June 1, 2023 • 37 mins
Matt "Money" Smith and Chris Hayre discuss the latest from OTAs, including comments from All-Pro offensive tackle Rashawn Slater and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore about the running game, and why Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen expects the offense to be “going deep” in 2023.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly,
as always, joined by Matt Muney Smith.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
It's June.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
First figure we get into OTA's today. You're from Rashaun Slater,
Kellen Moore, Keenan Allen get reaction to that. But you know, money,
we've talked about this day for a while.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You wonder what the Chargers have up their sleeve in
this fourth and fifth.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Wave of free agency.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I guess we'll find out soon's.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's surprising, Chris, because there are still so many good
players left out there, and I know a lot of
people are looking at DeAndre Hopkins. He even mentioned Justin
Herbert by name on a podcast. Yeah, that's not a reality.
He's just as good of a receiver as he is.
That the man's entire body has made a stick them.
He doesn't drop anything. It's just not the right fit
(00:58):
with Mike and Keenan a first round pick, and Quinton
Johnson and Josh Palmer. So that's not just kind of
push that to the side. It's just surprising to me
how many and these are premium positions. Wide receiver corner
Marcus Peters is out there O line, Dalton Reisner's out
there D line. I mean, look at the edge rushers
that are still available. We've said these names every single
(01:21):
week on the podcast with Jadavian Clowney, Justin Houston, Frank
clark Yannicking Gocway. The list is long. We've talked about
Leonard Floyd in his relationship with Brandon Staley in both
Chicago and Los Angeles and how that's a good match
to try to find some depth on this defensive line.
The one little interesting thing that's changed today is that
(01:42):
Damon Lloyd. Damon Lloyd was just waived, and there's really
no reason right to waive a player unless you're trying
to open up a spot, unless you just know or
maybe you want to. Maybe you're being a nice you know,
the front office is being nice to Damon and say, hey,
let's get you out as early as you can so
you can find another place to connect. And we know
the Chargers try to do that as best as possible.
(02:02):
But that's just an interesting little thing. They now have
two roster spots open, and I'd love to see, you know,
we talked about this last week. Some creativity, get out there,
get some depth, specifically on that defensive line is what
I would love to see if they can find a
way to match up one of these edge players with
a number that works for them.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
The names you just threw out there June first, we're
still talking about in doc Way and Lloyd and Frank
Clark and Clowney. I mean, one of those four guys
I think would be a fantastic addition to this roster.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Obviously, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
In the meetings with Tom and Jojo and that staff
and what Staley envisions as being the best fit. Obviously,
Leonard Floyd is a guy that he coached before. But
if you could get one of those guys on a
one year, prove a deal and come back and make
more money in twenty twenty four, that's a win win
all around. And it just gives you a little bit
(02:58):
more death behind Bosa and Mack and.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It leads me to believe that it's not going to
be an expensive deal. They would have been sild. There
was a team that was desperate, and almost every team
is desperate for edge help, for pass rushing help, for
even though the sack numbers aren't there, Jadavian Clowney is
still one of the best edge run defenders out there,
(03:21):
and he still provides pressures. Maybe not the sack number
totals that you thought you would see, but the pressures
are there, the hurries are there, the quarterback hits are there,
the run setting the edge and the run is there.
And we know what a problem that was last year.
And to me, it just it in. When I hear
Kyle van Noy say that the Chargers essentially told him
(03:42):
that he wasn't going to be coming back, it leads
me to believe, okay, well, there they must be lying
something else up because for the number that he got
last year, as well as Kyle ended up playing toward
the end of the season, it certainly would make sense
for them to say, hey, let us know when you
get an offer, and let's see if we can match
the number. All things being equal, we know you want
to be here. Let's see if we can line you know,
(04:02):
line it up. And the fact they didn't do that
leads me to believe perhaps they're further down the line
with an agent for Clark, Houston, Floyd and Gokway, one
of those Genevian Clowney and they just view that as
an upgrade that Yeah, we love you, Kyle, but we're
working on something that maybe is a little bit better
for us. And who knows. They can still go back
(04:24):
to Kyle if he can't find a gig and write
that check as well.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, stay tuned with Dad. You know Bryce Callahan.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Another guy who's out there right now who was a
great addition to the secondary last year. A guy we
didn't see for a majority of last year money was
Rashaun Slater.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
He spoke. I found him very refreshing.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Man.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I always appreciate when Rashawn goes to the podium because
he's very forthright with his answers and very genuine guy.
He's one hundred percent. He said he's been one hundred
percent for a few months now, which means he probably
had the Chargers beating the Jags, probably would have been
a good chance he'd be starting against Kansas City in
(05:04):
the divisional round.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I want to boost that would have been and I'm
sure he was thinking about it when they were up
twenty seven. Nothing right, by the way, you and your
fourth right refreshing and listen, people, Chris is a Northwestern guy.
Is a Northwestern guy, so of course.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And you're going to read between the floors.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And flawn each other's big brains, and how well spoken
they all are. And oh, the school of journalism is
one of the finest in the nation. Enough, well, hey,
go back.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask if you
saw this pro football folcus put their like top ten
tackles together and listen, this is Chargers Weekly. I get it,
But objectively speaking, how is Colton Miller ahead of a
Shawn Slater.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The the Pro Football Focus. I'll start this. This is
not me trying to couch what I'm about to say.
It is an awesome site, a great service, and for
the most part of the time, I really love what
they do, the service they provide, and we have a
team access path to what they do on a different
(06:13):
level that a lot of the fans maybe don't. But
I completely recommend their services. Their their premier service, and
then they also have something for teams that's just next level.
How good it is. The One issue that most people
have around football is how they grade because they don't
they don't know necessarily what was called and what the
(06:37):
person's assignment was. So you're grading offensive lineman without knowing
what their assignment was. Now are there obvious times when
an old lineman gets beat.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Sure, but.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
To me, it's just throw on, throw on the games
and watch for Shaun Slater, on watch Colton Miller, and
you tell me who you'd rather have. It's not even closet.
Miller's a really good tackle, he's not Rashawn Slater.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I found it right here, Okay, Gordon McGinnis Top five
AFC offensive tackles number one, Jeremy Tunsel, number two, Colton Miller,
number three, Rashawn Slater, number four, Ronnie Stanley, number five,
Orlando Brown junior. You know, in Gordon's defense, maybe just
the lack of snaps last year for Rashawn.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Maybe he's not so that.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
By the way, that's not PFF. That's just this dude
so not that. That's just his sounds like that is.
That's not p pm F grades, per PFF grades. It's
just this guy, old Gordo. There, Gordo, what he's got going?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, uh half half of it has to be money.
Maybe just out of sight, out of mind in a
second year. Dude was the first team All Pros rookie
rookie season, and I guess we're used to seeing what
Joey Bosa did the Colton Miller, especially early in his career.
Colton mill is a good player, Okay, I'm not I'm
not saying he's not player, but uh, I just have
(08:00):
a hard time wrapping my head around Rashaud Slater.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Who's he number one? Tunsl Tunsel's number one? Yeah, and
that's fine. I got no problem with that, and I'm
just looking through it right now. I like Toront Armstead's
in Miami? Is he not on there?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
He's not in the top five?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I think that was okay, So I'd have Toront Armstead.
I would much. I would rather have Toron Armstead than
Colton Miller. So that's that's another one. I'm not a
huge Orlando Brown fan. I'd probably I think if we're
so like like, that's what's funny, right, It's all just subjective.
(08:39):
I know, I know Jedrick Wills has struggled a little bit,
but I believe, you know, I believe in his potential.
So there's that. I mean, what, I have him in
the top five, No, he's got He's got a little
bit of work to do. But I think that's kind
of what I'm getting at is I think if you
were to ask football people. Hey, sorry, I'm looking off
to the side here for people watching it on YouTube.
I'm just kind of trying to go through some of
(09:00):
these rosters and figure out, like Garrett Bowles, no, no,
there's not and that's like that so that it actually
brings us to a bigger point, Chris, like, we're struggling
to find five. That's that's why it is so important
to invest heavily in the offensive line, and why you
bring back Pipkins even though it was a bit of
(09:21):
an injury marred season and it was really his first
year of flashing and looking like a legitimate starting tackle.
