May 25, 2023 • 44 mins
Matt "Money" Smith and Chris Hayre discuss the latest developments surrounding running back Austin Ekeler (00:28), how the duo of Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack feel like they have unfinished business (16:49), and the newest NFL rule changes coming in 2023 (33:43).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up Doc.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up? Guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of
Chargers Weekly, as always, joined by Matt Bunny Smith. Excuse
my white background here as I move and get settled
into this new office, But as Buddy alluded to, my
WiFi is much better. So I think that's the win
of the day. We're gonna get into what Joey Bosa
(00:31):
and Khalil Mack had to say during day one of
OTA's also a lot of new items on the agenda
with regards to the owners, beatings but money. The lead
of the week is that Austin Eckler is coming back
to the Chargers this year, and I feel like over
the last several months we've spent a lot of time
wondering if that was gonna be the case. I think
(00:52):
there were certain times where we thought that it was
not going to be the case. But Austin is gonna
be in Powder Blue this year, and I think that's
a good thing for all involved.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I feel like it's right and step I'm by no
means trying to pat us on the back ourselves on
the back here, but it's right in step with what
we've been talking about for you know, since this whole
thing emerged, seemed like and it's weird to talk in
these sort of numbers as a lay person walking around
the United States, but we said, look, you add two
(01:22):
million bucks and this probably gets done. I thought maybe
it would be tack on a little extra and then
add a year a mutual option. So on that front,
I got it wrong a little bit. But I just assumed,
sort of knowing the history of the two parties and
how this conversation had been working over the last couple
(01:43):
of years, and what they had been trying to do
with Austin, and perhaps what he was receptive to and
what his agent was resistant to, I figured this was
going to be the resolution that we appreciate. You take
these millions of dollars, and I know their incentives, but
when you look at them, they're easily attainable incentives based
(02:03):
on what Austin has done the last couple of years.
The biggest one is total yards. It's I think eleven hundred.
He's just been way past that the last two years.
And ten touchdowns and he's been way past that the
last two years, so those should be attainable. He should
get all one point seventy five or two million bucks
of the incentives, and that's a win for him, you know,
(02:24):
instead of six and a half, you make eight and
a half million bucks. And then if things are going great,
you let him test the market and if there's something
more out there good for him, you earned it, go
get it. And if there's not, then I would assume
they'd gladly welcome him back on a team friendly and
sort of deal that he would be comfortable with.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I think this is an example of just the respect
level that the Chargers have for Austin Eckler, because they
they gave him a deal. First of all, they brought
him in a camp and he made the team and
he earned that. But when Melvin Gordon's deal went awry
and Austin kind of took the rain, they paid Austin
right and he over delivered frankly on that contract. And
(03:06):
now they're at a point where the running back market
is what it is. I think Austin found that out
over the last couple of months and the Chargers said, Okay, well,
this is what we're gonna do. So Tom Polisero reported this.
This is just the specifics of the incentives up to
one million dollars for total yards tiers eleven hundred to
sixteen hundred. He's going to get that, no problem. Six
(03:28):
hundred K for touchdowns ten to sixteen. You know, he's
exceeded that each of the last few years. That one
hundred and fifty k for the Pro Bowl. This is
the one thing that's kind of a looted Austin. Why
watch him get the Pro Bowl this year against one
hundred and fifty k. Right, So this is this is
nice for Austin and it allows us to now kind
of settle down and look at how Austin is going
(03:50):
to fit into this Kellen wore offense. And I think
there was so much uncertain uncertainly about the running back
position money during the draft. We're talking about v John
Robinson and maybe some other guys in the second or
the third round. Now we know Austin is going to
come back. He's going to get the line's share of
the touches in that backfield, and you hope that Joshua
Kelly or Isaiah Spiller or somebody can really establish himself
(04:13):
as that number two running back. But Kellen Moore and
seeing what he did with Tony Pollard, Austin has to
be excited, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And the key was this is such a great exercise
for people to apply to their own situations. Money is tricky.
You can never let it get personal. Business is business.
The parent is always going to try to get the
better end of the deal, and the child, if you
want to put it in those terms, or the employer
(04:43):
and the employer are always going to try to get
the best deal they can, regardless of how the other
side feels. And you just have to go into a
negotiation understanding that. It's why people tell you to never,
you know, take things personal. If you are in a
position to have an agent or a lawyer to negotiate
those deals for you, a lot of that isn't just
(05:04):
because they understand the complexities of a contract, but they
also prevent it from being personal. So you're not sitting
across the desk with someone that's telling you you're not
worth what you think you're worth. And they're not telling
you that because you're not worth it. They may be
telling you that because they want to save some money.
It's what they do. They have a bottom line, and
you have a thirst for as much as you can
(05:27):
earn and that's where things get tricky. So I was
happy to see that both sides never Melvin made it
personal when you know, and then it got personal for
Tom and the Chargers was there like, wait a minute,
we just offered you all this money. This is one
of the richest running back contracts, and it's not good enough.
And so they took it personal. And then Melvin took
(05:47):
it personal and a divorce was inevitable, and you saw
how that played out. And it's unfortunate because Melvin and
Austin made a great tandem. The power back that Melvin
was the do everything, can flex out wide, you know,
third down and line up in the slot and split
backfield with one guy as a receiving because Melvin could
(06:09):
catch the ball to and it's unfortunate that got sidetracked
because it got personal. So I commend both sides for
not making it as such. For Tom to say, if
you want to go explore the market and find a trade,
we understand. Go make as much as you can. And
for Austin to say, I appreciate them. They paid me
when they didn't have to, and I'm just trying to
(06:30):
maximize my playing career and my earning potential, and this
is how you come to this sort of resolution. You
were going to make six and a half million bucks.
Now it's likely you're going to make eight and a
half million bucks, and that's great. That's a win at
twenty eight years old. Is a running back eight and
a half million bucks is a win in the NFL.
Fair or not, it's the reality of what it is.
You are paid what the market will pay you. Hopefully,
(06:53):
I would love to see Austin have a huge year.
You know, you know him, you know Eckler. He's one
of our favorite guys. He's a great dude. He's great
with the media, he's great with the fans. He's a bust.
His tail to be in shape every year. He does
not cut any corners. He plays through pain, he plays
through injury. He's everything you'd want in a player. It's
(07:13):
just the market. You've got to make all You've got
to make two defensive ends, a left tackle, a right tackle,
a quarterback, wide receivers. You've got to make all those
pieces fit to feel the most competitive team possible. And
it goes back to what we said repeatedly through this
whole free agent and draft process. Chris it seems like
a lot of money. Two hundred and thirty million bucks
(07:35):
or whatever that cap number is. It gets real tricky
when you're in this When you're in this phase and
Bryce Callahan's out there and Leonard Floyd is out there,
and you've got players out there that you would love
to find a value on. That's that's where all of
this gets real tricky, and every five hundred grand to
a million dollars in a quarter of a billion dollar
(07:55):
salary cap begins to take on added significance.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I think the first step in the good faith was
Tom and Company allowing Austin to see what was out
there and allowing his agent to talk to other teams.
And then when you see how free agents shook out,
you see what Miles Sanders got at the Panthers. You
see guys who are still frankling on the sideline like
Kareem Hunt and Zeke Elliott, and there's countless guys that
(08:20):
are out there because the running running back position is
what it is right now. So the fact that he's back,
I think fans should be very, very excited about the
fact that Austin is gonna be in Kellen Moore's offense
and I looked at Tony Pollard's numbers because this is like,
that's like the best comparison I can really throw out
at this point because Kellen Moore and the year that
(08:42):
Tony Pollard had, he had over thirteen hundred yards from scrimmage.
He only caught thirty nine balls, but his yards per
reception nine point five of pop. He had a thousand
rushing yards and he had twelve total touchdowns. So, first
of all, that's gonna be in line with all those nceentos.
And the second, I want to kind of throw this
to you money because you know, Austin's yards perception were
(09:05):
low last year because of the fact that he caught
one hundred and one balls. He had twenty seven targets. Yeah,
when you see Quintin Johnson being drafted and Joshua Palmer
and Mike and Keenan and Gerald Everett, it seems to
me that they want to move towards getting the ball
down the field and maybe limiting some of those checkdown
throws to Austin. So I guess I ask you, how
(09:28):
do you think Austin's year is going to look different
in comparison to maybe the last couple of years where
he was relied upon so heavily.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, you know, for me, the one thing you really
have to pay attention to is justin Herbert and level
of trust. And you think about Keenan on third down.
You think about when things break down or maybe that
passesn't open down the field, how that there is an
implicit trust there for Austin to catch the ball behind
(09:59):
the line of scrimmage instead of losing three yards, turning
a second and ten into a third and six or
a third and five. So the one great thing justin
and what you typically see from big armed quarterbacks, and
to me, Aaron Rodgers is one of the most guilty
parties of this. And even though he is one of
(10:19):
the greatest quarterbacks to ever played the game, he's just
always looking for that kill shot. He rarely will take
that check down, and it gets his team in a
lot of trouble. And you especially have seen that in
high leverage games against really good defenses. Is his just
stubbornness and refusal to take to take a profit. You
(10:39):
can't go broke taking a profit, and he just refuses
to do that. One of the great things about Herbert
and one of the reasons why he separated himself as
one of these physical specimens with a giant hose that
can push it downfield. Is because he's willing to do that.
He has the processor, he has the ability to recognize
this is a good play. Yes, I want to I've
(11:01):
got the cannon to push at fifty yards down the
field and it's maybe a twenty to thirty percent success rate,
but this is one hundred percent. I know, Austin, I'm
gonna get the ball in his hands and we're gonna
go from second to ten, to third to third and four.
And now I can open up a variety, myriad possibilities
on third and four that I can on third and ten.
