April 28, 2023 • 47 mins
Matt “Money” Smith and Chris Hayre react to the Chargers' selection of TCU WR Quentin Johnston at No. 21 overall (2:45) and discuss other significant storylines from the evening. At (10:22), the guys delve into a compelling discussion about the competitiveness of the AFC. The guys also look ahead to what positions the Chargers may pursue on Friday and Saturday (29:30).
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
A late fifteen to ten touched up sucker.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, guys, Welcome in to a draft day edition
of Chargers Weekly. We're taping this a day later than
we normally do because we don't want to date ourselves money.
We had a lot to get into. Quintin Johnson is
a Charger. I first want to start by complimenting you
and Adrian for hosting a heck of a party at Westfield.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's a lot of fun. Really, it was easy for
me just because we had great energy. Charger fans are incredible.
It's the West Side is not easy to navigate, and
we know that it's in the giant mall.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
They were able to find us.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The Chargers did a great job of setting up a
really cool, felt like a backyard in the middle of
the Westfield Mall. You know, bars all over the place,
great food and you know, good entertainment.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So it was it was easy.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
The energy was there, The fact that all these guys
came out, you know, justin Herbert Derwin, James Eric Kendricks,
Antonio Gates, Ladania. To have Ladanian Tomlinson on stage, how
about that when they made their selection, was just you
can't you can't script that you know, the greatest player
(01:18):
in the history of TCU, and someone that's in the
conversation is the greatest charger ever is on stage when
they opt to pick a kid out of TCU. It
was really cool to be part of it, and it
was a lot of fun, and so kudos to everyone
that put it together, but especially because I had a
blast talking with the fans and all the people that
(01:38):
came out. I really really enjoyed it. I threw out
my arm because of all those stupid mini footballs that
weigh about six ounces apiece trying to get some velocity
behind it. My arm is dead today.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Dude, you had you literally had more passing attempts than
Justin Herbert had all season. Every time I looked up
at the stage, Money was throwing an out route of
posts a go.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And I'll tell you, you know, the the elixir, the lubricant
of conversation. I had a single beer and then I
think everybody just felt like, oh, all right, well there's
no rules now, And next thing you know, I got
people asking for passes from two decks up, people way
in the back, and of course, being an idiot, I'm like,
I'll get it there and next thing, you know, I'm
(02:25):
just trying to figure out, all right, how do I
get this thing to sail? And managed to get a
couple up to the third decks. I was pretty proud
of myself. But guess what I'm paying for it today,
paying forth, absolutely paying for it today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You're right though, man, Hey, the fans make it. It's
always a pleasure catch it up with you guys. A
lot of listeners of the podcast, and we appreciate it
so very much. So much to get into, man, I mean,
the draft was was wild from the beginning, a lot
of unexpected picks. We'll get into the draft overall, but
at twenty one, overall, everything was lining up with what
(02:59):
we want for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The best tight end was available Jackson Smith and Jig,
but it was a guy that I didn't think, we.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Know, I never thought he was a Chargers.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So at twenty one overall, you had really your choice
of wide receiver and tight end, and they decide that
Quentin Johnston from TCU is the guy. Your reaction to
that pick, you know we mentioned him on the podcast.
I don't think we mentioned him as much as a
guy like Zay Flowers or Jordan Addison or Kincaid or Mayor,
but he's the guy.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I'll be honest. I was surprised.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I was, But then when you start to unpack it
and think about it, you know, teams have types. There
are teams that you know, this is what they like.
And we talked about this last year with the Chiefs
when they moved on from Tyreek Hill and people were
saying that it's going to change the offense completely. And
I remember getting into this with you. We talked about
(03:55):
I think they looked at the Chargers and they were like, hey,
Keenan Allen sixty three, Mike Williams almost six for we
need bigger guys. You know, that's where this league is
headed is. And you look at what they have in
Cincinnati and what they've built, you know, with that trio
of receivers, they're all six foot two or taller, and
so sort of after my initial surprise, and we'll dig
(04:18):
into it, I have no problem. You know, we've been
talking about this for three months now and everybody knows
what my order was and that I never mentioned Quinton Johnston.
But I think that's sort of what ultimately this came
down to, is the Chargers, Tom Telesco, Brandon Staley. They
like big guys, that's what they want, and so they're
not interested in five foot ten, you know, Zay Flowers.
(04:40):
They're not interested in one hundred and seventy pound Jordan Addison.
They wanted the big body. And I think, you know,
just to dig into it now, I don't think Quentin
Johnson has the same skills level of skills that Zay
Flowers does. But Jay Flowers is not six foot three
and capable of running you know, four five forty. So
(05:02):
there's you're you're gonna make trade offs. You know, there
are so few perfect receivers out there, so it's kind
of it's kind of a what do we want, what
do we like? What do we think is the most
effective with our quarterback with the scheme that we're gonna
be calling. And clearly they wanted the big body because
that's the only that's That's just kind of the way
(05:22):
I break it down.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I mean, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We were on stage and I said, Ladanian Tomlinson's up there,
and Dalton kin Kaid is available, and Michael Mayer's available,
and Zay Flowers is available and Jordan Addison's available, and
I'm like, holy crap, I cannot fulfill the draft propose
way and and LT's like, it's Zay Flowers. He's like,
it's Zay Flowers. They're gonna take Zay Flowers, you know.
And he's saying that on stage. And it was funny
(05:46):
just to see how excited he got when they took Quinton,
because I think nobody had projected Quinton to be you know,
I shouldn't say nobody. A lot of people liked him
more than I know. Chris Simms liked him a lot.
He was not a big Jordan Adison guy. J Flowers
was his favorite was, but I think Quinton was his
number two. So I don't think it was like it
wasn't a crazy pick at all. It wasn't o a
(06:07):
left field like I said, I think it's just one
of those This is the type of receiver that the
Chargers prefer, and they'll coach up. They think they can
coach up some of the issues, some of the things
that people had issues with. And I guess the one
that you can't. You can't coach five foot ten to
(06:27):
be six foot three. That doesn't work. You can't coach
Jordan Addison from one hundred and seventy pounds to two
hundred and ten pounds. That doesn't work either, So I
guess that's the way they look at it. We'd rather
have the body type and let's see if we can
fix the drops. Let's see if we can fix a
lot of those body catches and turn him into a
more complete receiver. You know, the guy's big play. I mean,
(06:49):
he had some explosive plays, big plays downfield, but I
think those were just kind of the concerns that you
assume they feel really good about being able to get
right and end up with this giant receiver that's super fast,
that's going to be a nightmare to cover.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I think they they drafted his traits too right,
six ' three towo a weight. They talked about his suddenness,
his yards after the catch came up a lot. And
I was going back to DJ's top fifty. I think
it was his last top fifty. He compared Quentin Johnson
to Mike Williams. So they're building a basketball team, right,
They're building a basketball team with Everett and with Mike
(07:28):
and Keenan and Palmer. So I look at the pick
and I go back to what you said last week,
and I think you summed it up perfectly. I think
they even used it for the promo. Justin Herbert makes
good wide receivers great, and he makes great wide receivers
all pros. I go back to twenty twenty, his rookie
(07:49):
year when t Billy was catching everything. Jalen Geiton was
becoming a household name because of Justin Herbert. So if
this guy can get open, and you know, if Keenan
or Myke is doubled and Quentin Johnson can get open
and they can kind of use him in situations that
maximize his potential, I think they got a really good pick,
(08:09):
and I have to I'd be remiss by to mention
Kellen Moore. You know, Kellen Moore probably had a big
say in the wide receiver that he preferred and he
wanted for his offense. So Quentin Johnson seems to fit
the bill. You know, we were talking about big twelve
receivers before we came on. Ceedee Lamb is a big
twelve receiver that had some success at the Dallas Cowboys
with Kellen Moore. So's it's interesting because these mock draft
(08:33):
exercises and we're consumed by this draft evaluation process, and
I think sometimes you know, we lock in on guys
that we like and other people like, and you don't know,
like you know, like we mentioned Zion Johnson last your
Money a little bit, but I don't think we actually
like said, okay, wow, this could be a reality. You know,
we were talking about Jameson Williams and some of these
(08:54):
other guys. So it's exciting to kind of see it
come to life. I was very surprised that a guy
like Dalton Kinkaid blew with the Buffalo Bills well and
get to that.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
They were like, we're not waiting go get them, and man,
they got to play Chargers, have to play them in
the regular season. If they want to get to the
super Bowl, very well, may have to play in the playoffs.
I really, you know how I feel about that guy.
And I know tight end is not a premium position
like wide receiver is money.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Real quick.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
This is my this is my thought on that on
that position. There's so many good guys that are gonna
go today. Right, Michael Mayer didn't get drafted in the
first round.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
You talk about it, but I think I think Mayor
to me. And again, you know how I feel about Kinkaid.
To me, Kinkaid is on an island. I felt like
there was and I know there's people that are like,
oh no, I like Mayor more than King Kid, And
that's fine for me. Kin Kid is he's a unicorn.
He's Travis Kelcey. He's and again I'm biased, I get it,
but I just I cannot believe the league let him
(09:58):
go to the Bills. It's and that's the thing, like
you know, you you and you end up getting sort
of emotionally, it's confirmation bias, and now you have to
reset your confirmation bias. And it sounds terrible, but it's like, no,
I want kink to be terrible now. I want to
be completely wrong about this because he's on the Bills.
I want Zay Flowers to continue to be a run
(10:19):
of terrible draft picks at the receiver position by the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
These are all.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
AFC, Like the AFC is already stacked with with quarterbacks.
You have only six teams make the playoffs. Like I'm
just gonna let me quickly do a little exercise here.
Only six teams make the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's kind does anybody want it in the NFC. By
the way, besides THEA, does anybody want it?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, why even bother Nolan's the fact that freaking that
that somehow Nolan Smith lasted until thirty one and the
Eagles not Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith just.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That like that that the Eagles might as well be
my seven thousand to win the NFC. I don't know
how they freaking pull it off every year, but you
know what, it's it's what happens.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But and they got a tampering They got a tampering
pick from Arizona exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So here's my thing. Let's count them.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson,
Trevor Lawrence, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert. That is
nine quarterbacks, three of them are not going to make
the playoffs. Nine quarterbacks, three aren't going to make the playoffs.