It's why you draft Zion in the first round. It's
it's why you make Corey Linsley the highest paigde center
in the league. Offensive line is hard to find. We
are struggling. I'm going through all these teams and I
(09:42):
am trying to find, you know, five really good tackles
that that we can kind of kick around here. And
and you think about the Super Bowl aspirations of the
of the Bills, and it's like, Okay, Dean Dawkins, Yeah,
he's he's all right, He's an okay. Right tackle. Spencer Brownt, No,
not feeling that one. You go to Kansas City, they
(10:03):
just won the Super Bowl and they signed Donovan Smith
is their left tackle, he's like sixty. And their right
tackle is Juwan Taylor, who essentially Jacksonville didn't even want back,
and they have a really gnarly looking offensive line. So
it's it's wild how hard it is to find that position.
And this goes to something we talked about before the
(10:25):
draft that I would draft. I would draft a corner
and an O lineman in the first five rounds every
single year. Give me maybe even first four rounds. Gimme
O line, gimme corner every year because you just you
gotta throw that, for lack of a better term, you
got throw it against the wall. You've got to find
these guys. They are so hard to find. It Like
(10:47):
when you look at when you look at the Kansas
City line, right Trey Smith was a six round pick.
Talk about a find, you know, and that's like, that's
the right guard. To be able to find that in
the sixth round like the Chargers did in the sixth round,
which Amari saw, your to be able to find a
starting guard, that's why you gotta do that. You just
gotta keep drafting those guys. It's so important to.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Let's go in company have done it too.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I mean, we talked about Trey Pipkin was a third
round pick who they stuck with and uh are are
seeing the fruits of that. And what was great was
Rashaan was just talking about how excited he is to
to to share that left side with with Zion this year.
You got young guys all over the place.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's what I was thinking of. How is Ronnie Stanley
not on that list?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
But Stanley was? Stanley was three or four?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I thought, I think I thought I thought Slater was
three behind Colton Miller four ry sand was four or okay,
he was four? All right, Well wasn't on my apologies,
I was like, where is that guy?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
It's but that's I think the exciting part about this
upcoming year is that a Rashawan is back. Right, you
get a first team allro back at left tackle. You
have Zion, who who had really good moments last year
on the same side as Rashaan. You have the anchor
and Corey Linsley leading the charge of the veteran. There
you have Sawyer, who Slater praised. He said he had
(12:06):
no doubts that he was going to come in and
do his job at left tackle. He could play anywhere
and talk about a find late round fine for the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
You put him slot him at right guard.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And then Trey who has been working out with Duke
Mannyweather and Rashawan and actually Foster Surrell going down there
getting a little bit of that Duke magic too, which
is I think is a good thing. So just the
potential for this offensive line money, all these young guys
and perhaps the best center and football leading the way.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It's a good segue into the Kellen Moore post Ota
press up and of all the things to take away
from Kellen, from Rashawan and from Keenan, I think there
were two things that really well, there's three. There were
a lot of things, but the one that really stood
out the most, and you can tell there's there's certain answers.
(12:57):
Some of these guys don't really like to do it.
I know the coordinators are typically uncomfortable doing it because
I don't want to step on the head Coaches toes,
they're not quite sure what the talking points are. Sometimes
don't want to talk out of turn. That's always been
a big thing in football. When you're a coordinator, the
last thing you want to do is create a story.
You just try to play it right down the middle.
But every now and then you can see a disposition
(13:20):
shift and you could hear it when you listen to it.
You can hear it in his voice when he talks
about the left side of that line and how excited
he is, and he talked about and this was something
that Rashon Slater echoed as well, with why they want
to make things simple. We've got our primary runs and
it's important for these five guys to be connected to
(13:43):
make their assignment simple. So when we call one of
those primary runs, we can let their physical abilities take over.
And that's when he leaned into Slater, Johnson Lindsley on
that left side and what he thinks is going to
be a Grit eight strength in the run game. And
it should be because it was the year prior, whenever
(14:04):
they ran with Filer and Slater and Lindsley, they talk
about five yards per carry and they just could not
rediscover that last year. Understandably, so when Rashawn went out,
but it was also fun and I know you saw this, Chris,
just to hear how Rashawn talked about having Zion next
to him and what the two of them have been
doing together in the weight room.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
He says he's trying to match Zion.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I don't think anybody can match Zion in the weight room,
and shrubs later is having trouble doing it.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
You know what Zion is in the weight room, He's
a beast.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I think the most significant quote that came out of
you know, whether it was Keenan Rashon or Killing Moore.
When Rashan was asked about how more can benefit the
Run Game, I'm just gonna read it verbatim, he said, simplification,
you'd be surprised how much can change in the Run
Game whenever certain rules are rearranged or just coaching points
change a little bit. I think that's really going to
(14:58):
allow us to just play fast and give us a
chance to make explosive plays. And Kellen echoed that just
when you have elite talent and they're allowed to play
fast and not have to think. It also leads me
to believe that maybe that wasn't the case last year
in the Running Game, and the way that.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
The things production would tell you that.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
The numbers say that right, we don't really need anybody
else to tell us. But I think that's exciting for
Chargers fans to not only get an All Pro back
at left tackle, but also these young guys another year
under their belt and then a coaching philosophy that allows
a little bit more simplification for the offensive lineman to
just do their thing and have the running game kind
(15:39):
of take care of itself after that.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And I would say, you talk to any old lineman,
and I've been fortunate to work with a few of them,
a few really good ones. I mean some like Nick
Hardwick and All Pro and others like Brian Baldinger who's
as great as student of the game as we have
in the media around football, and they'll both tell you
same thing as well. Any offensive lineman. And as the
(16:03):
Sean o'harrow I worked with at NFL and Network, all
those guys, they all say the same thing, man, we
don't want to pass set. We want a freaking run block.
We want to we want to run at the defender,
and we want to humiliate them. And that's what they're
that's what they really are wired to do. And you
can hear that in slat or like yeah, and that's
someone remember who who is in the conversation is the
(16:24):
best technique in football. That's what everybody talks about with Slater.
His technique is exceptional. His ability to set reset is unmatched.
Is one of the best in the league. But you've
seen the videos. You see him climbing under all that weight.
You're hearing about him talking about Zion and we've been
around Zion. You see how he's built. That's what those
guys want to do. They want to impose their will
(16:45):
because once you do that, well, no, now you have
a defensive line that's a little nervous about getting run over,
and maybe they're trying to set themselves so they're not humiliated,
you know on Sports Center and shown getting pancaked into
the ground and now you've got an advantage in the
past sets. So look, there's a reason why teams that
(17:06):
run the ball really well tend to have the best
offensive line grades. Why do you think Dallas and Philly
and Cleveland and you look across their offensive lines. You know,
we're talking about the PFF grades. When you look at
the PFF grades, the teams that run the ball really
well because it gives that offensive line an advantage and
(17:26):
so with Kellen Moore coming in, I think the offensive
lineman recognize that as well, you know, And that's the
one thing just kind of put a button on it. Is.
The one thing that this offensive line has going for
it is how strong it is. And I know that's
the case for a lot of offensive lines. But like
the one thing about Jamari Sawyer, well why did he slip? Well,
they just were worried about his athleticism. But man, once
(17:48):
he gets his hands on you, it's over. And like
that was that was the story on Jamari's They were
worried about his length or his arms long enough to
play tackle. Probably not, is the athletic enough to move inside,
don't know, but man if he gets his hands on you,
it's over. And we saw that last year, you know. Yeah,
there were some guys that were really good at Bendon
that got around him and caused some trouble, but man
if he put his hands on you. And now you
got him sandwich between a six foot six, three hundred
(18:11):
and twenty pound Trey Pipkins who's pretty damn strong and
a bowl in his own right and Lindsley, Well, now
you talk about someone who can really excel and I'm
not surprised at all to see so much of the
conversation focus on a run blocking and b running the
ball with the contract incentives that essentially acknowledge that Austin
(18:31):
Eckler is going to be back.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yeah, and I think everybody's excited about Austin.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I go back to a couple of years when Coach
Staley first took the job, he made comments about being
a physical run team and just how you have to
run the ball to set things up. And I do
think that they're going to get back to that this year,
just that identity that, hey, we can run the football
when we need to run the football. There's gonna be
certain instances and games where you need to win games
(18:58):
and you need to win it by running. And everybody
that talked about Austin, Keenan and Rashaan and Coach Moore
said they couldn't be more thrilled that he's going to
be back. And I thought one of the things that
was a little bit revealing in Keatan's answer is you
know how the offense is going to change. He says, well,
(19:18):
Mike can go deep. We got a guy named Quintin Johnson.