(11:22):
So I still think there's a lot of value. Even
though we feel like Kellen Moore is going to push
the ball downfield more is going to have we all
think it's going to be a better looking offense, you
know the and that's just based on you know what
he had. But I thought Kellen made a good point.
He's like, look that the offense I had in Dallas
was built for the team I had in Dallas, you
(11:43):
know the Remember he brought up the two tight ends
when they said were you surprised Charged didn't draft the
tight end. He said, well, the offense at Dallas looked
like that because we had two tight ends and that's
that's what we were using. Yeah, So you know when
you come here with Mike and Keenan and now Quinton Johnson,
with Josh Palm, if Geiden gets back and Gerald Everett,
and if you have two backs in the backfield, if
(12:04):
you're gonna play Josh and Austin at the same time,
or Spiller and Austin at the same whatever it may be,
and this look, this team could look different June first,
with all those cuts and with teams having new money
available or trying to trim some salary because it's post
June first and you can save a little bit of
money on dead cap and that sort of stuff. Who
knows what it's going to look like. But the one
(12:27):
thing I keep going back to Chris is we know
how valuable Boston is and what he is capable of doing.
I said it repeatedly. I have never seen someone turn
more what should have been negative plays, even into minimal
positive plays. How many times Austin was dead to rights
behind the line of scrimmage and it should have been
a second and thirteen and instead at second and eight.
(12:49):
He's so good at that. And anytime Justin Herbert had
a breakdown in the backfield, that's the guy he was
looking for. Much like on third down, he's looking for thirteen,
and much like those shot plays, he's looking for Mike Williams.
And so that's going to continue regardless of what offense
is installed.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Think about the differences going into twenty twenty three and
you hope you know all health being the number one
priority here, but Shaan Slater will be back at left tackle.
That's gonna help Austin. You add Quinton Johnston right. Mike
and Keenan were both hurt at different parts of the
year last year. So when you have your full complement
of weapons said, oh, by the way, you have Kellen
(13:29):
Moore call in the plays now, I think all of
that is going to kind of work in Austin's favor.
And obviously the offense is favor and I think you
have you just made a great point about the Austin's
uh just reliability, justin trust him. I remember the game
in Tennessee where Austin was out wide caught a deep
ball late in the fourth quarter, like you can use
(13:50):
Austin all over the field. You drafted Quintin Johnson because
of the size and speed Joshua Palmer in year three,
we know a keenan mic are capable of Gerald Everett,
Jaclink Iten coming back hopefully full strength and his speed.
So all of that being said, you have Justin Herbert
at the controls, and I think Justin having the familiarity
(14:11):
just another year with all of these guys, you know,
save for say for Quinton, that's just gonna bode well,
I think in general for the offense. So you make
a great point about too, it's not this one size
fits all. Kellen's gonna cater to the personnel on this
Chargers team. Last year they really relied on Pollard and
Zeke just smashing the ball. They didn't have Mark Cooper
(14:33):
last year. Ceedee Lamb was the future guy on the outside.
You know, we talked about Schultz. So he's gonna have
a whole new arsenal of weapons to work with, and
I'm really excited to see what he does with it.
And that's why people are so excited about OTAs and
who's out there and who's not. I heard I heard
some of the press asking you know, where was Mike
or where was Palmer? And you know, coach Deealey doesn't
(14:54):
have to answer those questions right now. He's like, listen,
they're all getting ready. But it's just it's funny that
we're in May and everybody is kind of like full
till ready for September.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Last thing I'll add on Austin. And I know there's
a lot of stuff to get to with OTA is
underway and all that, but is don't forget he's in
a contract year. This is someone who wanted to get
paid sixteen million bucks a year like Christian McCaffrey's getting paid.
Pointed to his production, pointed to his touchdown totals. This
is what I want, this is what I believe I'm worth.
And he's going to be motivated because he's got one
(15:25):
more crack at this. He's turning twenty eighth this year.
He's got a shot for a team that feels like
they're close and maybe has some cap room and has
a quarterback on a rookie deal. Let's say, you know which,
the Chargers technically still will be on a rookie deal,
but there will be teams out there that could say, okay, look,
we can afford to do this. We got a quarterback
who's making four million bucks a year instead of forty
(15:47):
five million bucks a year. Let's go give this guy
two three years thirty million bucks, two years twenty million
bucks to come in here and be that last piece
for us. So no doubt he knows that. His agent
knows that. So you're going to have a supremely motivated
and we know again I'll repeat it. I don't want
to keep talking in circles, so I'll just close it
with this. We know how howd he works, we know
(16:09):
how he refused to go down to first contact, we
know the production he's capable of. And now he's got
two million bucks in incentives, not to mention a free
agent walk year to motivate him. I suspect Austin is
going to have a sensational year. He's going to be
worth every penn. He's going to be worth every penny
of those incentives. And I will not be the least
bit surprised to see him lead the league in touchdowns,
(16:29):
lead the league in receptions by a running back, receiving
yards by a running back, and post a four to
four and a half yard per carry average. That will
not surprise me. I would be surprised if he didn't
hit those numbers.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And we don't have to talk about it anymore, right,
It's a four Memorial Days done right. Austin's coming back
and it should be exciting for Chargers fans. Two guys
who spoke earlier this week, Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack
and this was the Tanama year ago money we were
just salivating it seeing those guys on the field together
long period of time. Didn't work out that way. Khalil
(17:02):
did stay on the field, but Joey had some injury
issues and we didn't really get to see Joey and Khalil.
I think how everybody envisioned it in their heads. So
both of those guys back. Joey it's not something he
typically does in terms of ot is. I think he
came last year, but he's got a pretty strict regiment
with his brother down in Florida. He said that he
(17:25):
was asked by some coaches to come and he didn't
want to let Khalil down, so he showed up in
coast to Mesa and he had about a thirteen minute
presser Joey is always entertaining. He's great. What did you
take from what he had to say.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Well, going back to your initial point, Chris, just look
at the opener. Remember the opener. I mean I pulled
the box score right here. You've got four and a
half combined sacks, four combined tackles for loss, six combined
quarterback hits. That was Bosa and Khalil Mack against a
so so offensive line of the Raiders in the season opener.
(18:01):
You go to the next week against Kansas City and
both of them continued as they were both on the field.
Joey with a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits,
Khalil Mack with a sack, a tackle for loss and
a quarterback hit. That's what we had those first two
weeks before the injury occurred. So I thought Joey made
a really good point, and that is and it was
(18:23):
good to hear him say it, because we love Joey.
He's great. He's got a dry sense of humor. He
can be at times, he can sort of be aloof
but it seems as though it's orchestrated. It's part of
the personality. But I thought he was very sincere insane.
I came here because Khalil's here. Normally, I'm doing what
I do with Nick and my dad down in Florida.
(18:46):
And we all know Joey comes into camp ready to go,
but he specifically said, in not so many words, I
owe it to this guy. We were supposed to do
some great things last year, and I was gone after
week three, and at thirty two years old, went out
there week after week, every single play busting his tail
and again paraphrasing or maybe inferring what he meant to say,
(19:11):
let him down. You know, I let this I let it.
I let this team down. I let Khalil down, and
I owe it to him if he's going to be here,
to be here. And that's encouraging. It's OTA's they're walking around.
There's not a whole lot going on, but knowing Joey
prefers to be in Florida with his dad and with
his brother Nick, and that's how they like to get
ready for the season, to step away from that a
(19:33):
week early, to get back out here just to acknowledge
I appreciate you. I appreciate everything you did last year.
Let's make let's let's do what we started let's finish
what we started last year and and try to stay
out there for a full season and get after it.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Joey did not want to talk about the playoff game
or the past. Really understandable, but you know, I don't
blame him either. As a nightmare for him, well, it
was a nightmare form that night in Jacksonville really for
the entire defense, but Joey specifically down the especially Yeah,
but you go to that Week one game, man, Khalil,
I think he hit three of those four and a
(20:11):
half sacks. I'm not mistaken. So the just I think
when Joey leaves the lineup, how much of the focal
point is on Khalil Mack and just stopping him. We
didn't get to see it, unfortunately. I think drafting Tully
and Rump in year three, I think that's encouraging to
have those guys behind Bosa and Mac. But I ask
(20:34):
you a year older both of these guys, you know,
Joey going into his eighth season and Khalil you mentioned
thirty two plus, what are you expecting from those guys?
Should we expect this dominance from weeks one to seventeen
or do we have to taper expectations a bit based
on injury history and just the fact that really this
(20:56):
is a violent sport, right and you get seventeen weeks,
I don't know if you can rely onto all pros
pro bowler staying healthy the entire season.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
What I would love to see, and I had hoped
to see it last year, and we just did not
see it enough. I look at those first four weeks,
and we've talked about it, Chris, that this team has
got to put teams away. They've got to be able
when you've got those guys at their ages. With Joey's
injury history. You know, Khalil now a full year removed
(21:27):
from pretty serious back injury in Chicago that final year.
I think it was a back injury or maybe it
was a shoulder injury. Whatever it was, it kept him
out for a healthy portion of the year. In twenty
twenty one, put these teams away, you know, get up,
pour it on and let these guys rest in fourth
quarters at Tennessee, at Minnesota Raiders at home. That's something
(21:49):
they failed to do last year. Games they would ultimately win,
but there were just far too few of those games
where they got up big early and just a loud
team to hang around. The Houston game comes to mind.
You know, they're up big and then they just let
them creep back into the game instead of being able
to get a bunch of rest. Same with Cleveland. You
(22:09):
know they go down early and it's like, what are
we doing? Like they That to me is the next
step in the evolution. If they're going to win a
Super Bowl, they got to start dominating teams and resting guys.