(11:38):
And now you're talking about Zay Flowers going to the Ravens.
You're talking about uh Dalton Kincaid going to the Bills.
And that's and those are two of our Thank goodness,
Bijeon ended up going to the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You know, I was worried that.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I was, honestly, I had this weird little you know,
and I think the fact that Tyree Wilson slid a
little bit because of that Liz Frank injury to the Raiders,
that could be a nightmare him and Max Crosby, you know,
because we know Chandler Jones had some issues last year.
But I was starting to think about it. I was like, man,
I could totally see them taking Bijeon. It's the Patriots way.
It's you know, you zig we zag, you know, it's
(12:21):
let's let's just figure it out and and bring him in.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And we wasted a.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Lot of time on Bejeon. He wasn't gonna be there
twenty one.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Ultimately, again, it almost always goes back to and I
hate saying it because it's such a weird word, but
it just goes back to the tape. Like when you
watch Bijon Robinson play football, it's like.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
There's I don't care.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I have zero issue with what the position is and
the financial implication. It's like, well, you can't take a
guy that high because now he's one of the highest
paid running backs.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I'm like, I don't care. Arthur Smith's gonna hand him.
He's gonna touch the ball twenty five times a game.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Arthur Smith had Dereck Henry and Tennessee. He knows what
AFC championship games.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah. How about Jamior Gibbs going to the Lions at twelve?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I was, I was a surprise when they signed David Montgomery.
They have DeAndre Swift. They like, yeah, al saw.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Somebody tweet this, and and and they're right when you
when you think about how it played out for the
Lions and the Eagles, the Lions could have had the
same exact hal that the Eagles got with Carter and
and Nolan's got that if they just if they just
got a great call, you know, and and they got
they got an inside linebacker at a running back and
they had as they have a stud running back. I
know they lost Jamal Williams, but it's it's just Ey
(13:35):
the beholder man, like, we don't know. All thirty two
teams are different. They have a different evaluation, they have
a different philosophy, and that's how the draft plays out.
Like seeing seeing Gibbs at twelve, I was like, okay, man,
this is this is officially off the rails and it
was good for the Chargers, and that the wide receivers
and the tight ends kept slipping on. It goes to
(13:57):
me money that they wanted. They wanted John was their
number one receiver.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Clearly, It's very clearly, and that's fine. Like I said,
it's it's totally fine. They they you know more about
this than I do. They dig into it a lot deeper.
Teams have so much more information than we do that
there's just so much more available to them than than
we get. For me, I like to watch guys play games.
(14:21):
You know, I've been covering the draft for a long time,
and so I have some of these and it's probably
not healthy. I have some of these built in biases
about certain schools or certain conferences and how often we
see certain position groups perform at a high level in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
And you know, I'm I'm upfront with that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I cop to that, you know, And that's part of
the bias that I have, you know, I like, I like.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Getting guys from the SEC. You know.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I think when you when you go through if you're
just to go through the stats and you know, if
I'll pull it up right now, like let's just go
through the receiving stats. So these are just biases that
you have to you have to get them away from you, right,
Like you've got to be able to separate, Like, Hey,
this guy could be the greatest receiver in the history
(15:07):
of football, but you've counted him out because he's in
the Big twelve. And you don't think the Big twelve
produces elite receivers. Like when I go through it, here's
SEC Tyreek Hill technically SEC before he got kicked out
of school and slipped to the fourth round becuse she
was a terrible person. Fresno State SEC. Stefan Diggs. I
think Maryland was ACC at the time. I don't think
(15:29):
they were Big ten. Yet there's CD Lambs, So there's
your Big twelve, Jalen Wattle SEC. Travis Kelce at eight
and like that's the whole outlier thing with Dalton Kincaid,
DeVante Smith SEC. Tara McLaurin Big ten A Monro Pac twelve,
Amari Cooper SEC, Mike Evans SEC.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Christian Kirk.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Them don't count that although sec A and m Right,
Garrett Wilson, Ohio State DK, metcalf Ole, Miss Jamar Chase Lsu,
Chris alave Osu like that's you see where receivers are.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Made, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So that's again it's just a bias. It's a it's
a pernicious seed that's planted in my brain that I've
got to be able to ignore because again, I think
the best comparison and we talked about it last night,
Chris is look at what the Bengals have and look
at what a complete nightmare they are to cover and
wide receiver with Tyler Boyd T Higgins and Jamar Chase.
(16:24):
It's a nightmare because you can't have a small corner,
you just you can't. These guys are too big, and
that's what the Chargers are gonna throw out there. And
to me, that's very exciting like to be to be
And remember, this is a guy that's gonna have a
ton of one on one opportunities. Man, you got a
six foot three high, four to four wide receiver, it's
(16:47):
gonna get a ton of one on ones. And he's
got Justin Herbert and that freaking cannon throwing the ball
down the field. Because you can't afford to single cover
Mike Williams or Keenan Allen on a third down. This
guy's gonna get freaking single cover. He's gonna have the
chance to make some really big plays and that that
part of it is exciting. You know, you want a
guy with some size when you're pushing that ball downfield.
(17:08):
Then this guy is going to be a heck of
a weapon on that front. Let's not forget Gerald Everett.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I mean Gerald Everett had his best game as a
Charger in that playoff game against the Exonal Jaguars. I mean,
so that's another weapon or did he could? He considers
himself an athlete, not a tight end. So it's just
another big body weapon for for Justin and I want
to get your thoughts on what the Chargers may do
in this second round. And what I was getting at is, Okay,
(17:34):
the tight end position is loaded. There's like four guys
that could, like one of them just fall in their
lap if they didn't even move up in the in
the second round. I mean, Laporte is that guy from Iowao.
The DJ really really likes Washington from Georgia, Musgrove from
Oregon state mayor from Notre Dame. If you get one
of those four guys, I mean, I think you're going
(17:56):
a long way in terms of solidifying that position, not
only if it's twenty twenty three, but the years to
come with.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Justin Yeah, I'm looking at it. You know, you think
about who's in front of them, right, So the Lions
traded Hawkinson, they need a tight end. Cardinals could use
a tight end. Steelers have Friarmouth, Colts could. Certainly they're
gonna want weapons for Anthony Richardson. You have the Rams,
don't know what they're gonna do. I would imagine they
probably want to trade back. Seahawks are up. There's a
(18:24):
lot of teams that could use tight ends, especially you
think about those teams that picked high that have young quarterbacks.
You know, the Panthers for Bryce Young, you know, the
Packers for Jordan Love after taking Lucas van Ness in
the first round instead of a wide receiver to help
out Jordan Love. But they did take their two receivers
last year. I mean, they got Duves and Watson last year,
(18:45):
so they're fine. But that's a tight end spot. Like
you know, the thing with Laporta that's interesting is the
the Iowa offense was so anemic last year that it's
easy for someone like that to get Overlook, you know,
with that kind of skill set from a tight end
factory like Iowa, who produces really good tight ends. So
(19:08):
if Laporta can make it to him at fifty four,
that'd be incredible.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I think I think it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think when you look at a bit better numbers
and Kittled did in Iowa. Yeah without a quarterback, right.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, And that's what I mean that the offense was
just completely and totally anemix. So you're talking about a
group of players. I'm trying to find him here, where
is my where are my tight ends?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Here we go?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So you're talking about Mayor who's going to go right away?
Muskro So you have you really have five left?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
You know what? I actually even like Brenton Strange out
of Penn State. I forgot about him.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And that's the thing like Shoemaker, like he's solid out
of Michigan.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
But I think what we're.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Talking about is elite tight end play. Dalton Kin kid
is going to be an elite tight end. I know
he's not a do at all. He's not a huge blocker,
but he's a capable blocker. But man, Michael Mayer is
going to go right away, Musgrave I think is probably
gonna go pretty quick. He's super athletic and just had
injury issues. That's why his production was so low. We know,
Darnell Washington, my.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Gosh, must Grave only played in a couple of games.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Is yere barely played?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, but when he did, he's he flashes, you know,
he's he's really athletic. You see contorting his body, you know,
picking balls off guys heads, like really doing some impressive stuff.
And the limited sample that you get Washington, I to me,
that's just one where that's like, I don't know how
that guy makes it. You can't find a guy that
(20:33):
freaking big, you know, at six seven to sixty. He's
an offensive lineman like you get you get a six
offensive lineman in your tight end. And oh, by the way,
that offensive lineman is pretty athletic and can catch balls
and watch bodies just bounce off them down the field.
So you know, I think the thing with picking a
tight end at twenty one, there's a reason why tight
ends don't go a lot in the first round, and
(20:53):
it's a reason why running backs don't go all out
in the first round. And it's the money. You know,
it's the fact that these guys aren't making twenty five
million bucks a year like a one receiver is. So
when you can get that first round contract, you want
to try to get that financial flexibility, especially when you're
about to play justin Herbert what you're about to pay him.
So I think that's probably part of the reason why
(21:15):
the Chargers want wide receiver over tight end there and
you said it, Chris, the deep class, the fact that
they feel like, oh, no, we can get one of
these guys at fifty four if they really want to
keep building on offense, which selfishly I want them to do,
but I wouldn't be surprised. Corner group is pretty deep.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I thought maybe they were going to take Deonte Banks there,
you know, the pick that when I think I think
the Giants took him to twenty four. Yeah, so like
that would have been a great I would I was like, ooh,
if Brandon gets on that table and starts jumping, I
could totally see him want in that long corner. We
talked about the contract situation, right, but you know what
that signals to me is that things are going really
well with JC and they feel like he's going to
be ready. And that's going to put them back at
(21:51):
a little bit of depth at that position.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
You know, the wide receiver run started too, and it
started at twenty and then I was like forced wide receivers.
