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April 18, 2025 37 mins
On this episode of Chargers Weekly, Bolts radio play-by-play announcer Matt “Money” Smith and Chargers legend Jahleel Addae recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. Ranking the top player in the 2025 NFL Draft’s defensive line class, the hosts evaluate which prospects would best fit the Chargers. They debate going D-line vs cornerback in the first round and discuss reports that Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey could be available on the trade market.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up. Welcome to Chargers Weekly.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Getting rolling here on the morning of the day of
the Georgie's Chad Alexander press conferences a little bit later today,
so certainly gonna have some more to react to off
of that. But Julil, as you know, in draft season,
everybody holds their cards close to the best, So it's
not like they're gonna tell you what they're looking at
in the first second third, what they want to come
out of the draft with with their ten picks. But

(00:35):
certainly you could get an overview of the offseason thus far.
You know, we've had a little bit of that in
each of these pressers for each of these players, but
just to kind of talk about it as a collective
hole and how they were able to build this roster
out going into the draft. As we've said multiple times,
the number one goal is not to feel like you

(00:55):
have any needs, you know, dire needs. We've got to
take this position in this draft and that player has
got to be able to get on the field for
you know, either starter reps or rotation reps. That's the
one thing you're trying to avoid when you get in
and then get out a free agency and I feel
like they've accomplished that, you know, save maybe one position.

(01:17):
And I don't mean to slight you know, the the
Naikwon Jones and DeShawn hand signings, but I just I
think the way it's just something that coach Harbass said
about Poona when he said that one left the bruce.
That leads you to believe that they had a chance
to do it all over again, Poona would likely they
would have liked to have made that work and then
that would have settled that particular position. And I think
that's why you go through all these mock drafts and

(01:38):
you see so many people mocking defensive tackles to the Chargers,
because it does if there is one, it feels like
that's probably the one spot where you'd feel a little
bit better if you had a high floor prospect coming in.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, And I think it's it's really just based on
what Harball likes to do, right, we talk about it,
we get in a week out. It's just he likes
to build those trenches and you know, we have the
edge rushers, you know, to get pressure on the quarterback.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
But a lot of.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
People don't understand is you can have really really good
edg rushers. Right, they can rush up the field, but
if you don't have anybody to push the pocket, I'm
talking at an elite an elite rate, right, consistent rate
that all that quarterback is going to do is step
up in the pocket, set his feet.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
The tackles are going.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
To wash our premier pass rushers by and he's getting
them set up and he's gonna make the throw. So
I think what the charges were What I know what
the charges were missing last year was that that interior
push weekend and week out, first down, second down, and
third down. And what you saying that I can't disagree
with you. Now, will the dtack will be there that

(02:42):
they want? We don't know, right, but being in the building,
you know, just my experience, you know, coaching and being
in those offices.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Look, when you're they have a board.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
It's free agency board, a draft board, and they got
their top ten at each position, and the draft is
it's a rat race, right, somebody goes they scratch them
all from this saying Okay, what's our next bes option? So, man,
next week's can be really really intriguing. I'm excited to
see what they do.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Here's what I'd love for you to get into as
as someone that played defensive back. You know, you always
hear about a connected defense and how to get that
connected defense that everybody wants in this league. And is
it pass rush that forces the quarterback to get the
ball out a little bit quicker? So maybe a lower
level secondary is able to make a little bit more
hay than they otherwise might normally be able to. Or

(03:29):
is it a dominant secondary that has incredible coverage that
gives the you know, the quarterback has to hold it
a second longer because you can't find anybody that's open.
So when you look at at sort of what I'm
trying to get to is Will Johnson didn't run his forty.
Everybody wanted him to run the forty. Everyone's talked about
the speed. They're not great. They just go back to
the twenty twenty three tape. It's a no brainer that

(03:50):
he's the number one corner in this in this draft. Obviously,
coach Harbaugh and Jesse men Aer won a national championship
with him. Again, Steve Clinkscale won a national championship with him.
But that's sort of a little bit of a buzz
right now, is you know he's talking about, oh, I'm
not quite ready, and then he does his pro day
so close to the draft that I just, you know,
not quite feeling right yet. And everyone's saying when you

(04:11):
look at him, it looks like maybe he's, you know,
a four or five guy, four five five guy like
kind of in that range, and that may be why
he's not running. So I bring it up because if
Will is there or and I just and even if
let's just expand it beyond that, let's shave. Let's say
Baron's there. Because he's a smaller guy, he's not going
to fit into every system. He would certainly fit into

