June 20, 2025 • 58 mins
On this episode of Chargers Weekly, Bolts radio play-by-play announcer Matt “Money” Smith & host Chris Hayre recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. The hosts sit down with Head Coach Jim Harbaugh to discuss how breakout rookie performances from wide receiver Ladd McConkey and offensive tackle Joe Alt have set the standard for new rookies Omarion Hampton and Tre’ Harris to follow heading into 2025 Training Camp.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up suck.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, guys, We are back with a brand new
episode of Chargers Weekly. Chris Hayrey here with you as always,
joined by the voice of the Chargers, Matt Muddy Smith
and Money. We've had a lot of fun this offseason.
But why don't you set up what we just did
earlier this week?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, I had a chance to sit with Coach, and
Coach is the best man. He said, Look, I wish
you could spend more time with you, but it's a
hard fifteen I got some stuff to do, and then
you look up and it's almost forty minutes later. Because
he he loves football, man, and if you're just talking football,
he's gonna talk football, and he's gonna like talking football
and keep talking football. So it was a great conversation.
(00:50):
We did it on Monday, I believe was his window
that he had opened. So obviously some things if they
came up between Monday and today when this thing is posting, understand,
and you know that's kind of when we did at
the ted Lasso thing sort of caught fire, you know,
after and we were going to get into it with them,
but that was you know, planned for the end of
the interview, and at that point he's like, I really
(01:10):
got to go, but yes, please stick around. Some stuff
to go through here with with Monday being that last
day of rookie mini camp that the media had availability
to in the pressers, so dig into a little bit
of that here and then we'll we'll get to our
interview and our it's not an interview, it's just conversation.
You know, he's doing He's doing most of the talking.
We're just kind of lobbing things back and forth and
(01:30):
really enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
He's just infectious.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Man.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's it's mid June, and you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We're talking about everything from the offensive line. I think
there was a seven or eight minute answer to one
of your questions about the offensive line, to Darwin James,
to Ben Herbert, to these rookies and just the work
that they're putting.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
In right now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And you know, this was the last week of OTA's
where it was just rookies. The vets have left the bolt.
So we got to talk to coach right before he
got on the grass with the guys on Monday, and
later that day after we did the conversation with coach
Trey Harris, and Ronda Gaston went to the podium, and
those are just two of the examples of the work
(02:13):
and some of the stuff that they're doing to get
to that NFL level.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I thought both guys gave.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Really good answers at the podium about Justin Herbert and
then Gaston in particular, just about the work ethic and
everything it requires to be an NFL player, and kind
of the advice he got from coach Herb to get
there early and go through the plays by himself at
five in the morning.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
These are two guys.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I don't know how quickly their impact is going to
be felt during the regular season, but I cannot wait
for training camp in the preseason games to kind of
see what these guys have.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, I think in the case Gaston, what you're alluding to.
If the folks haven't seen it yet, be sure to
check it out. If you're watching us on YouTube, it's
just going to be, you know, the next I don't know,
two or three videos down, Gadsden. You know, much like me,
I was doing FM morning shows. I started in nineteen
ninety four working on Kevin and Bean, and I stopped
(03:09):
in two thousand and three, No, two thousand and five
I stopped. So twelve years of waking up at three
thirty in the morning, and here I am twenty years later,
in twenty twenty five, and I still can't sleep in.
I just I can't. My body will not allow me
to sleep late. I don't set an alarm. My body
(03:31):
wakes me up. I promise this is going somewhere. My
body wakes me up typically now at about four, between
four and four thirty. And before I would just get up,
I'd make some coffee, I'd read the paper. Yes, there
was this thing called the newspaper people. And then I
kind of got to this point where I was like, man,
I got to shake some ass, like this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I can't sleep in. I've tried.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I got to get to work by eight thirty nine
is when I would get into it when I was
in the record business, but before I got into radio,
and then I got into sports, and I'm doing an
afternoon show, So why the heck am I waking up early?
And then I'm doing the Lakers and I'm doing Laker
Line until eleven thirty midnight. Pois being I found at
First Golf and I was first one out dawn patrol
(04:16):
and I would jog the course so I could get
my run in, and I'd play golf because I had
to do something I wanted to feel productive. And then
now I get up and I'm first one in the
water like I was today, and I surf from five. Today,
I serf from you know, I'm in the water at
five and I'm out of the water at like seven thirty.
So Gadsden shares with us. He's like, I just can't
get off East Coast time and I'm up at five
(04:40):
and I'm just kind of looking for something to do.
And you know, Coach Herb another Herb story, says we'll
just come in walk the facility, go walk, do mental
reps of your plays on the field. And he's like, yeah,
I'll be the only one here. He's like, okay, it's
all yours, dude, whole place is yours. And I think
that speaks to an in credible because it took me
(05:01):
a minute to get there, right. I had to mature
enough to realize, oh, don't just sit around like you
can be productive. You can actually get some stuff done
and get your day started instead of just bemoaning the
fact that you can't sleep. And I think it speaks
to the maturity level of a Rendez gast In junior
that he, you know, is like, ye okay, I'm up
(05:22):
and instead of just trying to go back to sleep,
I'm gonna get some stuff done. And we learned that
he's been the first guy in the building between five
and five thirty, rides his bike in because didn't have
a car yet, and he's getting a ton of stuff done.
And I know that's a long story and I'm talking
a lot here, Chris, but it gets me to the
point of it's why he looked the way he did.
It's why he really shined in that Veteran Mini Camp
(05:44):
and we saw Herbert going I think he had eight targets,
seven catches in that last Veteran Mini Camp day on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
The confidence that both Trey Harris and Gadsden possess, you
can feel it in this press ERUs Gatson said, I
guess they asked him, is anybody else in the building?
He was, yeah, the security guards there ya to the
security guard in the morning. Sometimes there's people in the
training room. But that that is what coach alluded to,
(06:13):
and he's not just saying it like these guys are
putting in the work for Gatston to come in here
into that tight ends room too, where there are veterans,
and he talked about the vets, Will Disley and Conklin
and even Tucker Fisk being able to help Aronde kind
of find the way as a rookie.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
It's a great room to be in.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And I still think money, I still think that that
Conklin and Disley are going to be the guys that
kind of lead the way, especially at the beginning of
the year. But Gatson just looks the part. He was
the third team All American at Syracuse, was originally a
wide receiver. He just looks like a tight end. He
said he didn't play basketball, but he could certainly rebound.
And then one of the things that Trey Harris said
(06:57):
talking about Justin Herbert and just kind of getting you
to a quarterback like him who's got the velocity and
it is gonna put it on the money. He goes,
if you put it on the money, I'm gonna catch
the football. So I just I feel the confidence from
this rookie class, whether it's some of the defensive guys
or some of the pass catchers, they're.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Not intimidated by the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
In fact, I think they're embracing the fact that they
have a quarterback like Justin Herbert.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, to echo what coach Harbaugh said about Gadston, I
felt the same thing just watching his film and watching
you know, what he was doing at Syracuse, the way
he moves, the way he was used. You know, he'd
be playing I'm not gonna see he be playing AX,
but they'd split him out pretty wide, you know, at
times at Syracuse, and he was clearly a pass catching
(07:45):
tight end. So I just assumed that that as a
former wide receiver, you know, he's recruited to play wide
receiver at Syracuse, converted a tight end that he was
going to look like that, you know, like one of
those tight ends. And then you see him and you're like, well,
this dude's got he's just pretty thick man. He's got
a trunk on him now. And I think that also
speaks to when, you know, he talked about having four
(08:08):
different offensive coordinators and multiple head coaches during his time
at Syracuse and how the transition went, and again just
speaking to his maturity mentally, but also time on task, like, hey,
we think you'd be a better tight end and him saying, Okay,
well I want to play tight end in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well, you're one hundred and ninety pounds. Here's what you've
got to do.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So to know that that guy went from one hundred
ninety pounds his freshman year to two hundred and fifty
his senior year and still moves with that level of
fluidity speaks to, like I said, maturity, mental acuity, but
willingness to put in the physical that he's putting sixty
pounds on.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That is some work, man, That is some serious work.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I know you're taking a bunch of weight ging and
you've masked up over there, Chris, So I'm not sure
if you and og are having conversations about all that weight.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'd be on the pup list in twenty four hours. Bro,
I go out there, I'm on the pup list immediately.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But he's he's a lot bigger, and I think that.
And he talked about how important it is for him
to get the block and right, and how he's talking
to Tucker Fisk about footwork and headwork, you know, and
where his head needs to be and where his hands
need to be, and how important that is to him.
I thought it was a great answer. Instead of getting
defensive about you know, him his blocking and what he
needs to do, he said, what's the goal of every
(09:26):
football player be able to play every play. It's like,
so he goes, I want to be I want to
be in every play. So if I want to be
in every play, that I got to figure out a block.
And so I'm going to figure it out because I
intend to play every play. And so I thought that
was cool. And then talking about how as he was
doing his mental reps or you know, getting his mental
reps while walking through the place on the field, how
(09:46):
he went through both each tight tight end position when
it was two tight end sets. He's like, yeah, so
I would walk the first time, you know, each of those,
and then I would get onto the next play. It
just seems I was incredibly impressed. But that's you know,
his dad was a pro, and his dad was an
undrafted free agent, had to fight his way onto a
roster and ended up having a decade long career. We
(10:07):
was very successful. So I think that certainly paid a
ton of dividends for a Ronde.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, you know, and Ronde said, I need to arrive early.
My dad says always arrived early and that just shows
that want to and you know, as far as the
blocking is concerned, and he even said it, you're not
going to really know where you stand as a blocker
until the pads come on in training camp. So it's
really just kind of that ramp up to training camp
(10:33):
and it you know, I don't want to give any
anything away with our conversation with coach, but it just
I think it lends to the competition that's going to
be in each room and like they got deeper as
a football team. If you're a Chargers fan in twenty
twenty five, man, you should be excited. You're coming off
an eleven win season. I know that it's a very
difficult division with Hall of Fame coaches and the Chiefs
(10:55):
who have run it for the last decade plus, but
this is a team that just feels different this year
in terms of the depth, how they want to play football.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Just seeing the clips.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Of Amarion Hampton and Ajie Harris run the football in
mini camp, it can't it can't do anything but get
you to juiced for the season. You know, the team
teased two uniforms that are coming. I mean, there's there's
just a lot of excitement here in the middle of
June with an early training camp because of the Hall
of Fame game, having that extra preseason game Brazil Week one.
(11:29):
For For as much as we like to say, Okay,
we got a little bit of a summer break, it's
gonna be here in a blink.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, that is. I think July. What you say,
July fifteenth, I think is the uniform reveal sixteenth came
home exactly right. When you get into camp, we'll see
those new uniforms. Very you know how much I love uniforms,
so very excited about that. I can only hope that
the pressure I have put on John Spanos will pay off,
but I have a feeling it won't. So just me
(11:57):
and the fans, we just do not see. We do
not a line and what we want from our uniforms.
But that's a conversation for another day, because we got
coach on and just to kind of build and not
ignore Trey Harris. I think you covered most of it.
But it's funny, right, everybody is wired differently and operates
on a different clock, and Trey was the opposite, Right,
Trey's like, Man, I get here and I go through
(12:20):
everything and then I'm standing around like that's it, that's
all we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like, hey, lank Lane Kiffin was putting those fellows through
like twelve hour days.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
It seems right.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, he was like, so I just look for stuff
to do. He's like, I don't want to go home yet,
so I'm just kinda Can I get some more? Can
I get with Herb? Can I get into a playbook?
Can I watch some film? Can I go outside and
move around? Can I pick the brain to some of
these vet Like it's good to see. It's exactly what
coach talked about with the rookies, and you know how
impressed he's been with what they're doing. And and look,
(12:53):
it all goes back to to really three guys like
if you talk about tone setters right on this team,
it's Derwin's Aimes, Justin Herbert and Khalil Mack. And when
you see them putting in the work and you see
them doing extra and you see them getting with Coach
Herb and going through and you hear Khalil Mack say
how important Ben Herbert's been for him and why he's
(13:14):
here every day, Like that's just if you're a rookie,
you'd be like coach says, right, what would coach always say, Hey,
you see Derwin, just do what he does. That's that's
the best advice you see, Khalil Mack. Just do what
he does, follow him, do it everything he does, and
you're gonna be You're gonna be a better player for it.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It was impressive and and I think look, just to
kind of wrap up my last thoughts on the on
the rookie day on Monday that we got to see, like, uh,
well two things. One, you know, I think that well,
actually just one. There's a clip if you if you
want to check it out if you haven't watched it yet,
not you, Chris, I know, yeah, but but the people
(13:53):
that are listening or watching check out the Jim Harbaugh
micd up and there's some really cool stuff in there.