You got a lot of older players on this team
now in Keenan and Joey and Khalil Derwin tends to
(22:29):
get nicked up throughout the course of the year because
of how aggressive and violent a brand of football he plays.
That's something that I want to see because I don't
think there's any way around it. If you continue to
play like the Chargers have in these close games that
come down to the final possession or the final you know,
four or five minutes of a quarter, it's inevitable. Guys
(22:50):
are playing too many snaps. It's not a deep defensive line.
We're already talking about a twenty year old rookie as
being the third edge rusher. Unless they can find something
out there on the free agent market, if Van Noy
comes back, if Leonard Floyd's a reality, you're you're talking
about a twenty year old rookie being the number one
guy behind Joey or Khalil when each of them want
(23:12):
to breather for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations,
that's a lot to ask. So the best way to
go about that is to go up three touchdowns in
the fourth quarter so they don't have to be out
there and they can get some rest.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah. Well, when you put it like that, just where
were you when you were twenty not the primary backup
to Khalil Mager, Joey Bosa? Right like right, Tool's gonna
I think Tools gonna be excellent. I really do. Khalil
said he's super quiet, but I think he's gonna be excellent.
Derek Hansley said he's wise beyond his years. But at
(23:46):
the same time, I do think twenty at least twenty
years late. Bringing another edge rusher, whether it's a guy
like Floyd or van Ney or whoever's out there at
this point that they think makes sense, is good. Nick
Williams being added to the to the rotation, just an
another body across the defensive line. I think that's encouraging,
but I don't think they're done at the edge position.
(24:07):
I agree with you. I think that there needs to
be another, maybe another addition there, just because you can't
fully rely on guys who are older if you don't
put teams away and like Philly is the perfect example.
Last year they put teams away, man and they got
to move on to the next game. Chargers need to
learn how to win and do those types of things.
And somebody asked Joey about just you know, the history
(24:29):
of the team and you know big moments and coming
up short and big moments, and he says, this is
a collective effort. Everybody has to talk about it and
believe that this is the team that can get over
the home So hopefully they do that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah. The one thing that and I think we all
know how much respect we have for the front office,
the incredible job they've done year after year and building
this team, hitting on draft picks and finding undrafted free
agents that contribute or late round pick Jamari Sawyer. We've
been talking about Austin Eckler. We're going to get into
(25:04):
the safeties. I'm sure a little bit Rahem Lane and
what he was able to do special teams wise and
getting out there for some snaps. They tend to find
it every year. But if I am, you know, just
gonna try to play it straight and be a little
bit critical, I'd just love to see them be I
don't know if aggressive is the right word, if creative
is the right word, but I just want to see
them sort of get a little more aggressive and get
(25:26):
after it. When you see, yeah, Jeffreya Kouda getting traded
for a fifth, DeAndre Swift getting traded for a fifth
or a six, whatever it is, I want to see
them get in on those deals, you know, get get
after it a little bit like some of these teams
that have these Super Bowl designs and say, yeah, fifth
ground pick could be nice, and it'd be you know,
(25:46):
two hundred thousand dollars, say, perhaps likely special teamer who
could work his way into a rotation. But that's DeAndre Swift.
You know, that's a dude. It's a potential thousand yard back.
That's a full service, three down back that played really
well last year when he was on the field. Jeff
Akuda was a number three overall pick that just had
to deal with serious injuries, you know, in Detroit and
(26:09):
couldn't quite get past it, and sort of the two
sides just needed a divorce in order to try to
get healthier. When I look out on the free agent
market and I see Yannick and Goakway and Leonard Floyd
and Marcus Peters, take a flyer, take a flyer on it.
Why not if Frank Clark figure out a way to
get creative, convert some salary to signing bonus. Let's get
(26:32):
these guys in here. If you really are chasing a
super Bowl, bring Bryce Callahan back, go get John Johnson.
Like that's That's what I'm waiting for. That to me
is the next step of recognizing this is our window.
Our window is right now, and we have got to
push all of our chips into the middle. These aren't
(26:54):
development inhibitors. These are legitimate rotation players that can help
us win. Now, I say that, and I understand there
are two sides. Those players may say and Tom may
have already called and said, wait, Leonard, we'd love to
have you. We've got two and a half million bucks,
and him saying, Eh, i'mna wait. I'm gonna sit this
(27:15):
one out. I'll wait to see if somebody goes down
in training camp and if I can get myself five
million bucks instead of two and a half, which is fine,
and that's understandable. But I think just overall some of
the trades that happened, some of the Denzel Mims is
a guy that we talked about forever, like I just
go pluck that guy for a fifth or a sixth rounder.
You look at the receivers they've signed, the receivers they've drafted.
(27:36):
That guy's not gonna be on that Jets team. He's
in the last year of his rookie deal. I get that,
Go get them, Go get him, take a flyer on him,
Trade a seventh round pick, trade a sixth round pick
for him, and just go get him and see if
that's somebody else to add to the mix, to just
get more vertical with this team. That's the sort of
stuff I'm waiting to see and would love to see
(27:56):
from this front office with some of the players that
are available, specifically along that defensive line. Yeah, because and
that's sort of what spurred it. Chris is just thinking
about You've got Bosa Khalil Mack and the next guy
behind him is tull, a twenty year old that you
just drafted. That's got to get resolved. That there has
(28:16):
got to be some sort of you know, some something
has got to be sorted out there, and it needs
to happen probably a little bit sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think that they, you know, you go back to
the last couple of years, I think that we've started
to see signs of them going forward. When you signed
Corey Linsley the best center of football, you're going for it.
When you signed j C. Jackson too, that record money
they were going for last year, you trade for Khalil Mack.
So you hope that the fruits of some of those
decisions will will will bear this year with JC coming
(28:49):
back Week one, with Khalil being able to operate as
Khalil Mack, with Joey Bosa on the other side, Corey
has been a rock. You know, he had some injuries
bang up a little bit this year, but you know,
Corey's at.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
The top of you I guess you know what, Chris,
That's why maybe aggressive isn't the right word, because you're right, yeah,
they have been aggressive. They made Corey the highest paid center,
the second rounder for Khalil. I think what I'm getting
to is creative, like, just pick up the phone and
let's start. Let's start calling around. Let's let's look at
some of these rosters and figure out where is their excess.
(29:23):
Where might we be on the margins? Where can we
get creative on the margins? To me, the Eagles plucking
DeAndre Swift the second they recognize they signed Montgomery Jamir
Gibbs's draft that, Hey, boom, let's call what are you
doing with Swift? What do you got? Fifth rounder? Great?
Let's go who is available?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Penny? You know, doing those little things. They traded for
A j. Brown the year before. I think just continuing
to keep get creative, your foot on the gas right
throughout the year too, you know. And you just go
back to the Rams a couple of years ago when
they traded for Von Miller and Odell Beckham, and you know,
the first three weeks, oh is this gonna backfire? And
then they hit their stride and they won a Super Bowl? Right,
(30:05):
So I think that they have so much talent on
this team money. I'm one hundred percent with you get creative.
Say hey, we need that third edgresser that's a veteran
to protect ourselves in case Joey or Khalil goes down
and has to miss some time. I think they did
that at the wide receiver position with with Quinton and
having Keenan and Mike there and seeing Josh Palmer's development corner.
(30:26):
You know, the way that that Zon came on last
year and Michael Davis came on. If you get j C.
Jackson back and you bring Bryce Callahan, all of a sudden,
you're you're cooking in the secondary. You know, we know
what Derwin is. We talked a lot in depth about
the safety position last UH last week with Jalil, about
Gilman and just how J. T. Woods needs to come
(30:47):
on with three. But there are things to be done
right and who knows if it's a if it's another
running back, you know, if Zeke Elliott is there and
Kellen Moore knows him and he ain't gonna cost much,
I mean, who knows. Bring creative in, you know, get
creative and stay aggressive. I think that's the that's kind
of the model of this year because it's not just
by getting to the wildcard run. You have to win
(31:09):
a couple of games this year.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
In the playoffs, no doubt, no doubt, team's ready to
win a Super Bowl. Yeah, that's that's just you know,
and you have to the front office has to respond
to that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
If you're you're getting better, you're getting worse. Very few
teams plateau because everything around you is changing. Are the
Chiefs getting better? They getting worse? Are the Broncos getting better?
Getting worse? Are the Raiders getting better? Are they getting worse?
Are you getting better? Are you getting worse? Easiest way
into the postseasons to win the division? Look at the division?
How do we stack up? What do we need to
stack up better? You know, you probably got to go
(31:44):
at Patrick Mahomes in waves, right, You've got to get
after You've got to be able to put thirty points
up against the Chiefs. You're not going to win the game, right,
So let's make sure the offense can score thirty against them,
and let's make sure the defense has enough depth where
we can come and wait and we can chase him
down snap after snap after snap so he does not
get a breather. And that's something that that need, I
(32:08):
believe still needs to be addressed on the edges, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
And you know what, maybe after June first, we'll have
a little bit more clarity and you're hunt right. Maybe
they called Leonard Floyd. Andy said, hey, what do you think?
And he says, well, I want to wait it out
a little bit. I got some of the teams calling.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So there's a lot of moving parts here. He remember
we talked about this before. The guys like van Ney
and Morgan Fox were signed after the draft in twenty
twenty two. So buddy, we'll end here the the onerous meetings.