(04:34):
two jesse Minner's system. I think, right, I play more
zone than anywhere, they play more quarters than anywhere. But
how would corner if that's the direction they go, if
it's Harrison, if it's if it's yeah, I think those
are probably the top three.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, it's not a heavy I was not a heavy
pet corner draft.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
So if that's the ship, that's the choice.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Let's say one of those guys is there, Juliel kind
of how walk us through how that helps this defense
when everyone's just so focused on the trenches. But if
they feel like, hey, this is a number one corner
and that's a premium position and a premium player and
we're getting it at twenty two.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, I said a couple of weeks ago, I liked
Will and we didn't think that he'd be there. So
I will say that, you know, Harball, just with Junior
Colston last year. He likes his guys, right, he knows
his family, he recruited them, knows them from a pup
And you said it, so, how does the pass rush
and how does the coverage work together? Defensive coordinator in
twenty seventeen by the name of Gus Bradley would always

(05:29):
harp on defensive meetings, rush and cover work together. Right,
There's gonna be some games where the defensive linement are
on fire and we're struggling to cover. But like you said,
they're getting there before that quarterback can get that second
pat off, that second readoff and he's hit.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
And there's been time where I was covering somebody, or
we watched film and Casey or another dB was covering
somebody and they were open.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
May have been misscommunication, poor technique, but they didn't get
the ball out because of the pass rush got there, right,
And the same thing with us that sometimes we were
only rushing in our defensive lineman weren't getting home.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
But what were we doing.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
We're playing really really sticky coverage on the back end,
which allowed them to get, you know, us, an extra
pass move, run, an extra to stunt, run, an extra
t game with the tackle in the end, and then
it frees them up and it gives them just that
one second, right, game of inches one second, and then
we get that sack.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
So rush and cover work together.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
And when you're talking about just taking a corner, I
would say, listen, will I think he's a number one
corner in the draft. Everybody does when you're when you're
when you have tattle like him, there's no need to run, right,
because all you're gonna do is hurt your stock. Right,
everybody knows you turn on the tape. He's a football player,
he's a shutdown corner. He has a knack for the ball,
and I think drafting him to the charges will be
a really, really, really good asset for us right now.

(06:42):
Obviously the offseason acquisitions were more veterans, right, we don't
have a true like lockdown, shutdown number one corner like Hey,
this week you're following him.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
This week, you're following him. We don't have that.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Right now with the Chargers overall as a group, a
really good group, really solid group, a lot of guys
that can play different positions inside, outside, So I'm not
mad at that pick. I even suggested a few weeks ago.
I just don't know if Will will be there. Baron,
he can play more of that. He's a smaller guy.
Like you said, he can play outside, but I kind
of see him more of like a nickelback, right. He

(07:17):
has a shorter statue, he can blitz. He can a
lot of teams like to do cos which has changed
the strength motion right, put the nickel to the field,
jet sweep motion across. He has no time to motion over,
so they bump him into the box. And now he's
in the run fit as a linebacker, and he has
that build you know, where he can fill those gaps.
He can see the guards pulling and get down and dirty.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, it's look, corners are wild, right, I mean you
got guys like Porter that are six three, one hundred
and ninety eight pounds and are running four three forties
out there, and then you know you look at Baron
and he's a five ten and a half maybe five
eleven guy, but he brings some thump. He's got great instincts.
We talked about Harriston and his four three forty. A

(07:59):
lot of people love Trey Amos and what he did
at On. I'm just kind of going through the list
that's right in front of me now, so it certainly
feels strong at the top, but just to build out
on the corner thing, right, I think I think they
can get a solid corner in the second round. As
I'm kind of looking at this list. You know, the
Thomas from Florida State. Obviously his DC is now the
safety's coach for the charges. I know there were some

(08:21):
current concerns about his his speed, but he's he's got
the measurables. I want to pull up what his forty was.
I don't think, yeah, he didn't run it, but he's
you know, six two with thirty almost thirty three inch arms.
I mean, he's just freaking mothro out.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
And it's crazy you say that the NFL fell in love,
you know, like back in the day they were wanted short, quick, right,
you know, real agile cornerbacks. But when the Richard Sherman
era came along. They fell in Brian Browner. You remember
those guys. They were six four six y three long levers,
get their hands on you. They don't give you much
room at the line of scrimmage, right, And the NFL
fell in love with that kind of you know, mantra, right,