It'll be interesting to see when the tight end run
in the second round starts, and if it starts closer
to where the Chargers select, or if they really wanted
one of those guys, if they'd have to move up
to get them. So there's a lot of positions that
need Let's take a quick break and talk about some
(22:16):
other potential positions they may target. All right, guys, is
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we've talked a lot about the offense and wide receiver
and tighten talking offense, Chris, what you talking offense?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I'm with you though, like I even said last night,
and to your point, really the last couple of months,
you got to outscore Patrick Mahomes and all those other
quarterbacks you mentioned, not to mention CJ. Stroud and Anthony
Richardsoner coming to the AFC. And I'm not saying they're
gonna blow up the league in the first year or two,
but you never know.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Both good. I think they're both good quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know, the AFC. AFC is crazy. You have to
score forty points, you forty points.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
And all the word is that Tennessee is gonna get
Will Levis. You know that that's that's the team. So
you're talking about another quarterback that's coming in now.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Do you all of them make it? No, they never do,
you know, it's just the way it works. You don't
have a quarterback class where every single one of the
guys makes it. So one or two of them are
are going to be, you know, on another team after
four years. And that's just the reality of it. That's
how it works out. But you know, yeah, those are
high picks.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know. CJ.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Stroud, Anthony Richardson invested in the in the AFC South,
which is good for us because you don't want one
team to dominate. You want them all to beat up
on each other and pull each other out of that
wild card, you know, so you don't have So I
think that's you know, to me, that's that's something that's
down the road. That was the only thing I was
thinking about with Houston, Like, that's that's what's we went
(24:38):
through all the quarterbacks, right, Like, how do you decide
to start the clock? Like, you know what, am I
really gonna? I really need to love CJ. Stroud because
I feel like we're a couple of years away. So
now I'm starting that five year clock. Technically it's a
four year clock, right if he's going to be good.
Do I want to start this four year clock with
(24:59):
Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Did I mention Burrow in that list?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
By the way, I think he did?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Okay, I'm just gonna say, am I at ten now?
But you know what I mean? So like that's the
interesting part, by the.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Way, too, money, Like you didn mentioned Kenny Pickett and
I and I know that he's he was a rookie
last year. But but Mike Tomlin doesn't have losing seasons. Man, Like,
the Steelers are gonna be good. Kenny Pickett is gonna
be able to lead them to wins.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Yeah, that the point I was simply like illustrating. Yeah,
the only thing I was illustrating is you know you
won't like if Kenny Pickett misses the playoffs. You're like, oh, yeah, whatever,
But like when you say, hey, Tarvl Lawrence missed the playoffs,
Justin Herbert missed the playoffs, Joe Burrow missed the playoffs,
Deshaun Watson with his fancy guaranteed contract missed the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson and all that tumult in Baltimore and what
(25:45):
they went through before finally getting a deal, missed the playoffs. Like,
that's what's crazy about this conference. The balance of power,
the balance of powers insane.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I'll say it again, man, I have you know, shame
on the teams in the NFC that didn't make an
offer for Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, shame.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I just Aaron Rodgers too. I don't know if Green
Bay was going to trade him in the NFC, but
I would have given up more to get Aaron Rodgers
and keep him in the NFC and compete for a
Super Bowl alongside what Jaylen you have, Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Nak Prescott, there's an argument that your guy Derek Carr
is like the third best quarterback in the in the conference.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
That that does not bode well for the NFC in
terms of talent at the quarterback position. I digrest, you
looked at the Cardinals rosters a mess. The Rams are
on a complete rebuild. The forty nine ers are going
to be dominant defensively, and you know with what they have,
Christian McCaffrey, that weapon, George Kittle, mccaffe you know, they
just do it with weapons. So just you know, I
think that's the one thing about the NFC when everyone's like, oh,
(26:46):
it's the Eagles, It's the Eagles. Yeah it is, but
let's not forget about what the weapons look like. In
San Francisco. That defense is just it's atrocious. You know,
it's so freaking dominant. And when you combine their offensive
line with mc caffrey, deebo Ayuk Kittle like in the
brain of Kyle Shanahan. Okay, now they can trade punches
(27:06):
with the Eagles. You know they can do. I think
they're better. No, especially not after last year's draft and
this draft. But yeah, the South is you got Baker
at quarterback for the Bucks. You got Bryce Young the
number one pick for the Panthers. Desmond Ritters, you know,
doing it with the Falcons. But look, they were able
to get a reclamation project in Ryan Tannehill and Arthur
(27:27):
Smith made it work with Derek Henry and now he's
gonna be able to make it work with Cordero Patterson,
Tyler L. Jeer and b Jean Robinson. And it's very
reminiscent of what he did in Tennessee. And you know,
is someone that called a lot of college football. What
Jim Harbaugh did at Stanford when he's like, all right,
Pac twelve, you want to play a ton of nickel
and dime and you want to throw it all over.
I guess we're gonna do. We're gonna come town, We're
(27:49):
gonna kick your ass. We're gonna we're gonna play power football,
and you don't have the bodies. And that's what he's
building in Atlanta. You've got those big receivers, you got
that gigantic freak of a tight end, and now you've
got this three headed monster at running back can be
flexed all over the field. We know cord I mean
Cordero was drafted as a wide receiver. You know, Algiers
(28:09):
a hammer, Beijeon can move to the slot. I can't
wait to see what they're gonna do. I got a
ton of respect for Arthur Smith and the way he
sees football. So that's you know, I guess what I'm
getting at, Chris is. I think it's a little bit
of an overreaction, you know, I think, I do. I
(28:29):
do think there's some teams that that are interesting. You know,
the Panthers have a really good defense. I believe in
Frank Reich and I believe in Bryce Young. You know
one hundred percent. So I think it's it looks to
be the Eagles maybe for a year before the other
teams might be able to catch up there with all
that depth and who they got. But at the same time,
(28:49):
you know, weird things happen, you know, weird, weird things
happen every year.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
The Caleb Williams Drake May sweepstakes is is gonna heat up.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, and Bonnick's gonna get in there too. You know,
Bonnick's going to be a top five pick. You know
it's gonna be and and you know what, someone else
will raise their hand. You know, you'll you'll get the
Anthony Richardson, you'll get the Will Levis, you'll get the
you know, the Joe Burrow. Single season, it happens. Somebody
always ends up raising their hand. But you know, I'm sorry.
I love the draft. I'm a I'm a draft dork.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
To react.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It's fun to react to all the craziness that happened yesterday.
Staying with the Chargers, Yeah, one position, I'm a little
concerned about deft Wise's edge. Uh and and I bring
that up because obviously they you know, you know, you
got Khalil Mack and Joey bos Like, what are you
talking about? It's it's the guys behind him. You know,
Chris Rump is still developing. They're gonna need a couple
(29:45):
of guys sure to develop. I'm hopeful van Noy after
the draft comes back. I think he wants to be here.
I'm hoping that that we're letter is Leonard Floyd Stilville
still out there.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
He's still out there. He's gonna get signed after the draft.
And these are that's where you tend to get bargains
right because teams don't have a lot of cap space life.
You know, they figured out, Okay, this is what I
need for my draft pool. I've got that squared away.
Now how much do I have?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Leonard?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I got seven and a half million bucks. It's yours
if you want to take it. You can get back
in the market next year. You know that would be great.
I think defensive tackle is I'm just kind of for
those watching on YouTube. Sorry, I'm not looking at the screen.
I'm kind of looking off on my other computer here.
Keanu Benton. I don't know if he'll make it. You know,
he's an exceptional player out of Wisconsin. A lot of
(30:26):
people kind of call him a poor man's Jalen Carter,
which will take Siaki Eka, Like, that's someone that people
talked about Byron Young out of Alabama, So that's interior
edge Byron Young, Tennessee a lot of people like him.
We talked about toy Polo two out of sc you know,
(30:47):
he very well could end up being there. So that's
the front and then I think you go to the
back end of the defense. We talked about what a
deep corner group. They says, I mean, you still got
Brian Branchjoey Porter, Kelly Ringo, DJ Turner, Cam Smith, Like
there's some really good corners on the board.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You think Joey Porter is gonna go to the Steelers
first pick?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yes or that?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Like, to me, that's just you know that to me,
looks like Will lev Like, I'm surprised, and I think
they were probably trying to get back into the first
round to get them so they get that fifty year option.
But if a team likes Will Levis, they're gonna immediately
make sure they get him. So but I mean it
certainly would make sense. I mean, we know Mike Tomlin
coaches up DB's like Bill Belichick, and Pete Carroll coach up.
(31:36):
DB's right, it's what they do, it's what they love.
So it's it would be hard to imagine Joey Porter
Junior not going there after what Joey Porter meant to
that that team. But you know, and then you go
to safety Chris and I mean we mentioned Brian Branch
and how versatile is He'll be gone. But the two
safeties out of Illinois, Brown and Martin, people love them.
(31:56):
One of them could be available. Like there's some real
league they said, deep draft, there's some really good players
if they're gonna go defense on Day two and try
to build some depth because of all the injuries, right
like Johnson Abonia, they got a lot of j C. Jackson,
They got so many injuries. You saw what happened when
Mikey Davis left the game against Jacksonville. Everything changed immediately.
(32:19):
So everything, like I think it wouldn't surprise me because
of how deep the defensive bat group is. And they
need a returner by the way, So that was the
other thing about the whole Quinton Johnson. You know pick
it's like say can return, Addison can return. Now, I
know you don't want to put your starting receiver out there.
But that was the other thing that I was thinking,
and why I was thinking those two guys is like
(32:41):
they need a returner, and hey, these guys can return
kicks and ponds.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I don't think Johnston's ever done it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
It's hard to It's hard to get all those guys
on the field at the same time too, right, I mean,
Palmer's going in his third year. You know, in a
perfect world, Keenan and Mike aren't coming off the field, right,
So to have that positional versatility with a returner, hopefully
they can one later. As far as defense is concerned,
I do think you look at the guys that they
(33:06):
drafted last year, is almost like red shirt guys, right,
Tito Abogonna, J T. Woods, which is the big one.
He's got to make a job. He's a lead.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
That's a big one because that's that's a third round pick.
You need your twos and your threes to be out
there playing football. So but again, that's a hard free
safety is a hard position. And Brandon Staley's defense is complex.
It is not Gus Bradley see it, attack it.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It is.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
It is much more complex. He asks a lot of
his defensive backs and that's sort of what we talked about.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Remember with j. C.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Jackson early that he just came from a system where
Bill Belichick said, that's your guy, that's all you have
to worry about, your good and he had to try
to settle in to to what Brandon you know, in
that too high shell and a lot of quarters and hey,
you've got to read you you need the one because
he's coming outside or you're taking you know, all of
that sort of stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Then think about the leap that Michael Davis made from
year two. He was in the same boat where he
you know, it took him a little while to grasp
that system. So you're right, you need you need that
player can come in and and it may not happen
first year. One thing that's very interesting to me now
is this whole Austin Eckler situation because you know, we
(34:21):
talked about Bijon on here and you know, Jamior Gibbs
was like that second guy, almost like the one a.