Some interesting things going down there. Do you want to
start with this special teams rule because it's it's I
(32:44):
can't imagine special teams coordinators are too thrilled with what's
going to take place this upcoming season.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Well certainly negates drafting Darius Davis, you know, and the
right to use a fourth rounder and pay a premium
on a returner when you recognize, no matter where they
drop that ball, that would be my And this is
where it's going to be interesting for coach Ficking. And
this is where offensive coordinators get in trouble. And when
(33:14):
you run the ball for five yards a clip and
you're an effective offense and you're winning games, and now
all of a sudden, you're OC wants to a little
creative and throw the ball around, because hey man, nobody's
gonna be talking about me if we're just running the
ball and winning games twenty four to eighteen. So I've
got I got to put some sizzle in there, and
that's how you end up losing games. So for coach Ficking,
it's going to be interesting to how he's gonna want
(33:35):
to approach it because to me, give me the ball
to twenty five every time, Yeah, give me the ball
twenty I am not returning.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
For people that don't know. For you to react with
lead owners running Tuesday a one year trial of an
enhanced touchback rule that will give the receiving team the
ball on its own twenty five with a fair catch
of a kickoff anywhere behind that yard line. So essentially,
if you call for a fair catch, you're getting the
ball to twenty five.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
And that's a no brainer. Yeah, that's a no brainer.
You avoid how many times do we see block in
the back holding all those special teams penalties half the
distance to the goal that back you up. If I
am guaranteed to start a kick to start my drive
at the twenty five, let's go, that's a no brainer.
I would, unless you better be damn sure if you're
(34:22):
Darius Davis that you're going to get that ball past
the twenty five and that our special team's unit is
not going to commit a penalty. If you're not going
to wave that right hand, I don't want it brought
out of the end zone. I don't want it returned.
Twenty five is incredible field position. Incredible field position. You've
got so much breathing room now, So to me, to me,
(34:46):
if you were to pull not special teams coaches, but
if you were to pull head coaches and say, do
we even need to kick off? No, you don't just
put the ball to twenty five. You don't even need
to kick off. You can put the ball at to
twenty five, and that's where we're going to start our
drive every single time. It's it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to pull the special teams coordinators
around the league to see how this affects strategy and
just kind of how they do business, how they practice. Frankly,
you know, because this is this is very simple. You
wait for a fair catch, you get the palled to
twenty five. It's almost essentially eliminating the kickoff. Like this
is a one year try this may be it for
(35:26):
the kickoff.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
And it's, like I said, it's unfortunate that it comes
a month after the Chargers expended a fourth round pick
on a returner, then paid a premium for a returner
because now it's fifty percent of what you drafted him
for is essentially gone. And look in some games, if
(35:51):
if you get a couple of kickoffs here and there,
and you're waving the flag, you know you're waving for
the fair catch, and you want to catch the defense
the special teams unit flat footed. Okay, let's go. That
can be a little flat footed. We fair caught the
last two. Let's get after it, so what we can do.
So that's that's part of the strategy as well. But
at the same time, give me the ball twenty five.
(36:12):
I got Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Austin Eckler.
Give me the ball at the twenty five. I'm more
than happy to get there.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Ten places seventy five yard touchdown drive with Justin Herbert Exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
It's too easy.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
The emergency quarterback rule, so this was approved to it.
It allows teams to play an emergency quarterback from the
inactive list if the first two are injured during a game.
So this is interesting too because it doesn't the quarterback
has to be on the fifty three man roster, but
it doesn't count towards the actives inactives on game day.
(36:47):
So essentially it pays to have a third quarterback on
your team if something goes down. So I wonder how
this will affect fifty three man rosters around the league
if you know you have this rule in place.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
To me, look, it's a rule that was put in
place because of a high profile game. If Brock Purty
goes down in Week sixteen, yeah, it's just one of
those we can't We can't do what we did in
an NFC championship game and have Christian McCaffrey back there
taking snaps or have to shove a guy out there
(37:20):
with a destroyed shoulder in order to take snaps and
complete the remainder of the sixty minutes that was still
on the clock. I don't think it'll affect teams carrying
two or three quarterbacks. I don't get the sense that'll happen.
To me, it's having the quarterback on the fifty three
man roster sort of defeats the purpose of it. I
(37:43):
suppose if you go into the postseason, you would maybe
do that just to protect yourself. But the idea that
you're going to get two quarterbacks knocked out of the
same game in able to return is such a long
long I mean talk about long odds. So this to
me was just we can't afford to have that happen
(38:05):
in the NFC Championship game again, and we're going to
acknowledge let's make sure it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
So if you use the charges as an example, though
essentially Chase Daniel was the primary backup last year, Stick
was an act of most games. Easton Stick would be
dressed for games now right, just in case something were
to happen. He just he'd be dressed, but would not
count towards the actives. In actives if I read this correctly.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So an, yeah, Herbert goes out of the game, can't return,
Chase goes out of the game, can't return. Now you
can activate that guy. He goes out there to play quarterback.
So Austin Ekiler isn't taken snaps or Michael Williams isn't
taking snaps or something along though Derwin James isn't taking
snaps at quarterback. That's that's all. That's therefore, you know
(38:50):
the bigger and I know you're gonna get to it, Chris,
But to me, the so that one is just that's
the brock Rock party rule. I don't suspect it's going
to have much impact. The other one, though, was the
Thursday Night flex. Yeah, you can now flex Thursday night
game from week thirteen to seventeen, which is it's crazy
to me.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Yes, let's get into that, because you know, the kickoff
thing was this safety related thing. This frankly, I feel
like it's a safety related thing because teams can now
be flexed out or flexed into Thursday night games from
weeks thirteen to seventeen. This affects the Chargers because the
Chargers play the Raiders inside that window. I can't imagine
(39:26):
a world and where they would be flexed out because
it's Chargers Raiders. Yet it's possible, and it has to
be twenty eight days out, and I don't believe a
team can be on Thursday Night Football more than twice.
So the Steelers I think were on three times, so
they're not even eligible to be flexed into a game
during that period. But your thoughts on this, this this
(39:46):
screams to me. Amazon wants it, so we got to
give it to him.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
One hundred percent. It's taking care of your partners to
give you billions and billions of dollars. So for the
Chargers are playing week fifteen, it's week thirteen through week seventeen.
So if the Chargers are on Thursday at football, week
fifteen serves that they're not going to get flexed in
week fourteen or week sixteen. So you go to week thirteen,
Cowboys on Thursday at football. I don't care how bad
(40:13):
they are. I don't care how bad their opponent is.
Cowboys are never being taken off of a primetime game,
the Cowboys. The Amazon is not going to say, hey,
you know what, let's get rid of that Cowboy game.
That's not going to happen no matter what the records are.
As I mentioned, they're obviously not going to get flexed
into week fourteen because they're already playing in Week fifteen.
That week they've got a home game against Denver. I
(40:34):
suppose if you want to start flex flex flex because
it's twenty eight days out, they could say, oh, the
Raiders have two wins at this point, Let's flex out
that Charger Raider game from week fifteen. Let's put in
the Chargers and Broncos, who have tied records right now
in week fourteen, so that sort of thing could happen
Week sixteen. They're not getting flexed into there because they've
(40:54):
got the Peacock game against Buffalo and they're obviously not
going to at NBC if the Chargers are good. We
suspect both the Chargers and Bills are going to be good.
They have no interest in giving up that particular game,
so that's going to stay where it is. Then you
go to week seventeen. That's where it gets interesting to me.
Week seventeen is the one because they could point to, well,
(41:17):
Chargers got an extra day rest because they played on Saturday,
so you know, or Buffalo. I look at those two games,
Patriots at Buffalo, Chargers at Denver. These two teams played
on Saturday, so they've got an extra day of rest
before we're going to flex them into this Thursday night game.
It's Chargers at Denver. So that's the one that I
(41:39):
could see perhaps affecting the Chargers because the league could
say at least one of these teams has an extra
day of rest, safety being a concern, all that sort
of stuff. It'sad the Chargers are the road team. They've
got Saturday game at home. That gives them that extra
day to prepare for Thursday night going to Denver. That's
something I could envision.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, playoff implications if the Broncos are surprising with Sean
Paton and Russell Wilson. You got Joe Lombardies the offensive coordinator.
You got some different different ties there, right, that could
be fun Broncos charges. But I don't know. I mean, overall,
I get it. I understand why they're doing it. The
Amazon's a new partner. Some of the games that they
(42:22):
had were brutal, and that's being kind. Last year, do
you remember the Colts Broncos game?
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Oh yeah, I mean to me, I just feel like
they've got a really good schedule this year. The Thursday
and had schedule is really I mean, the games were
like if the Chargers Broncos game were to be flexed
in the week seventeen, it's taken away Jets, Browns Deshaun
Watson versus Aaron Rodgers and New York team. That's that's
a good game Week sixteen. Yeah, Week sixteen is the
(42:48):
one everyone's pointing two Saints at Rams. If the Rams
are tanking for Caleb Williams and they are in a
position with three games left at that point and they're
in a in a horse race a little ding dong
action with another with Tampa or whomever it may be
for the number one or the number two pick, then
that's where I could see, Okay, they're they're throwing in
(43:12):
the towel. They want Caleb Williams. We can't put this
in prime time. That's where it could get flex And
that's the one where I said the Chargers can't get
flexed into there because they're already on National TV that
Peacock game for NBC to try to help their streaming
service against the Bills. So that's that's really the only
one that I see being a reality. Everything else looks like, Yeah,
(43:32):
those those games are going to be played.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah, the drafts in Green Bay in twenty twenty five,
the San Francisco, I guess Santa Clara is getting Super
Bowl Super Bowl sixty and the Commanders are on their
way to being sold to the Josh Harris Group and
Magic Johnson. How about that.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
There we go. How about that Magic? Another another team down.
It's going pretty well for the Dodgers since he took
over right Tall Hill, l A.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
F C, the Sparks. I think Magic has championships with
all the teams, you know. Yeah, don't hold your breath.