(08:59):
and that's what they continue to like, like big corners,
like guys who can go up and.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
Attack the ball.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
So every system is different, right, And it's like being
a baker, right, everybody has their own way of doing things,
and everybody has a different system and their own way
of doing things and what they like and attributes some guys.
So it's tough, man, it's it's it's tough to project
what's gonna happen. A lot of times you have an idea,
but like you said, next week will be very interesting.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
The other development in the backfield is that the Jags are,
I mean the Miami Dolphins are shopping Jalen Ramsey and
you know, I know for I look, I do I know, No,
I'm assuming Derwin James has already made that call to Joe.
That's all day that, I mean all day. He has
been desperate to play with his friend Jalen Ramsey.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
His team been doing that.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
I was there forever figure out a way to get Jalen,
figure out a way to get Jalen. It's a big number.
He still had a solid He's still one of the
best corners in the league. But I bring it up
because could I see happening? And yeah, they have the money,
it's you know, it's a one year deal, and it's
an elite player that you add to an elite group.
But as someone that coached in training camp, you know,

(10:10):
these defensive backs with that, with that group, with coach
O'Leary and coach Clean Scale and coach Minter and all
those guys, Julil, is it do they need? Like does
this defense need an elite shut down corner or did
we kind of see sort of the magic of this
defense last year with guys like Tarheeb and Christian Fulton
and Cam Hart all playing at a high level, you know,

(10:33):
and even in the secondary at the safety position, with
you know, Elijah Molden turning into it and a really
impactful player after not necessarily being viewed as one in Tennessee, Like,
how would you does that make sense? Like how would Jones. Yeah,
talk about building this secondary. When you're committing resources, high
draft picks money, do you need to do that or
is there something about what coach Minter and these coaches

(10:55):
do that allow fifth round picks like Tarheeb and Cam
Hart to really shine out there?

Speaker 3 (11:00):
You know? And we touched on it, like, hey, this
with injuries and free agents and moving guys around and
shuffle them inside the outside, do they need I don't
think they need, right, But if they want to get
over the hump right that first round, that second round
and deep into the playoffs and the super Bowl, which

(11:21):
is everybody's goal, I think they do, right.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
I think they do.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Because, like we know, there's a lot of injury and
it's one hundred percent injury rate sport, and we don't
know what next season holds as far as injuries.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Knock on wood.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
But when you have a guy like Jalen Ramsey, when
you have a shut down corner, you can game plan.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
You can focus on so much other stuff. Right.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
You can say, hey, listen, Jalen, you're gonna play boundary.
You're going to take away the X. We can roll
coverage to the field, we can double, we can squat
the field. There's so much more you can do when
you have a shutdown corner versus, hey, right now we
have you know so and so they have a really
big threat at our receiver. We got a game plan
to have safety still over top pier. So now we're
losing leverage on one side. It's just there's a lot

(12:00):
of moving pieces that you have to do, which the
Chargers do really well as we've seen, right, they do
that really well. But if you have a shut down
corner like a Ramsey or like a Patrick's are ten
in the league. Those that makes a defensive coordinator to
sleep well that night because he's not game planning so
much like a big umbrella. Right, It's more so, hey,
you take care of their number one, and then we'll

(12:22):
shift and move coverages to different looks, different formations that
we've seen in tendencies that we've seen throughout the week
and throughout the season.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
The thing with Ramsey too, for me, like I just
I pulled up the I forgot what the exact number was,
but you know, eight targets, seven catches, one hundred and
twenty two yards, a touchdown, six first downs along of
forty one that's Nico Collins in the wild card game,
like you have that Will Johnson, you know, the Jalen Ramsey,
and you can just say, hey man, we are not

(12:51):
afraid of anybody else.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Exactly, this is this is number one.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
We got to keep an eye on CJ's legs, and
we got to keep an eye on Nico and outside
of that.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
And look, they did it. They did it for a half.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
They did it for almost two and a half quarters,
you know, into the middle of the third and then
finally it's just like at.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Least players you've seen the breakthrough.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, elite players are elite players, and they they will
shine in the postseason. So I plant that here and
then over here, I'm going to contradict myself a little bit.
I think and talk about the division and what's the
easiest path to the playoffs. Winning your division, you're going
to play six games against the Raiders, against the Broncos,
and against the Chiefs, and Raiders no longer have DeVante Adams,

(13:33):
Kobe Myers. You know, they're talking about drafting Ashton Gent
maybe they draft t Mac. I don't know if there's
a number one receiver out there for them to put us.
So you don't have a number one receiver. There you'll
go the Broncos Courtland Sutton very good, very very good.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
But I wouldn't call him a number one.