I I saw that there were like some teams that
thought that they thought higher of Gibbs and Bijeon, which
I don't know how true that is.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It's crazy, but but here we are.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know, is it even worth the Chargers drafting a
running back when we don't know what Isaiah Spiller is
right like that? This is where it's like, Okay, is
Austin just going to come back here and we're going
to try to make this thing work with with Joshua
Kelly and Isaiah Spiller and Eckler? Or is there another
guy in this draft Charbona from u C l A
another Bruin?
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Is probably that maybe that next running back. I guess
it's in the eye of the beholder. But the whole
Austin Echler thing money. I was thinking about that a
lot last night because I thought that if the Chargers
made a move at running back in the first round,
maybe that signaled something. But you know, the hope is
Austin comes back at this point. But but who knows.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Well, I think it's much like wide receivers, you know,
running backs are all different. You know, Jamier Gibbs has
been compared to Kamara, someone that can really catch the football.
You can flex him out all over the field. Again, look,
by maybe I'm wrong. I know there were people that
really really like him, but I just when I watched
Bjon Robinson play it's like, holy heck, that guy is
(35:39):
just next level. But I think, you know, we talked
about Roshawn Johnson with with with Bratt a couple of
weeks ago, like because he's.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Just a big back.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
I mean you're talking about two and two hundred and fifteen.
I think I think he might even be two hundred
nineteen pounds. Like he's a big dude. So that different, right,
But that that's something that we saw from Josh Kelly
last year where I felt like Josh took that step
and that was something he told us. Remember at training
camp when he sat down with us, you know, before
the season even started, he said, you know, I needed
(36:13):
to get bigger, I needed to get stronger. He's like,
because I felt like they were bringing the attack to me,
and I'm going to bring the attack to them. And
we saw that last year. So I think they're probably
comfortable with Josh.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
In that role.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Now, Like we said, it's a different it's a gaps,
it's a wide zone, it's an outside zone, and you've
got to read your gaps. You've got to have really
good vision in this offense as a running back, because
once you're handed that ball, you're just following these assignments,
is that laying open? No, next one, next one, Okay,
now that's closed. I've got to cut back to this
one to get through. It's a little bit different, and
(36:50):
I think we saw Josh at his best when it
was here's the ball attack. When we saw Josh struggle
a little bit is when he's trying to stretch it
outside and trying to get that corner and stuff. Not
necessarily you know, his particular skill set. So I think
you got to figure out what is the room, what
do we have versus what's available, And to me, I'd
(37:11):
be really surprised. I think bjon Look if Bijeon was
there at twenty one and Quintin Johnston was there at
twenty one, and you know, I don't think there's any
question Bijeon would have been the pick. I don't think
there is any question. He was just an elite player.
So I think now that he's gone, I don't think
running back really comes into play. I think they have
some depth concerns un less, and again this is the
(37:34):
whole we don't know as much as they know. Unless
the relationship with Austin is completely soured and they're worried
about that, which I don't think it is, but you know,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I hope it isn't. I hope it isn't. I think
too it is. Fans watching this draft unfold, just keep
in mind when they draft a guy like Quinton Johnston,
when they do these things that they're going to do
in Rountdes two and three and beyond, Kellen Moore's finger
prince are going to be on this offense. And there's
a reason why they're bringing in certain guys because they
(38:06):
fit what Kellen wants to do. And one of the
things that Brandon Staley said when I talked to him
right after they picked him was just challenging defenses in
different ways, and Kellen Morrison was so good at that
at Dallas. So to have Quintin kind of compliment what
Keenan and Mike do best. Knowing you have Gerald Everett
(38:27):
hopefully having Austin Ecklo out of the backfield, Kellen has
to believe that he has the pieces in place to
really stress defenses. So that's why I would be encouraged
if I'm a Chargers fan by this pick, because Kellen
Moore probably had his fingerprints on it.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
You know, I think the one thing just going back
to it is I'm trying to think I think it
was I think it was Coach Lynn when we first
brought it up that first year that Brandon was that
Justin Herbert was playing, and he said, you know, you
can't just have speed, You've got to have speed that
(39:06):
scares the defense. You know, if you're just a guy
running down the field and they don't really care, it
doesn't matter. But to me, like Quintin Johnston scares a
defense because we've just seen the explosive plays that he
put up at TCU. It's like, hey, that's a big dude.
Justin Herbert's got a giant arm, and he throws the
ball beyond accurately downfield. And if we don't account for
(39:28):
this guy, we're host it's a fifty yard completion or
it's a seventy yard touchdown. So we have got to
be worried about that guy. And I think that's what
you're talking about, Chris, is you know they did not
have that element last year, and teams just packed the
box and they were happy to cover up all those
underneath routes from Keenan and Josh Palmer and you know
those quick outs, the running game had no chance to breathe.
(39:51):
You bring in someone like Johnston with that size and
that speed, and look, even if he does what he
did at TCU, which was not a lot of complicated routes,
run that way real fast.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
If we throw you the ball, catch it.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
If that's all he does, it's going to change how
defenses have to behave and how they have to attack
the Chargers offense because he's running. He's gone, and he's
got the speed and he's got the size to beat you.
He's just got to catch the ball. And if he does,
band things are going to open up underneath for Josh
Palmer and Keenan Allen and Austin Eckler out of the backfield,
(40:23):
and Isaiah Spiller if he starts to come on, you know,
and Justin Herbert to run the ball like Dac did
quite a bit under Kellen Moore. Like That's the exciting
thing about Johnston is his ability. They needed that, They
needed a player that threatens the defenses deep that you
have to be worried about getting the top taken off.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I'm telling you, dude, I'll say it again. I thought
about exactly what you said last week. About Justin Herbert
and how he makes good receivers great and great receivers
all pros. And I think that Johnson is at least good,
and Justin will make him great and if he's already great,
he'll be an all Pro eventually.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Down the line.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
So I'm excited about that aspect. And that's the reason too.
When you see a wide receiver like that drafted, you
know that Justin Herbert too, I mean his arm Like,
we didn't see them throw the ball down the field
at all last year, man, And it was frustrating, and
I realized that there were injuries and there was a
lot of a lot of stuff to it. But it's
(41:21):
going to change this year. And that was the first
sign that it's going to.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Change, certainly, I think just kind of looking at today,
you know and look day three developmental depth picks, and man,
I don't think there's there.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Certainly was not last year.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
I don't know the last time we saw a Day
three pick like Jamari Sawyer and the contribution he made.
But I mean they had an absolute home run with
a Day three pick there. We saw what Dean Letterdan
j just Sir Taylor able to do on special teams
that won them a game against Denver, So those guys
had impact.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
What's your order for today? Like, what do you want
to see today?
Speaker 3 (41:58):
I mean, I think now it really does become a
best available The Chargers are stacked there. They are now
in debt. I think I think with your first round pick,
you're you're taking that big swing. You know, you gotta
hit it. You get that, you get the benefit of
cost certainty, the fifty year option. It's so important to
hit on those picks. Outside of that, I think they
just go. I think they just follow their board.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I don't think they're going to force a tight end.
They're not going to force a corner. They're not going
to force a defensive end because they do they need
an end. Yeah, they need an edge, They need a
little bit of depth there. But like I said, I
think post draft there's enough guys available that they might
be able to make that work like they did last
year with van Ney. And I keep going back to
that Leonard Floyd thing and saying, man, I just I
(42:43):
gotta believe that day is going to be pounding that
table and that and I think we'll get a signal
that that may be the case based on the way
they draft. But to me like that, I feel like
today is a defense day unless there's just incredible value.
You if somehow Washington laporta Muskray fall, then then perhaps
(43:07):
that's that's the pick. But I don't think it's a
running back day. I could see maybe if for whatever reason,
to me, I would draft in the first three rounds.
I would draft an offensive lineman every single year. I
just think it is so important. You've got to be
able to protect Justin Herbert. He's the most important commodity
that you have on your team. And I don't think
there's any anything wrong with you know, if if for
(43:31):
whatever reason, let's say Bergeron he's not going to but
if Bergeron drops, if Cody Mak that a lot of
people love out of North Dakota State starts to drop,
then take them. You know, I got I got no price.
It's a premium position that makes a ton of cash.
You're gonna have to pay for Sean Slater, you know,
they just paid Trey Pickens.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I got no.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Problem with taking guys like that, you know, and just
kind of creating depth. So I think that's that's the
That's the great thing about the the Chargers are in
is they do have enough depth now where they can
simply follow the board.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Tom alluded to this. I think last night they drafted
Rashau Slater, Zion Johnson, and now Quentin Johnson. There's a
role for Justin Herbert as it for Justin Herbert to
protect them and you give them weapons. Hey, I think
we're gonna get DJ on next week to break down
the draft, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Yea his mock draft, he freaking nailed it. Did you see?
Speaker 1 (44:28):
He was on fire last night? He was on just.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And look, I know for a fact how this works
because I've worked the draft for the NFL network for
ten years.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
He does not have The general managers are not sharing,
they're not there. They're radio silent with you during the draft.
They're in their war rooms. They're doing their thing. You know,
they may reach out to you after they make their pick.
But he does not know what's coming. And he was
a fortune teller last night. He could predict the future.
He reme when everybody was taking shots at CJ. Stroud
(45:03):
and mocking Tyree Wilson to the Texans, he was like,
there's no way he was the only one that just
kept his head down and said, there is no way
they go into the season with Davis Mills as their quarterback.
CJ Stroud whatever with you know, the cognitive testing. Maybe
it's a red flag for some teams, but he's like,
(45:23):
I just don't see it. He was right on that.
The fact they traded back up, he was all over that,
like the Will Levis slide, all over that. I mean,
he just seemed to know what was coming. He did
a heck of a job. Yeah, he's the best.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Well, hopefully we'll talk to him next week with the
week after to break down the Chargers draft class and Mondy.