I'm just saying exactly all right, guys, that's gonna do
it for us. We'll keep you a date, keep you
up to date on all things OTAs as we get towards,
uh that that mandatory minicamp in June, and then it's
gonna get a little slow, but we're keeping our eye
(44:21):
on June first and anything that could happen as it
relates to the charges roster for money. I'm Chris. This
has been Chargers.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
We
Late fifteen to ten touched up Doc.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up? Guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of
Chargers Weekly, as always, joined by Matt Bunny Smith. Excuse
my white background here as I move and get settled
into this new office, But as Buddy alluded to, my
WiFi is much better. So I think that's the win
of the day. We're gonna get into what Joey Bosa
(00:31):
and Khalil Mack had to say during day one of
OTA's also a lot of new items on the agenda
with regards to the owners, beatings but money. The lead
of the week is that Austin Eckler is coming back
to the Chargers this year, and I feel like over
the last several months we've spent a lot of time
wondering if that was gonna be the case. I think
(00:52):
there were certain times where we thought that it was
not going to be the case. But Austin is gonna
be in Powder Blue this year, and I think that's
a good thing for all involved.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I feel like it's right and step I'm by no
means trying to pat us on the back ourselves on
the back here, but it's right in step with what
we've been talking about for you know, since this whole
thing emerged, seemed like and it's weird to talk in
these sort of numbers as a lay person walking around
the United States, but we said, look, you add two
(01:22):
million bucks and this probably gets done. I thought maybe
it would be tack on a little extra and then
add a year a mutual option. So on that front,
I got it wrong a little bit. But I just assumed,
sort of knowing the history of the two parties and
how this conversation had been working over the last couple
(01:43):
of years, and what they had been trying to do
with Austin, and perhaps what he was receptive to and
what his agent was resistant to, I figured this was
going to be the resolution that we appreciate. You take
these millions of dollars, and I know their incentives, but
when you look at them, they're easily attainable incentives based
(02:03):
on what Austin has done the last couple of years.
The biggest one is total yards. It's I think eleven hundred.
He's just been way past that the last two years.
And ten touchdowns and he's been way past that the
last two years, so those should be attainable. He should
get all one point seventy five or two million bucks
of the incentives, and that's a win for him, you know,
(02:24):
instead of six and a half, you make eight and
a half million bucks. And then if things are going great,
you let him test the market and if there's something
more out there good for him, you earned it, go
get it. And if there's not, then I would assume
they'd gladly welcome him back on a team friendly and
sort of deal that he would be comfortable with.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I think this is an example of just the respect
level that the Chargers have for Austin Eckler, because they
they gave him a deal. First of all, they brought
him in a camp and he made the team and
he earned that. But when Melvin Gordon's deal went awry
and Austin kind of took the rain, they paid Austin
right and he over delivered frankly on that contract. And
(03:06):
now they're at a point where the running back market
is what it is. I think Austin found that out
over the last couple of months and the Chargers said, Okay, well,
this is what we're gonna do. So Tom Polisero reported this.
This is just the specifics of the incentives up to
one million dollars for total yards tiers eleven hundred to
sixteen hundred. He's going to get that, no problem. Six
(03:28):
hundred K for touchdowns ten to sixteen. You know, he's
exceeded that each of the last few years. That one
hundred and fifty k for the Pro Bowl. This is
the one thing that's kind of a looted Austin. Why
watch him get the Pro Bowl this year against one
hundred and fifty k. Right, So this is this is
nice for Austin and it allows us to now kind
of settle down and look at how Austin is going
(03:50):
to fit into this Kellen wore offense. And I think
there was so much uncertain uncertainly about the running back
position money during the draft. We're talking about v John
Robinson and maybe some other guys in the second or
the third round. Now we know Austin is going to
come back. He's going to get the line's share of
the touches in that backfield, and you hope that Joshua
Kelly or Isaiah Spiller or somebody can really establish himself
(04:13):
as that number two running back. But Kellen Moore and
seeing what he did with Tony Pollard, Austin has to
be excited, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And the key was this is such a great exercise
for people to apply to their own situations. Money is tricky.
You can never let it get personal. Business is business.
The parent is always going to try to get the
better end of the deal, and the child, if you
want to put it in those terms, or the employer
(04:43):
and the employer are always going to try to get
the best deal they can, regardless of how the other
side feels. And you just have to go into a
negotiation understanding that. It's why people tell you to never,
you know, take things personal. If you are in a
position to have an agent or a lawyer to negotiate
those deals for you, a lot of that isn't just
(05:04):
because they understand the complexities of a contract, but they
also prevent it from being personal. So you're not sitting
across the desk with someone that's telling you you're not
worth what you think you're worth. And they're not telling
you that because you're not worth it. They may be
telling you that because they want to save some money.
It's what they do. They have a bottom line, and
you have a thirst for as much as you can
(05:27):
earn and that's where things get tricky. So I was
happy to see that both sides never Melvin made it
personal when you know, and then it got personal for
Tom and the Chargers was there like, wait a minute,
we just offered you all this money. This is one
of the richest running back contracts, and it's not good enough.
And so they took it personal. And then Melvin took
(05:47):
it personal and a divorce was inevitable, and you saw
how that played out. And it's unfortunate because Melvin and
Austin made a great tandem. The power back that Melvin
was the do everything, can flex out wide, you know,
third down and line up in the slot and split
backfield with one guy as a receiving because Melvin could
(06:09):
catch the ball to and it's unfortunate that got sidetracked
because it got personal. So I commend both sides for
not making it as such. For Tom to say, if
you want to go explore the market and find a trade,
we understand. Go make as much as you can. And
for Austin to say, I appreciate them. They paid me
when they didn't have to, and I'm just trying to
(06:30):
maximize my playing career and my earning potential, and this
is how you come to this sort of resolution. You
were going to make six and a half million bucks.
Now it's likely you're going to make eight and a
half million bucks, and that's great. That's a win at
twenty eight years old. Is a running back eight and
a half million bucks is a win in the NFL.
Fair or not, it's the reality of what it is.
You are paid what the market will pay you. Hopefully,
(06:53):
I would love to see Austin have a huge year.
You know, you know him, you know Eckler. He's one
of our favorite guys. He's a great dude. He's great
with the media, he's great with the fans. He's a bust.
His tail to be in shape every year. He does
not cut any corners. He plays through pain, he plays
through injury. He's everything you'd want in a player. It's
(07:13):
just the market. You've got to make all You've got
to make two defensive ends, a left tackle, a right tackle,
a quarterback, wide receivers. You've got to make all those
pieces fit to feel the most competitive team possible. And
it goes back to what we said repeatedly through this
whole free agent and draft process. Chris it seems like
a lot of money. Two hundred and thirty million bucks
(07:35):
or whatever that cap number is. It gets real tricky
when you're in this When you're in this phase and
Bryce Callahan's out there and Leonard Floyd is out there,
and you've got players out there that you would love
to find a value on. That's that's where all of
this gets real tricky, and every five hundred grand to
a million dollars in a quarter of a billion dollar
(07:55):
salary cap begins to take on added significance.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I think the first step in the good faith was
Tom and Company allowing Austin to see what was out
there and allowing his agent to talk to other teams.
And then when you see how free agents shook out,
you see what Miles Sanders got at the Panthers. You
see guys who are still frankling on the sideline like
Kareem Hunt and Zeke Elliott, and there's countless guys that
(08:20):
are out there because the running running back position is
what it is right now. So the fact that he's back,
I think fans should be very, very excited about the
fact that Austin is gonna be in Kellen Moore's offense
and I looked at Tony Pollard's numbers because this is like,
that's like the best comparison I can really throw out
at this point because Kellen Moore and the year that
(08:42):
Tony Pollard had, he had over thirteen hundred yards from scrimmage.
He only caught thirty nine balls, but his yards per
reception nine point five of pop. He had a thousand
rushing yards and he had twelve total touchdowns. So, first
of all, that's gonna be in line with all those nceentos.
And the second, I want to kind of throw this
to you money because you know, Austin's yards perception were
(09:05):
low last year because of the fact that he caught
one hundred and one balls. He had twenty seven targets. Yeah,
when you see Quintin Johnson being drafted and Joshua Palmer
and Mike and Keenan and Gerald Everett, it seems to
me that they want to move towards getting the ball
down the field and maybe limiting some of those checkdown
throws to Austin. So I guess I ask you, how
(09:28):
do you think Austin's year is going to look different
in comparison to maybe the last couple of years where
he was relied upon so heavily.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, you know, for me, the one thing you really
have to pay attention to is justin Herbert and level
of trust. And you think about Keenan on third down.
You think about when things break down or maybe that
passesn't open down the field, how that there is an
implicit trust there for Austin to catch the ball behind
(09:59):
the line of scrimmage instead of losing three yards, turning
a second and ten into a third and six or
a third and five. So the one great thing justin
and what you typically see from big armed quarterbacks, and
to me, Aaron Rodgers is one of the most guilty
parties of this. And even though he is one of
(10:19):
the greatest quarterbacks to ever played the game, he's just
always looking for that kill shot. He rarely will take
that check down, and it gets his team in a
lot of trouble. And you especially have seen that in
high leverage games against really good defenses. Is his just
stubbornness and refusal to take to take a profit. You
(10:39):
can't go broke taking a profit, and he just refuses
to do that. One of the great things about Herbert
and one of the reasons why he separated himself as
one of these physical specimens with a giant hose that
can push it downfield. Is because he's willing to do that.
He has the processor, he has the ability to recognize
this is a good play. Yes, I want to I've
(11:01):
got the cannon to push at fifty yards down the
field and it's maybe a twenty to thirty percent success rate,
but this is one hundred percent. I know, Austin, I'm
gonna get the ball in his hands and we're gonna
go from second to ten, to third to third and four.
And now I can open up a variety, myriad possibilities
on third and four that I can on third and ten.
(11:22):
So I still think there's a lot of value. Even
though we feel like Kellen Moore is going to push
the ball downfield more is going to have we all
think it's going to be a better looking offense, you
know the and that's just based on you know what
he had. But I thought Kellen made a good point.