Speaker 4 (13:47):
But he doesn't scare you. That's what I know where
he is. But it's not like you just game planning it.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
It's not Nico Collins. It's you know.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
And then you go to the Chiefs and you know,
I know he had a solid first season. I'm just
not crazy, like I just don't Xavier Worthy. He's got
the speed, but there's you know, if you had a
Jagger again exactly. So it's like, so how then I
then I try to figure out, Okay, how do you
when when you know that the Raiders are probably going

(14:17):
to be a pretty physical team. You know, Sean Payton
likes to be physical and at the line of scrimmage
and there it's all about him taking Omari and Hampton
and and trying to get a little more bully in
them as well. And it's more of just a short
passing sort of accuracy game with he and bow Nicks.
And you know, Kansas City is just I don't know
how to describe Kansas City, right, It's like it's just

(14:37):
it's whatever.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Patrick Mahomes wants to make it and it's always great.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
So yeah, So that's what I'm getting at, Like, do
you draft is drafting a number one corner? Are you
drafting for the division or are you better off drafting
that defensive tackle, because we got to look at what
happens when Mahomes gets put under pressure immediately. You saw
it in the Super Bowl. You know, we've seen it
in multiple games. You know what happens to bon Nicks
if you getting his lap right away because he wants

(15:02):
to get that ball out so quickly. Well, now you're
speeding up that clock even more. And then obviously, in
the case of Vegas, I don't even know what they're
gonna look like, but you know what I mean. Like,
that's what I'm trying to figure out. If you're drafting
for the division, does it make sense to take use
a premium pick or use twenty plus million dollars on
Jalen Ramsey or Will Johnson or Johnny Barron or Hairston

(15:23):
or whoever it may be.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
I'm a dB and I'm gonna go detackle. It's just
what it is. Right, you're talking about run. He's talking
about creating a new line of scrimmage. You're talking about
forcing teams to play behind the sticks. What is played
behind the sticks mean anytime that a team can get
three or four yards on first down, they're playing ahead
of the sticks. First down, if you can get a run,
tackle for loss. Now they're playing behind the sticks. It's

(15:45):
second and twelve, second and thirteen. That's defensive coordinator salivate
because now their playbook is at their disposal. Then you
talk about pass pass rush right, and then we talked
about Patrick Mahomes and how he likes to escape through
the B gaps. Right, there's an a gap right in
between the center and the guard. Then there's the B
gaps right, and he likes escaping the B gaps, make

(16:05):
plays with his feet, act like he's gonna run, toss
it downfield. Defensive tackle, a very elite defensive tackle takes
that away. And then once again it's Jesse Minner's scheme.
It's a lot of zone zone eyes.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Right.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, you're matching your body on a number, you're matching
your body on a guy, but you can your eyes
are on the quarterback. You're reading the quarterback. They call
it ninety nine nine ninety percent of the time your
eyes are on the quarterback.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
You're leaning and moving to wherever he's looking. So listen.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
I would love an elite, elite cornerback, but I think
as a need as somebody who would impact the game
detac You can never go wrong with the trenches. You
can never go wrong with a d tackle. You can
run so many fancy coverages behind. You can do smoke
and mirrors behind that defensive line with your linebackers and
your back seven, right, And I think that's the route
I would go if it's do or dying.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, and it's it's a pass rushing d tackle. You know,
it's not the Kenneth Grant can't rush the passer. But
that's not his specialty. He's you know, he's just a
massive human being. He moves with freakish athleticism for being
three hundred and thirty pounds. But at the same time,
you're talking more of your Derek Harmon's, you know, Walter
Nolan's are projected. You just kind of see the way

(17:18):
Walter explodes off the ball and gets into the backfield,
even though not necessarily the production numbers are there, but
certainly sort of on that front. And in the next round,
you're maybe talking about an no More Norman Lot out
of Tennessee. It was really just kind of a designated
pass rusher as a d tackle, which really is what
Morgan Fox was to some degree.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
You know, you're right, So that's sort of.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
What you know a lot of Like I said, so
many people have sort of So here's here's what I'm
getting at. Like I'm looking at a figure if we
just run like these mock draft simulators and we just
do defense only so many because I've said repeatedly, I
do think if Colston Lovelin's there, he's such an elite
prospect that he would end up being the pick, even
though they signed you know, Tyler Conklin and they have
Will Disley. It's just to me that is looking at it. Yeah,