He can go deep. We're gonna go deep this year.
So I think that that's what we're gonna see. You know,
fans wanted to see.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
That last year.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's just I think the personnel on the field didn't
really allow for that with all the injuries. But make
no mistake, I think this is going to be a
much more vertical attack, maybe going back to the rookie
year of Justin Herbert, where you know, t Billy and
Jalen Guyton and Mike Williams were catching bombs seemingly on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, when Shane was was calling the place. Just to
kind of go back to the point you were making
about needing to run the ball, we just have to
go back to our most recent football memory, right, the
fact that they could not run the ball in the
second half when they were up twenty seven to seven
thirteen yards. Yeah, so there it is. You know what happened.
(20:13):
All you do is get a couple more first downs,
you know, two or three maybe four first Can you
get me four extra first downs? Not even scores, just
first downs in the second half With that kind of lead,
that will get you into better field goal range, that
will extend your drive and open up your playbook a
little bit more and they couldn't do it. They were
behind the sticks the entire second half and the game
(20:36):
just got away from them. So that's the goal of
an offense. It's to stay ahead of the sticks. And
that's why running the ball effectively is so important because
it's an easy way to stay ahead of the sticks.
If you can get those four yards, will now play
action works. Now your eye candy and your jets sweeps
and your motion work because you're worried about a run
game that's getting you four to five yards every time
(20:58):
you touch the ball. That's why the why Shane and
Nick and what they did Nick Sirianni and Shane Stikeen
did in Philadelphia was so effective. They had defenses on
their heels the whole game, and it just felt like
last year the defense. Opposing defenses were never on their heels.
They were on their toes with their ears pinned back,
and they were coming because they couldn't run the ball
(21:21):
very well. The designed runs seemed like the defense knew
what was coming at him and they never pushed the
ball downfield. Going to the second point you were making
Chris about you got the arm, You've got the guys
that can make the plays, you've got to go deep.
And the reason why Keenan didn't follow that up with
I guess that means that I'm not going to be
doing much because he's going to be the beneficiary of that,
(21:44):
because you have to commit resources to explosive plays. And
now Keenan's one on one in the slot and we
know what he can do to guys with his route running.
It's gonna be helping the whole time. It's going to
be one slant after the next for twelve yards and
fifteen yards and eight yards and first down here. He's
going to lead the league in third down catches for
first downs again this coming season, because you're terrified you're
(22:06):
gonna get burned by that arm and those giant receivers
on the outside or the speed of jailingditon.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, and maximizing Austin Eckler's touches too. That's another thing
that Kellen Moore talked about is just you know, it's
not about carries or receptions, just touches. Right, If you
can maximize Austin's touches with everybody going downfield, just makes
the offense.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Just really hard to stop, and you know, he talked.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
About an eighteen game season. When somebody was asking him
about the running back two position, He's like, listen, you
got to have a stable of guys because it's a long,
long season. So I feel like Isaiah Spiller and Joshua
Kelly are going to get a lot of cracks at
that running back two. Come training camp and we talked
about all these pass rushers. There's just as many running
(22:50):
backs out there right now too that could crazy potentially
be a fit. I mean, Zeke Kelly, it's another one
that did Kellen Moore knows really well. I mean, I'm
not saying he's coming to LA, but you know.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Makes sense, Chris. You know, the one thing that that
Zeke does as good as any back in the league,
even after all those touches and all the pounding that
his body's taken, is past he's pass pro That dude
passed blocks his ass off. Yeah, and that's if you're
taking shots downfield. And we know Austin does it really
well and josh Kelly's gotten better at it. We have
(23:21):
no idea if Isaiah Spiller can do it. But it
would not surprise me that like that move would not
surprise me at all. If he said.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Hey money a couple of months ago, it was I
think it was chefter.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Somebody said that he's narrowed his focus to the Eagles,
the Bengals, and then I think another team potentially maybe
the Jets, and then we heard nothing over the last
couple of months.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
So maybe maybe it's a clean slate now.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I don't know, but it's just another guy to keep
your eye on his Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournettler, but.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Scream Hunts still out there. Yeah, They're all still out there,
and there you go. Kareem Hunt, I think's a little bit.
Look he we know he's capable of doing. I mean,
he could be a lead back. But again it goes
to what we mentioned a little bit earlier. When all
of these players are still out there, they're not getting
the number they want. And when you don't know, when
(24:13):
you don't get the number that you want, you now
need to play the oka Where can I play so
I get my number next year? Where can I go
where I'm going to put up numbers? And I can
because the days of Zeke and Kareem Hunt getting eight
ten million bucks multi year deal, so those are gone.
It's just the reality, the age they are, the miles
(24:34):
that the tread on, the tires they're looking at. I
got to, you know, can I maximize this? Okay I couldn't.
This year. I didn't get that five or six million bucks. Well,
now I've got to take two or three million dollars
with incentives. Where do I have a chance to earn
those incentives and set myself up to at least get
this same number next year? And so that's where you
(24:56):
know the Chargers can come into play on offense. Okay, well,
Kellen Moore, both Zeke and Tony Pollard eight Tony Pollard's
getting paid now, and Austin Eckler, we know is said publicly,
I need a second guy and this, this, this, this
beats me down by the time the end of the
season comes around. I need another guy that can can
(25:17):
match what I'm doing. So that wouldn't surprise me. It's
not something you really want to spend money on. You'd
like to go the cheaper route with rookie contracts at
that point, you know, we always talk about spend your
money at premium positions O line, D line, corner, wide receiver, quarterback.
You know those your your linebackers, your safety sorry guys,
your linebackers, your safeties, your tight ends, you know those
(25:38):
your interior linemen to some degree, you can cheat on that,
your linebackers all that.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
How much is Heke even gonna want?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
He just got the biggest contract there is for a
running back, you know, so he's he's got a pile
of money. You hope that maybe some of these guys
are focus is winning a championship and being in the
best situation, knowing the offense, and he certainly would check those.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Dalvin Cooks another guy that I know the Chargers don't
really have the money for, but like, where's he gonna go?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Like, who has the money for a Dalvin cook? You know?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Is this to me? They just I feel like they
figure that out in Minnesota. I don't know how they don't. Yeah,
it's a team that won. You know, what's the games
last year?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Twelve games with Madison's there.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
But yeah, Madison Alexander.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
It just makes too much sense to have both those
guys with the weapons that they have on the outside too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
But when you talk about it as a collective though,
like as a collective corners, running backs, safeties, we talked
about John Johnson a million times, right, Like, there's there
are so many players out there that are not going
to get played, that aren't kind of get paid, that
are going to be available on bargain deals, and I'm
anxious to see again. Some of this goes back to
(26:49):
waving Lloyd earlier today. When we're recording this on Thursday,
it's like, ooh, is that so? Are we are we
looking at something here? Is there something? Are we working
on a little something here that can give this team
some depth? Because man, we saw what happened last year
along that defensive line, the interior of the line, the edges,
when Bosa went down and searching for that second pass
(27:10):
rusher on how long it took for Kyle van nuy
to finally solidify something opposite Khalil mack corners just as
a safety measure, however long it might take Jackson to
get back, you know, all that sort of stuff. There
are so many players out there, Boy, would be great
to see some veteran depth added to this group. Again,
(27:31):
not talking about guys that are going to get in
front of young players that you believe are ready to
take that next step. We're talking about death in case
guys that can rotate through that can give you x
number of snaps as your starter's rest when everybody's healthy,
and provide a viable situation if they go down.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
We may have taped this before this happened last week,
but Nick Williams another guy just to add depth to
the defensive line.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I don't remember if we thought we talked about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, just another example of right guy who Yeah,
I believe in Staley's bike up, he said that he
took Austin Johnson's spot.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
In New York when Austin came to the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So right, it's perfect. And that's a position where you
don't know when's Austin gonna be ready, when's Tito gonna
be ready? You know what is that? What does that
look like? So that's that makes some sense to me.