With that, we'll get out of here. Lit fans enjoy
the rest of the weekend. Happy Draft weekend, my man,
great job last night, and we'll do it again next week.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Absolutely all right, guys.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
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with on Location Yeah
A late fifteen to ten touched up sucker.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, guys, Welcome in to a draft day edition
of Chargers Weekly. We're taping this a day later than
we normally do because we don't want to date ourselves money.
We had a lot to get into. Quintin Johnson is
a Charger. I first want to start by complimenting you
and Adrian for hosting a heck of a party at Westfield.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's a lot of fun. Really, it was easy for
me just because we had great energy. Charger fans are incredible.
It's the West Side is not easy to navigate, and
we know that it's in the giant mall.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
They were able to find us.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The Chargers did a great job of setting up a
really cool, felt like a backyard in the middle of
the Westfield Mall. You know, bars all over the place,
great food and you know, good entertainment.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So it was it was easy.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
The energy was there, The fact that all these guys
came out, you know, justin Herbert Derwin, James Eric Kendricks,
Antonio Gates, Ladania. To have Ladanian Tomlinson on stage, how
about that when they made their selection, was just you
can't you can't script that you know, the greatest player
(01:18):
in the history of TCU, and someone that's in the
conversation is the greatest charger ever is on stage when
they opt to pick a kid out of TCU. It
was really cool to be part of it, and it
was a lot of fun, and so kudos to everyone
that put it together, but especially because I had a
blast talking with the fans and all the people that
(01:38):
came out. I really really enjoyed it. I threw out
my arm because of all those stupid mini footballs that
weigh about six ounces apiece trying to get some velocity
behind it. My arm is dead today.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Dude, you had you literally had more passing attempts than
Justin Herbert had all season. Every time I looked up
at the stage, Money was throwing an out route of
posts a go.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And I'll tell you, you know, the the elixir, the lubricant
of conversation. I had a single beer and then I
think everybody just felt like, oh, all right, well there's
no rules now, And next thing you know, I got
people asking for passes from two decks up, people way
in the back, and of course, being an idiot, I'm like,
I'll get it there and next thing, you know, I'm
(02:25):
just trying to figure out, all right, how do I
get this thing to sail? And managed to get a
couple up to the third decks. I was pretty proud
of myself. But guess what I'm paying for it today,
paying forth, absolutely paying for it today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
You're right though, man, Hey, the fans make it. It's
always a pleasure catch it up with you guys. A
lot of listeners of the podcast, and we appreciate it
so very much. So much to get into, man, I mean,
the draft was was wild from the beginning, a lot
of unexpected picks. We'll get into the draft overall, but
at twenty one, overall, everything was lining up with what
(02:59):
we want for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The best tight end was available Jackson Smith and Jig,
but it was a guy that I didn't think, we.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Know, I never thought he was a Chargers.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So at twenty one overall, you had really your choice
of wide receiver and tight end, and they decide that
Quentin Johnston from TCU is the guy. Your reaction to
that pick, you know we mentioned him on the podcast.
I don't think we mentioned him as much as a
guy like Zay Flowers or Jordan Addison or Kincaid or Mayor,
but he's the guy.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I'll be honest. I was surprised.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I was, But then when you start to unpack it
and think about it, you know, teams have types. There
are teams that you know, this is what they like.
And we talked about this last year with the Chiefs
when they moved on from Tyreek Hill and people were
saying that it's going to change the offense completely. And
I remember getting into this with you. We talked about
(03:55):
I think they looked at the Chargers and they were like, hey,
Keenan Allen sixty three, Mike Williams almost six for we
need bigger guys. You know, that's where this league is
headed is. And you look at what they have in
Cincinnati and what they've built, you know, with that trio
of receivers, they're all six foot two or taller, and
so sort of after my initial surprise, and we'll dig
(04:18):
into it, I have no problem. You know, we've been
talking about this for three months now and everybody knows
what my order was and that I never mentioned Quinton Johnston.
But I think that's sort of what ultimately this came
down to, is the Chargers, Tom Telesco, Brandon Staley. They
like big guys, that's what they want, and so they're
not interested in five foot ten, you know, Zay Flowers.
(04:40):
They're not interested in one hundred and seventy pound Jordan Addison.
They wanted the big body. And I think, you know,
just to dig into it now, I don't think Quentin
Johnson has the same skills level of skills that Zay
Flowers does. But Jay Flowers is not six foot three
and capable of running you know, four five forty. So
(05:02):
there's you're you're gonna make trade offs. You know, there
are so few perfect receivers out there, so it's kind
of it's kind of a what do we want, what
do we like? What do we think is the most
effective with our quarterback with the scheme that we're gonna
be calling. And clearly they wanted the big body because
that's the only that's That's just kind of the way
(05:22):
I break it down.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I mean, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We were on stage and I said, Ladanian Tomlinson's up there,
and Dalton kin Kaid is available, and Michael Mayer's available,
and Zay Flowers is available and Jordan Addison's available, and
I'm like, holy crap, I cannot fulfill the draft propose
way and and LT's like, it's Zay Flowers. He's like,
it's Zay Flowers. They're gonna take Zay Flowers, you know.
And he's saying that on stage. And it was funny
(05:46):
just to see how excited he got when they took Quinton,
because I think nobody had projected Quinton to be you know,
I shouldn't say nobody. A lot of people liked him
more than I know. Chris Simms liked him a lot.
He was not a big Jordan Adison guy. J Flowers
was his favorite was, but I think Quinton was his
number two. So I don't think it was like it
wasn't a crazy pick at all. It wasn't o a
(06:07):
left field like I said, I think it's just one
of those This is the type of receiver that the
Chargers prefer, and they'll coach up. They think they can
coach up some of the issues, some of the things
that people had issues with. And I guess the one
that you can't. You can't coach five foot ten to
(06:27):
be six foot three. That doesn't work. You can't coach
Jordan Addison from one hundred and seventy pounds to two
hundred and ten pounds. That doesn't work either, So I
guess that's the way they look at it. We'd rather
have the body type and let's see if we can
fix the drops. Let's see if we can fix a
lot of those body catches and turn him into a
more complete receiver. You know, the guy's big play. I mean,
(06:49):
he had some explosive plays, big plays downfield, but I
think those were just kind of the concerns that you
assume they feel really good about being able to get
right and end up with this giant receiver that's super fast,
that's going to be a nightmare to cover.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I think they they drafted his traits too right,
six ' three towo a weight. They talked about his suddenness,
his yards after the catch came up a lot. And
I was going back to DJ's top fifty. I think
it was his last top fifty. He compared Quentin Johnson
to Mike Williams. So they're building a basketball team, right,
They're building a basketball team with Everett and with Mike
(07:28):
and Keenan and Palmer. So I look at the pick
and I go back to what you said last week,
and I think you summed it up perfectly. I think
they even used it for the promo. Justin Herbert makes
good wide receivers great, and he makes great wide receivers
all pros. I go back to twenty twenty, his rookie
(07:49):
year when t Billy was catching everything. Jalen Geiton was
becoming a household name because of Justin Herbert. So if
this guy can get open, and you know, if Keenan
or Myke is doubled and Quentin Johnson can get open
and they can kind of use him in situations that
maximize his potential, I think they got a really good pick,
(08:09):
and I have to I'd be remiss by to mention
Kellen Moore. You know, Kellen Moore probably had a big
say in the wide receiver that he preferred and he
wanted for his offense. So Quentin Johnson seems to fit
the bill. You know, we were talking about big twelve
receivers before we came on. Ceedee Lamb is a big
twelve receiver that had some success at the Dallas Cowboys
with Kellen Moore. So's it's interesting because these mock draft
(08:33):
exercises and we're consumed by this draft evaluation process, and
I think sometimes you know, we lock in on guys
that we like and other people like, and you don't know,
like you know, like we mentioned Zion Johnson last your
Money a little bit, but I don't think we actually
like said, okay, wow, this could be a reality. You know,
we were talking about Jameson Williams and some of these
(08:54):
other guys. So it's exciting to kind of see it
come to life. I was very surprised that a guy
like Dalton Kinkaid blew with the Buffalo Bills well and
get to that.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
They were like, we're not waiting go get them, and man,
they got to play Chargers, have to play them in
the regular season. If they want to get to the
super Bowl, very well, may have to play in the playoffs.
I really, you know how I feel about that guy.
And I know tight end is not a premium position
like wide receiver is money.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Real quick.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
This is my this is my thought on that on
that position. There's so many good guys that are gonna
go today. Right, Michael Mayer didn't get drafted in the
first round.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
You talk about it, but I think I think Mayor
to me. And again, you know how I feel about Kinkaid.
To me, Kinkaid is on an island. I felt like
there was and I know there's people that are like,
oh no, I like Mayor more than King Kid, And
that's fine for me. Kin Kid is he's a unicorn.
He's Travis Kelcey. He's and again I'm biased, I get it,
but I just I cannot believe the league let him
(09:58):
go to the Bills. It's and that's the thing, like
you know, you you and you end up getting sort
of emotionally, it's confirmation bias, and now you have to
reset your confirmation bias. And it sounds terrible, but it's like, no,
I want kink to be terrible now. I want to
be completely wrong about this because he's on the Bills.
I want Zay Flowers to continue to be a run
(10:19):
of terrible draft picks at the receiver position by the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
These are all.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
AFC, Like the AFC is already stacked with with quarterbacks.
You have only six teams make the playoffs. Like I'm
just gonna let me quickly do a little exercise here.
Only six teams make the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's kind does anybody want it in the NFC. By
the way, besides THEA, does anybody want it?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, why even bother Nolan's the fact that freaking that
that somehow Nolan Smith lasted until thirty one and the
Eagles not Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith just.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That like that that the Eagles might as well be
my seven thousand to win the NFC. I don't know
how they freaking pull it off every year, but you
know what, it's it's what happens.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But and they got a tampering They got a tampering
pick from Arizona exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So here's my thing. Let's count them.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson,
Trevor Lawrence, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert. That is
nine quarterbacks, three of them are not going to make
the playoffs. Nine quarterbacks, three aren't going to make the playoffs.
(11:38):
And now you're talking about Zay Flowers going to the Ravens.
You're talking about uh Dalton Kincaid going to the Bills.