He's like, look that the offense I had in Dallas
was built for the team I had in Dallas, you
(11:43):
know the Remember he brought up the two tight ends
when they said were you surprised Charged didn't draft the
tight end. He said, well, the offense at Dallas looked
like that because we had two tight ends and that's
that's what we were using. Yeah, So you know when
you come here with Mike and Keenan and now Quinton Johnson,
with Josh Palm, if Geiden gets back and Gerald Everett,
and if you have two backs in the backfield, if
(12:04):
you're gonna play Josh and Austin at the same time,
or Spiller and Austin at the same whatever it may be,
and this look, this team could look different June first,
with all those cuts and with teams having new money
available or trying to trim some salary because it's post
June first and you can save a little bit of
money on dead cap and that sort of stuff. Who
knows what it's going to look like. But the one
(12:27):
thing I keep going back to Chris is we know
how valuable Boston is and what he is capable of doing.
I said it repeatedly. I have never seen someone turn
more what should have been negative plays, even into minimal
positive plays. How many times Austin was dead to rights
behind the line of scrimmage and it should have been
a second and thirteen and instead at second and eight.
(12:49):
He's so good at that. And anytime Justin Herbert had
a breakdown in the backfield, that's the guy he was
looking for. Much like on third down, he's looking for thirteen,
and much like those shot plays, he's looking for Mike Williams.
And so that's going to continue regardless of what offense
is installed.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Think about the differences going into twenty twenty three and
you hope you know all health being the number one
priority here, but Shaan Slater will be back at left tackle.
That's gonna help Austin. You add Quinton Johnston right. Mike
and Keenan were both hurt at different parts of the
year last year. So when you have your full complement
of weapons said, oh, by the way, you have Kellen
(13:29):
Moore call in the plays now, I think all of
that is going to kind of work in Austin's favor.
And obviously the offense is favor and I think you
have you just made a great point about the Austin's
uh just reliability, justin trust him. I remember the game
in Tennessee where Austin was out wide caught a deep
ball late in the fourth quarter, like you can use
(13:50):
Austin all over the field. You drafted Quintin Johnson because
of the size and speed Joshua Palmer in year three,
we know a keenan mic are capable of Gerald Everett,
Jaclink Iten coming back hopefully full strength and his speed.
So all of that being said, you have Justin Herbert
at the controls, and I think Justin having the familiarity
(14:11):
just another year with all of these guys, you know,
save for say for Quinton, that's just gonna bode well,
I think in general for the offense. So you make
a great point about too, it's not this one size
fits all. Kellen's gonna cater to the personnel on this
Chargers team. Last year they really relied on Pollard and
Zeke just smashing the ball. They didn't have Mark Cooper
(14:33):
last year. Ceedee Lamb was the future guy on the outside.
You know, we talked about Schultz. So he's gonna have
a whole new arsenal of weapons to work with, and
I'm really excited to see what he does with it.
And that's why people are so excited about OTAs and
who's out there and who's not. I heard I heard
some of the press asking you know, where was Mike
or where was Palmer? And you know, coach Deealey doesn't
(14:54):
have to answer those questions right now. He's like, listen,
they're all getting ready. But it's just it's funny that
we're in May and everybody is kind of like full
till ready for September.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Last thing I'll add on Austin. And I know there's
a lot of stuff to get to with OTA is
underway and all that, but is don't forget he's in
a contract year. This is someone who wanted to get
paid sixteen million bucks a year like Christian McCaffrey's getting paid.
Pointed to his production, pointed to his touchdown totals. This
is what I want, this is what I believe I'm worth.
And he's going to be motivated because he's got one
(15:25):
more crack at this. He's turning twenty eighth this year.
He's got a shot for a team that feels like
they're close and maybe has some cap room and has
a quarterback on a rookie deal. Let's say, you know which,
the Chargers technically still will be on a rookie deal,
but there will be teams out there that could say, okay, look,
we can afford to do this. We got a quarterback
who's making four million bucks a year instead of forty
(15:47):
five million bucks a year. Let's go give this guy
two three years thirty million bucks, two years twenty million
bucks to come in here and be that last piece
for us. So no doubt he knows that. His agent
knows that. So you're going to have a supremely motivated
and we know again I'll repeat it. I don't want
to keep talking in circles, so I'll just close it
with this. We know how howd he works, we know
(16:09):
how he refused to go down to first contact, we
know the production he's capable of. And now he's got
two million bucks in incentives, not to mention a free
agent walk year to motivate him. I suspect Austin is
going to have a sensational year. He's going to be
worth every penn. He's going to be worth every penny
of those incentives. And I will not be the least
bit surprised to see him lead the league in touchdowns,
(16:29):
lead the league in receptions by a running back, receiving
yards by a running back, and post a four to
four and a half yard per carry average. That will
not surprise me. I would be surprised if he didn't
hit those numbers.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And we don't have to talk about it anymore, right,
It's a four Memorial Days done right. Austin's coming back
and it should be exciting for Chargers fans. Two guys
who spoke earlier this week, Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack
and this was the Tanama year ago money we were
just salivating it seeing those guys on the field together
long period of time. Didn't work out that way. Khalil
(17:02):
did stay on the field, but Joey had some injury
issues and we didn't really get to see Joey and Khalil.
I think how everybody envisioned it in their heads. So
both of those guys back. Joey it's not something he
typically does in terms of ot is. I think he
came last year, but he's got a pretty strict regiment
with his brother down in Florida. He said that he
(17:25):
was asked by some coaches to come and he didn't
want to let Khalil down, so he showed up in
coast to Mesa and he had about a thirteen minute
presser Joey is always entertaining. He's great. What did you
take from what he had to say.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Well, going back to your initial point, Chris, just look
at the opener. Remember the opener. I mean I pulled
the box score right here. You've got four and a
half combined sacks, four combined tackles for loss, six combined
quarterback hits. That was Bosa and Khalil Mack against a
so so offensive line of the Raiders in the season opener.
(18:01):
You go to the next week against Kansas City and
both of them continued as they were both on the field.
Joey with a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits,
Khalil Mack with a sack, a tackle for loss and
a quarterback hit. That's what we had those first two
weeks before the injury occurred. So I thought Joey made
a really good point, and that is and it was
(18:23):
good to hear him say it, because we love Joey.
He's great. He's got a dry sense of humor. He
can be at times, he can sort of be aloof
but it seems as though it's orchestrated. It's part of
the personality. But I thought he was very sincere insane.
I came here because Khalil's here. Normally, I'm doing what
I do with Nick and my dad down in Florida.
(18:46):
And we all know Joey comes into camp ready to go,
but he specifically said, in not so many words, I
owe it to this guy. We were supposed to do
some great things last year, and I was gone after
week three, and at thirty two years old, went out
there week after week, every single play busting his tail
and again paraphrasing or maybe inferring what he meant to say,
(19:11):
let him down. You know, I let this I let it.
I let this team down. I let Khalil down, and
I owe it to him if he's going to be here,
to be here. And that's encouraging. It's OTA's they're walking around.
There's not a whole lot going on, but knowing Joey
prefers to be in Florida with his dad and with
his brother Nick, and that's how they like to get
ready for the season, to step away from that a
(19:33):
week early, to get back out here just to acknowledge
I appreciate you. I appreciate everything you did last year.
Let's make let's let's do what we started let's finish
what we started last year and and try to stay
out there for a full season and get after it.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Joey did not want to talk about the playoff game
or the past. Really understandable, but you know, I don't
blame him either. As a nightmare for him, well, it
was a nightmare form that night in Jacksonville really for
the entire defense, but Joey specifically down the especially Yeah,
but you go to that Week one game, man, Khalil,
I think he hit three of those four and a
(20:11):
half sacks. I'm not mistaken. So the just I think
when Joey leaves the lineup, how much of the focal
point is on Khalil Mack and just stopping him. We
didn't get to see it, unfortunately. I think drafting Tully
and Rump in year three, I think that's encouraging to
have those guys behind Bosa and Mac. But I ask
(20:34):
you a year older both of these guys, you know,
Joey going into his eighth season and Khalil you mentioned
thirty two plus, what are you expecting from those guys?
Should we expect this dominance from weeks one to seventeen
or do we have to taper expectations a bit based
on injury history and just the fact that really this
(20:56):
is a violent sport, right and you get seventeen weeks,
I don't know if you can rely onto all pros
pro bowler staying healthy the entire season.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
What I would love to see, and I had hoped
to see it last year, and we just did not
see it enough. I look at those first four weeks,
and we've talked about it, Chris, that this team has
got to put teams away. They've got to be able
when you've got those guys at their ages. With Joey's
injury history. You know, Khalil now a full year removed
(21:27):
from pretty serious back injury in Chicago that final year.
I think it was a back injury or maybe it
was a shoulder injury. Whatever it was, it kept him
out for a healthy portion of the year. In twenty
twenty one, put these teams away, you know, get up,
pour it on and let these guys rest in fourth
quarters at Tennessee, at Minnesota Raiders at home. That's something
(21:49):
they failed to do last year. Games they would ultimately win,
but there were just far too few of those games
where they got up big early and just a loud
team to hang around. The Houston game comes to mind.
You know, they're up big and then they just let
them creep back into the game instead of being able
to get a bunch of rest. Same with Cleveland. You
(22:09):
know they go down early and it's like, what are
we doing? Like they That to me is the next
step in the evolution. If they're going to win a
Super Bowl, they got to start dominating teams and resting guys.
You got a lot of older players on this team
now in Keenan and Joey and Khalil Derwin tends to
(22:29):
get nicked up throughout the course of the year because
of how aggressive and violent a brand of football he plays.
