Bill's Dolphin's future. It's just just Cowboys Giants.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Oh you have the guard from Indianapolis or I already
said Tracey Smith, So yeah, Trey Smith guard T Higgins, Uh,
T Higgins wide receiver corner.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
There you go. How's that done?
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I think that you know what off season and depending.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
On how things go with Khalil and Joey, maybe a
sound Reddick you know as an edge that that's another
one that's gonna be available. Who else is a free
agent this I'm looking at this. No, no, no, but yeah,
that that works.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right, good way to end it. Uh, what's your score Sunday?
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Uh, it's gonna be chiefs By, Like what's the spread?
One and a half, So it'll be cheapd By like
to point though they'll be like two. They'll win by two.
They'll be down one in the final minute, and you
know there's gonna be a p I or an off
sides free play, you know, lined up in the neutral zone,
my homes fines, you know, Hollywood Brown downfield to set
(43:47):
up Bucker for the game win.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
We knows Bucker is gonna end it with the game
winning field.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
You know, whatever just give me my give me my wings,
my Frank's Red Hot chicken dip with my with my chips.
You know that little rest appear on the back of
the Frank's Red Hot that I make every year for
the Super Bowl. There's like seven thousand calories and worth
every freaking one of them. So that's all I care about.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
And the best thing for Chargers fans is after the game,
everybody zero and zero again exactly, we start over back
at the next one, combine in a couple of weeks.
We did it right last week last year, and it's
gonna be fun this year.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. Looking forward
to it. Hopefully just kind of repeat exactly what we
did last year with all our friends down there.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
So looking forward to that for sure.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Cool. All right, for money, I'm Chris. This has been
Chargers Weekly. We'll see you next week.
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