But my favorite, and it's something we noticed last year
his first year as the head coach, was I wish
I could remember the young man's name. I can't right now,
but he was clearly a camp quarterback and we're standing
on the sideline and we're watching him work with this
clearly fourth stringer might be lucky to make the practice squad,
(14:16):
but's probably going to have to latch on somewhere else.
The coach spent like ten minutes with him working on
footwork and working on his his you know, what he
needed to improve under center and what his dropbacks should
look like and how he should be handing off. And
there's that clip in there where he's talking to Trey
Lance and to DJ. You know, he's talking to DJ
about the scramble drill and how yeah, you're not stay
(14:38):
in the A gap and keep your eyes up and
he goes, this is what and you know you see
that individual work and that's just a little sliver and
it just speaks to to coach being a do as
I do, not do as I say kind of guy.
You know, he talks about feeling, you know, connected to
every one of these guys, no matter if it's all
pro Derwin James or dj U Angolula who's our fourth
(15:00):
string quarterback. You know, he's connected to him and he
wants to teach them and wants to make them better
and it's just so fun to see.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, I would suggest popping that on before the interview too,
just to coach has this unique way of you said,
the instruction to guys like Trey Lance and DJ and
even Heineke just say, hey, we throw the ball away there,
just the quarterback one on one instruction, I think is great.
But then it's also just the fun talking lad about
(15:28):
baseball and Helen Durwin. He's a big peb and j guy.
And Derwen's like, what do you like Strawberry great? He's like,
surprise me, surprise me all of it.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I'll take it all.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I'll eat Apricott, don't care, let's go. I'm on the
same boat, coach. I just I just had a PB
and Jay yesterday and it was Phoebe and Apricot Jelly.
So I'm in. I'm with him. You know me, Chris,
you travel with me. You know that what what Suella
and Peanut and June would put on my freaking seat.
I got a stack of un crustables because I eat
(15:58):
like a child.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah, I packed.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Down the uncrustibles too. But I think you may be
our leader. Maybe you're the leader in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think so. I think. So do you want the
do you want the steak and the caesar salad for dinner? Man? No,
let me think.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Give me the jumpers.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Just bring me three uncrustables.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Give me the jumbo strawberry uncrustable and a fortune knife.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
I'm goodki me.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Hey, I'm on.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I'm on the wheat, peanut, butter and honey on crustables too. Man,
I knock them all out. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible.
I don't I don't function like a professional football player either.
I might be able to get a little bit of
work in the morning, but man, I gotta be careful
because I way too much Pep and Jane in my life.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Dude, I have I got a bunch of crustbles in
the house. They're supposed to be for our twin girls.
And then you know when my wife's think, why are
they going? Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Sorry, girls,
daddy was I'm with.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You, and it's it's it's yeah. I don't want to
get too deep into it.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I just I hate that you got to put him
in the freezer and then I got to throw them
on the counter for like, I'm just staring at it,
like I know it's gonna be a little frozen.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
For man, I want to eat it right now after.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
That, you know, it's Hey, do you think do you
think fans want to hear Jim Harball or more impressible talk.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Sorry, guys, let's get to it. Let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Here's coach all right, as promised, the head coach of
the LA Chargers, Jim Harball joins us and coach pleasure
having you. What a great opportunity to close out the
week with the rookies here as we get to the offseason.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Officially, it is it's it's really exciting. We had a
great eight weeks with the Vets, but to get the rookies,
you know, just you know, give it one more code
of paint with just them, giving them all the attention,
chance to be better today than we were yesterday, better
tomorrow than we were today.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
You talked about the rookies and one of your pressers
and how impressed you were with this class. What is
it that impresses you? What do you expect from them
when they show up, and what do you expect from
them over the course of those eight weeks.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yeah, just you know, get get as good at football
as they can, you know, really acclimate into the system,
learning the terminology and mostly just athletically, you know, just
showing us where we can implement them. Into the to
the team. I did talk about him as a group,
(18:16):
you know, as a whole, you know, drafted, undrafted, they're
just about their business, uh, you know, not given one
bit of grief, uh, you know, on the field or
off the field, and they're just they're looking to do
and that that's really encouraging. I've and I've made the
statement and and you know, if that offends any other
(18:40):
rookie class that we've ever had, you know, so be it.
But you know, so far, so far, really good.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
In that rookie class last year set a high bar
with Joel macaukey.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, let's start there, because I mean there is no
comparison being made to the Ladd and Joe. I don't.
I don't think any. I mean, that's that's a that's
a high bar that I wouldn't expect anybody to to
be able to accomplish what they did in their rookie season.
I mean that that uh, that was otherworldly what what
(19:14):
Ladd and and Joe were able to do. And Joe,
as good as he was last year, I call him
right now one of our most ascending players on the team.
He is, he's that that much better, that much improved.
Uh you know really the I think he's he's on
track for a Hall of Fame type of career and
(19:34):
uh it uh and I am not I don't not
feel like I'm going out on a ledge by saying that.
And with that being said, uh you know that, Uh,
I still like that bar being set by those two.
And uh, you know the rookies that we have, Uh yeah,
they got the license, they got the ability to to
(19:55):
strive for that. Don't know if they'll accomplish what with
those two did, but hey have at it and uh
you know that's that's been the message and and been
really uh excited how the guys are coming along.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
You know, it wasn't just it wasn't just Led and
uh and Joe though like with Eve and Cam, we're
able to accomplish correct and guys that didn't contribute last
year because of whether it's injury or just kind of
being developmental with a boy B and Junior Colston, expecting
those guys to take a step in their second year, uh,
being that we didn't really see them on the grass
last year.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah, you with with with with Junior Colston, he had
some setbacks early appendix ankle. Uh, but he did get
on track you know about uh about middle of the
season and contributed a lot you know, played over three
four hundred plays you know, on the season, and uh,
(20:49):
you know, expect him right now. He's in he's in
the kind of kind of shape where you want him.
I mean, it's all his key performance indicators or or five,
you know, which is as high as you can get.
And it looks pretty much across the board.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
And then Justin has had an incredible off season. He
really has. He put on twenty pounds you know of
good lean muscle mass. You know, he's been he's been
doing everything and doing all the extra and I expect
really good things from him.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
When you talk about that and in off season, kind
of if you don't mind sharing, like what do you
Is it a guide that you give them for the
off season, This is what we'd like to see from you,
and then they're on their own?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Is it? Are they expected to figure some things out?
How does that all work?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Because you talk about the Elite nine and guys that
showed up and how excited you were, but kind of
walk us through what you expect from somebody's off season.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Yeah, real, real simple here, you know, it's Ben Herbert.
It's the Herb effect. You know, I trust him. I
trust and believe what he tells me because it's always clear,
it's always concise. It uh. It just always helps our
team and it helps me personally. And that's the way
(22:03):
it is for every single guy. So what do we expect.
If Ben Herbert is telling you to do more, then
you need to do more. If he tells you to
do less, do less. If he tells you you're in
a good place, keep doing what you're doing. It's really
that simple. He has it is the coaching, the expertise
(22:25):
is so refined that and the proof now is there
for all of us to see what he's been able
to accomplish with individual players. And the second part of
that piece is those veterans. Is that those elite nines
and how they train, how they go about their business,
how they practice, how they go to meetings, how they
(22:47):
play in games. You know, it's no accident that Khalil Mack,
for example, is thirty four years old. Okay, he plays
like he's twenty one. He is playing thirty four like
he was twenty one years old. And he's been able
to do that every single year. That he's been in
the league. Now, nobody is that genetically blessed. Nobody has
(23:10):
the genealogy to be as good at thirty four as
they were at twenty one. That is all about training.
That's all about how you train, how you prepare, how
you practice, your mental and physical capabilities always being refined
at their highest level. So when I say the Ben
(23:33):
Herbert effect, you also have these veteran effects. How Justin
Herbert goes about his business, how Khalil Mack, how Derwin
James goes about his rashon lad Joe Alt, there is
a day on Henley. It's those guys that set the
incredible example. Who are the tone setters. And now here's
(23:54):
a rookie class coming in that's never had it as
good as a could have it. I mean, no one
has it better than them. To have Ben Herbert and
his staff and to have uh, these veteran players. Also
the coaching Mike Elston. Uh, I mean, it's just well
(24:15):
documented what what he's able to do, Greg Roman, Jesse Minter.
Another guy is Steve Klinscale. Uh. The way he is
able to coach the secondary, the way he is able
to coach defense. Uh, you know, I see it every
single day. I mean, that's the that's the triple threat
right there. When you got when you have veteran players
(24:37):
as an example, a training staff like Ben Herbert and
his his staff, and the position coaches all uh, all
all all ours, all stars. Uh. I mean, no one could,
no one could have it better than than our rookie players.
And they're taking full advantage of it. That's that's the
thing I love is that they're not shying away from
(25:00):
the resources that they have at their disposal when it
comes to getting better at football.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
The one name that we have heard all off season
from a coach, a veteran or a young guy, is
Ben Herbert. I go back to when you hired him
in January of twenty eighteen. Could you have even envisioned
the indeuble mark that he's made at Michigan and now
with the Chargers, with you guys teaming up.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yeah, I did envision it. I knew it.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I hired him. I knew it.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Yeah, I knew it. Like my name, and like I said,
I when he tells me something, I believe it because
it makes me personally better or it makes makes our
team better, and all the time. It's just makes us better.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It's funny to hit on so many of the things,
and that one answer that I have here, So I
just I still would love for you to expand a
little bit because you mentioned coaching, and that's one thing
that I noticed when players hit the lecter and they
oftentimes will mention their coach and like Tony Jefferson, you know,
unsolicited said jesse Miners a genius. And he's like, I've
known him longer than you guys have. I had him
in ball, so almost like he wanted to claim, Hey,
(26:05):
don't you claim jesse min Er, he's my guy. Just
when you're assembling your staff, what you're looking for and
why you think they've had this this level of success
because I have not heard players kind of celebrate coaches
like this group of players does their positional coaches here?
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Yeah, I mean the the top things is what I
what I look for. I mean, uh, you know, first
guys that are have expertise in in coaching aspect of football,
uh position or you know, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, uh,
(26:39):
special teams coordinator. They've got to be expert at at
that phase. They've got to be tremendous teachers. Uh. And
that's that's synonymous with uh with coaching is teaching. They
got to be able to motivate. They got to be
able to motivate players. I mean those are the uh,
those are the big ones. I mean there's there's others,
(27:03):
but uh, you know that's that's that's a you know,
that's a people person. It's it's somebody that that that
likes the game of football, loves the game of football,
and wants to see others have success. Really, they're just
two things. I mean, they're they're coming into, uh coming
in and they're humble and hungry to make us better.
(27:23):
But I know that that that list grew right there.
But you know, if I had just sum it up,
it would be, you know, that's somebody that you know
wants to make the players better at football, you know,
want to make the best version of themselves off the
field and off the on the field, and wants to
win for that. Right there, those two things.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, sorry, Chris, I said this last week or maybe
two weeks ago on the pod, and I hope it
it makes sense and I can explain it. I said,
you know, I've been doing this football since twenty ten
and all the coaches I've had the privilege to kind
of be around and learn from and interview. I don't
feel like I've ever talk to somebody or watch someone
approach it the way you do, just the positivity I
(28:05):
feel like, And tell me if this is accurate or not.
I feel like when I hear you and I see you,
you know, talk with us in the media, like you
bear responsibility.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
That's what I feel like.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You're like, I'm responsible for these players to be their
best version, whereas other coaches not to. It's like, hey, yeah,
we're trying to get these guys to fit into what
I'm doing, you know, and we want them to kind
of get with the program. And does that make sense?
I just I feel like that's that Does that make sense?