You know. The one thing that's that's good to see
is when you look at the I'm looking at the
r lads right now, the Charger's depth chart. There's only
(28:34):
one green in the starting lineup, and that's Quentin Johnson.
Your rookies are providing depth. Man, Go ahead, and you
want to have fun. Click on the Los Angeles Rams.
Our lads, it is you want to talk about. There
have got to be I'm not exaggerating. Forty names in Green,
(28:56):
Green is rookies, by the way, I'm not exaggerating. Here's
on offense two four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen. There's
sixteen on offense two four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen,
twenty one on defense. Thirty seven rookies on that roster.
It's incredible how they have had to restock, you know,
(29:19):
and what they're what that team's going to look like.
You look at their if you look at special teams,
it's all Green, every single.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
It's like there's no middle class chance.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Right, you have the old guys with Donald and Cup
and Stafford and then all rookies.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
So right, that's gonna look like.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I'm intrigued by with the Rams going to try to
be this year? Are they Are they going to be
a team that's going to compete in the West. Are
they going to be a team that's looking for Caleb
Williams in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's what I would do. I would do the ladder.
I would absolutely do the ladder. I don't think there
is any reason to and it's just hard it's not.
That's the one thing I think people struggle with when
they want their team to tank. It's not basketball, it's
not baseball. It's a violent game, and guys can get
hurt and their careers can end. And that's where you
(30:10):
have to be careful. You've got to try to play
to win every game. And that's why typically roster construction
is when you see the tank, that's how you do it.
You're the Arizona Cardinals and you cut DeAndre Hopkins, you
just did. It's like, yeah, you're we're going to eat
twenty two million dollars. That's what's that Kyler. You're ready
(30:31):
to come back, Go ahead, hold out a little bit.
We're good. Let's let's let's let's leave you off the
roster for two more weeks. When you look at that
roster of Arizona's along that front, defensively.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
They're telling you right now it looks like in the
desert in the fall. Yeah you know, they'll letting you know.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah. So that's a little bit of an aside. My apologies, but.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
No, but here I want to end on this.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It's it's not charge related, but it could be AFC
related with regard to DeAndre Hopkins. You already said it's
he mentioned justin Herbert.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
It's not an option. It's not an option for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It's just not necessarily. I mean, look, he fits anywhere.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
He's that good, but yeah, get anywhere.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But I think they've got other needs that they What
they don't want is him going to Kansas City or Buffalo.
And I saw something today where Kadarius Tony they have
really big plans for him this year. We know the
DIGS is in Buffalo. Where do you think DeAndre Hopkins
ends up? And like I said, the hope for Charger
(31:35):
fans is that you don't see him twice a year
in Kansas City or late during the holidays playing for Buffalo.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
See.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I think that the issue with DeAndre is he wants money.
He wants that Odell Beckham Junior fifteen million bucks, which
I just don't.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Know rightly if Odell's get it, I think.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Not saying he doesn't. You know, the guy just lost
twenty two million bucks or you know, so it's like
or however much he lost in salary by by being cut,
I don't It's it's hard to find. I mean, he
would fit really well in Miami with those burners with
with Wattle and you know, with Waddle and Tyreek Hill
(32:16):
just taking the top off. And here you've got a
guy who catches anything.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Atmosphere money with week one.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's one. I think. You know,
it's if they can't figure something out. I don't know
if they're really trying to redo Corey Davis's number in
New York, you would assume a vet is what. As
great as their young receivers are, they've shown that they
are just all in to win a Super Bowl this
year in New York. I don't know if they could
(32:44):
figure that out there. If I were him, man, I'd
be looking at the NFC. I'd be like, let's let's
let's you know what, what do you put me with
Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson. Get me out there, man,
you know, let's let's do it in Minnesota. Let's can
you know how healthy is Michael Thomas? You know Derek
(33:04):
Carr doesn't really like standing in there too long and
pushing the ball down the field. Well, here's the guy
that's gonna catch everything. Throw it in his general vicinity.
He'll catch every You got a lave out there. Like,
to me, that makes a lot of sense. And the
South is wide open. You know, Carolina traded DJ Moore.
You want to make life easier for for Bryce Young,
(33:24):
your rookie, give him a receiver that catches everything. Look
at what Keenan meant to Justin Herbert his rookie year.
Anytime he was under duress, he was looking for thirteen.
Put him on Carolina. I mean, right now, you look
at their wide receivers, it's it's Adam Thielen, DJ Shark
and Terrence Marshall. Like, get Hopkins on that team. So
there's you.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Know, Jamison Williams is out for the first six weeks
in Detroit, bron Hopkins and Williams with Gibbs in the
backfield and that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, because you've got you've got the speed and Williams
when he gets gets back out there. Yeah, I mean,
I guess you got Marvin Jones, so you don't have
a lot of speed out there. They kind of you know,
I'm on Roz more of that slot. Not necessarily take
the top off kind of guy. But yeah, that's another one.
Like there's plenty of options out there in the NFC
(34:13):
that I look at and I see man like, how
about this? How about freaking Atlanta? Put him in Atlanta
with with Drake Lennon and just you're building the tallest
basketball team in town. You've got all these big old
wide receivers with these giant catch radiuses, b Jeon Robinson
in the backfield, Kyle pitts it tight, and you've just
(34:33):
got giants. Mac Collins is out there now to give
you a little bit of speed, like Scottie Miller for
some speed. You know, the in the slot like that
one looks good to me.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Looking at He doesn't need a franchise quarterback to get
it done. He's done with a lot a lot of pedestrial.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
The guy catches everything. It is incredible. How when we
when when the Chargers played Arizona last year, I just
remember watching him going, how is he catching these balls? Yeah,
they're they're they're behind him, they're behind his head, they're
on his back. There's a corner and his safety draped
all over him. And then you just see the guy
emerge and he's got the ball and he's running like
(35:13):
he's incredible. He really is. So there's like that that's
sort of where I'd be looking if I were him,
I would I would try like that would be that
would sort of be the uh the path. I would
be looking at it because you want production, right, you
want to show. Yeah, I'm still a wide receiver one
and I want fifteen million bucks next year. I'll take
the I'll take the nine million bucks this year, twelve
(35:35):
million bucks this year, but I expect to get paid
next year, and I'm gonna do it by putting out
big numbers.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
So you know, if Cleveland wants to elevate itself in
the AFC conference, A great one. Hopkins, Elijah Moore and
Murray Cooper and Nick Chubb in the backfield. A little
reunion between Watson and Hopkins. That could be something that
right be potentially scary in the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Two hundred percent. Another great one.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Yeah, Yeah, I don't know, man, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
We're out of the air. Maybe I'm just trying to
manifest here, Chris, get them to the NFC, get him
out of here, keep them over there. We got too
many good players coming into this conference. It's driving me crazy.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Well it is.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
And you know, if if you're DeAndre Hopkins, you look
at yourself as a game changing player. You could you
could be the reason why a team competes with Philly
to go to the super Bowl. You know, Philly is
the prohibitive favorite. We know that, and they're they're stacked
at the wide receiver position. But if you're a team
like the New York Giants, or the Detroit Lions or
the San Francisco I mean, I'm just na naming teams
(36:31):
that are in the conversation any any team in that
NFC South maybe saved for Tampa Bay I think can
win that division next year. You know a couple of them.
So if I'm Hopkins, I'm looking at that saying, okay,
maybe I can be the difference maker in the NFC
and put our team in the conversation against the Eagles
in that NFC championship as opposed to have signed with
(36:53):
thirteen sixteen, preferably signed with a sorry Chris, preferably signed
with a team that's also shopping for an edge rusher.
So you take up all their money and the Chargers
can can take that can scratch that team off the list.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
That's what we're doing here, man.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
We're trying to put Hopkins in the necessary spot to
maximize the Chargers and everything they can do as well.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Exactly, all right.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
That's what we do in June first charges Weekly money,
a lot of speculation.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
We're gonna get to list.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Season very quickly too, at the end of June when
there's not much going on, and uh we wait for
training camp in July.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
But at least we have O. T. A. S H
in a mandatory minie to break.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Down, all right, hopefully some some some signings. That's what
it's crossed our fingers.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
Yeah, we from today.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Let's see if the Chargers bring on anybody new, we'll
break it down here for money.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
I'm Chris. This has been Chargers Weekly.
Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly,
as always, joined by Matt Muney Smith.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
It's June.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
First figure we get into OTA's today. You're from Rashaun Slater,
Kellen Moore, Keenan Allen get reaction to that. But you know, money,
we've talked about this day for a while.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
You wonder what the Chargers have up their sleeve in
this fourth and fifth.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Wave of free agency.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I guess we'll find out soon's.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's surprising, Chris, because there are still so many good
players left out there, and I know a lot of
people are looking at DeAndre Hopkins. He even mentioned Justin
Herbert by name on a podcast. Yeah, that's not a reality.
He's just as good of a receiver as he is.
That the man's entire body has made a stick them.
He doesn't drop anything. It's just not the right fit
(00:58):
with Mike and Keenan a first round pick, and Quinton
Johnson and Josh Palmer. So that's not just kind of
push that to the side. It's just surprising to me
how many and these are premium positions. Wide receiver corner
Marcus Peters is out there O line, Dalton Reisner's out
there D line. I mean, look at the edge rushers
that are still available. We've said these names every single
(01:21):
week on the podcast with Jadavian Clowney, Justin Houston, Frank
clark Yannicking Gocway. The list is long. We've talked about
Leonard Floyd in his relationship with Brandon Staley in both
Chicago and Los Angeles and how that's a good match
to try to find some depth on this defensive line.
The one little interesting thing that's changed today is that
(01:42):
Damon Lloyd. Damon Lloyd was just waived, and there's really
no reason right to waive a player unless you're trying
to open up a spot, unless you just know or
maybe you want to. Maybe you're being a nice you know,
the front office is being nice to Damon and say, hey,
let's get you out as early as you can so
you can find another place to connect. And we know
the Chargers try to do that as best as possible.
(02:02):
But that's just an interesting little thing. They now have
two roster spots open, and I'd love to see, you know,
we talked about this last week. Some creativity, get out there,
get some depth, specifically on that defensive line is what
I would love to see if they can find a
way to match up one of these edge players with
a number that works for them.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
The names you just threw out there June first, we're
still talking about in doc Way and Lloyd and Frank
Clark and Clowney. I mean, one of those four guys
I think would be a fantastic addition to this roster.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Obviously, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
In the meetings with Tom and Jojo and that staff
and what Staley envisions as being the best fit. Obviously,
Leonard Floyd is a guy that he coached before. But
if you could get one of those guys on a
one year, prove a deal and come back and make
more money in twenty twenty four, that's a win win
all around. And it just gives you a little bit
(02:58):
more death behind Bosa and Mack and.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It leads me to believe that it's not going to
be an expensive deal. They would have been sild. There
was a team that was desperate, and almost every team
is desperate for edge help, for pass rushing help, for
even though the sack numbers aren't there, Jadavian Clowney is
still one of the best edge run defenders out there,
(03:21):
and he still provides pressures. Maybe not the sack number
totals that you thought you would see, but the pressures
are there, the hurries are there, the quarterback hits are there,
the run setting the edge and the run is there.
And we know what a problem that was last year.
And to me, it just it in. When I hear
Kyle van Noy say that the Chargers essentially told him
(03:42):
that he wasn't going to be coming back, it leads
me to believe, okay, well, there they must be lying
something else up because for the number that he got
last year, as well as Kyle ended up playing toward
the end of the season, it certainly would make sense
for them to say, hey, let us know when you
get an offer, and let's see if we can match
the number. All things being equal, we know you want
to be here. Let's see if we can line you know,
(04:02):
line it up. And the fact they didn't do that
leads me to believe perhaps they're further down the line
with an agent for Clark, Houston, Floyd and Gokway, one
of those Genevian Clowney and they just view that as
an upgrade that Yeah, we love you, Kyle, but we're
working on something that maybe is a little bit better
for us. And who knows. They can still go back
(04:24):
to Kyle if he can't find a gig and write
that check as well.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, stay tuned with Dad. You know Bryce Callahan.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Another guy who's out there right now who was a
great addition to the secondary last year. A guy we
didn't see for a majority of last year money was
Rashaun Slater.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
He spoke. I found him very refreshing.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Man.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I always appreciate when Rashawn goes to the podium because
he's very forthright with his answers and very genuine guy.
He's one hundred percent. He said he's been one hundred
percent for a few months now, which means he probably
had the Chargers beating the Jags, probably would have been
a good chance he'd be starting against Kansas City in
(05:04):
the divisional round.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I want to boost that would have been and I'm
sure he was thinking about it when they were up
twenty seven. Nothing right, by the way, you and your
fourth right refreshing and listen, people, Chris is a Northwestern guy.
Is a Northwestern guy, so of course.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And you're going to read between the floors.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And flawn each other's big brains, and how well spoken
they all are. And oh, the school of journalism is
one of the finest in the nation. Enough, well, hey,
go back.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask if you
saw this pro football folcus put their like top ten
tackles together and listen, this is Chargers Weekly. I get it,
But objectively speaking, how is Colton Miller ahead of a
Shawn Slater.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The the Pro Football Focus. I'll start this. This is
not me trying to couch what I'm about to say.
It is an awesome site, a great service, and for
the most part of the time, I really love what
they do, the service they provide, and we have a
team access path to what they do on a different
(06:13):
level that a lot of the fans maybe don't. But
I completely recommend their services. Their their premier service, and
then they also have something for teams that's just next level.
How good it is. The One issue that most people
have around football is how they grade because they don't
they don't know necessarily what was called and what the
(06:37):
person's assignment was. So you're grading offensive lineman without knowing
what their assignment was. Now are there obvious times when
an old lineman gets beat.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Sure, but.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
To me, it's just throw on, throw on the games
and watch for Shaun Slater, on watch Colton Miller, and
you tell me who you'd rather have. It's not even closet.
Miller's a really good tackle, he's not Rashawn Slater.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I found it right here, Okay, Gordon McGinnis Top five
AFC offensive tackles number one, Jeremy Tunsel, number two, Colton Miller,
number three, Rashawn Slater, number four, Ronnie Stanley, number five,
Orlando Brown junior. You know, in Gordon's defense, maybe just
the lack of snaps last year for Rashawn.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Maybe he's not so that.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
By the way, that's not PFF. That's just this dude
so not that. That's just his sounds like that is.
That's not p pm F grades, per PFF grades. It's
just this guy, old Gordo. There, Gordo, what he's got going?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, uh half half of it has to be money.
Maybe just out of sight, out of mind in a
second year. Dude was the first team All Pros rookie
rookie season, and I guess we're used to seeing what
Joey Bosa did the Colton Miller, especially early in his career.
Colton mill is a good player, Okay, I'm not I'm
not saying he's not player, but uh, I just have
(08:00):
a hard time wrapping my head around Rashaud Slater.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Who's he number one? Tunsl Tunsel's number one? Yeah, and
that's fine. I got no problem with that, and I'm
just looking through it right now. I like Toront Armstead's
in Miami? Is he not on there?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
He's not in the top five?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I think that was okay, So I'd have Toront Armstead.
I would much. I would rather have Toron Armstead than
Colton Miller. So that's that's another one. I'm not a
huge Orlando Brown fan. I'd probably I think if we're
so like like, that's what's funny, right, It's all just subjective.
(08:39):
I know, I know Jedrick Wills has struggled a little bit,
but I believe, you know, I believe in his potential.
So there's that. I mean, what, I have him in
the top five, No, he's got He's got a little
bit of work to do. But I think that's kind
of what I'm getting at is I think if you
were to ask football people. Hey, sorry, I'm looking off
to the side here for people watching it on YouTube.
I'm just kind of trying to go through some of
(09:00):
these rosters and figure out, like Garrett Bowles, no, no,
there's not and that's like that so that it actually
brings us to a bigger point, Chris, like, we're struggling
to find five. That's that's why it is so important
to invest heavily in the offensive line, and why you
bring back Pipkins even though it was a bit of
(09:21):
an injury marred season and it was really his first
year of flashing and looking like a legitimate starting tackle.