(18:02):
it's just he's so good. He's so big, athletic, strong,
great at the catch point, great after catch. It's the
old it's the cliche with a tight end.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
He's too fast for linebackers, he's too big for defensive backs.
There's nothing you can do, just nothing you can do.
So but if we just focused on defense, and like
right now, I ran it and Grants off the board,
and I think Harmon's off the board.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
So you've got see I think is Harmon off the
board here? He is not. So we've got Walter Nolan
there do they where do they have? Geez?

Speaker 2 (18:38):
They got Derek Harmon ran forty second on this thing,
so out of way. Sorry, I'm all out of this thing.
So let me see if I can. So you have
Walter Nolan, You've got I guess technically you could put
edge into that mix a little like they have Omar
Norman lot. Like I just mentioned this, this is what's
so weird, and I think, sorry for going all over.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
The just go well, it's just people.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
I think people pay so close attention to these sort
of rankings and just view them as okay, this is absolute.
This is one person's opinion or two persons, two people.
So just remember when you're looking at PFF and you're
looking at their big board and you see Derek Harmon
as all the way down at forty two. Will understand
there are teams in the NFL. I know for a

(19:28):
fact there are teams in the NFL that have him
as a top twenty rated player. So if you feel like, oh,
I was looking at PFF and they have him at
forty two, the Chargers really reached to get Derek Harmon
a No, he's just way up per their scouts and
their evaluation. He's got a grade that's considerably higher. So
it makes these exercises, these mock draft sort of, these

(19:50):
mock drafts a little bit weird compared to what.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
That's a great point that you make, because a lot
of times in the draft you see a guy go
and then you'll see people like, but they chose him
at fifteen, like he had a third round grade or
a second everybody's different, like I said, like some people,
everybody's scouting department, everybody's personnel department.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
Rates guys at differently, and we would never know what
that is.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Right, So with the mock draft, like you said, it's
one or two guys' opinions, but those opinions really aren't valid.
Those opinions really aren't concrete. It's their job, it's what
they're supposed to do. So, like you said, if you
see a guy off the board that goes way earlier
than you would think they would go, or way earlier
than Mel Copper would think, or to Todd McShay would think,

(20:36):
it's because they've the front office has done their due
diligence and they feel like he fits their scheme really well.
They've done a background check, they love his personality, and
they just or they love his upside.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Right.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
So it's like, I just can't wait for next week
because once a year in and year out, you're going.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
To have those three or four picks, even in the.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
First round, first two round, where people are going to
be scratching their head, and then come a year or
two later, the statedum was full of his jerseys.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, I mean, look, I would say, just look at
the last two years on both sides of it. You know,
last year's first round pick number five. Overall, there were
a number of people out there that were like, oh,
it's too tall.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
I'm worried.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Man, he's tall, and I just I'm uncomfortable draft in
a six foot eight tackle that high and you know,
and the Chargers were like, no, we're good with it,
you know. But there were people that were like, oh,
I'd rather have Latham, he's a little more physical. I'd
rather have Fuaga, he's a little bit more of a
That was the conversation. I would trade down Joe, and

(21:34):
now look where we are, you know, Chargers were right.
Go back a year before that when they drafted Q,
and people were like, oh wow, that's that's early for Q.
I had him, you know, behind Jordan Addison and Zay
Flowers and Dalton Kincaid and Sam Laport and all these guys.
And it's like, well, yeah, but whoever was in the
front office, that was their evaluation. They evaluated Q that

(21:55):
they had him ahead of those guys or else they
would have taken them. And you know, still time for
him to prove that he can ultimately become better player,
a better player than any of those guys that were
taken behind him. But it works both ways. And that's
just you know, every board is different, and that's why
teams want to trade up, and that's why teams want
to trade back because of just how they have all

(22:17):
those things individually rated. So just again, omar Norman lot
he's a fun watch man. He is you want to
talk about. I don't know who the D line coaches
at Tennessee, man, but those guys Julil they got just
watching James Pearce and Norman Lott, I have not seen
they're just get off. I haven't seen guys. Time the

(22:39):
snap so it's like watching Warren sap Man. It's just
like hike bang, Yeah, the tackle doesn't even know or
the guards don't even know what the hell's going on,
and Lot's already got a step on them. And same
thing with Pierce, like they time it up so well.
But Norman Lot, he didn't play any rundowns, like none,
never out there.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
It's all pass.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
It's the weirdest and he is so he was so good,
so they have him at twenty seven. Meanwhile, Derek Harmon
led the nation in pressures quarterback pressures, is a defensive
tackle and helped guide Oregon do an undefeated record, and
they got him down at forty two. It's just so
it's just weird the way that it all works. So
if I were to I'm just going to do this exercise.