Is that your approach? Like, Hey, I've got these guys
that are the most elite athletes in the world, and
the burden is on me to maximize what they're here
(28:39):
to give of themselves.
Speaker 5 (28:41):
You just said it, I mean exactly the way I
think of it. I mean, when it comes to me
as a coach or the other coaches, Yeah, we have
to be the ones working the hardest so the players
hard work can be eximized. And it's everything that I
(29:03):
I you know, thought as a player. Uh you know that.
Uh yeah, I mean a coach you know, Uh, somebody
that can give me the answers, you know, to the test.
Somebody's going to put me in a position to be successful.
You know. That's those are the kind of coaches that
you know, I looked up to and wanted to be like.
(29:27):
So that's that's what I aspire to do. Uh, do
anything and everything for for the players to be successful,
you know, individual player, the team. Uh what can I do?
I want to do anything and everything I can so
they can be successful. Uh. And then I knew the
way I was when when I was a player and
(29:47):
I had a coach doing anything and everything, you know,
and its power for me to be successful. It made
me want to do anything and everything I could for
the team to be successful and to win coach.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
One of the players that really is an extension of
that message is Derwin James, and Derwin talked about the
patches and says he wants to get it down to
his rib. Yeah, you know him and Khalil kind of
competing for those patches. You mentioned Khalil. When you have
players like that, and you know, you just get to
know him for a year. Uh, but I have to
imagine it. It seems like you've known Derwin and Khalil
much longer than a year, with the impact that they've
(30:22):
made on this program.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yeah, and I've said it, Uh you know a lot
of times that uh you know, the they're the ones
who set the culture. I mean I came in and
just loved what they were doing. And uh so yeah,
I want, I want, I want that. I want I
want more of that. Uh you know, how can I
be a part of that? What can I do to
what can I do to help? Because uh, you know
(30:45):
that's uh it was just instant click like that. Uh.
And Derwin James. You know, it's almost to me it's
like looking in the mirror. I mean, uh, I see
a young Jimmy Harball. You know, every time I watch
Derwin James, I mean, we're just like two p's in
a pod. As my grandma Marie Harbaugh used to say, Uh,
(31:10):
if you're Derwin James, h if you like football, you're
gonna like Derwin James, and Derwin James is gonna like
you back, and then we're gonna roll.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
The patches, if if we could kind of get into it,
because Derwin when he when he got he kind of
went through it. He's like, here's that block and this
is playoff and this is all pro. And then he said,
this is block of granite. What's the if I could like,
what's the block of granite?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Patch? How do you earn the block of granite?
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Uh? You you earned the block. Most of the one hundred,
one hundred of the points are earned from production on
the field in games. So uh, that's one hundred points
goes to how many uh, how many production grade game
(31:58):
ball we have? We have Hero Awards, we have blue
Collar awards, but it's your production in games is and
then amount of games played and and an amount of
plays forout the throughout the course of the season. So
who impacted us in games the most is one points
(32:22):
out of one hundred, and then there's seven and a
half points that can be earned. Uh, and their their
grit their grit points and that's that's two and a
half for how you how you trained two and a
half points for what we call ted and that's there
every day, you know, So the amount of times that
you were on the grass, the amount of times that
(32:46):
you practice, and the and the and the training score
that I mentioned another two and a half points, and
then two and a half points. Uh if you were
playing through something, uh you know, physically fill in the blame. Uh,
something that that you had to uh you know you
had to got out. You know you got a high
(33:06):
ankle spraining your your Zion Johnson, and you know you
didn't even miss a walk through. Uh you know you
got Zion had his teeth extract molar, he had root
canal done and uh, two and two hours before a
training camp practice. But yet he uh he still practiced.
And then in the conditioning afterwards he was running with
(33:28):
the uh the big skill, which is a faster time
than the old line D line. He does it all
the time his conditionings with the tight ends and the
quarterbacks and the running backs and the linebackers. So uh yeah,
he was getting he was getting some extra credit points.
But uh so it's a total of one hundred and
seven and a half points. Uh. And it's completely objective,
(33:50):
not subjective. Come to the end of the season and
you know, here's our here's our top six.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Uh, you should have a gala at the end of
the year.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Yeah, it's not really blue collar, but like what about
you know, you present it in front of an audience
and in front of it, you know what I mean,
maybe we get like a live music or something at
the end of it, and it's just like a big production.
I mean, it's an award, it's an award presentation.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
Yeah, I think it's our. You know, it's our. It's our,
it's our m v P. You know, our block of
granted is is our m VP. Justin Herbert was was
number one. You know, I think Derwin Derwin would have
been Derwin would have been one or two. I think
he might have finished, you'd have finished one or two
had he played in the uh, the the Broncos game
(34:38):
or the Chiefs game. Right, the Chiefs game is the
one that the NFL took, took a game away from him,
So he wasn't able to get those production points. He
wasn't able to get those those.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Play points objective and grip points.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
And as much as I you know, well, you know,
it wasn't his fault that he got suspended for that game,
because it really wasn't thought that was a uh you know,
a clean hit, and but it was it's objective so uh,
you know, kind of just laid him down, but he
still made the still made the top six. This just
shows you what a what an incredible player he is.
(35:15):
But yeah, it's not a it's not a training you know,
there's there's two and a half points for for training
score that is all like what you do in in games.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
So that's the big one.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
That's the big one. That's a big one in my opinion.
It takes, uh, it takes all into account, you know,
who is doing anything and everything they can for the team,
for the organization.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Coach, you mentioned so many ascending players last week, and
you know, as we take that break and get into
training camp, it sounds like there's gonna be a lot
of competition in camp for spots and there's gonna be
some really good players that may not make that fifty three.
What are you most looking forward to from a competition
aspect at various position groups come training camp.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
It's a great question. Uh, you know, the I mean
a long list, you know, like and it's never just
one thing. But if I had to boil it down
to one thing, I just feel like we are better
at you know, name a position group and uh, you know,
(36:18):
we're we're I think we're better, you know, you know,
depth wise, competition wise. Uh, you know, those those waters
will be heated, you know, and in some cases they're
gonna be They're gonna be hot. But uh, yeah, I
could go through my defensive line. I think we're uh,
I think we're better. I think we got we're bigger.
(36:40):
I know that offensive line is as you know, as
a as a as a group. You know, it's just
more talented, you know, better better depth wide receivers another
one as good as running back was. I think we're
I think we're better there. Uh, you know going into camp,
the uh, the secondary, Uh, you know, been really excited
(37:03):
about Dante Jackson, what he's what he's shown in the
off season. Ben say juice, you know a lot of
the things that you can position where we can really
see things before the pads come on, as opposed to
you know, edge rusher or even running back. You know,
sometimes you gotta it's tougher. Uh, you gotta see it
(37:24):
when the when the pads are on. Same with with
with the backer position in the offensive line position and
the defensive line position. Uh. But uh, just Heir Taylor
is also another guy you know, ascending. You can just
see it, and then you kind of go back and
think about just here last year, Uh played that really
good game against the Raiders. Then he broke a bone
(37:45):
in his leg in that game and and kept playing
kind of forgot about that, you know. Uh, and then Uh,
he's had a tremendous offseason. Excited where he's coming. The
new addition uh uh you know Tier Tart uh Tito, Uh,
(38:05):
you know, really good players for us last year. They're
they're continuing to ascend, and and Nakwan Jones and Deshaun
Hand have been great additions also. Uh. Uh excited, really
excited about uh about that group. You know, we need
to be better, you know in stopping the run and
having that that run wall. So uh, I think we're
(38:27):
better at tight end COO. Just we're in a better place.
I think we're in a good place, really good place.
And uh, you know, I think we're a better team
because of the training that we've had. The additions, uh,
you know, so thankful to to Joe Hortiz and uh
and the entire personnel staff, I mean where they went
(38:48):
and found these guys, you know, and brought them to
us to coach and be a part of our team.
Plus the the draft, we're better, We're gonna need to be. Uh,
schedule is gonna be tougher, and uh, you know, all
focuses is really on that that opener against the Chiefs
and San Paolo. So uh, you know, a lot of
(39:09):
a lot of good, a lot of good, a lot
more good. There's just a lot of good. Uh not.
You know, I can never say it's perfect. Uh, but
that's that's the the simple message behind let's get better
today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we
were today. Ah, so simple that it just might work just.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
On the old line.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I mean you you've done it to this fan base, man,
I have we you know, we do the that we
post the video on YouTube and there's comments and I
have never seen a fan base talk more about the
offensive line than the Chargers fan base.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
I mean it is God, bless our God, bless our fair.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Conversation number one.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
So you know, and obviously that we get a ton
of questions about the big one is Zion and Bradley
and kind of what you're doing there and and what
the vision is.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
And sort of how you right now?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I mean that that's all they talk about what's the
old line going to look like? Who are the starter
is going to be? Is I'm going to be the said?
I mean it is not. It's everything good with for Shawn?
Are we okay?
Speaker 1 (40:07):
There? It's NonStop in the comments. Well, so, how how is.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
That worm that warms the cockles of that? I hear that?
You know, there's uh, my favorite part of the uh,
my favorite part of the game of football these days
is is this is the offensive line? Uh? You know, yeah,
I'll give you a little trivia question. What position group
relies on no other position group for themselves to be good?
(40:33):
Yet every other position group relies on this position group
to be successful at their job.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I feel like we know where there's right.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Sometimes you get the argument from the the D line.
We don't need those guys. You know, do you like
a twelve play drive? You like a fifteen play drive?
Good point, coach, Yeah, we do like a twelve play drive. Yeah,
that's uh, that's where that's where my attention is to, uh,
you know most of the time as well. And uh
(41:06):
they are the ones protecting Justin Herbert, who is our
you know he uh he just contributes to most of
this this organization. He does anything and everything in his power,
you know, for us to to win and be successful,
you know, our jobs are all to on the offensive
side of the ball really rise up to his level,
you know, rise up to the level of justice justin Herbert, uh,
(41:29):
you know, and not to be because he has no
weakness in his game. He has no auh. So we
don't want to be the weak link. You know, whether
it's coaching or offensive line or tight end or receiver
or running back, we all want to we want to
rise up to the way he he goes about his
business and he and he trains and and that really
(41:52):
starts at the starts with the offensive lot. I mean,
that's the as you said, the tip of the sphere.
And it's been been really good.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
Great to have her Shan back. Uh. You know, it's
just way better, way, different way, way, just way good
for for the Chargers. Uh when he's here, and that
that was obvious when he was here at the mini
camp and looked great in tremendous shape. Uh. You know,
he's one of our Elite nine. Now it's Elaite ten.
Josh Josh Harris. Yeah, at Joe alt as I mentioned
(42:26):
before as good as Joe was last year. He is
he is so strong. Now you know, we had one
I will I won't say any names, but somebody tried
to hip hip toss him, uh in a drill that
we had, which you don't want to see. But the
effort was made to hip throw Joe Alt and it
(42:50):
didn't budge. He didn't budge, and then Joe picked him up.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Like a child.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Set him back down. Yeah. The the young man learned
that that's this, that's not the guy to try to
to try to hit throw. But uh, ascending as much
as any player on our team is Joe Alt going
into two year two been really excited with Mackay Beckton.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
The just how big we are on the right side
of the the line of scrimmage. Yeah, we'll dictate that
we'll probably be a right handed type of right type
of team. And then the center and the left guard
have been Zion Johnson. I gotta say is is one
of our most ascending players. And I don't think I
(43:42):
put him in that twelve, but there's he should be.
He is an ascending player. Uh, not only at left guard,
but also it's center. He's I mean just picking it
up so well. Uh and so good. Uh. And you
see him climb to the second level with his athleticism.
He can pull from the center position, and we know
we can pull from the guard position uh and get
(44:03):
him in space or in pulling or up under the
second level. It's it's it's different. Uh. Bose was tremendous.
He played all the games. He was one of our
blocks of granted last year, Bradley Boseman uh in the
in the top six. So uh and and he he
can just he's got the keys to the car. He
(44:24):
can he knows all the calls. Uh. He's tremendous. He's
shown that he and he's shown in his career that
he's just good or maybe even better at guard. So
the versatility that we now have uh with maybe maybe
the combination is going to be better with Zion at
(44:44):
center and Bows at guard. But if it's not, we
know we've got a great combination with Bose at center
and Zion at guard. Uh. So we we we feel
like we're in a in a really good place. Uh.