It's why you draft Zion in the first round. It's
it's why you make Corey Linsley the highest paigde center
in the league. Offensive line is hard to find. We
are struggling. I'm going through all these teams and I
(09:42):
am trying to find, you know, five really good tackles
that that we can kind of kick around here. And
and you think about the Super Bowl aspirations of the
of the Bills, and it's like, Okay, Dean Dawkins, Yeah,
he's he's all right, He's an okay. Right tackle. Spencer Brownt, No,
not feeling that one. You go to Kansas City, they
(10:03):
just won the Super Bowl and they signed Donovan Smith
is their left tackle, he's like sixty. And their right
tackle is Juwan Taylor, who essentially Jacksonville didn't even want back,
and they have a really gnarly looking offensive line. So
it's it's wild how hard it is to find that position.
And this goes to something we talked about before the
(10:25):
draft that I would draft. I would draft a corner
and an O lineman in the first five rounds every
single year. Give me maybe even first four rounds. Gimme
O line, gimme corner every year because you just you
gotta throw that, for lack of a better term, you
got throw it against the wall. You've got to find
these guys. They are so hard to find. It Like
(10:47):
when you look at when you look at the Kansas
City line, right Trey Smith was a six round pick.
Talk about a find, you know, and that's like, that's
the right guard. To be able to find that in
the sixth round like the Chargers did in the sixth round,
which Amari saw, your to be able to find a
starting guard, that's why you gotta do that. You just
gotta keep drafting those guys. It's so important to.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Let's go in company have done it too.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I mean, we talked about Trey Pipkin was a third
round pick who they stuck with and uh are are
seeing the fruits of that. And what was great was
Rashaan was just talking about how excited he is to
to to share that left side with with Zion this year.
You got young guys all over the place.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's what I was thinking of. How is Ronnie Stanley
not on that list?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
But Stanley was? Stanley was three or four?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I thought, I think I thought I thought Slater was
three behind Colton Miller four ry sand was four or okay,
he was four? All right, Well wasn't on my apologies,
I was like, where is that guy?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
It's but that's I think the exciting part about this
upcoming year is that a Rashawan is back. Right, you
get a first team allro back at left tackle. You
have Zion, who who had really good moments last year
on the same side as Rashaan. You have the anchor
and Corey Linsley leading the charge of the veteran. There
you have Sawyer, who Slater praised. He said he had
(12:06):
no doubts that he was going to come in and
do his job at left tackle. He could play anywhere
and talk about a find late round fine for the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
You put him slot him at right guard.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And then Trey who has been working out with Duke
Mannyweather and Rashawan and actually Foster Surrell going down there
getting a little bit of that Duke magic too, which
is I think is a good thing. So just the
potential for this offensive line money, all these young guys
and perhaps the best center and football leading the way.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It's a good segue into the Kellen Moore post Ota
press up and of all the things to take away
from Kellen, from Rashawan and from Keenan, I think there
were two things that really well, there's three. There were
a lot of things, but the one that really stood
out the most, and you can tell there's there's certain answers.
(12:57):
Some of these guys don't really like to do it.
I know the coordinators are typically uncomfortable doing it because
I don't want to step on the head Coaches toes,
they're not quite sure what the talking points are. Sometimes
don't want to talk out of turn. That's always been
a big thing in football. When you're a coordinator, the
last thing you want to do is create a story.
You just try to play it right down the middle.
But every now and then you can see a disposition
(13:20):
shift and you could hear it when you listen to it.
You can hear it in his voice when he talks
about the left side of that line and how excited
he is, and he talked about and this was something
that Rashon Slater echoed as well, with why they want
to make things simple. We've got our primary runs and
it's important for these five guys to be connected to
(13:43):
make their assignment simple. So when we call one of
those primary runs, we can let their physical abilities take over.
And that's when he leaned into Slater, Johnson Lindsley on
that left side and what he thinks is going to
be a Grit eight strength in the run game. And
it should be because it was the year prior, whenever
(14:04):
they ran with Filer and Slater and Lindsley, they talk
about five yards per carry and they just could not
rediscover that last year. Understandably, so when Rashawn went out,
but it was also fun and I know you saw this, Chris,
just to hear how Rashawn talked about having Zion next
to him and what the two of them have been
doing together in the weight room.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
He says he's trying to match Zion.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I don't think anybody can match Zion in the weight room,
and shrubs later is having trouble doing it.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
You know what Zion is in the weight room, He's
a beast.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I think the most significant quote that came out of
you know, whether it was Keenan Rashon or Killing Moore.
When Rashan was asked about how more can benefit the
Run Game, I'm just gonna read it verbatim, he said, simplification,
you'd be surprised how much can change in the Run
Game whenever certain rules are rearranged or just coaching points
change a little bit. I think that's really going to
(14:58):
allow us to just play fast and give us a
chance to make explosive plays. And Kellen echoed that just
when you have elite talent and they're allowed to play
fast and not have to think. It also leads me
to believe that maybe that wasn't the case last year
in the Running Game, and the way that.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
The things production would tell you that.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
The numbers say that right, we don't really need anybody
else to tell us. But I think that's exciting for
Chargers fans to not only get an All Pro back
at left tackle, but also these young guys another year
under their belt and then a coaching philosophy that allows
a little bit more simplification for the offensive lineman to
just do their thing and have the running game kind
(15:39):
of take care of itself after that.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And I would say, you talk to any old lineman,
and I've been fortunate to work with a few of them,
a few really good ones. I mean some like Nick
Hardwick and All Pro and others like Brian Baldinger who's
as great as student of the game as we have
in the media around football, and they'll both tell you
same thing as well. Any offensive lineman. And as the
(16:03):
Sean o'harrow I worked with at NFL and Network, all
those guys, they all say the same thing, man, we
don't want to pass set. We want a freaking run block.
We want to we want to run at the defender,
and we want to humiliate them. And that's what they're
that's what they really are wired to do. And you
can hear that in slat or like yeah, and that's
someone remember who who is in the conversation is the
(16:24):
best technique in football. That's what everybody talks about with Slater.
His technique is exceptional. His ability to set reset is unmatched.
Is one of the best in the league. But you've
seen the videos. You see him climbing under all that weight.
You're hearing about him talking about Zion and we've been
around Zion. You see how he's built. That's what those
guys want to do. They want to impose their will
(16:45):
because once you do that, well, no, now you have
a defensive line that's a little nervous about getting run over,
and maybe they're trying to set themselves so they're not humiliated,
you know on Sports Center and shown getting pancaked into
the ground and now you've got an advantage in the
past sets. So look, there's a reason why teams that
(17:06):
run the ball really well tend to have the best
offensive line grades. Why do you think Dallas and Philly
and Cleveland and you look across their offensive lines. You know,
we're talking about the PFF grades. When you look at
the PFF grades, the teams that run the ball really
well because it gives that offensive line an advantage and
(17:26):
so with Kellen Moore coming in, I think the offensive
lineman recognize that as well, you know, And that's the
one thing just kind of put a button on it. Is.
The one thing that this offensive line has going for
it is how strong it is. And I know that's
the case for a lot of offensive lines. But like
the one thing about Jamari Sawyer, well why did he slip? Well,
they just were worried about his athleticism. But man, once
(17:48):
he gets his hands on you, it's over. And like
that was that was the story on Jamari's They were
worried about his length or his arms long enough to
play tackle. Probably not, is the athletic enough to move inside,
don't know, but man if he gets his hands on you,
it's over. And we saw that last year, you know. Yeah,
there were some guys that were really good at Bendon
that got around him and caused some trouble, but man
if he put his hands on you. And now you
got him sandwich between a six foot six, three hundred
(18:11):
and twenty pound Trey Pipkins who's pretty damn strong and
a bowl in his own right and Lindsley, Well, now
you talk about someone who can really excel and I'm
not surprised at all to see so much of the
conversation focus on a run blocking and b running the
ball with the contract incentives that essentially acknowledge that Austin
(18:31):
Eckler is going to be back.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yeah, and I think everybody's excited about Austin.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I go back to a couple of years when Coach
Staley first took the job, he made comments about being
a physical run team and just how you have to
run the ball to set things up. And I do
think that they're going to get back to that this year,
just that identity that, hey, we can run the football
when we need to run the football. There's gonna be
certain instances and games where you need to win games
(18:58):
and you need to win it by running. And everybody
that talked about Austin, Keenan and Rashaan and Coach Moore
said they couldn't be more thrilled that he's going to
be back. And I thought one of the things that
was a little bit revealing in Keatan's answer is you
know how the offense is going to change. He says, well,
(19:18):
Mike can go deep. We got a guy named Quintin Johnson.