(23:19):
If I were to take a dtackle in the first round,
like we talked about, and I think, you know, why
not take either Harmon or Nolan, the two explosive pass
rush guys. Let's just I always go with Nolan. So
I'll just mix it up here and take Harmon and
then just see kind of how the rest of the
draft plays out. When we get to corner in that
second round. You know, you have some interesting players here.

(23:42):
You got Benjamin Morrison from Notre Dame who had the injury.
If he doesn't have the injury, he's probably going in
the first round. I talked about Darien Porter. Here's your tools,
you know your traits. Guy four to three, eleven foot broad,
you know, forty inch vertical and he's six foot three,
two hundred and he's played cornerback for So here's the

(24:03):
thing about Porter, this is an interesting one.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
I'll get you.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I want to get your take on this. So last
year he plays twelve games, two hundred and three coverage
snaps and he allows zero touchdowns, three interceptions. That's his
year at Iowa State. It's his first year playing corner.

(24:25):
First year, so there's not a lot of reps. And
that's kind of what everybody's he's he was a wide receiver,
so he's Richard Sherman. He's he's Richard Sherman at Stanford
ninety percent tile in height and length. He is a
track athlete as well, but sixth year player, so he's

(24:50):
twenty four already.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
And he's a.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Guy that blocked three punts too, by the way, So
he's he's a special team's freaking studs. So how like
where how do you reconcile all of that? Like, okay,
we don't have a lot of tape. He's playing in
the Big twelve, Like what do you like? What would
you do with a with a traits sort of good

(25:14):
production but just one year? How concerned would that make
you to use a premium pick kind of guy like that?

Speaker 4 (25:19):
So I'm not when you say premium we talk round?
Are we talk second round?

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Second round pick? You know?

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Look, last year second rounder was Lad mccacky. Year before that,
second rounder was two Lee, So you know how important
those second round picks are.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Man, And it just it all depends on what cornerbacks
are left right, It's not a heavy cornerback draft. What
that being said, It's all about does the front office
feel like, does Jim Harbaugh feel like? Does Jesse Minner
feel like with that blank canvas that he's he has,
can they mold him into somebody they feel like he
can be Like, hey, okay, so if he had two

(25:55):
more years of film doing that, he'd be a top
ten pig.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
Off of size measurable and his productivity. But he doesn't.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
But he's a guy that you know what you draft
in the second round, Like you said, special teams, guys
need to give you productivity on special teams.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
And then he's going to be a guy that he
can run with anybody.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
He has ball skills and he can basically track down
any big time receiver, any fast receiver in the league.
Now he has to understand technique which will be raw, right,
technique fundamentals which will be raw, which they would have
to harp on.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
In OTAs in training camp.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
But look, if there's not many guys that look like
him and sound like him, right as as far as
what he brings to the physical and the athletics side,
if those top three corners that we spoke about are
gone by the second round, which they could be.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Right, I think by pick fifty three of the y, yeah,
which they could be.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
He's just he's a he reminds me of kind of
like Tarik Wold in Seattle. Right, That's what popped up
in my head when you when you just mentioned all
those attributes about him.

Speaker 4 (26:59):
So I don't think it's not reaching at all. They're
not reaching at all.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
I think, look, I think it'd be it would probably
be viewed as a reach, you know, because of But
so I to me when I see like when I
see Walter Nolan and and I think about Walter Nolan
versus Derek Carmon, it's like, you know, so here's their
floors for those that are watching, you know, here's Derek
Carmon's floor, here's Walter Nolan's. Here's Walter Nolan's ceiling, here's

(27:26):
Derek Carmon's ceiling. And I think about, we're putting them
with Jesse min Er and Mike Elston. That's that's what
I was and that's the thing with right, So that's
what I'm thinking with Porter. It's like I'm putting him
with Cling Scale and Jesse Minner, And it's like if
you can take those tools and and just you know,

(27:47):
like because he showed it, but it's just a year,
and it's like, how, you know, how do you reconcile
one year of you know, of playing core man in
a possession that's all about feel and reps and because
you know, you've got to be able to see it
and if you can't see it, you're dead.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Yeah, most so that's why I asked, what was the pick?
What was the round?