Now the exciting thing is that there's there's guys really
close to that starting five that will continue to keep
(45:06):
having at it. And uh, you know, we'll we'll have
uh we'll have a lot of time to to show
maybe that you know, they could. I don't see him
displacing any any any of those five right now if
if all were healthy, all five of those were healthy.
But uh, Jamari Sawyer has had a tremendous offseason. Uh
(45:28):
he is. He is almost almost all the way there
and where he needs to get with his his training
and his body. And he's healthier, uh, you know than
he was last year. Uh. Andre James has been a
great addition. And Trey Pipkins, who started for US at
(45:49):
guard last year. Uh, you know, we're everybody healthy projecting
like be be the swing tackle tray uh and the
tremendous value. We have a star caliber offensive lineman who
is our is our swing tackle. Uh is is our
plan right now, and that would be a that would
(46:09):
be a healthy uh you know, game in game out.
We know we have a a swing tackle that if
something happens to one of our two All pros, then uh,
you know, we've got it. We've got a great player
in in in Trey Pipkins, and and he probably Trey
uh you know, he should probably be in that he's
really close to that elite ten. Uh. The way he trains,
(46:31):
I mean, it's it's all all almost all five fives
across the board and his key performance indicators. Uh. And
a good group of young offensive linemen. Uh, I think
we're way better. That's it takes offensive lineman most of
the time of year. Uh, you know, to physically develop
and mature and you know, understand the speed and the
(46:54):
and the calls and the everything that goes into offensive
line play. But you know, our drafted offensive lineman and
our free agents signed offensive lineman, we're better. We're better
in that that, you know, not eight eight to fourteen
(47:15):
than we were last year. Great guys to work with
and and develop because it's rare that not everybody's Joe
alt Rashon and Zion to where they can just come
into the NFL and and be a starter in year one.
So yeah, as I said, a lot of good, just
a lot of good. And appreciate the uh, the the
(47:39):
Charger fan base. It you just like me. It's all
I think about too, mostly about other things. But I
mean a lot of high percentage is the offensive line coach.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
We know you got to go and get on the grass.
We can't take you off your time. It's hard to
believe training camp is a month away. Are you are
you gonna do anything uncharge the batteries for a month
before camp relax?
Speaker 5 (48:02):
Uh yeah, my wonderful family. Uh we've got we've got
some we've gotta we've got a trip to uh see
you see our families back in Michigan and in Sarah's
and Kansas City, and then uh we have ah my
daughter Katie wanted to go to somewhere tropical. So uh
(48:22):
we're uh we've got something and something we think lined
up for that. So it'll be like a six day,
six mark sixth day and uh yeah, be like you
know the uh I stay sharp in the vacations. It's
not like, uh, there's no unwinding.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
I mean, it's not like a vacation.
Speaker 5 (48:42):
I gotta go to work here. I gotta make sure
that we make some memories.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
We create some memories for your attacking the vacation.
Speaker 5 (48:47):
Yeah, you're attacking with an enthusiasm. And my wife's Saarah
is the same way.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
So vacation patches though, Yeah, we should have some.
Speaker 5 (48:56):
That's what you do, right, I mean, it's just the
same thing, patches for what you've become and then we
put the vacation stickers on the on the.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Suitcase exactly right.
Speaker 5 (49:04):
Another analogy just came up with, there we go.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
You're the best, coach you thanks so much, appreciate you,
thank you, Thanks coach well money.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
You said it.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
It was supposed to be fifteen minutes turned into over thirty.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
And just coach is great.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
And I just go back to that last answer on
the offensive line, the amount of in depth analysis he gave,
but also because you said the fans loved the offensive line,
and he was like, I got to give.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
Ye they want. And I'm not that that wasn't blowing
smoke either. Man.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
You know, I go into the YouTube comments and it's
fifty percent minimum fifty percent are comments about the offensive line,
and it's just he's he's got him, man, he's got him. Looked,
He's And now look, I think it also has something
to do with the way the season played out last
year and and you know, the questions about Bradley and
(49:54):
Zion and how this whole thing's going to shake out
in the contract with Shawn Slater and how impressive their
top five pick was, and al I mean it certainly
has something to do with it. But I think our
fan base, that the Chargers fan base is incredibly smart
and recognizes and has picked up those cues from Coach
Harbaugh about how that's that's the unit that's got to
(50:16):
operate at a at a certain level in order for
this whole thing to work, and if they don't, it's
not gonna You know, when you heard Coach Roman talk
about it as well, he's like, well, if so, It's
like it's not just Coach Arbough, it's like Coach Roman saying, well, look,
if we can't block, well, now play action's not gonna
work because they're not honoring the run and because they've
(50:38):
shut down my run game and now they're not biting
on play action, and now if they're in my backfield
in you know, because they're getting they're taking advantage of
what's up front. Now I can't have a seven step drop.
Now I can't run routside, so they know everything's gonna
be quick game and they're going to be jumping routes
and stuff. He's like, you, that's it's where it starts.
If you don't have offensive line, you have nothing. So
(50:58):
the coaches have done a good job of conditioning us
and the fans to know how important that group is,
and certainly it's been a driving force this entire offseason.
When it comes to the commentary that we find beneath
our videos on YouTube that I've engaged with, and I
do want to point out I quickly want to apologize
because I don't like asking long questions. I know I
get very long winded on here when you and I
(51:20):
are talking, much to the detriment of the contributions you
can make, because I can talk too much.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
Come on, but we love to hear the voice.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yeah, but I did ask an incredibly long winded question
to coach about his positivity and the way he coaches,
and I apologize for taking so long to get to
my point, but I wanted to make sure because Coach
doesn't like you kissing his ass, I wanted to make
sure he knew it wasn't a kiss asked question, but
it was just how did you come upon this philosophy?
(51:48):
And then I had not seen the ted Lasso stuff yet,
and so Eric Smith, who obviously does a great job
with us at Chargers dot Com, had pointed it out
to me, and so then I went and sought that.
I was like, oh, crap, the entire thing that he's
talking about here. So it's just kind of like, hey,
I'm repurposing it, and it's a long question, and it's
following this because this is going to come out when
it comes out.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
So again, apologies.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
Well, I think people know.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
It's hard to keep up with a twenty four hour
news cycle and the fact that we did this on money.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
There's stuff that happens. You know how many times we've.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Done this podcast where we talk about a free agent
and they get signed the next day or the next minute.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
After three hours later after we post.
Speaker 4 (52:27):
What was I gonna mention to you?
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Oh, with coach in some of the things that he
talked about with the offensive line, I wanted to mention
it because it goes back to your original interview with
Greg Roman. Greg Roman says, Joe all hands down, all pro.
I talked to Joe about what Greg Roman said during
media day, and he just talked about how much is
how much more comfortable he feels in your two actually
(52:50):
be able to like train and do football as opposed
to prepare to get drafted for an NFL team. And
here coach Harbaugh says, gold jacket. Like, yeah, he says,
Joe All is going jack material in year two. And
we knew how good Joe was his rookie year. And
you know, when he was selected five overall and the
league Neighbors was on the board and some other players
were available, we knew that offensive line, as coach Oway says,
(53:14):
tip of the spear. But in year two to already
have that conviction about your right tackle, I think it
speaks volumes.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Home run pick. Yeah, home run pick.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
And it's not taking anything away from elite Neighbors who
had an exceptional rookie season.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
He was great.
Speaker 3 (53:29):
But you know, and and again I don't think you
could have gone wrong on that. But for what this
team wants to do, how this team wants to operate,
I've said it a million times.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
You see it.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
You see wide receivers move around quite a bit when
teams don't feel like paying them. You know, whether that's
Aj Brown or you know, the list just goes on.
DK Metcalf just getting trade. Like what you don't see
is O Lineman. I know, you know Laramie Tunzel's been
traded twice. How that workout? The first team the Dolphins
(54:01):
chased a left tackle for the next ten years and
could never get it right. You know, Trent Williams traded
from Washington to San Francisco. They end up going to
two Super Bowls with him as arguably the MVP of
that team. Like, it just doesn't o line. That's why
Rashaun Slater's contract's going to get done. Like that's just
how this thing works. So and look, we did this.
(54:23):
You know, we did this going into the draft, we
did this coming out of that draft, so we know,
we remember what was said, we remember what the temperature
was when Joe was the pick. And so not saying
that you have to hold to that and own it
or erite crow, that's not the point at all. It's
just I think it's exciting to know that, even in
the light of a passing league, that we are now
explosive superstars trying to get all that sizzle. This is
(54:47):
a front office and a coaching staff that's like, no,
give us the foundation, we'll build the house later on
top of it. But we got to pour the concrete.
We got to put the footings in the ground and
pour the concrete first. And man, what a home run
pick that thing was.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
YouTube coach Harball is going to be exciting. Money Is
there anything else before we get added to here? And
you know, there's nobody else at the Bolt for the
next month, but we're gonna keep the podcast going. I
think we'll do a mail bag next week, so you know,
I'll send out a tweet, but if you guys want
to tweet it money or myself or comments, whatever, we'll
get to some questions next week.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Yeah, I think there's a lot week I'm gonna I'm
gonna really because the training camps over, I'm gonna start
digging into a ton of film from last year and
just kind of get into third and longs and what
did that look like, and kind of get into two
lee and sort of you know what happened in November
that didn't happen any other month, and just kind of
how these you know, all that sort of stuff. There's
still plenty of things that we can get into. Yeah,
now that I have a bit of a break where
(55:45):
or we can dig into it. But yeah, please comment
below the video. Chris will send out a tweet for
the mail bags. So anything you guys were thinking about
that maybe it didn't come up with us. The only
thing I don't want to hear from you, folks. I
want to hear about navy uniforms. I don't want to
hear it. I don't want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
So now that's all you got to hear about.
Speaker 1 (56:05):
Now you keep the Navies to yourself.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
You understand they're winless, winless in navies, So I don't
want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (56:14):
It's Royals. We want the We want.
Speaker 3 (56:16):
The nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty one Royal Blues.
That's what we want. And by we I mean this
guy right here. I can't speak for Chris. He probably
wants the Navies.
Speaker 4 (56:26):
I love.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
I love the Royals. I'm partial to the Dan Fout
Sarah as well.
Speaker 4 (56:31):
But you know the name. Listen, yeah, the LT Navies.
Speaker 2 (56:35):
You know they bring back I think a lot of
memories for Chargers fans. I mean, this is this is
like the Ladania, Tomlinson to Chill your Gates, Seawn Merriman,
Nick Hardwick era.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
Look, I'm just gonna highlight. I'm gonna highlight this.
Speaker 4 (56:49):
Chris.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
When I say Navy, like when I say NFL Navy uniform,
the first two things that come to my head are
Dallas Cowboys, and how could they not the Dallas Cowboy
Navies are freaking the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (57:07):
It's the Dallas Cowboys. They wear navy, you know.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
And then the second is the Chicago Bears, the oldest
franchise in the NFL. They wear navy. The America's team
and the oldest team in the NFL wear navy. When
you say powder blue, you think of the Chargers. When
you say royal blue, I think of the Chargers. When
(57:33):
I say Navy, I think of the Cowboys, or I
think of the Bears, because they're the Cowboys and the
Bears and.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
They wear Navy. Like that, I said, I wasn't gonna
get into it.
Speaker 4 (57:46):
If it's a one off.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
It's a beautiful this shade of blue is.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
If it's an homage for a game, you know, we
we've done the Navies and the Royals for a game.
But I think I think the organization and the fans
largely record the powder blues of the powder Blues.
Speaker 4 (58:01):
That's why that's their primary uniform now.
Speaker 2 (58:03):
So money, if it's uniform talk, if it's third and long,
if it's red zone, we'll get into it over the
next month. Anything else before we get out of.
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Here, absolutely, Chris, looking forward to it again for next
week and obviously moving forward, keep the communication going. Whatever
you guys and gals out there are thinking, we want
you to lean in with us as well.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
We'll be answering.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
We'll be looking forward to every single week's Chargers Weekly,
even though we got nothing going, nothing planned until the
middle of July.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
All right, well, plenty of time to get into the
uniforms and everything else Chargers as we ramp up to
training camp in mid July.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
That's gonna do it for us.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
For money.