That's something that I want to see because I don't
think there's any way around it. If you continue to
play like the Chargers have in these close games that
come down to the final possession or the final you know,
four or five minutes of a quarter, it's inevitable. Guys
(22:50):
are playing too many snaps. It's not a deep defensive line.
We're already talking about a twenty year old rookie as
being the third edge rusher. Unless they can find something
out there on the free agent market, if Van Noy
comes back, if Leonard Floyd's a reality, you're you're talking
about a twenty year old rookie being the number one
guy behind Joey or Khalil when each of them want
(23:12):
to breather for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations,
that's a lot to ask. So the best way to
go about that is to go up three touchdowns in
the fourth quarter so they don't have to be out
there and they can get some rest.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah. Well, when you put it like that, just where
were you when you were twenty not the primary backup
to Khalil Mager, Joey Bosa? Right like right, Tool's gonna
I think Tools gonna be excellent. I really do. Khalil
said he's super quiet, but I think he's gonna be excellent.
Derek Hansley said he's wise beyond his years. But at
(23:46):
the same time, I do think twenty at least twenty
years late. Bringing another edge rusher, whether it's a guy
like Floyd or van Ney or whoever's out there at
this point that they think makes sense, is good. Nick
Williams being added to the to the rotation, just an
another body across the defensive line. I think that's encouraging,
but I don't think they're done at the edge position.
(24:07):
I agree with you. I think that there needs to
be another, maybe another addition there, just because you can't
fully rely on guys who are older if you don't
put teams away and like Philly is the perfect example.
Last year they put teams away, man and they got
to move on to the next game. Chargers need to
learn how to win and do those types of things.
And somebody asked Joey about just you know, the history
(24:29):
of the team and you know big moments and coming
up short and big moments, and he says, this is
a collective effort. Everybody has to talk about it and
believe that this is the team that can get over
the home So hopefully they do that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah. The one thing that and I think we all
know how much respect we have for the front office,
the incredible job they've done year after year and building
this team, hitting on draft picks and finding undrafted free
agents that contribute or late round pick Jamari Sawyer. We've
been talking about Austin Eckler. We're going to get into
(25:04):
the safeties. I'm sure a little bit Rahem Lane and
what he was able to do special teams wise and
getting out there for some snaps. They tend to find
it every year. But if I am, you know, just
gonna try to play it straight and be a little
bit critical, I'd just love to see them be I
don't know if aggressive is the right word, if creative
is the right word, but I just want to see
them sort of get a little more aggressive and get
(25:26):
after it. When you see, yeah, Jeffreya Kouda getting traded
for a fifth, DeAndre Swift getting traded for a fifth
or a six, whatever it is, I want to see
them get in on those deals, you know, get get
after it a little bit like some of these teams
that have these Super Bowl designs and say, yeah, fifth
ground pick could be nice, and it'd be you know,
(25:46):
two hundred thousand dollars, say, perhaps likely special teamer who
could work his way into a rotation. But that's DeAndre Swift.
You know, that's a dude. It's a potential thousand yard back.
That's a full service, three down back that played really
well last year when he was on the field. Jeff
Akuda was a number three overall pick that just had
to deal with serious injuries, you know, in Detroit and
(26:09):
couldn't quite get past it, and sort of the two
sides just needed a divorce in order to try to
get healthier. When I look out on the free agent
market and I see Yannick and Goakway and Leonard Floyd
and Marcus Peters, take a flyer, take a flyer on it.
Why not if Frank Clark figure out a way to
get creative, convert some salary to signing bonus. Let's get
(26:32):
these guys in here. If you really are chasing a
super Bowl, bring Bryce Callahan back, go get John Johnson.
Like that's That's what I'm waiting for. That to me
is the next step of recognizing this is our window.
Our window is right now, and we have got to
push all of our chips into the middle. These aren't
(26:54):
development inhibitors. These are legitimate rotation players that can help
us win. Now, I say that, and I understand there
are two sides. Those players may say and Tom may
have already called and said, wait, Leonard, we'd love to
have you. We've got two and a half million bucks,
and him saying, Eh, i'mna wait. I'm gonna sit this
(27:15):
one out. I'll wait to see if somebody goes down
in training camp and if I can get myself five
million bucks instead of two and a half, which is fine,
and that's understandable. But I think just overall some of
the trades that happened, some of the Denzel Mims is
a guy that we talked about forever, like I just
go pluck that guy for a fifth or a sixth rounder.
You look at the receivers they've signed, the receivers they've drafted.
(27:36):
That guy's not gonna be on that Jets team. He's
in the last year of his rookie deal. I get that,
Go get them, Go get him, take a flyer on him,
Trade a seventh round pick, trade a sixth round pick
for him, and just go get him and see if
that's somebody else to add to the mix, to just
get more vertical with this team. That's the sort of
stuff I'm waiting to see and would love to see
(27:56):
from this front office with some of the players that
are available, specifically along that defensive line. Yeah, because and
that's sort of what spurred it. Chris is just thinking
about You've got Bosa Khalil Mack and the next guy
behind him is tull, a twenty year old that you
just drafted. That's got to get resolved. That there has
(28:16):
got to be some sort of you know, some something
has got to be sorted out there, and it needs
to happen probably a little bit sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think that they, you know, you go back to
the last couple of years, I think that we've started
to see signs of them going forward. When you signed
Corey Linsley the best center of football, you're going for it.
When you signed j C. Jackson too, that record money
they were going for last year, you trade for Khalil Mack.
So you hope that the fruits of some of those
decisions will will will bear this year with JC coming
(28:49):
back Week one, with Khalil being able to operate as
Khalil Mack, with Joey Bosa on the other side, Corey
has been a rock. You know, he had some injuries
bang up a little bit this year, but you know,
Corey's at.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
The top of you I guess you know what, Chris,
That's why maybe aggressive isn't the right word, because you're right, yeah,
they have been aggressive. They made Corey the highest paid center,
the second rounder for Khalil. I think what I'm getting
to is creative, like, just pick up the phone and
let's start. Let's start calling around. Let's let's look at
some of these rosters and figure out where is their excess.
(29:23):
Where might we be on the margins? Where can we
get creative on the margins? To me, the Eagles plucking
DeAndre Swift the second they recognize they signed Montgomery Jamir
Gibbs's draft that, Hey, boom, let's call what are you
doing with Swift? What do you got? Fifth rounder? Great?
Let's go who is available?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Penny? You know, doing those little things. They traded for
A j. Brown the year before. I think just continuing
to keep get creative, your foot on the gas right
throughout the year too, you know. And you just go
back to the Rams a couple of years ago when
they traded for Von Miller and Odell Beckham, and you know,
the first three weeks, oh is this gonna backfire? And
then they hit their stride and they won a Super Bowl? Right,
(30:05):
So I think that they have so much talent on
this team money. I'm one hundred percent with you get creative.
Say hey, we need that third edgresser that's a veteran
to protect ourselves in case Joey or Khalil goes down
and has to miss some time. I think they did
that at the wide receiver position with with Quinton and
having Keenan and Mike there and seeing Josh Palmer's development corner.
(30:26):
You know, the way that that Zon came on last
year and Michael Davis came on. If you get j C.
Jackson back and you bring Bryce Callahan, all of a sudden,
you're you're cooking in the secondary. You know, we know
what Derwin is. We talked a lot in depth about
the safety position last UH last week with Jalil, about
Gilman and just how J. T. Woods needs to come
(30:47):
on with three. But there are things to be done
right and who knows if it's a if it's another
running back, you know, if Zeke Elliott is there and
Kellen Moore knows him and he ain't gonna cost much,
I mean, who knows. Bring creative in, you know, get
creative and stay aggressive. I think that's the that's kind
of the model of this year because it's not just
by getting to the wildcard run. You have to win
(31:09):
a couple of games this year.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
In the playoffs, no doubt, no doubt, team's ready to
win a Super Bowl. Yeah, that's that's just you know,
and you have to the front office has to respond
to that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
If you're you're getting better, you're getting worse. Very few
teams plateau because everything around you is changing. Are the
Chiefs getting better? They getting worse? Are the Broncos getting better?
Getting worse? Are the Raiders getting better? Are they getting worse?
Are you getting better? Are you getting worse? Easiest way
into the postseasons to win the division? Look at the division?
How do we stack up? What do we need to
stack up better? You know, you probably got to go
(31:44):
at Patrick Mahomes in waves, right, You've got to get
after You've got to be able to put thirty points
up against the Chiefs. You're not going to win the game, right,
So let's make sure the offense can score thirty against them,
and let's make sure the defense has enough depth where
we can come and wait and we can chase him
down snap after snap after snap so he does not
get a breather. And that's something that that need, I
(32:08):
believe still needs to be addressed on the edges, yep.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
And you know what, maybe after June first, we'll have
a little bit more clarity and you're hunt right. Maybe
they called Leonard Floyd. Andy said, hey, what do you think?
And he says, well, I want to wait it out
a little bit. I got some of the teams calling.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So there's a lot of moving parts here. He remember
we talked about this before. The guys like van Ney
and Morgan Fox were signed after the draft in twenty
twenty two. So buddy, we'll end here the the onerous meetings.