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Right, So, yes, fifty five. So he's so like PFF
has him as their sixty fourth player. The Chargers have
picked fifty five.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
I think the Chargers would, I mean, the fan base
would probably be very upset if we don't go running
back at that pick or tight end or take that pick.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Right.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
So, yeah, don't hold me to it.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
We'll re visiting about a year from now and be
talking about.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
It if he was you know, a reach or not
for whoever grabs him.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, I mean you still have Jacob Parrish. I like,
no Williams out of cal He's more of a third
round prospect, maybe even like late third round. And then,
like I said, you've got the Benjamin Morrison you know
who Again, had he not had the injury, would probably
be in the conversation as you know, kind of the

(29:04):
hip injuries, it's a hip surgery, would probably be in
the conversation as being in that top three with those
other guys, you know, beyond obviously Trivis Hunters, you know,
don't know what to call him, receiver corner when.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
We think about that one second, what do you think
about that?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
I think it's great. Good for him, man play them,
play him and see how it goes. You know, that's
kind of the way I would approach it is I
didn't think there was any chance he was going to
be able to do it in Colorado. It's like, there's
no way he's going to do this, and he did,
and he did it at a very high level, you know.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
And it looks very effortless.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, so it's like why not you know, oh, you
can't do that in the NFL?

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Well, just try, you know, just yeah, try.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
It's or if you have him at wide receiver and
you only bring him in on third downs or past situations. Right,
something sprinkling earlier in his career because the playbooks are
totally different for those at home, Like that playbook looks
like those books stack behind me all together.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
You know.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
So I don't know about his learning curve, but it's
gonna definitely be a learning curve compared to what you know,
he had to consume at the college level on offense
and defense.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I mean, the one thing that I wouldn't do with
him is corner heavy only, Like I would absolutely lean
the other way just because you're on the you know,
you have a better chance to impact the game. I
think as a receiver especially on that team, you're immediately
their number one receiver and you're immediately someone that the
defensive courtner's like, oh man, this is a problem, yes sir,

(30:34):
so you know, and he's still a really good corner
as well. So like, I think that's but when I
hear people say, oh no, I'd rather just I'd make
him a corner and sprinkle him in on receiver stuff,
I'm like, yeah, I don't know if that makes us,
but whatever.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Yeah, So anyway, that's job.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
So let's do this. What did I did? I do
four rounds? Yeah, I did four rounds.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
So here we go. We'll take the corner. Well, we'll
take our big swing, our home run swing on Darian
Porter in the sec and round and just give him
a clink and watch him do his magic. And then
when it comes to tight end and running back, here
we go. My guy's still there in the third round. Bang,
I can take my Harold Fannin, my one of my
favorite players, look like your former teammate gatesy out there

(31:15):
the way he plays and you just can't figure out
why this guy is getting open.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Why I don't know, Antonio Gates is just open.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
That's what happens. It's how it works. At running back,
I still have let's see, who do we have available
at running back? We still have Travis's brother Trevor.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
At the end.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
That's a little little rich for him. Wow, running backs
really went off the board. Harvey's gone, Scataboo's gone, Dylan
Sampson's gone. Wow. Geez, all these quarterbacks, guys about Damian Martinez,
all like him out of Miami. Dj Giddens I like
out of Kansas State. Devin Neil's fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
He wrecks the dudes. So I would be more apt
to take And let's see wide receiver. This is probably okay.
So Jalen Royal still there, Kyle Williams is still there,
So you're still in good shape for receiver too. So
I think I think that just you know, whichever whatever,
I'll just I'll pick. I'll take Kyle Williams here. Yeah,

(32:12):
I'll take Kyle Williams. And then we'll see if like
the gunner helms and those guys are are left in
the fourth round, and if we can get our tight
end there and let's see tight end we've got.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Oh wow, they really screwed me on this.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
No gunner Helm Mitchell Evans is still there.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
Back to the drawing board.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Money, Yeah, here we go. How about running back? What
do we got? Wow?