Speaker 4 (58:39):
I'm Chris. This has been Chargers. We
Late fifteen to ten touched up suck.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, guys, We are back with a brand new
episode of Chargers Weekly. Chris Hayrey here with you as always,
joined by the voice of the Chargers, Matt Muddy Smith
and Money. We've had a lot of fun this offseason.
But why don't you set up what we just did
earlier this week?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, I had a chance to sit with Coach, and
Coach is the best man. He said, Look, I wish
you could spend more time with you, but it's a
hard fifteen I got some stuff to do, and then
you look up and it's almost forty minutes later. Because
he he loves football, man, and if you're just talking football,
he's gonna talk football, and he's gonna like talking football
and keep talking football. So it was a great conversation.
(00:50):
We did it on Monday, I believe was his window
that he had opened. So obviously some things if they
came up between Monday and today when this thing is posting, understand,
and you know that's kind of when we did at
the ted Lasso thing sort of caught fire, you know,
after and we were going to get into it with them,
but that was you know, planned for the end of
the interview, and at that point he's like, I really
(01:10):
got to go, but yes, please stick around. Some stuff
to go through here with with Monday being that last
day of rookie mini camp that the media had availability
to in the pressers, so dig into a little bit
of that here and then we'll we'll get to our
interview and our it's not an interview, it's just conversation.
You know, he's doing He's doing most of the talking.
We're just kind of lobbing things back and forth and
(01:30):
really enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
He's just infectious.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Man.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's it's mid June, and you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We're talking about everything from the offensive line. I think
there was a seven or eight minute answer to one
of your questions about the offensive line, to Darwin James,
to Ben Herbert, to these rookies and just the work
that they're putting.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
In right now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And you know, this was the last week of OTA's
where it was just rookies. The vets have left the bolt.
So we got to talk to coach right before he
got on the grass with the guys on Monday, and
later that day after we did the conversation with coach
Trey Harris, and Ronda Gaston went to the podium, and
those are just two of the examples of the work
(02:13):
and some of the stuff that they're doing to get
to that NFL level.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I thought both guys gave.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Really good answers at the podium about Justin Herbert and
then Gaston in particular, just about the work ethic and
everything it requires to be an NFL player, and kind
of the advice he got from coach Herb to get
there early and go through the plays by himself at
five in the morning.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
These are two guys.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I don't know how quickly their impact is going to
be felt during the regular season, but I cannot wait
for training camp in the preseason games to kind of
see what these guys have.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, I think in the case Gaston, what you're alluding to.
If the folks haven't seen it yet, be sure to
check it out. If you're watching us on YouTube, it's
just going to be, you know, the next I don't know,
two or three videos down, Gadsden. You know, much like me,
I was doing FM morning shows. I started in nineteen
ninety four working on Kevin and Bean, and I stopped
(03:09):
in two thousand and three, No, two thousand and five
I stopped. So twelve years of waking up at three
thirty in the morning, and here I am twenty years later,
in twenty twenty five, and I still can't sleep in.
I just I can't. My body will not allow me
to sleep late. I don't set an alarm. My body
(03:31):
wakes me up. I promise this is going somewhere. My
body wakes me up typically now at about four, between
four and four thirty. And before I would just get up,
I'd make some coffee, I'd read the paper. Yes, there
was this thing called the newspaper people. And then I
kind of got to this point where I was like, man,
I got to shake some ass, like this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I can't sleep in. I've tried.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I got to get to work by eight thirty nine
is when I would get into it when I was
in the record business, but before I got into radio,
and then I got into sports, and I'm doing an
afternoon show, So why the heck am I waking up early?
And then I'm doing the Lakers and I'm doing Laker
Line until eleven thirty midnight. Pois being I found at
First Golf and I was first one out dawn patrol
(04:16):
and I would jog the course so I could get
my run in, and I'd play golf because I had
to do something I wanted to feel productive. And then
now I get up and I'm first one in the
water like I was today, and I surf from five. Today,
I serf from you know, I'm in the water at
five and I'm out of the water at like seven thirty.
So Gadsden shares with us. He's like, I just can't
get off East Coast time and I'm up at five
(04:40):
and I'm just kind of looking for something to do.
And you know, Coach Herb another Herb story, says we'll
just come in walk the facility, go walk, do mental
reps of your plays on the field. And he's like, yeah,
I'll be the only one here. He's like, okay, it's
all yours, dude, whole place is yours. And I think
that speaks to an in credible because it took me
(05:01):
a minute to get there, right. I had to mature
enough to realize, oh, don't just sit around like you
can be productive. You can actually get some stuff done
and get your day started instead of just bemoaning the
fact that you can't sleep. And I think it speaks
to the maturity level of a Rendez gast In junior
that he, you know, is like, ye okay, I'm up
(05:22):
and instead of just trying to go back to sleep,
I'm gonna get some stuff done. And we learned that
he's been the first guy in the building between five
and five thirty, rides his bike in because didn't have
a car yet, and he's getting a ton of stuff done.
And I know that's a long story and I'm talking
a lot here, Chris, but it gets me to the
point of it's why he looked the way he did.
It's why he really shined in that Veteran Mini Camp
(05:44):
and we saw Herbert going I think he had eight targets,
seven catches in that last Veteran Mini Camp day on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
The confidence that both Trey Harris and Gadsden possess, you
can feel it in this press ERUs Gatson said, I
guess they asked him, is anybody else in the building?
He was, yeah, the security guards there ya to the
security guard in the morning. Sometimes there's people in the
training room. But that that is what coach alluded to,
(06:13):
and he's not just saying it like these guys are
putting in the work for Gatston to come in here
into that tight ends room too, where there are veterans,
and he talked about the vets, Will Disley and Conklin
and even Tucker Fisk being able to help Aronde kind
of find the way as a rookie.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
It's a great room to be in.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And I still think money, I still think that that
Conklin and Disley are going to be the guys that
kind of lead the way, especially at the beginning of
the year. But Gatson just looks the part. He was
the third team All American at Syracuse, was originally a
wide receiver. He just looks like a tight end. He
said he didn't play basketball, but he could certainly rebound.
And then one of the things that Trey Harris said
(06:57):
talking about Justin Herbert and just kind of getting you
to a quarterback like him who's got the velocity and
it is gonna put it on the money. He goes,
if you put it on the money, I'm gonna catch
the football. So I just I feel the confidence from
this rookie class, whether it's some of the defensive guys
or some of the pass catchers, they're.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Not intimidated by the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
In fact, I think they're embracing the fact that they
have a quarterback like Justin Herbert.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, to echo what coach Harbaugh said about Gadston, I
felt the same thing just watching his film and watching
you know, what he was doing at Syracuse, the way
he moves, the way he was used. You know, he'd
be playing I'm not gonna see he be playing AX,
but they'd split him out pretty wide, you know, at
times at Syracuse, and he was clearly a pass catching
(07:45):
tight end. So I just assumed that that as a
former wide receiver, you know, he's recruited to play wide
receiver at Syracuse, converted a tight end that he was
going to look like that, you know, like one of
those tight ends. And then you see him and you're like, well,
this dude's got he's just pretty thick man. He's got
a trunk on him now. And I think that also
speaks to when, you know, he talked about having four
(08:08):
different offensive coordinators and multiple head coaches during his time
at Syracuse and how the transition went, and again just
speaking to his maturity mentally, but also time on task, like, hey,
we think you'd be a better tight end and him saying, Okay,
well I want to play tight end in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well, you're one hundred and ninety pounds. Here's what you've
got to do.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So to know that that guy went from one hundred
ninety pounds his freshman year to two hundred and fifty
his senior year and still moves with that level of
fluidity speaks to, like I said, maturity, mental acuity, but
willingness to put in the physical that he's putting sixty
pounds on.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That is some work, man, That is some serious work.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I know you're taking a bunch of weight ging and
you've masked up over there, Chris, So I'm not sure
if you and og are having conversations about all that weight.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I'd be on the pup list in twenty four hours. Bro,
I go out there, I'm on the pup list immediately.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But he's he's a lot bigger, and I think that.
And he talked about how important it is for him
to get the block and right, and how he's talking
to Tucker Fisk about footwork and headwork, you know, and
where his head needs to be and where his hands
need to be, and how important that is to him.
I thought it was a great answer. Instead of getting
defensive about you know, him his blocking and what he
needs to do, he said, what's the goal of every
(09:26):
football player be able to play every play. It's like,
so he goes, I want to be I want to
be in every play. So if I want to be
in every play, that I got to figure out a block.
And so I'm going to figure it out because I
intend to play every play. And so I thought that
was cool. And then talking about how as he was
doing his mental reps or you know, getting his mental
reps while walking through the place on the field, how
(09:46):
he went through both each tight tight end position when
it was two tight end sets. He's like, yeah, so
I would walk the first time, you know, each of those,
and then I would get onto the next play. It
just seems I was incredibly impressed. But that's you know,
his dad was a pro, and his dad was an
undrafted free agent, had to fight his way onto a
roster and ended up having a decade long career. We
(10:07):
was very successful. So I think that certainly paid a
ton of dividends for a Ronde.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, you know, and Ronde said, I need to arrive early.
My dad says always arrived early and that just shows
that want to and you know, as far as the
blocking is concerned, and he even said it, you're not
going to really know where you stand as a blocker
until the pads come on in training camp. So it's
really just kind of that ramp up to training camp
(10:33):
and it you know, I don't want to give any
anything away with our conversation with coach, but it just
I think it lends to the competition that's going to
be in each room and like they got deeper as
a football team. If you're a Chargers fan in twenty
twenty five, man, you should be excited. You're coming off
an eleven win season. I know that it's a very
difficult division with Hall of Fame coaches and the Chiefs
(10:55):
who have run it for the last decade plus, but
this is a team that just feels different this year
in terms of the depth, how they want to play football.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Just seeing the clips.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Of Amarion Hampton and Ajie Harris run the football in
mini camp, it can't it can't do anything but get
you to juiced for the season. You know, the team
teased two uniforms that are coming. I mean, there's there's
just a lot of excitement here in the middle of
June with an early training camp because of the Hall
of Fame game, having that extra preseason game Brazil Week one.
(11:29):
For For as much as we like to say, Okay,
we got a little bit of a summer break, it's
gonna be here in a blink.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, that is. I think July. What you say,
July fifteenth, I think is the uniform reveal sixteenth came
home exactly right. When you get into camp, we'll see
those new uniforms. Very you know how much I love uniforms,
so very excited about that. I can only hope that
the pressure I have put on John Spanos will pay off,
but I have a feeling it won't. So just me
(11:57):
and the fans, we just do not see. We do
not a line and what we want from our uniforms.
But that's a conversation for another day, because we got
coach on and just to kind of build and not
ignore Trey Harris. I think you covered most of it.
But it's funny, right, everybody is wired differently and operates
on a different clock, and Trey was the opposite, Right,
Trey's like, Man, I get here and I go through
(12:20):
everything and then I'm standing around like that's it, that's
all we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like, hey, lank Lane Kiffin was putting those fellows through
like twelve hour days.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
It seems right.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, he was like, so I just look for stuff
to do. He's like, I don't want to go home yet,
so I'm just kinda Can I get some more? Can
I get with Herb? Can I get into a playbook?
Can I watch some film? Can I go outside and
move around? Can I pick the brain to some of
these vet Like it's good to see. It's exactly what
coach talked about with the rookies, and you know how
impressed he's been with what they're doing. And and look,
(12:53):
it all goes back to to really three guys like
if you talk about tone setters right on this team,
it's Derwin's Aimes, Justin Herbert and Khalil Mack. And when
you see them putting in the work and you see
them doing extra and you see them getting with Coach
Herb and going through and you hear Khalil Mack say
how important Ben Herbert's been for him and why he's
(13:14):
here every day, Like that's just if you're a rookie,
you'd be like coach says, right, what would coach always say, Hey,
you see Derwin, just do what he does. That's that's
the best advice you see, Khalil Mack. Just do what
he does, follow him, do it everything he does, and
you're gonna be You're gonna be a better player for it.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
It was impressive and and I think look, just to
kind of wrap up my last thoughts on the on
the rookie day on Monday that we got to see, like, uh,
well two things. One, you know, I think that well,
actually just one. There's a clip if you if you
want to check it out if you haven't watched it yet,
not you, Chris, I know, yeah, but but the people
(13:53):
that are listening or watching check out the Jim Harbaugh
micd up and there's some really cool stuff in there.