And that's and those are two of our Thank goodness,
Bijeon ended up going to the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You know, I was worried that.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I was, honestly, I had this weird little you know,
and I think the fact that Tyree Wilson slid a
little bit because of that Liz Frank injury to the Raiders,
that could be a nightmare him and Max Crosby, you know,
because we know Chandler Jones had some issues last year.
But I was starting to think about it. I was like, man,
I could totally see them taking Bijeon. It's the Patriots way.
It's you know, you zig we zag, you know, it's
(12:21):
let's let's just figure it out and and bring him in.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And we wasted a.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Lot of time on Bejeon. He wasn't gonna be there
twenty one.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Ultimately, again, it almost always goes back to and I
hate saying it because it's such a weird word, but
it just goes back to the tape. Like when you
watch Bijon Robinson play football, it's like.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
There's I don't care.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I have zero issue with what the position is and
the financial implication. It's like, well, you can't take a
guy that high because now he's one of the highest
paid running backs.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I'm like, I don't care. Arthur Smith's gonna hand him.
He's gonna touch the ball twenty five times a game.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Arthur Smith had Dereck Henry and Tennessee. He knows what
AFC championship games.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah. How about Jamior Gibbs going to the Lions at twelve?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I was, I was a surprise when they signed David Montgomery.
They have DeAndre Swift. They like, yeah, al saw.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Somebody tweet this, and and and they're right when you
when you think about how it played out for the
Lions and the Eagles, the Lions could have had the
same exact hal that the Eagles got with Carter and
and Nolan's got that if they just if they just
got a great call, you know, and and they got
they got an inside linebacker at a running back and
they had as they have a stud running back. I
know they lost Jamal Williams, but it's it's just Ey
(13:35):
the beholder man, like, we don't know. All thirty two
teams are different. They have a different evaluation, they have
a different philosophy, and that's how the draft plays out.
Like seeing seeing Gibbs at twelve, I was like, okay, man,
this is this is officially off the rails and it
was good for the Chargers, and that the wide receivers
and the tight ends kept slipping on. It goes to
(13:57):
me money that they wanted. They wanted John was their
number one receiver.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Clearly, It's very clearly, and that's fine. Like I said,
it's it's totally fine. They they you know more about
this than I do. They dig into it a lot deeper.
Teams have so much more information than we do that
there's just so much more available to them than than
we get. For me, I like to watch guys play games.
(14:21):
You know, I've been covering the draft for a long time,
and so I have some of these and it's probably
not healthy. I have some of these built in biases
about certain schools or certain conferences and how often we
see certain position groups perform at a high level in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
And you know, I'm I'm upfront with that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I cop to that, you know, And that's part of
the bias that I have, you know, I like, I like.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Getting guys from the SEC. You know.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I think when you when you go through if you're
just to go through the stats and you know, if
I'll pull it up right now, like let's just go
through the receiving stats. So these are just biases that
you have to you have to get them away from you, right,
Like you've got to be able to separate, Like, Hey,
this guy could be the greatest receiver in the history
(15:07):
of football, but you've counted him out because he's in
the Big twelve. And you don't think the Big twelve
produces elite receivers. Like when I go through it, here's
SEC Tyreek Hill technically SEC before he got kicked out
of school and slipped to the fourth round becuse she
was a terrible person. Fresno State SEC. Stefan Diggs. I
think Maryland was ACC at the time. I don't think
(15:29):
they were Big ten. Yet there's CD Lambs, So there's
your Big twelve, Jalen Wattle SEC. Travis Kelce at eight
and like that's the whole outlier thing with Dalton Kincaid,
DeVante Smith SEC. Tara McLaurin Big ten A Monro Pac twelve,
Amari Cooper SEC, Mike Evans SEC.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Christian Kirk.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Them don't count that although sec A and m Right,
Garrett Wilson, Ohio State DK, metcalf Ole, Miss Jamar Chase Lsu,
Chris alave Osu like that's you see where receivers are.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Made, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So that's again it's just a bias. It's a it's
a pernicious seed that's planted in my brain that I've
got to be able to ignore because again, I think
the best comparison and we talked about it last night,
Chris is look at what the Bengals have and look
at what a complete nightmare they are to cover and
wide receiver with Tyler Boyd T Higgins and Jamar Chase.
(16:24):
It's a nightmare because you can't have a small corner,
you just you can't. These guys are too big, and
that's what the Chargers are gonna throw out there. And
to me, that's very exciting like to be to be
And remember, this is a guy that's gonna have a
ton of one on one opportunities. Man, you got a
six foot three high, four to four wide receiver, it's
(16:47):
gonna get a ton of one on ones. And he's
got Justin Herbert and that freaking cannon throwing the ball
down the field. Because you can't afford to single cover
Mike Williams or Keenan Allen on a third down. This
guy's gonna get freaking single cover. He's gonna have the
chance to make some really big plays and that that
part of it is exciting. You know, you want a
guy with some size when you're pushing that ball downfield.
(17:08):
Then this guy is going to be a heck of
a weapon on that front. Let's not forget Gerald Everett.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I mean Gerald Everett had his best game as a
Charger in that playoff game against the Exonal Jaguars. I mean,
so that's another weapon or did he could? He considers
himself an athlete, not a tight end. So it's just
another big body weapon for for Justin and I want
to get your thoughts on what the Chargers may do
in this second round. And what I was getting at is, Okay,
(17:34):
the tight end position is loaded. There's like four guys
that could, like one of them just fall in their
lap if they didn't even move up in the in
the second round. I mean, Laporte is that guy from Iowao.
The DJ really really likes Washington from Georgia, Musgrove from
Oregon state mayor from Notre Dame. If you get one
of those four guys, I mean, I think you're going
(17:56):
a long way in terms of solidifying that position, not
only if it's twenty twenty three, but the years to
come with.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Justin Yeah, I'm looking at it. You know, you think
about who's in front of them, right, So the Lions
traded Hawkinson, they need a tight end. Cardinals could use
a tight end. Steelers have Friarmouth, Colts could. Certainly they're
gonna want weapons for Anthony Richardson. You have the Rams,
don't know what they're gonna do. I would imagine they
probably want to trade back. Seahawks are up. There's a
(18:24):
lot of teams that could use tight ends, especially you
think about those teams that picked high that have young quarterbacks.
You know, the Panthers for Bryce Young, you know, the
Packers for Jordan Love after taking Lucas van Ness in
the first round instead of a wide receiver to help
out Jordan Love. But they did take their two receivers
last year. I mean, they got Duves and Watson last year,
(18:45):
so they're fine. But that's a tight end spot. Like
you know, the thing with Laporta that's interesting is the
the Iowa offense was so anemic last year that it's
easy for someone like that to get Overlook, you know,
with that kind of skill set from a tight end
factory like Iowa, who produces really good tight ends. So
(19:08):
if Laporta can make it to him at fifty four,
that'd be incredible.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I think I think it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think when you look at a bit better numbers
and Kittled did in Iowa. Yeah without a quarterback, right.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, And that's what I mean that the offense was
just completely and totally anemix. So you're talking about a
group of players. I'm trying to find him here, where
is my where are my tight ends?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Here we go?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So you're talking about Mayor who's going to go right away?
Muskro So you have you really have five left?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
You know what? I actually even like Brenton Strange out
of Penn State. I forgot about him.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And that's the thing like Shoemaker, like he's solid out
of Michigan.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
But I think what we're.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Talking about is elite tight end play. Dalton Kin kid
is going to be an elite tight end. I know
he's not a do at all. He's not a huge blocker,
but he's a capable blocker. But man, Michael Mayer is
going to go right away, Musgrave I think is probably
gonna go pretty quick. He's super athletic and just had
injury issues. That's why his production was so low. We know,
Darnell Washington, my.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Gosh, must Grave only played in a couple of games.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Is yere barely played?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, but when he did, he's he flashes, you know,
he's he's really athletic. You see contorting his body, you know,
picking balls off guys heads, like really doing some impressive stuff.
And the limited sample that you get Washington, I to me,
that's just one where that's like, I don't know how
that guy makes it. You can't find a guy that
(20:33):
freaking big, you know, at six seven to sixty. He's
an offensive lineman like you get you get a six
offensive lineman in your tight end. And oh, by the way,
that offensive lineman is pretty athletic and can catch balls
and watch bodies just bounce off them down the field.
So you know, I think the thing with picking a
tight end at twenty one, there's a reason why tight
ends don't go a lot in the first round, and
(20:53):
it's a reason why running backs don't go all out
in the first round. And it's the money. You know,
it's the fact that these guys aren't making twenty five
million bucks a year like a one receiver is. So
when you can get that first round contract, you want
to try to get that financial flexibility, especially when you're
about to play justin Herbert what you're about to pay him.
So I think that's probably part of the reason why
(21:15):
the Chargers want wide receiver over tight end there and
you said it, Chris, the deep class, the fact that
they feel like, oh, no, we can get one of
these guys at fifty four if they really want to
keep building on offense, which selfishly I want them to do,
but I wouldn't be surprised. Corner group is pretty deep.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I thought maybe they were going to take Deonte Banks there,
you know, the pick that when I think I think
the Giants took him to twenty four. Yeah, so like
that would have been a great I would I was like, ooh,
if Brandon gets on that table and starts jumping, I
could totally see him want in that long corner. We
talked about the contract situation, right, but you know what
that signals to me is that things are going really
well with JC and they feel like he's going to
be ready. And that's going to put them back at
(21:51):
a little bit of depth at that position.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
You know, the wide receiver run started too, and it
started at twenty and then I was like forced wide receivers.