Speaker 2 (32:34):
These guys flew off the board. That's what makes this
kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
It's like, all right, well you're gonna go that's how
it goes.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, you assume you're just gonna be able to say, hey, oh,
by the way, J J.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Pegeese went to pick ahead of this.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
That's a fun one, dude, if you want to kind
of dial up some some YouTube videos.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Piggies from Ole miss.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
He he's a squatty defensive tackle and a good player,
really good player defensive tackle. But they line him up
as a direct snap guy. And wow, not only does
he take the direct snap and plow through the line,
he will take the direct snap and Ladani and Tomlinson it.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
And he will leap over the line and you.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Just see these linebackers like no, yeah, that's a business
that's a business decision. It is hilarious to watch. I
don't know how many touched it, but I mean he
picked up. I mean every single one of these short
yardage direct snaps. I watch every single one.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
I don't doubt it.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Every single one and they got him in the So
that's what's And like I was thinking about it, I
was like, man, the Geese is like a big time
Charger guy when they think of last year. I wish
I could remember the stat but I pointed out the
Chargers lined up with.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Four.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Let me think, if I have it right, I think
it was no, no, no, So you have all five offensive lineman. Yeah,
I think it was eight. The Chargers lined up with eight,
at least eight players who weighed at least two hundred
and sixty pounds. Let's just say it was the most

(34:16):
in the NFL. And it was like seventy five times.
The next team. I wish I could pull up this steat.
Darned I had it in one of the games. The
next team was like Baltimore with three because they had
Tucker Fisk who was two sixty five, Matt Lock in
the backfield, all five offensive linemen, and Will Disley. So
you had those eight players on the field that were
at least two hundred and sixty five pounds, Right, And

(34:40):
then I think about Pegez and it's like, cause you know,
for whatever it's worth, I get the sense that Herbert
doesn't really like sneaking the ball, you know. I just
I feel like that's, you know, not something that you
know some court like Phil didn't like doing it.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
You know, Phil didn't. He did not let some players
like it. Some players don't.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
So it's like, hey, those sneaks, those quarterbacks get teed
off on.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
That's what I mean, because they know it's your chance.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
I used to Oh, QB sneak. I love it.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
That's what people don't realize, Like, what's this problem? Tell them?
I can't tell them, Julie, why don't they like it?

Speaker 3 (35:13):
I mean, it's your chance to tee off from the
quarterback without getting a penalty, Like you can hit him
in the neck, back, shoulder, helmet decal. You're not getting
a penalty because you're fighting for an inch. So it's
like everything goes and the quarterbacks know that. They know that.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, So to me, it's like, Hey, draft Pigee in
the fourth round, man, and just freaking tell Herbert you're
good dude. Hey the geese get in there, man, let's
go that.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
I just that'd be a toush push in a half.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
It's not even a toush push.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
It's a get the hell out of my way here
because here comes my tush, you know, here comes my
uh let me get what it's measurables are, here comes
my six two, three hundred and twenty five pound body.
Oh my god, it is so fun to watch man,
and it just to me. It's like this guy is
made for Jim Harbaugh and his made for Greg Roman.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
So there you go. That's so we're on the clock.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Here are four of the round I would have taken
pigise had had he been there. What the hell, I'll
take two defensive tackles in the first four. You are
u uh, there's boy.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeh boy. Let's go to what what did I take
the wide receiver? I think I did? Ye, yes, I did.
I took the wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
So I'm looking at tight and let's see what's there anyway, whatever,
not important, that'll do it.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
That's fun. And with Pogisee, everybody, that's your homework. Go
uh back.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
Literally when we get off, I'm looking him up.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
I gotta check him.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Out off the YouTube and just just jj it's p
e g u e s pronounced peggise Uh p e
g u e s. Just whatever search on YouTube JJ
Pegisse direct snap Man have some fun. Jealous that you're
gonna see it. I keep going back and I'm like,
I can't get enough of this. It's so good. All right,

(36:57):
Well that again, Well I think that'll do it. Just
there's you know, we've kind of been talking in circles
a little bit because we're just waiting. Man, we're a
week away one. Yeah, and by the way, next week,
we'll do the pod after the draft. Obviously we're not
going to do it before, so we'll wait till the
end of the first round. We'll do it late, same
thing on Friday. We'll knock that out as well after

(37:18):
the Friday draft, so we'll get you to next week
to cover those first three rounds.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
And it's fun.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Man, really enjoyed it, Julil everybody check out JJ Piggy's
that's a fun watch and uh yeah, and we'll be
back again next week.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Appreciate you, everybody, both out
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