But my favorite, and it's something we noticed last year
his first year as the head coach, was I wish
I could remember the young man's name. I can't right now,
but he was clearly a camp quarterback and we're standing
on the sideline and we're watching him work with this
clearly fourth stringer might be lucky to make the practice squad,
(14:16):
but's probably going to have to latch on somewhere else.
The coach spent like ten minutes with him working on
footwork and working on his his you know, what he
needed to improve under center and what his dropbacks should
look like and how he should be handing off. And
there's that clip in there where he's talking to Trey
Lance and to DJ. You know, he's talking to DJ
about the scramble drill and how yeah, you're not stay
(14:38):
in the A gap and keep your eyes up and
he goes, this is what and you know you see
that individual work and that's just a little sliver and
it just speaks to to coach being a do as
I do, not do as I say kind of guy.
You know, he talks about feeling, you know, connected to
every one of these guys, no matter if it's all
pro Derwin James or dj U Angolula who's our fourth
(15:00):
string quarterback. You know, he's connected to him and he
wants to teach them and wants to make them better
and it's just so fun to see.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, I would suggest popping that on before the interview too,
just to coach has this unique way of you said,
the instruction to guys like Trey Lance and DJ and
even Heineke just say, hey, we throw the ball away there,
just the quarterback one on one instruction, I think is great.
But then it's also just the fun talking lad about
(15:28):
baseball and Helen Durwin. He's a big peb and j guy.
And Derwen's like, what do you like Strawberry great? He's like,
surprise me, surprise me all of it.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I'll take it all.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I'll eat Apricott, don't care, let's go. I'm on the
same boat, coach. I just I just had a PB
and Jay yesterday and it was Phoebe and Apricot Jelly.
So I'm in. I'm with him. You know me, Chris,
you travel with me. You know that what what Suella
and Peanut and June would put on my freaking seat.
I got a stack of un crustables because I eat
(15:58):
like a child.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah, I packed.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Down the uncrustibles too. But I think you may be
our leader. Maybe you're the leader in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think so. I think. So do you want the
do you want the steak and the caesar salad for dinner? Man? No,
let me think.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Give me the jumpers.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Just bring me three uncrustables.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Give me the jumbo strawberry uncrustable and a fortune knife.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
I'm goodki me.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Hey, I'm on.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I'm on the wheat, peanut, butter and honey on crustables too. Man,
I knock them all out. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible.
I don't I don't function like a professional football player either.
I might be able to get a little bit of
work in the morning, but man, I gotta be careful
because I way too much Pep and Jane in my life.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Dude, I have I got a bunch of crustbles in
the house. They're supposed to be for our twin girls.
And then you know when my wife's think, why are
they going? Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Sorry, girls,
daddy was I'm with.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You, and it's it's it's yeah. I don't want to
get too deep into it.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I just I hate that you got to put him
in the freezer and then I got to throw them
on the counter for like, I'm just staring at it,
like I know it's gonna be a little frozen.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
For man, I want to eat it right now after.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
That, you know, it's Hey, do you think do you
think fans want to hear Jim Harball or more impressible talk.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Sorry, guys, let's get to it. Let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Here's coach all right, as promised, the head coach of
the LA Chargers, Jim Harball joins us and coach pleasure
having you. What a great opportunity to close out the
week with the rookies here as we get to the offseason.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Officially, it is it's it's really exciting. We had a
great eight weeks with the Vets, but to get the rookies,
you know, just you know, give it one more code
of paint with just them, giving them all the attention,
chance to be better today than we were yesterday, better
tomorrow than we were today.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
You talked about the rookies and one of your pressers
and how impressed you were with this class. What is
it that impresses you? What do you expect from them
when they show up, and what do you expect from
them over the course of those eight weeks.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yeah, just you know, get get as good at football
as they can, you know, really acclimate into the system,
learning the terminology and mostly just athletically, you know, just
showing us where we can implement them. Into the to
the team. I did talk about him as a group,
(18:16):
you know, as a whole, you know, drafted, undrafted, they're
just about their business, uh, you know, not given one
bit of grief, uh, you know, on the field or
off the field, and they're just they're looking to do
and that that's really encouraging. I've and I've made the
statement and and you know, if that offends any other
(18:40):
rookie class that we've ever had, you know, so be it.
But you know, so far, so far, really good.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
In that rookie class last year set a high bar
with Joel macaukey.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, let's start there, because I mean there is no
comparison being made to the Ladd and Joe. I don't.
I don't think any. I mean, that's that's a that's
a high bar that I wouldn't expect anybody to to
be able to accomplish what they did in their rookie season.
I mean that that uh, that was otherworldly what what
(19:14):
Ladd and and Joe were able to do. And Joe,
as good as he was last year, I call him
right now one of our most ascending players on the team.
He is, he's that that much better, that much improved.
Uh you know really the I think he's he's on
track for a Hall of Fame type of career and
(19:34):
uh it uh and I am not I don't not
feel like I'm going out on a ledge by saying that.
And with that being said, uh you know that, Uh,
I still like that bar being set by those two.
And uh, you know the rookies that we have, Uh yeah,
they got the license, they got the ability to to
(19:55):
strive for that. Don't know if they'll accomplish what with
those two did, but hey have at it and uh
you know that's that's been the message and and been
really uh excited how the guys are coming along.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
You know, it wasn't just it wasn't just Led and
uh and Joe though like with Eve and Cam, we're
able to accomplish correct and guys that didn't contribute last
year because of whether it's injury or just kind of
being developmental with a boy B and Junior Colston, expecting
those guys to take a step in their second year, uh,
being that we didn't really see them on the grass
last year.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah, you with with with with Junior Colston, he had
some setbacks early appendix ankle. Uh, but he did get
on track you know about uh about middle of the
season and contributed a lot you know, played over three
four hundred plays you know, on the season, and uh,
(20:49):
you know, expect him right now. He's in he's in
the kind of kind of shape where you want him.
I mean, it's all his key performance indicators or or five,
you know, which is as high as you can get.
And it looks pretty much across the board.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
And then Justin has had an incredible off season. He
really has. He put on twenty pounds you know of
good lean muscle mass. You know, he's been he's been
doing everything and doing all the extra and I expect
really good things from him.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
When you talk about that and in off season, kind
of if you don't mind sharing, like what do you
Is it a guide that you give them for the
off season, This is what we'd like to see from you,
and then they're on their own?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Is it? Are they expected to figure some things out?
How does that all work?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Because you talk about the Elite nine and guys that
showed up and how excited you were, but kind of
walk us through what you expect from somebody's off season.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Yeah, real, real simple here, you know, it's Ben Herbert.
It's the Herb effect. You know, I trust him. I
trust and believe what he tells me because it's always clear,
it's always concise. It uh. It just always helps our
team and it helps me personally. And that's the way
(22:03):
it is for every single guy. So what do we expect.
If Ben Herbert is telling you to do more, then
you need to do more. If he tells you to
do less, do less. If he tells you you're in
a good place, keep doing what you're doing. It's really
that simple. He has it is the coaching, the expertise
(22:25):
is so refined that and the proof now is there
for all of us to see what he's been able
to accomplish with individual players. And the second part of
that piece is those veterans. Is that those elite nines
and how they train, how they go about their business,
how they practice, how they go to meetings, how they
(22:47):
play in games. You know, it's no accident that Khalil Mack,
for example, is thirty four years old. Okay, he plays
like he's twenty one. He is playing thirty four like
he was twenty one years old. And he's been able
to do that every single year. That he's been in
the league. Now, nobody is that genetically blessed. Nobody has
(23:10):
the genealogy to be as good at thirty four as
they were at twenty one. That is all about training.
That's all about how you train, how you prepare, how
you practice, your mental and physical capabilities always being refined
at their highest level. So when I say the Ben
(23:33):
Herbert effect, you also have these veteran effects. How Justin
Herbert goes about his business, how Khalil Mack, how Derwin
James goes about his rashon lad Joe Alt, there is
a day on Henley. It's those guys that set the
incredible example. Who are the tone setters. And now here's
(23:54):
a rookie class coming in that's never had it as
good as a could have it. I mean, no one
has it better than them. To have Ben Herbert and
his staff and to have uh, these veteran players. Also
the coaching Mike Elston. Uh, I mean, it's just well
(24:15):
documented what what he's able to do, Greg Roman, Jesse Minter.
Another guy is Steve Klinscale. Uh. The way he is
able to coach the secondary, the way he is able
to coach defense. Uh, you know, I see it every
single day. I mean, that's the that's the triple threat
right there. When you got when you have veteran players
(24:37):
as an example, a training staff like Ben Herbert and
his his staff, and the position coaches all uh, all
all all ours, all stars. Uh. I mean, no one could,
no one could have it better than than our rookie players.
And they're taking full advantage of it. That's that's the
thing I love is that they're not shying away from
(25:00):
the resources that they have at their disposal when it
comes to getting better at football.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
The one name that we have heard all off season
from a coach, a veteran or a young guy, is
Ben Herbert. I go back to when you hired him
in January of twenty eighteen. Could you have even envisioned
the indeuble mark that he's made at Michigan and now
with the Chargers, with you guys teaming up.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Yeah, I did envision it. I knew it.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I hired him. I knew it.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Yeah, I knew it. Like my name, and like I said,
I when he tells me something, I believe it because
it makes me personally better or it makes makes our
team better, and all the time. It's just makes us better.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It's funny to hit on so many of the things,
and that one answer that I have here, So I
just I still would love for you to expand a
little bit because you mentioned coaching, and that's one thing
that I noticed when players hit the lecter and they
oftentimes will mention their coach and like Tony Jefferson, you know,
unsolicited said jesse Miners a genius. And he's like, I've
known him longer than you guys have. I had him
in ball, so almost like he wanted to claim, Hey,
(26:05):
don't you claim jesse min Er, he's my guy. Just
when you're assembling your staff, what you're looking for and
why you think they've had this this level of success
because I have not heard players kind of celebrate coaches
like this group of players does their positional coaches here?
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Yeah, I mean the the top things is what I
what I look for. I mean, uh, you know, first
guys that are have expertise in in coaching aspect of football,
uh position or you know, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, uh,
(26:39):
special teams coordinator. They've got to be expert at at
that phase. They've got to be tremendous teachers. Uh. And
that's that's synonymous with uh with coaching is teaching. They
got to be able to motivate. They got to be
able to motivate players. I mean those are the uh,
those are the big ones. I mean there's there's others,
(27:03):
but uh, you know that's that's that's a you know,
that's a people person. It's it's somebody that that that
likes the game of football, loves the game of football,
and wants to see others have success. Really, they're just
two things. I mean, they're they're coming into, uh coming
in and they're humble and hungry to make us better.
(27:23):
But I know that that that list grew right there.
But you know, if I had just sum it up,
it would be, you know, that's somebody that you know
wants to make the players better at football, you know,
want to make the best version of themselves off the
field and off the on the field, and wants to
win for that. Right there, those two things.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, sorry, Chris, I said this last week or maybe
two weeks ago on the pod, and I hope it
it makes sense and I can explain it. I said,
you know, I've been doing this football since twenty ten
and all the coaches I've had the privilege to kind
of be around and learn from and interview. I don't
feel like I've ever talk to somebody or watch someone
approach it the way you do, just the positivity I
(28:05):
feel like, And tell me if this is accurate or not.
I feel like when I hear you and I see you,
you know, talk with us in the media, like you
bear responsibility.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
That's what I feel like.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You're like, I'm responsible for these players to be their
best version, whereas other coaches not to. It's like, hey, yeah,
we're trying to get these guys to fit into what
I'm doing, you know, and we want them to kind
of get with the program. And does that make sense?
I just I feel like that's that Does that make sense?
Is that your approach? Like, Hey, I've got these guys
that are the most elite athletes in the world, and
the burden is on me to maximize what they're here
(28:39):
to give of themselves.