He can go deep. We're gonna go deep this year.
So I think that that's what we're gonna see. You know,
fans wanted to see.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
That last year.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's just I think the personnel on the field didn't
really allow for that with all the injuries. But make
no mistake, I think this is going to be a
much more vertical attack, maybe going back to the rookie
year of Justin Herbert, where you know, t Billy and
Jalen Guyton and Mike Williams were catching bombs seemingly on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, when Shane was was calling the place. Just to
kind of go back to the point you were making
about needing to run the ball, we just have to
go back to our most recent football memory, right, the
fact that they could not run the ball in the
second half when they were up twenty seven to seven
thirteen yards. Yeah, so there it is. You know what happened.
(20:13):
All you do is get a couple more first downs,
you know, two or three maybe four first Can you
get me four extra first downs? Not even scores, just
first downs in the second half With that kind of lead,
that will get you into better field goal range, that
will extend your drive and open up your playbook a
little bit more and they couldn't do it. They were
behind the sticks the entire second half and the game
(20:36):
just got away from them. So that's the goal of
an offense. It's to stay ahead of the sticks. And
that's why running the ball effectively is so important because
it's an easy way to stay ahead of the sticks.
If you can get those four yards, will now play
action works. Now your eye candy and your jets sweeps
and your motion work because you're worried about a run
game that's getting you four to five yards every time
(20:58):
you touch the ball. That's why the why Shane and
Nick and what they did Nick Sirianni and Shane Stikeen
did in Philadelphia was so effective. They had defenses on
their heels the whole game, and it just felt like
last year the defense. Opposing defenses were never on their heels.
They were on their toes with their ears pinned back,
and they were coming because they couldn't run the ball
(21:21):
very well. The designed runs seemed like the defense knew
what was coming at him and they never pushed the
ball downfield. Going to the second point you were making
Chris about you got the arm, You've got the guys
that can make the plays, you've got to go deep.
And the reason why Keenan didn't follow that up with
I guess that means that I'm not going to be
doing much because he's going to be the beneficiary of that,
(21:44):
because you have to commit resources to explosive plays. And
now Keenan's one on one in the slot and we
know what he can do to guys with his route running.
It's gonna be helping the whole time. It's going to
be one slant after the next for twelve yards and
fifteen yards and eight yards and first down here. He's
going to lead the league in third down catches for
first downs again this coming season, because you're terrified you're
(22:06):
gonna get burned by that arm and those giant receivers
on the outside or the speed of jailingditon.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, and maximizing Austin Eckler's touches too. That's another thing
that Kellen Moore talked about is just you know, it's
not about carries or receptions, just touches. Right, If you
can maximize Austin's touches with everybody going downfield, just makes
the offense.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Just really hard to stop, and you know, he talked.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
About an eighteen game season. When somebody was asking him
about the running back two position, He's like, listen, you
got to have a stable of guys because it's a long,
long season. So I feel like Isaiah Spiller and Joshua
Kelly are going to get a lot of cracks at
that running back two. Come training camp and we talked
about all these pass rushers. There's just as many running
(22:50):
backs out there right now too that could crazy potentially
be a fit. I mean, Zeke Kelly, it's another one
that did Kellen Moore knows really well. I mean, I'm
not saying he's coming to LA, but you know.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Makes sense, Chris. You know, the one thing that that
Zeke does as good as any back in the league,
even after all those touches and all the pounding that
his body's taken, is past he's pass pro That dude
passed blocks his ass off. Yeah, and that's if you're
taking shots downfield. And we know Austin does it really
well and josh Kelly's gotten better at it. We have
(23:21):
no idea if Isaiah Spiller can do it. But it
would not surprise me that like that move would not
surprise me at all. If he said.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Hey money a couple of months ago, it was I
think it was chefter.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Somebody said that he's narrowed his focus to the Eagles,
the Bengals, and then I think another team potentially maybe
the Jets, and then we heard nothing over the last
couple of months.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
So maybe maybe it's a clean slate now.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I don't know, but it's just another guy to keep
your eye on his Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournettler, but.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Scream Hunts still out there. Yeah, They're all still out there,
and there you go. Kareem Hunt, I think's a little bit.
Look he we know he's capable of doing. I mean,
he could be a lead back. But again it goes
to what we mentioned a little bit earlier. When all
of these players are still out there, they're not getting
the number they want. And when you don't know, when
(24:13):
you don't get the number that you want, you now
need to play the oka Where can I play so
I get my number next year? Where can I go
where I'm going to put up numbers? And I can
because the days of Zeke and Kareem Hunt getting eight
ten million bucks multi year deal, so those are gone.
It's just the reality, the age they are, the miles
(24:34):
that the tread on, the tires they're looking at. I
got to, you know, can I maximize this? Okay I couldn't.
This year. I didn't get that five or six million bucks. Well,
now I've got to take two or three million dollars
with incentives. Where do I have a chance to earn
those incentives and set myself up to at least get
this same number next year? And so that's where you
(24:56):
know the Chargers can come into play on offense. Okay, well,
Kellen Moore, both Zeke and Tony Pollard eight Tony Pollard's
getting paid now, and Austin Eckler, we know is said publicly,
I need a second guy and this, this, this, this
beats me down by the time the end of the
season comes around. I need another guy that can can
(25:17):
match what I'm doing. So that wouldn't surprise me. It's
not something you really want to spend money on. You'd
like to go the cheaper route with rookie contracts at
that point, you know, we always talk about spend your
money at premium positions O line, D line, corner, wide receiver, quarterback.
You know those your your linebackers, your safety sorry guys,
your linebackers, your safeties, your tight ends, you know those
(25:38):
your interior linemen to some degree, you can cheat on that,
your linebackers all that.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
How much is Heke even gonna want?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
He just got the biggest contract there is for a
running back, you know, so he's he's got a pile
of money. You hope that maybe some of these guys
are focus is winning a championship and being in the
best situation, knowing the offense, and he certainly would check those.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Dalvin Cooks another guy that I know the Chargers don't
really have the money for, but like, where's he gonna go?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Like, who has the money for a Dalvin cook? You know?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Is this to me? They just I feel like they
figure that out in Minnesota. I don't know how they don't. Yeah,
it's a team that won. You know, what's the games
last year?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Twelve games with Madison's there.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
But yeah, Madison Alexander.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
It just makes too much sense to have both those
guys with the weapons that they have on the outside too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
But when you talk about it as a collective though,
like as a collective corners, running backs, safeties, we talked
about John Johnson a million times, right, Like, there's there
are so many players out there that are not going
to get played, that aren't kind of get paid, that
are going to be available on bargain deals, and I'm
anxious to see again. Some of this goes back to
(26:49):
waving Lloyd earlier today. When we're recording this on Thursday,
it's like, ooh, is that so? Are we are we
looking at something here? Is there something? Are we working
on a little something here that can give this team
some depth? Because man, we saw what happened last year
along that defensive line, the interior of the line, the edges,
when Bosa went down and searching for that second pass
(27:10):
rusher on how long it took for Kyle van nuy
to finally solidify something opposite Khalil mack corners just as
a safety measure, however long it might take Jackson to
get back, you know, all that sort of stuff. There
are so many players out there, Boy, would be great
to see some veteran depth added to this group. Again,
(27:31):
not talking about guys that are going to get in
front of young players that you believe are ready to
take that next step. We're talking about death in case
guys that can rotate through that can give you x
number of snaps as your starter's rest when everybody's healthy,
and provide a viable situation if they go down.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
We may have taped this before this happened last week,
but Nick Williams another guy just to add depth to
the defensive line.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I don't remember if we thought we talked about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, just another example of right guy who Yeah,
I believe in Staley's bike up, he said that he
took Austin Johnson's spot.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
In New York when Austin came to the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So right, it's perfect. And that's a position where you
don't know when's Austin gonna be ready, when's Tito gonna
be ready? You know what is that? What does that
look like? So that's that makes some sense to me.