It'll be interesting to see when the tight end run
in the second round starts, and if it starts closer
to where the Chargers select, or if they really wanted
one of those guys, if they'd have to move up
to get them. So there's a lot of positions that
need Let's take a quick break and talk about some
(22:16):
other potential positions they may target. All right, guys, is
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we've talked a lot about the offense and wide receiver
and tighten talking offense, Chris, what you talking offense?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I'm with you though, like I even said last night,
and to your point, really the last couple of months,
you got to outscore Patrick Mahomes and all those other
quarterbacks you mentioned, not to mention CJ. Stroud and Anthony
Richardsoner coming to the AFC. And I'm not saying they're
gonna blow up the league in the first year or two,
but you never know.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Both good. I think they're both good quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know, the AFC. AFC is crazy. You have to
score forty points, you forty points.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
And all the word is that Tennessee is gonna get
Will Levis. You know that that's that's the team. So
you're talking about another quarterback that's coming in now.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Do you all of them make it? No, they never do,
you know, it's just the way it works. You don't
have a quarterback class where every single one of the
guys makes it. So one or two of them are
are going to be, you know, on another team after
four years. And that's just the reality of it. That's
how it works out. But you know, yeah, those are
high picks.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know. CJ.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Stroud, Anthony Richardson invested in the in the AFC South,
which is good for us because you don't want one
team to dominate. You want them all to beat up
on each other and pull each other out of that
wild card, you know, so you don't have So I
think that's you know, to me, that's that's something that's
down the road. That was the only thing I was
thinking about with Houston, Like, that's that's what's we went
(24:38):
through all the quarterbacks, right, Like, how do you decide
to start the clock? Like, you know what, am I
really gonna? I really need to love CJ. Stroud because
I feel like we're a couple of years away. So
now I'm starting that five year clock. Technically it's a
four year clock, right if he's going to be good.
Do I want to start this four year clock with
(24:59):
Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Did I mention Burrow in that list?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
By the way, I think he did?
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Okay, I'm just gonna say, am I at ten now?
But you know what I mean? So like that's the
interesting part, by the.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Way, too, money, Like you didn mentioned Kenny Pickett and
I and I know that he's he was a rookie
last year. But but Mike Tomlin doesn't have losing seasons. Man, Like,
the Steelers are gonna be good. Kenny Pickett is gonna
be able to lead them to wins.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Yeah, that the point I was simply like illustrating. Yeah,
the only thing I was illustrating is you know you
won't like if Kenny Pickett misses the playoffs. You're like, oh, yeah, whatever,
But like when you say, hey, Tarvl Lawrence missed the playoffs,
Justin Herbert missed the playoffs, Joe Burrow missed the playoffs,
Deshaun Watson with his fancy guaranteed contract missed the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson and all that tumult in Baltimore and what
(25:45):
they went through before finally getting a deal, missed the playoffs. Like,
that's what's crazy about this conference. The balance of power,
the balance of powers insane.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I'll say it again, man, I have you know, shame
on the teams in the NFC that didn't make an
offer for Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, shame.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I just Aaron Rodgers too. I don't know if Green
Bay was going to trade him in the NFC, but
I would have given up more to get Aaron Rodgers
and keep him in the NFC and compete for a
Super Bowl alongside what Jaylen you have, Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Nak Prescott, there's an argument that your guy Derek Carr
is like the third best quarterback in the in the conference.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
That that does not bode well for the NFC in
terms of talent at the quarterback position. I digrest, you
looked at the Cardinals rosters a mess. The Rams are
on a complete rebuild. The forty nine ers are going
to be dominant defensively, and you know with what they have,
Christian McCaffrey, that weapon, George Kittle, mccaffe you know, they
just do it with weapons. So just you know, I
think that's the one thing about the NFC when everyone's like, oh,
(26:46):
it's the Eagles, It's the Eagles. Yeah it is, but
let's not forget about what the weapons look like. In
San Francisco. That defense is just it's atrocious. You know,
it's so freaking dominant. And when you combine their offensive
line with mc caffrey, deebo Ayuk Kittle like in the
brain of Kyle Shanahan. Okay, now they can trade punches
(27:06):
with the Eagles. You know they can do. I think
they're better. No, especially not after last year's draft and
this draft. But yeah, the South is you got Baker
at quarterback for the Bucks. You got Bryce Young the
number one pick for the Panthers. Desmond Ritters, you know,
doing it with the Falcons. But look, they were able
to get a reclamation project in Ryan Tannehill and Arthur
(27:27):
Smith made it work with Derek Henry and now he's
gonna be able to make it work with Cordero Patterson,
Tyler L. Jeer and b Jean Robinson. And it's very
reminiscent of what he did in Tennessee. And you know,
is someone that called a lot of college football. What
Jim Harbaugh did at Stanford when he's like, all right,
Pac twelve, you want to play a ton of nickel
and dime and you want to throw it all over.
I guess we're gonna do. We're gonna come town, We're
(27:49):
gonna kick your ass. We're gonna we're gonna play power football,
and you don't have the bodies. And that's what he's
building in Atlanta. You've got those big receivers, you got
that gigantic freak of a tight end, and now you've
got this three headed monster at running back can be
flexed all over the field. We know cord I mean
Cordero was drafted as a wide receiver. You know, Algiers
(28:09):
a hammer, Beijeon can move to the slot. I can't
wait to see what they're gonna do. I got a
ton of respect for Arthur Smith and the way he
sees football. So that's you know, I guess what I'm
getting at, Chris is. I think it's a little bit
of an overreaction, you know, I think, I do. I
(28:29):
do think there's some teams that that are interesting. You know,
the Panthers have a really good defense. I believe in
Frank Reich and I believe in Bryce Young. You know
one hundred percent. So I think it's it looks to
be the Eagles maybe for a year before the other
teams might be able to catch up there with all
that depth and who they got. But at the same time,
(28:49):
you know, weird things happen, you know, weird, weird things
happen every year.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
The Caleb Williams Drake May sweepstakes is is gonna heat up.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, and Bonnick's gonna get in there too. You know,
Bonnick's going to be a top five pick. You know
it's gonna be and and you know what, someone else
will raise their hand. You know, you'll you'll get the
Anthony Richardson, you'll get the Will Levis, you'll get the
you know, the Joe Burrow. Single season, it happens. Somebody
always ends up raising their hand. But you know, I'm sorry.
I love the draft. I'm a I'm a draft dork.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
To react.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It's fun to react to all the craziness that happened yesterday.
Staying with the Chargers, Yeah, one position, I'm a little
concerned about deft Wise's edge. Uh and and I bring
that up because obviously they you know, you know, you
got Khalil Mack and Joey bos Like, what are you
talking about? It's it's the guys behind him. You know,
Chris Rump is still developing. They're gonna need a couple
(29:45):
of guys sure to develop. I'm hopeful van Noy after
the draft comes back. I think he wants to be here.
I'm hoping that that we're letter is Leonard Floyd Stilville
still out there.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
He's still out there. He's gonna get signed after the draft.
And these are that's where you tend to get bargains
right because teams don't have a lot of cap space life.
You know, they figured out, Okay, this is what I
need for my draft pool. I've got that squared away.
Now how much do I have?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Leonard?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I got seven and a half million bucks. It's yours
if you want to take it. You can get back
in the market next year. You know that would be great.
I think defensive tackle is I'm just kind of for
those watching on YouTube. Sorry, I'm not looking at the screen.
I'm kind of looking off on my other computer here.
Keanu Benton. I don't know if he'll make it. You know,
he's an exceptional player out of Wisconsin. A lot of
(30:26):
people kind of call him a poor man's Jalen Carter,
which will take Siaki Eka, Like, that's someone that people
talked about Byron Young out of Alabama, So that's interior
edge Byron Young, Tennessee a lot of people like him.
We talked about toy Polo two out of sc you know,
(30:47):
he very well could end up being there. So that's
the front and then I think you go to the
back end of the defense. We talked about what a
deep corner group. They says, I mean, you still got
Brian Branchjoey Porter, Kelly Ringo, DJ Turner, Cam Smith, Like
there's some really good corners on the board.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You think Joey Porter is gonna go to the Steelers
first pick?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yes or that?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Like, to me, that's just you know that to me,
looks like Will lev Like, I'm surprised, and I think
they were probably trying to get back into the first
round to get them so they get that fifty year option.
But if a team likes Will Levis, they're gonna immediately
make sure they get him. So but I mean it
certainly would make sense. I mean, we know Mike Tomlin
coaches up DB's like Bill Belichick, and Pete Carroll coach up.
(31:36):
DB's right, it's what they do, it's what they love.
So it's it would be hard to imagine Joey Porter
Junior not going there after what Joey Porter meant to
that that team. But you know, and then you go
to safety Chris and I mean we mentioned Brian Branch
and how versatile is He'll be gone. But the two
safeties out of Illinois, Brown and Martin, people love them.
(31:56):
One of them could be available. Like there's some real
league they said, deep draft, there's some really good players
if they're gonna go defense on Day two and try
to build some depth because of all the injuries, right
like Johnson Abonia, they got a lot of j C. Jackson,
They got so many injuries. You saw what happened when
Mikey Davis left the game against Jacksonville. Everything changed immediately.
(32:19):
So everything, like I think it wouldn't surprise me because
of how deep the defensive bat group is. And they
need a returner by the way, So that was the
other thing about the whole Quinton Johnson. You know pick
it's like say can return, Addison can return. Now, I
know you don't want to put your starting receiver out there.
But that was the other thing that I was thinking,
and why I was thinking those two guys is like
(32:41):
they need a returner, and hey, these guys can return
kicks and ponds.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I don't think Johnston's ever done it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
It's hard to It's hard to get all those guys
on the field at the same time too, right, I mean,
Palmer's going in his third year. You know, in a
perfect world, Keenan and Mike aren't coming off the field, right,
So to have that positional versatility with a returner, hopefully
they can one later. As far as defense is concerned,
I do think you look at the guys that they
(33:06):
drafted last year, is almost like red shirt guys, right,
Tito Abogonna, J T. Woods, which is the big one.
He's got to make a job. He's a lead.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
That's a big one because that's that's a third round pick.
You need your twos and your threes to be out
there playing football. So but again, that's a hard free
safety is a hard position. And Brandon Staley's defense is complex.
It is not Gus Bradley see it, attack it.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It is.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
It is much more complex. He asks a lot of
his defensive backs and that's sort of what we talked about.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Remember with j. C.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Jackson early that he just came from a system where
Bill Belichick said, that's your guy, that's all you have
to worry about, your good and he had to try
to settle in to to what Brandon you know, in
that too high shell and a lot of quarters and hey,
you've got to read you you need the one because
he's coming outside or you're taking you know, all of
that sort of stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Then think about the leap that Michael Davis made from
year two. He was in the same boat where he
you know, it took him a little while to grasp
that system. So you're right, you need you need that
player can come in and and it may not happen
first year. One thing that's very interesting to me now
is this whole Austin Eckler situation because you know, we
(34:21):
talked about Bijon on here and you know, Jamior Gibbs
was like that second guy, almost like the one a.