Speaker 5 (28:41):
You just said it, I mean exactly the way I
think of it. I mean, when it comes to me
as a coach or the other coaches, Yeah, we have
to be the ones working the hardest so the players
hard work can be eximized. And it's everything that I
(29:03):
I you know, thought as a player. Uh you know that.
Uh yeah, I mean a coach you know, Uh, somebody
that can give me the answers, you know, to the test.
Somebody's going to put me in a position to be successful.
You know. That's those are the kind of coaches that
you know, I looked up to and wanted to be like.
(29:27):
So that's that's what I aspire to do. Uh, do
anything and everything for for the players to be successful,
you know, individual player, the team. Uh what can I do?
I want to do anything and everything I can so
they can be successful. Uh. And then I knew the
way I was when when I was a player and
(29:47):
I had a coach doing anything and everything, you know,
and its power for me to be successful. It made
me want to do anything and everything I could for
the team to be successful and to win coach.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
One of the players that really is an extension of
that message is Derwin James, and Derwin talked about the
patches and says he wants to get it down to
his rib. Yeah, you know him and Khalil kind of
competing for those patches. You mentioned Khalil. When you have
players like that, and you know, you just get to
know him for a year. Uh, but I have to
imagine it. It seems like you've known Derwin and Khalil
much longer than a year, with the impact that they've
(30:22):
made on this program.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yeah, and I've said it, Uh you know a lot
of times that uh you know, the they're the ones
who set the culture. I mean I came in and
just loved what they were doing. And uh so yeah,
I want, I want, I want that. I want I
want more of that. Uh you know, how can I
be a part of that? What can I do to
what can I do to help? Because uh, you know
(30:45):
that's uh it was just instant click like that. Uh.
And Derwin James. You know, it's almost to me it's
like looking in the mirror. I mean, uh, I see
a young Jimmy Harball. You know, every time I watch
Derwin James, I mean, we're just like two p's in
a pod. As my grandma Marie Harbaugh used to say, Uh,
(31:10):
if you're Derwin James, h if you like football, you're
gonna like Derwin James, and Derwin James is gonna like
you back, and then we're gonna roll.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
The patches, if if we could kind of get into it,
because Derwin when he when he got he kind of
went through it. He's like, here's that block and this
is playoff and this is all pro. And then he said,
this is block of granite. What's the if I could like,
what's the block of granite?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Patch? How do you earn the block of granite?
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Uh? You you earned the block. Most of the one hundred,
one hundred of the points are earned from production on
the field in games. So uh, that's one hundred points
goes to how many uh, how many production grade game
(31:58):
ball we have? We have Hero Awards, we have blue
Collar awards, but it's your production in games is and
then amount of games played and and an amount of
plays forout the throughout the course of the season. So
who impacted us in games the most is one points
(32:22):
out of one hundred, and then there's seven and a
half points that can be earned. Uh, and their their
grit their grit points and that's that's two and a
half for how you how you trained two and a
half points for what we call ted and that's there
every day, you know, So the amount of times that
you were on the grass, the amount of times that
(32:46):
you practice, and the and the and the training score
that I mentioned another two and a half points, and
then two and a half points. Uh if you were
playing through something, uh you know, physically fill in the blame. Uh,
something that that you had to uh you know you
had to got out. You know you got a high
(33:06):
ankle spraining your your Zion Johnson, and you know you
didn't even miss a walk through. Uh you know you
got Zion had his teeth extract molar, he had root
canal done and uh, two and two hours before a
training camp practice. But yet he uh he still practiced.
And then in the conditioning afterwards he was running with
(33:28):
the uh the big skill, which is a faster time
than the old line D line. He does it all
the time his conditionings with the tight ends and the
quarterbacks and the running backs and the linebackers. So uh yeah,
he was getting he was getting some extra credit points.
But uh so it's a total of one hundred and
seven and a half points. Uh. And it's completely objective,
(33:50):
not subjective. Come to the end of the season and
you know, here's our here's our top six.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Uh, you should have a gala at the end of
the year.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Yeah, it's not really blue collar, but like what about
you know, you present it in front of an audience
and in front of it, you know what I mean,
maybe we get like a live music or something at
the end of it, and it's just like a big production.
I mean, it's an award, it's an award presentation.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
Yeah, I think it's our. You know, it's our. It's our,
it's our m v P. You know, our block of
granted is is our m VP. Justin Herbert was was
number one. You know, I think Derwin Derwin would have
been Derwin would have been one or two. I think
he might have finished, you'd have finished one or two
had he played in the uh, the the Broncos game
(34:38):
or the Chiefs game. Right, the Chiefs game is the
one that the NFL took, took a game away from him,
So he wasn't able to get those production points. He
wasn't able to get those those.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Play points objective and grip points.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
And as much as I you know, well, you know,
it wasn't his fault that he got suspended for that game,
because it really wasn't thought that was a uh you know,
a clean hit, and but it was it's objective so uh,
you know, kind of just laid him down, but he
still made the still made the top six. This just
shows you what a what an incredible player he is.
(35:15):
But yeah, it's not a it's not a training you know,
there's there's two and a half points for for training
score that is all like what you do in in games.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
So that's the big one.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
That's the big one. That's a big one in my opinion.
It takes, uh, it takes all into account, you know,
who is doing anything and everything they can for the team,
for the organization.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Coach, you mentioned so many ascending players last week, and
you know, as we take that break and get into
training camp, it sounds like there's gonna be a lot
of competition in camp for spots and there's gonna be
some really good players that may not make that fifty three.
What are you most looking forward to from a competition
aspect at various position groups come training camp.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
It's a great question. Uh, you know, the I mean
a long list, you know, like and it's never just
one thing. But if I had to boil it down
to one thing, I just feel like we are better
at you know, name a position group and uh, you know,
(36:18):
we're we're I think we're better, you know, you know,
depth wise, competition wise. Uh, you know, those those waters
will be heated, you know, and in some cases they're
gonna be They're gonna be hot. But uh, yeah, I
could go through my defensive line. I think we're uh,
I think we're better. I think we got we're bigger.
(36:40):
I know that offensive line is as you know, as
a as a as a group. You know, it's just
more talented, you know, better better depth wide receivers another
one as good as running back was. I think we're
I think we're better there. Uh, you know going into camp,
the uh, the secondary, Uh, you know, been really excited
(37:03):
about Dante Jackson, what he's what he's shown in the
off season. Ben say juice, you know a lot of
the things that you can position where we can really
see things before the pads come on, as opposed to
you know, edge rusher or even running back. You know,
sometimes you gotta it's tougher. Uh, you gotta see it
(37:24):
when the when the pads are on. Same with with
with the backer position in the offensive line position and
the defensive line position. Uh. But uh, just Heir Taylor
is also another guy you know, ascending. You can just
see it, and then you kind of go back and
think about just here last year, Uh played that really
good game against the Raiders. Then he broke a bone
(37:45):
in his leg in that game and and kept playing
kind of forgot about that, you know. Uh, and then Uh,
he's had a tremendous offseason. Excited where he's coming. The
new addition uh uh you know Tier Tart uh Tito, Uh,
(38:05):
you know, really good players for us last year. They're
they're continuing to ascend, and and Nakwan Jones and Deshaun
Hand have been great additions also. Uh. Uh excited, really
excited about uh about that group. You know, we need
to be better, you know in stopping the run and
having that that run wall. So uh, I think we're
(38:27):
better at tight end COO. Just we're in a better place.
I think we're in a good place, really good place.
And uh, you know, I think we're a better team
because of the training that we've had. The additions, uh,
you know, so thankful to to Joe Hortiz and uh
and the entire personnel staff, I mean where they went
(38:48):
and found these guys, you know, and brought them to
us to coach and be a part of our team.
Plus the the draft, we're better, We're gonna need to be. Uh,
schedule is gonna be tougher, and uh, you know, all
focuses is really on that that opener against the Chiefs
and San Paolo. So uh, you know, a lot of
(39:09):
a lot of good, a lot of good, a lot
more good. There's just a lot of good. Uh not.
You know, I can never say it's perfect. Uh, but
that's that's the the simple message behind let's get better
today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we
were today. Ah, so simple that it just might work just.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
On the old line.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
I mean you you've done it to this fan base, man,
I have we you know, we do the that we
post the video on YouTube and there's comments and I
have never seen a fan base talk more about the
offensive line than the Chargers fan base.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
I mean it is God, bless our God, bless our fair.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Conversation number one.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
So you know, and obviously that we get a ton
of questions about the big one is Zion and Bradley
and kind of what you're doing there and and what
the vision is.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
And sort of how you right now?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I mean that that's all they talk about what's the
old line going to look like? Who are the starter
is going to be? Is I'm going to be the said?
I mean it is not. It's everything good with for Shawn?
Are we okay?
Speaker 1 (40:07):
There? It's NonStop in the comments. Well, so, how how is.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
That worm that warms the cockles of that? I hear that?
You know, there's uh, my favorite part of the uh,
my favorite part of the game of football these days
is is this is the offensive line? Uh? You know, yeah,
I'll give you a little trivia question. What position group
relies on no other position group for themselves to be good?
(40:33):
Yet every other position group relies on this position group
to be successful at their job.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I feel like we know where there's right.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Sometimes you get the argument from the the D line.
We don't need those guys. You know, do you like
a twelve play drive? You like a fifteen play drive?
Good point, coach, Yeah, we do like a twelve play drive. Yeah,
that's uh, that's where that's where my attention is to, uh,
you know most of the time as well. And uh
(41:06):
they are the ones protecting Justin Herbert, who is our
you know he uh he just contributes to most of
this this organization. He does anything and everything in his power,
you know, for us to to win and be successful,
you know, our jobs are all to on the offensive
side of the ball really rise up to his level,
you know, rise up to the level of justice justin Herbert, uh,
(41:29):
you know, and not to be because he has no
weakness in his game. He has no auh. So we
don't want to be the weak link. You know, whether
it's coaching or offensive line or tight end or receiver
or running back, we all want to we want to
rise up to the way he he goes about his
business and he and he trains and and that really
(41:52):
starts at the starts with the offensive lot. I mean,
that's the as you said, the tip of the sphere.
And it's been been really good.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
Great to have her Shan back. Uh. You know, it's
just way better, way, different way, way, just way good
for for the Chargers. Uh when he's here, and that
that was obvious when he was here at the mini
camp and looked great in tremendous shape. Uh. You know,
he's one of our Elite nine. Now it's Elaite ten.
Josh Josh Harris. Yeah, at Joe alt as I mentioned
(42:26):
before as good as Joe was last year. He is
he is so strong. Now you know, we had one
I will I won't say any names, but somebody tried
to hip hip toss him, uh in a drill that
we had, which you don't want to see. But the
effort was made to hip throw Joe Alt and it
(42:50):
didn't budge. He didn't budge, and then Joe picked him up.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Like a child.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
Set him back down. Yeah. The the young man learned
that that's this, that's not the guy to try to
to try to hit throw. But uh, ascending as much
as any player on our team is Joe Alt going
into two year two been really excited with Mackay Beckton.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
The just how big we are on the right side
of the the line of scrimmage. Yeah, we'll dictate that
we'll probably be a right handed type of right type
of team. And then the center and the left guard
have been Zion Johnson. I gotta say is is one
of our most ascending players. And I don't think I
(43:42):
put him in that twelve, but there's he should be.
He is an ascending player. Uh, not only at left guard,
but also it's center. He's I mean just picking it
up so well. Uh and so good. Uh. And you
see him climb to the second level with his athleticism.
He can pull from the center position, and we know
we can pull from the guard position uh and get
(44:03):
him in space or in pulling or up under the
second level. It's it's it's different. Uh. Bose was tremendous.
He played all the games. He was one of our
blocks of granted last year, Bradley Boseman uh in the
in the top six. So uh and and he he
can just he's got the keys to the car. He
(44:24):
can he knows all the calls. Uh. He's tremendous. He's
shown that he and he's shown in his career that
he's just good or maybe even better at guard. So
the versatility that we now have uh with maybe maybe
the combination is going to be better with Zion at
(44:44):
center and Bows at guard. But if it's not, we
know we've got a great combination with Bose at center
and Zion at guard. Uh. So we we we feel
like we're in a in a really good place. Uh.