Some interesting things going down there. Do you want to
start with this special teams rule because it's it's I
(32:44):
can't imagine special teams coordinators are too thrilled with what's
going to take place this upcoming season.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Well certainly negates drafting Darius Davis, you know, and the
right to use a fourth rounder and pay a premium
on a returner when you recognize, no matter where they
drop that ball, that would be my And this is
where it's going to be interesting for coach Ficking. And
this is where offensive coordinators get in trouble. And when
(33:14):
you run the ball for five yards a clip and
you're an effective offense and you're winning games, and now
all of a sudden, you're OC wants to a little
creative and throw the ball around, because hey man, nobody's
gonna be talking about me if we're just running the
ball and winning games twenty four to eighteen. So I've
got I got to put some sizzle in there, and
that's how you end up losing games. So for coach Ficking,
it's going to be interesting to how he's gonna want
(33:35):
to approach it because to me, give me the ball
to twenty five every time, Yeah, give me the ball
twenty I am not returning.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
For people that don't know. For you to react with
lead owners running Tuesday a one year trial of an
enhanced touchback rule that will give the receiving team the
ball on its own twenty five with a fair catch
of a kickoff anywhere behind that yard line. So essentially,
if you call for a fair catch, you're getting the
ball to twenty five.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
And that's a no brainer. Yeah, that's a no brainer.
You avoid how many times do we see block in
the back holding all those special teams penalties half the
distance to the goal that back you up. If I
am guaranteed to start a kick to start my drive
at the twenty five, let's go, that's a no brainer.
I would, unless you better be damn sure if you're
(34:22):
Darius Davis that you're going to get that ball past
the twenty five and that our special team's unit is
not going to commit a penalty. If you're not going
to wave that right hand, I don't want it brought
out of the end zone. I don't want it returned.
Twenty five is incredible field position. Incredible field position. You've
got so much breathing room now, So to me, to me,
(34:46):
if you were to pull not special teams coaches, but
if you were to pull head coaches and say, do
we even need to kick off? No, you don't just
put the ball to twenty five. You don't even need
to kick off. You can put the ball at to
twenty five, and that's where we're going to start our
drive every single time. It's it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to pull the special teams coordinators
around the league to see how this affects strategy and
just kind of how they do business, how they practice. Frankly,
you know, because this is this is very simple. You
wait for a fair catch, you get the palled to
twenty five. It's almost essentially eliminating the kickoff. Like this
is a one year try this may be it for
(35:26):
the kickoff.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
And it's, like I said, it's unfortunate that it comes
a month after the Chargers expended a fourth round pick
on a returner, then paid a premium for a returner
because now it's fifty percent of what you drafted him
for is essentially gone. And look in some games, if
(35:51):
if you get a couple of kickoffs here and there,
and you're waving the flag, you know you're waving for
the fair catch, and you want to catch the defense
the special teams unit flat footed. Okay, let's go. That
can be a little flat footed. We fair caught the
last two. Let's get after it, so what we can do.
So that's that's part of the strategy as well. But
at the same time, give me the ball twenty five.
(36:12):
I got Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Austin Eckler.
Give me the ball at the twenty five. I'm more
than happy to get there.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Ten places seventy five yard touchdown drive with Justin Herbert Exactly.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
It's too easy.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
The emergency quarterback rule, so this was approved to it.
It allows teams to play an emergency quarterback from the
inactive list if the first two are injured during a game.
So this is interesting too because it doesn't the quarterback
has to be on the fifty three man roster, but
it doesn't count towards the actives inactives on game day.
(36:47):
So essentially it pays to have a third quarterback on
your team if something goes down. So I wonder how
this will affect fifty three man rosters around the league
if you know you have this rule in place.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
To me, look, it's a rule that was put in
place because of a high profile game. If Brock Purty
goes down in Week sixteen, yeah, it's just one of
those we can't We can't do what we did in
an NFC championship game and have Christian McCaffrey back there
taking snaps or have to shove a guy out there
(37:20):
with a destroyed shoulder in order to take snaps and
complete the remainder of the sixty minutes that was still
on the clock. I don't think it'll affect teams carrying
two or three quarterbacks. I don't get the sense that'll happen.
To me, it's having the quarterback on the fifty three
man roster sort of defeats the purpose of it. I
(37:43):
suppose if you go into the postseason, you would maybe
do that just to protect yourself. But the idea that
you're going to get two quarterbacks knocked out of the
same game in able to return is such a long
long I mean talk about long odds. So this to
me was just we can't afford to have that happen
(38:05):
in the NFC Championship game again, and we're going to
acknowledge let's make sure it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
So if you use the charges as an example, though
essentially Chase Daniel was the primary backup last year, Stick
was an act of most games. Easton Stick would be
dressed for games now right, just in case something were
to happen. He just he'd be dressed, but would not
count towards the actives. In actives if I read this correctly.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So an, yeah, Herbert goes out of the game, can't return,
Chase goes out of the game, can't return. Now you
can activate that guy. He goes out there to play quarterback.
So Austin Ekiler isn't taken snaps or Michael Williams isn't
taking snaps or something along though Derwin James isn't taking
snaps at quarterback. That's that's all. That's therefore, you know
(38:50):
the bigger and I know you're gonna get to it, Chris,
But to me, the so that one is just that's
the brock Rock party rule. I don't suspect it's going
to have much impact. The other one, though, was the
Thursday Night flex. Yeah, you can now flex Thursday night
game from week thirteen to seventeen, which is it's crazy
to me.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Yes, let's get into that, because you know, the kickoff
thing was this safety related thing. This frankly, I feel
like it's a safety related thing because teams can now
be flexed out or flexed into Thursday night games from
weeks thirteen to seventeen. This affects the Chargers because the
Chargers play the Raiders inside that window. I can't imagine
(39:26):
a world and where they would be flexed out because
it's Chargers Raiders. Yet it's possible, and it has to
be twenty eight days out, and I don't believe a
team can be on Thursday Night Football more than twice.
So the Steelers I think were on three times, so
they're not even eligible to be flexed into a game
during that period. But your thoughts on this, this this
(39:46):
screams to me. Amazon wants it, so we got to
give it to him.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
One hundred percent. It's taking care of your partners to
give you billions and billions of dollars. So for the
Chargers are playing week fifteen, it's week thirteen through week seventeen.
So if the Chargers are on Thursday at football, week
fifteen serves that they're not going to get flexed in
week fourteen or week sixteen. So you go to week thirteen,
Cowboys on Thursday at football. I don't care how bad
(40:13):
they are. I don't care how bad their opponent is.
Cowboys are never being taken off of a primetime game,
the Cowboys. The Amazon is not going to say, hey,
you know what, let's get rid of that Cowboy game.
That's not going to happen no matter what the records are.
As I mentioned, they're obviously not going to get flexed
into week fourteen because they're already playing in Week fifteen.
That week they've got a home game against Denver. I
(40:34):
suppose if you want to start flex flex flex because
it's twenty eight days out, they could say, oh, the
Raiders have two wins at this point, Let's flex out
that Charger Raider game from week fifteen. Let's put in
the Chargers and Broncos, who have tied records right now
in week fourteen, so that sort of thing could happen
Week sixteen. They're not getting flexed into there because they've
(40:54):
got the Peacock game against Buffalo and they're obviously not
going to at NBC if the Chargers are good. We
suspect both the Chargers and Bills are going to be good.
They have no interest in giving up that particular game,
so that's going to stay where it is. Then you
go to week seventeen. That's where it gets interesting to me.
Week seventeen is the one because they could point to, well,
(41:17):
Chargers got an extra day rest because they played on Saturday,
so you know, or Buffalo. I look at those two games,
Patriots at Buffalo, Chargers at Denver. These two teams played
on Saturday, so they've got an extra day of rest
before we're going to flex them into this Thursday night game.
It's Chargers at Denver. So that's the one that I
(41:39):
could see perhaps affecting the Chargers because the league could
say at least one of these teams has an extra
day of rest, safety being a concern, all that sort
of stuff. It'sad the Chargers are the road team. They've
got Saturday game at home. That gives them that extra
day to prepare for Thursday night going to Denver. That's
something I could envision.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, playoff implications if the Broncos are surprising with Sean
Paton and Russell Wilson. You got Joe Lombardies the offensive coordinator.
You got some different different ties there, right, that could
be fun Broncos charges. But I don't know. I mean, overall,
I get it. I understand why they're doing it. The
Amazon's a new partner. Some of the games that they
(42:22):
had were brutal, and that's being kind. Last year, do
you remember the Colts Broncos game?
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Oh yeah, I mean to me, I just feel like
they've got a really good schedule this year. The Thursday
and had schedule is really I mean, the games were
like if the Chargers Broncos game were to be flexed
in the week seventeen, it's taken away Jets, Browns Deshaun
Watson versus Aaron Rodgers and New York team. That's that's
a good game Week sixteen. Yeah, Week sixteen is the
(42:48):
one everyone's pointing two Saints at Rams. If the Rams
are tanking for Caleb Williams and they are in a
position with three games left at that point and they're
in a in a horse race a little ding dong
action with another with Tampa or whomever it may be
for the number one or the number two pick, then
that's where I could see, Okay, they're they're throwing in
(43:12):
the towel. They want Caleb Williams. We can't put this
in prime time. That's where it could get flex And
that's the one where I said the Chargers can't get
flexed into there because they're already on National TV that
Peacock game for NBC to try to help their streaming
service against the Bills. So that's that's really the only
one that I see being a reality. Everything else looks like, Yeah,
(43:32):
those those games are going to be played.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah, the drafts in Green Bay in twenty twenty five,
the San Francisco, I guess Santa Clara is getting Super
Bowl Super Bowl sixty and the Commanders are on their
way to being sold to the Josh Harris Group and
Magic Johnson. How about that.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
There we go. How about that Magic? Another another team down.
It's going pretty well for the Dodgers since he took
over right Tall Hill, l A.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
F C, the Sparks. I think Magic has championships with
all the teams, you know. Yeah, don't hold your breath.
I'm just saying exactly all right, guys, that's gonna do
it for us. We'll keep you a date, keep you
up to date on all things OTAs as we get towards,
uh that that mandatory minicamp in June, and then it's
gonna get a little slow, but we're keeping our eye
(44:21):
on June first and anything that could happen as it
relates to the charges roster for money. I'm Chris. This
has been Chargers.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
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