I I saw that there were like some teams that
thought that they thought higher of Gibbs and Bijeon, which
I don't know how true that is.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It's crazy, but but here we are.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know, is it even worth the Chargers drafting a
running back when we don't know what Isaiah Spiller is
right like that? This is where it's like, Okay, is
Austin just going to come back here and we're going
to try to make this thing work with with Joshua
Kelly and Isaiah Spiller and Eckler? Or is there another
guy in this draft Charbona from u C l A
another Bruin?
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Is probably that maybe that next running back. I guess
it's in the eye of the beholder. But the whole
Austin Echler thing money. I was thinking about that a
lot last night because I thought that if the Chargers
made a move at running back in the first round,
maybe that signaled something. But you know, the hope is
Austin comes back at this point. But but who knows.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Well, I think it's much like wide receivers, you know,
running backs are all different. You know, Jamier Gibbs has
been compared to Kamara, someone that can really catch the football.
You can flex him out all over the field. Again, look,
by maybe I'm wrong. I know there were people that
really really like him, but I just when I watched
Bjon Robinson play it's like, holy heck, that guy is
(35:39):
just next level. But I think, you know, we talked
about Roshawn Johnson with with with Bratt a couple of
weeks ago, like because he's.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Just a big back.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
I mean you're talking about two and two hundred and fifteen.
I think I think he might even be two hundred
nineteen pounds. Like he's a big dude. So that different, right,
But that that's something that we saw from Josh Kelly
last year where I felt like Josh took that step
and that was something he told us. Remember at training
camp when he sat down with us, you know, before
the season even started, he said, you know, I needed
(36:13):
to get bigger, I needed to get stronger. He's like,
because I felt like they were bringing the attack to me,
and I'm going to bring the attack to them. And
we saw that last year. So I think they're probably
comfortable with Josh.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
In that role.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Now, Like we said, it's a different it's a gaps,
it's a wide zone, it's an outside zone, and you've
got to read your gaps. You've got to have really
good vision in this offense as a running back, because
once you're handed that ball, you're just following these assignments,
is that laying open? No, next one, next one, Okay,
now that's closed. I've got to cut back to this
one to get through. It's a little bit different, and
(36:50):
I think we saw Josh at his best when it
was here's the ball attack. When we saw Josh struggle
a little bit is when he's trying to stretch it
outside and trying to get that corner and stuff. Not
necessarily you know, his particular skill set. So I think
you got to figure out what is the room, what
do we have versus what's available, And to me, I'd
(37:11):
be really surprised. I think bjon Look if Bijeon was
there at twenty one and Quintin Johnston was there at
twenty one, and you know, I don't think there's any
question Bijeon would have been the pick. I don't think
there is any question. He was just an elite player.
So I think now that he's gone, I don't think
running back really comes into play. I think they have
some depth concerns un less, and again this is the
(37:34):
whole we don't know as much as they know. Unless
the relationship with Austin is completely soured and they're worried
about that, which I don't think it is, but you know,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I hope it isn't. I hope it isn't. I think
too it is. Fans watching this draft unfold, just keep
in mind when they draft a guy like Quinton Johnston,
when they do these things that they're going to do
in Rountdes two and three and beyond, Kellen Moore's finger
prince are going to be on this offense. And there's
a reason why they're bringing in certain guys because they
(38:06):
fit what Kellen wants to do. And one of the
things that Brandon Staley said when I talked to him
right after they picked him was just challenging defenses in
different ways, and Kellen Morrison was so good at that
at Dallas. So to have Quintin kind of compliment what
Keenan and Mike do best. Knowing you have Gerald Everett
(38:27):
hopefully having Austin Ecklo out of the backfield, Kellen has
to believe that he has the pieces in place to
really stress defenses. So that's why I would be encouraged
if I'm a Chargers fan by this pick, because Kellen
Moore probably had his fingerprints on it.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
You know, I think the one thing just going back
to it is I'm trying to think I think it
was I think it was Coach Lynn when we first
brought it up that first year that Brandon was that
Justin Herbert was playing, and he said, you know, you
can't just have speed, You've got to have speed that
(39:06):
scares the defense. You know, if you're just a guy
running down the field and they don't really care, it
doesn't matter. But to me, like Quintin Johnston scares a
defense because we've just seen the explosive plays that he
put up at TCU. It's like, hey, that's a big dude.
Justin Herbert's got a giant arm, and he throws the
ball beyond accurately downfield. And if we don't account for
(39:28):
this guy, we're host it's a fifty yard completion or
it's a seventy yard touchdown. So we have got to
be worried about that guy. And I think that's what
you're talking about, Chris, is you know they did not
have that element last year, and teams just packed the
box and they were happy to cover up all those
underneath routes from Keenan and Josh Palmer and you know
those quick outs, the running game had no chance to breathe.
(39:51):
You bring in someone like Johnston with that size and
that speed, and look, even if he does what he
did at TCU, which was not a lot of complicated routes,
run that way real fast.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
If we throw you the ball, catch it.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
If that's all he does, it's going to change how
defenses have to behave and how they have to attack
the Chargers offense because he's running. He's gone, and he's
got the speed and he's got the size to beat you.
He's just got to catch the ball. And if he does,
band things are going to open up underneath for Josh
Palmer and Keenan Allen and Austin Eckler out of the backfield,
(40:23):
and Isaiah Spiller if he starts to come on, you know,
and Justin Herbert to run the ball like Dac did
quite a bit under Kellen Moore. Like That's the exciting
thing about Johnston is his ability. They needed that, They
needed a player that threatens the defenses deep that you
have to be worried about getting the top taken off.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I'm telling you, dude, I'll say it again. I thought
about exactly what you said last week. About Justin Herbert
and how he makes good receivers great and great receivers
all pros. And I think that Johnson is at least good,
and Justin will make him great and if he's already great,
he'll be an all Pro eventually.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Down the line.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
So I'm excited about that aspect. And that's the reason too.
When you see a wide receiver like that drafted, you
know that Justin Herbert too, I mean his arm Like,
we didn't see them throw the ball down the field
at all last year, man, And it was frustrating, and
I realized that there were injuries and there was a
lot of a lot of stuff to it. But it's
(41:21):
going to change this year. And that was the first
sign that it's going to.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Change, certainly, I think just kind of looking at today,
you know and look day three developmental depth picks, and man,
I don't think there's there.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Certainly was not last year.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
I don't know the last time we saw a Day
three pick like Jamari Sawyer and the contribution he made.
But I mean they had an absolute home run with
a Day three pick there. We saw what Dean Letterdan
j just Sir Taylor able to do on special teams
that won them a game against Denver, So those guys
had impact.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
What's your order for today? Like, what do you want
to see today?
Speaker 3 (41:58):
I mean, I think now it really does become a
best available The Chargers are stacked there. They are now
in debt. I think I think with your first round pick,
you're you're taking that big swing. You know, you gotta
hit it. You get that, you get the benefit of
cost certainty, the fifty year option. It's so important to
hit on those picks. Outside of that, I think they
just go. I think they just follow their board.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I don't think they're going to force a tight end.
They're not going to force a corner. They're not going
to force a defensive end because they do they need
an end. Yeah, they need an edge, They need a
little bit of depth there. But like I said, I
think post draft there's enough guys available that they might
be able to make that work like they did last
year with van Ney. And I keep going back to
that Leonard Floyd thing and saying, man, I just I
(42:43):
gotta believe that day is going to be pounding that
table and that and I think we'll get a signal
that that may be the case based on the way
they draft. But to me like that, I feel like
today is a defense day unless there's just incredible value.
You if somehow Washington laporta Muskray fall, then then perhaps
(43:07):
that's that's the pick. But I don't think it's a
running back day. I could see maybe if for whatever reason,
to me, I would draft in the first three rounds.
I would draft an offensive lineman every single year. I
just think it is so important. You've got to be
able to protect Justin Herbert. He's the most important commodity
that you have on your team. And I don't think
there's any anything wrong with you know, if if for
(43:31):
whatever reason, let's say Bergeron he's not going to but
if Bergeron drops, if Cody Mak that a lot of
people love out of North Dakota State starts to drop,
then take them. You know, I got I got no price.
It's a premium position that makes a ton of cash.
You're gonna have to pay for Sean Slater, you know,
they just paid Trey Pickens.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I got no.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Problem with taking guys like that, you know, and just
kind of creating depth. So I think that's that's the
That's the great thing about the the Chargers are in
is they do have enough depth now where they can
simply follow the board.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Tom alluded to this. I think last night they drafted
Rashau Slater, Zion Johnson, and now Quentin Johnson. There's a
role for Justin Herbert as it for Justin Herbert to
protect them and you give them weapons. Hey, I think
we're gonna get DJ on next week to break down
the draft, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Yea his mock draft, he freaking nailed it. Did you see?
Speaker 1 (44:28):
He was on fire last night? He was on just.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And look, I know for a fact how this works
because I've worked the draft for the NFL network for
ten years.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
He does not have The general managers are not sharing,
they're not there. They're radio silent with you during the draft.
They're in their war rooms. They're doing their thing. You know,
they may reach out to you after they make their pick.
But he does not know what's coming. And he was
a fortune teller last night. He could predict the future.
He reme when everybody was taking shots at CJ. Stroud
(45:03):
and mocking Tyree Wilson to the Texans, he was like,
there's no way he was the only one that just
kept his head down and said, there is no way
they go into the season with Davis Mills as their quarterback.
CJ Stroud whatever with you know, the cognitive testing. Maybe
it's a red flag for some teams, but he's like,
(45:23):
I just don't see it. He was right on that.
The fact they traded back up, he was all over that,
like the Will Levis slide, all over that. I mean,
he just seemed to know what was coming. He did
a heck of a job. Yeah, he's the best.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Well, hopefully we'll talk to him next week with the
week after to break down the Chargers draft class and Mondy.
With that, we'll get out of here. Lit fans enjoy
the rest of the weekend. Happy Draft weekend, my man,
great job last night, and we'll do it again next week.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Absolutely all right, guys.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
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