Now the exciting thing is that there's there's guys really
close to that starting five that will continue to keep
(45:06):
having at it. And uh, you know, we'll we'll have
uh we'll have a lot of time to to show
maybe that you know, they could. I don't see him
displacing any any any of those five right now if
if all were healthy, all five of those were healthy.
But uh, Jamari Sawyer has had a tremendous offseason. Uh
(45:28):
he is. He is almost almost all the way there
and where he needs to get with his his training
and his body. And he's healthier, uh, you know than
he was last year. Uh. Andre James has been a
great addition. And Trey Pipkins, who started for US at
(45:49):
guard last year. Uh, you know, we're everybody healthy projecting
like be be the swing tackle tray uh and the
tremendous value. We have a star caliber offensive lineman who
is our is our swing tackle. Uh is is our
plan right now, and that would be a that would
(46:09):
be a healthy uh you know, game in game out.
We know we have a a swing tackle that if
something happens to one of our two All pros, then uh,
you know, we've got it. We've got a great player
in in in Trey Pipkins, and and he probably Trey
uh you know, he should probably be in that he's
really close to that elite ten. Uh. The way he trains,
(46:31):
I mean, it's it's all all almost all five fives
across the board and his key performance indicators. Uh. And
a good group of young offensive linemen. Uh, I think
we're way better. That's it takes offensive lineman most of
the time of year. Uh, you know, to physically develop
and mature and you know, understand the speed and the
(46:54):
and the calls and the everything that goes into offensive
line play. But you know, our drafted offensive lineman and
our free agents signed offensive lineman, we're better. We're better
in that that, you know, not eight eight to fourteen
(47:15):
than we were last year. Great guys to work with
and and develop because it's rare that not everybody's Joe
alt Rashon and Zion to where they can just come
into the NFL and and be a starter in year one.
So yeah, as I said, a lot of good, just
a lot of good. And appreciate the uh, the the
(47:39):
Charger fan base. It you just like me. It's all
I think about too, mostly about other things. But I
mean a lot of high percentage is the offensive line coach.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
We know you got to go and get on the grass.
We can't take you off your time. It's hard to
believe training camp is a month away. Are you are
you gonna do anything uncharge the batteries for a month
before camp relax?
Speaker 5 (48:02):
Uh yeah, my wonderful family. Uh we've got we've got
some we've gotta we've got a trip to uh see
you see our families back in Michigan and in Sarah's
and Kansas City, and then uh we have ah my
daughter Katie wanted to go to somewhere tropical. So uh
(48:22):
we're uh we've got something and something we think lined
up for that. So it'll be like a six day,
six mark sixth day and uh yeah, be like you
know the uh I stay sharp in the vacations. It's
not like, uh, there's no unwinding.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
I mean, it's not like a vacation.
Speaker 5 (48:42):
I gotta go to work here. I gotta make sure
that we make some memories.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
We create some memories for your attacking the vacation.
Speaker 5 (48:47):
Yeah, you're attacking with an enthusiasm. And my wife's Saarah
is the same way.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
So vacation patches though, Yeah, we should have some.
Speaker 5 (48:56):
That's what you do, right, I mean, it's just the
same thing, patches for what you've become and then we
put the vacation stickers on the on the.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Suitcase exactly right.
Speaker 5 (49:04):
Another analogy just came up with, there we go.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
You're the best, coach you thanks so much, appreciate you,
thank you, Thanks coach well money.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
You said it.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
It was supposed to be fifteen minutes turned into over thirty.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
And just coach is great.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
And I just go back to that last answer on
the offensive line, the amount of in depth analysis he gave,
but also because you said the fans loved the offensive line,
and he was like, I got to give.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
Ye they want. And I'm not that that wasn't blowing
smoke either. Man.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
You know, I go into the YouTube comments and it's
fifty percent minimum fifty percent are comments about the offensive line,
and it's just he's he's got him, man, he's got him. Looked,
He's And now look, I think it also has something
to do with the way the season played out last
year and and you know, the questions about Bradley and
(49:54):
Zion and how this whole thing's going to shake out
in the contract with Shawn Slater and how impressive their
top five pick was, and al I mean it certainly
has something to do with it. But I think our
fan base, that the Chargers fan base is incredibly smart
and recognizes and has picked up those cues from Coach
Harbaugh about how that's that's the unit that's got to
(50:16):
operate at a at a certain level in order for
this whole thing to work, and if they don't, it's
not gonna You know, when you heard Coach Roman talk
about it as well, he's like, well, if so, It's
like it's not just Coach Arbough, it's like Coach Roman saying, well, look,
if we can't block, well, now play action's not gonna
work because they're not honoring the run and because they've
(50:38):
shut down my run game and now they're not biting
on play action, and now if they're in my backfield
in you know, because they're getting they're taking advantage of
what's up front. Now I can't have a seven step drop.
Now I can't run routside, so they know everything's gonna
be quick game and they're going to be jumping routes
and stuff. He's like, you, that's it's where it starts.
If you don't have offensive line, you have nothing. So
(50:58):
the coaches have done a good job of conditioning us
and the fans to know how important that group is,
and certainly it's been a driving force this entire offseason.
When it comes to the commentary that we find beneath
our videos on YouTube that I've engaged with, and I
do want to point out I quickly want to apologize
because I don't like asking long questions. I know I
get very long winded on here when you and I
(51:20):
are talking, much to the detriment of the contributions you
can make, because I can talk too much.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
Come on, but we love to hear the voice.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yeah, but I did ask an incredibly long winded question
to coach about his positivity and the way he coaches,
and I apologize for taking so long to get to
my point, but I wanted to make sure because Coach
doesn't like you kissing his ass, I wanted to make
sure he knew it wasn't a kiss asked question, but
it was just how did you come upon this philosophy?
(51:48):
And then I had not seen the ted Lasso stuff yet,
and so Eric Smith, who obviously does a great job
with us at Chargers dot Com, had pointed it out
to me, and so then I went and sought that.
I was like, oh, crap, the entire thing that he's
talking about here. So it's just kind of like, hey,
I'm repurposing it, and it's a long question, and it's
following this because this is going to come out when
it comes out.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
So again, apologies.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
Well, I think people know.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
It's hard to keep up with a twenty four hour
news cycle and the fact that we did this on money.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
There's stuff that happens. You know how many times we've.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Done this podcast where we talk about a free agent
and they get signed the next day or the next minute.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
After three hours later after we post.
Speaker 4 (52:27):
What was I gonna mention to you?
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Oh, with coach in some of the things that he
talked about with the offensive line, I wanted to mention
it because it goes back to your original interview with
Greg Roman. Greg Roman says, Joe all hands down, all pro.
I talked to Joe about what Greg Roman said during
media day, and he just talked about how much is
how much more comfortable he feels in your two actually
(52:50):
be able to like train and do football as opposed
to prepare to get drafted for an NFL team. And
here coach Harbaugh says, gold jacket. Like, yeah, he says,
Joe All is going jack material in year two. And
we knew how good Joe was his rookie year. And
you know, when he was selected five overall and the
league Neighbors was on the board and some other players
were available, we knew that offensive line, as coach Oway says,
(53:14):
tip of the spear. But in year two to already
have that conviction about your right tackle, I think it
speaks volumes.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Home run pick. Yeah, home run pick.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
And it's not taking anything away from elite Neighbors who
had an exceptional rookie season.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
He was great.
Speaker 3 (53:29):
But you know, and and again I don't think you
could have gone wrong on that. But for what this
team wants to do, how this team wants to operate,
I've said it a million times.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
You see it.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
You see wide receivers move around quite a bit when
teams don't feel like paying them. You know, whether that's
Aj Brown or you know, the list just goes on.
DK Metcalf just getting trade. Like what you don't see
is O Lineman. I know, you know Laramie Tunzel's been
traded twice. How that workout? The first team the Dolphins
(54:01):
chased a left tackle for the next ten years and
could never get it right. You know, Trent Williams traded
from Washington to San Francisco. They end up going to
two Super Bowls with him as arguably the MVP of
that team. Like, it just doesn't o line. That's why
Rashaun Slater's contract's going to get done. Like that's just
how this thing works. So and look, we did this.
(54:23):
You know, we did this going into the draft, we
did this coming out of that draft, so we know,
we remember what was said, we remember what the temperature
was when Joe was the pick. And so not saying
that you have to hold to that and own it
or erite crow, that's not the point at all. It's
just I think it's exciting to know that, even in
the light of a passing league, that we are now
explosive superstars trying to get all that sizzle. This is
(54:47):
a front office and a coaching staff that's like, no,
give us the foundation, we'll build the house later on
top of it. But we got to pour the concrete.
We got to put the footings in the ground and
pour the concrete first. And man, what a home run
pick that thing was.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
YouTube coach Harball is going to be exciting. Money Is
there anything else before we get added to here? And
you know, there's nobody else at the Bolt for the
next month, but we're gonna keep the podcast going. I
think we'll do a mail bag next week, so you know,
I'll send out a tweet, but if you guys want
to tweet it money or myself or comments, whatever, we'll
get to some questions next week.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Yeah, I think there's a lot week I'm gonna I'm
gonna really because the training camps over, I'm gonna start
digging into a ton of film from last year and
just kind of get into third and longs and what
did that look like, and kind of get into two
lee and sort of you know what happened in November
that didn't happen any other month, and just kind of
how these you know, all that sort of stuff. There's
still plenty of things that we can get into. Yeah,
now that I have a bit of a break where
(55:45):
or we can dig into it. But yeah, please comment
below the video. Chris will send out a tweet for
the mail bags. So anything you guys were thinking about
that maybe it didn't come up with us. The only
thing I don't want to hear from you, folks. I
want to hear about navy uniforms. I don't want to
hear it. I don't want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
So now that's all you got to hear about.
Speaker 1 (56:05):
Now you keep the Navies to yourself.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
You understand they're winless, winless in navies, So I don't
want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (56:14):
It's Royals. We want the We want.
Speaker 3 (56:16):
The nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty one Royal Blues.
That's what we want. And by we I mean this
guy right here. I can't speak for Chris. He probably
wants the Navies.
Speaker 4 (56:26):
I love.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
I love the Royals. I'm partial to the Dan Fout
Sarah as well.
Speaker 4 (56:31):
But you know the name. Listen, yeah, the LT Navies.
Speaker 2 (56:35):
You know they bring back I think a lot of
memories for Chargers fans. I mean, this is this is
like the Ladania, Tomlinson to Chill your Gates, Seawn Merriman,
Nick Hardwick era.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
Look, I'm just gonna highlight. I'm gonna highlight this.
Speaker 4 (56:49):
Chris.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
When I say Navy, like when I say NFL Navy uniform,
the first two things that come to my head are
Dallas Cowboys, and how could they not the Dallas Cowboy
Navies are freaking the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (57:07):
It's the Dallas Cowboys. They wear navy, you know.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
And then the second is the Chicago Bears, the oldest
franchise in the NFL. They wear navy. The America's team
and the oldest team in the NFL wear navy. When
you say powder blue, you think of the Chargers. When
you say royal blue, I think of the Chargers. When
(57:33):
I say Navy, I think of the Cowboys, or I
think of the Bears, because they're the Cowboys and the
Bears and.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
They wear Navy. Like that, I said, I wasn't gonna
get into it.
Speaker 4 (57:46):
If it's a one off.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
It's a beautiful this shade of blue is.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
If it's an homage for a game, you know, we
we've done the Navies and the Royals for a game.
But I think I think the organization and the fans
largely record the powder blues of the powder Blues.
Speaker 4 (58:01):
That's why that's their primary uniform now.
Speaker 2 (58:03):
So money, if it's uniform talk, if it's third and long,
if it's red zone, we'll get into it over the
next month. Anything else before we get out of.
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Here, absolutely, Chris, looking forward to it again for next
week and obviously moving forward, keep the communication going. Whatever
you guys and gals out there are thinking, we want
you to lean in with us as well.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
We'll be answering.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
We'll be looking forward to every single week's Chargers Weekly,
even though we got nothing going, nothing planned until the
middle of July.
Speaker 2 (58:30):
All right, well, plenty of time to get into the
uniforms and everything else Chargers as we ramp up to
training camp in mid July.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
That's gonna do it for us.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
For money.
Speaker 4 (58:39):
I'm Chris. This has been Chargers. We
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