You know. The one thing that's that's good to see
is when you look at the I'm looking at the
r lads right now, the Charger's depth chart. There's only
(28:34):
one green in the starting lineup, and that's Quentin Johnson.
Your rookies are providing depth. Man, Go ahead, and you
want to have fun. Click on the Los Angeles Rams.
Our lads, it is you want to talk about. There
have got to be I'm not exaggerating. Forty names in Green,
(28:56):
Green is rookies, by the way, I'm not exaggerating. Here's
on offense two four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen. There's
sixteen on offense two four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen,
twenty one on defense. Thirty seven rookies on that roster.
It's incredible how they have had to restock, you know,
(29:19):
and what they're what that team's going to look like.
You look at their if you look at special teams,
it's all Green, every single.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
It's like there's no middle class chance.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Right, you have the old guys with Donald and Cup
and Stafford and then all rookies.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
So right, that's gonna look like.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I'm intrigued by with the Rams going to try to
be this year? Are they Are they going to be
a team that's going to compete in the West. Are
they going to be a team that's looking for Caleb
Williams in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's what I would do. I would do the ladder.
I would absolutely do the ladder. I don't think there
is any reason to and it's just hard it's not.
That's the one thing I think people struggle with when
they want their team to tank. It's not basketball, it's
not baseball. It's a violent game, and guys can get
hurt and their careers can end. And that's where you
(30:10):
have to be careful. You've got to try to play
to win every game. And that's why typically roster construction
is when you see the tank, that's how you do it.
You're the Arizona Cardinals and you cut DeAndre Hopkins, you
just did. It's like, yeah, you're we're going to eat
twenty two million dollars. That's what's that Kyler. You're ready
(30:31):
to come back, Go ahead, hold out a little bit.
We're good. Let's let's let's let's leave you off the
roster for two more weeks. When you look at that
roster of Arizona's along that front, defensively.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
They're telling you right now it looks like in the
desert in the fall. Yeah you know, they'll letting you know.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah. So that's a little bit of an aside. My apologies, but.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
No, but here I want to end on this.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It's it's not charge related, but it could be AFC
related with regard to DeAndre Hopkins. You already said it's
he mentioned justin Herbert.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
It's not an option. It's not an option for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It's just not necessarily. I mean, look, he fits anywhere.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
He's that good, but yeah, get anywhere.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But I think they've got other needs that they What
they don't want is him going to Kansas City or Buffalo.
And I saw something today where Kadarius Tony they have
really big plans for him this year. We know the
DIGS is in Buffalo. Where do you think DeAndre Hopkins
ends up? And like I said, the hope for Charger
(31:35):
fans is that you don't see him twice a year
in Kansas City or late during the holidays playing for Buffalo.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
See.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I think that the issue with DeAndre is he wants money.
He wants that Odell Beckham Junior fifteen million bucks, which
I just don't.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Know rightly if Odell's get it, I think.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Not saying he doesn't. You know, the guy just lost
twenty two million bucks or you know, so it's like
or however much he lost in salary by by being cut,
I don't It's it's hard to find. I mean, he
would fit really well in Miami with those burners with
with Wattle and you know, with Waddle and Tyreek Hill
(32:16):
just taking the top off. And here you've got a
guy who catches anything.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Atmosphere money with week one.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's one. I think. You know,
it's if they can't figure something out. I don't know
if they're really trying to redo Corey Davis's number in
New York, you would assume a vet is what. As
great as their young receivers are, they've shown that they
are just all in to win a Super Bowl this
year in New York. I don't know if they could
(32:44):
figure that out there. If I were him, man, I'd
be looking at the NFC. I'd be like, let's let's
let's you know what, what do you put me with
Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson. Get me out there, man,
you know, let's let's do it in Minnesota. Let's can
you know how healthy is Michael Thomas? You know Derek
(33:04):
Carr doesn't really like standing in there too long and
pushing the ball down the field. Well, here's the guy
that's gonna catch everything. Throw it in his general vicinity.
He'll catch every You got a lave out there. Like,
to me, that makes a lot of sense. And the
South is wide open. You know, Carolina traded DJ Moore.
You want to make life easier for for Bryce Young,
(33:24):
your rookie, give him a receiver that catches everything. Look
at what Keenan meant to Justin Herbert his rookie year.
Anytime he was under duress, he was looking for thirteen.
Put him on Carolina. I mean, right now, you look
at their wide receivers, it's it's Adam Thielen, DJ Shark
and Terrence Marshall. Like, get Hopkins on that team. So
there's you.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Know, Jamison Williams is out for the first six weeks
in Detroit, bron Hopkins and Williams with Gibbs in the
backfield and that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, because you've got you've got the speed and Williams
when he gets gets back out there. Yeah, I mean,
I guess you got Marvin Jones, so you don't have
a lot of speed out there. They kind of you know,
I'm on Roz more of that slot. Not necessarily take
the top off kind of guy. But yeah, that's another one.
Like there's plenty of options out there in the NFC
(34:13):
that I look at and I see man like, how
about this? How about freaking Atlanta? Put him in Atlanta
with with Drake Lennon and just you're building the tallest
basketball team in town. You've got all these big old
wide receivers with these giant catch radiuses, b Jeon Robinson
in the backfield, Kyle pitts it tight, and you've just
(34:33):
got giants. Mac Collins is out there now to give
you a little bit of speed, like Scottie Miller for
some speed. You know, the in the slot like that
one looks good to me.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Looking at He doesn't need a franchise quarterback to get
it done. He's done with a lot a lot of pedestrial.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
The guy catches everything. It is incredible. How when we
when when the Chargers played Arizona last year, I just
remember watching him going, how is he catching these balls? Yeah,
they're they're they're behind him, they're behind his head, they're
on his back. There's a corner and his safety draped
all over him. And then you just see the guy
emerge and he's got the ball and he's running like
(35:13):
he's incredible. He really is. So there's like that that's
sort of where I'd be looking if I were him,
I would I would try like that would be that
would sort of be the uh the path. I would
be looking at it because you want production, right, you
want to show. Yeah, I'm still a wide receiver one
and I want fifteen million bucks next year. I'll take
the I'll take the nine million bucks this year, twelve
(35:35):
million bucks this year, but I expect to get paid
next year, and I'm gonna do it by putting out
big numbers.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
So you know, if Cleveland wants to elevate itself in
the AFC conference, A great one. Hopkins, Elijah Moore and
Murray Cooper and Nick Chubb in the backfield. A little
reunion between Watson and Hopkins. That could be something that
right be potentially scary in the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Two hundred percent. Another great one.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Yeah, Yeah, I don't know, man, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
We're out of the air. Maybe I'm just trying to
manifest here, Chris, get them to the NFC, get him
out of here, keep them over there. We got too
many good players coming into this conference. It's driving me crazy.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Well it is.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
And you know, if if you're DeAndre Hopkins, you look
at yourself as a game changing player. You could you
could be the reason why a team competes with Philly
to go to the super Bowl. You know, Philly is
the prohibitive favorite. We know that, and they're they're stacked
at the wide receiver position. But if you're a team
like the New York Giants, or the Detroit Lions or
the San Francisco I mean, I'm just na naming teams
(36:31):
that are in the conversation any any team in that
NFC South maybe saved for Tampa Bay I think can
win that division next year. You know a couple of them.
So if I'm Hopkins, I'm looking at that saying, okay,
maybe I can be the difference maker in the NFC
and put our team in the conversation against the Eagles
in that NFC championship as opposed to have signed with
(36:53):
thirteen sixteen, preferably signed with a sorry Chris, preferably signed
with a team that's also shopping for an edge rusher.
So you take up all their money and the Chargers
can can take that can scratch that team off the list.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
That's what we're doing here, man.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
We're trying to put Hopkins in the necessary spot to
maximize the Chargers and everything they can do as well.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Exactly, all right.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
That's what we do in June first charges Weekly money,
a lot of speculation.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
We're gonna get to list.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Season very quickly too, at the end of June when
there's not much going on, and uh we wait for
training camp in July.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
But at least we have O. T. A. S H
in a mandatory minie to break.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Down, all right, hopefully some some some signings. That's what
it's crossed our fingers.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
Yeah, we from today.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Let's see if the Chargers bring on anybody new, we'll
break it down here for money.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
I'm Chris. This has been Chargers Weekly.
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