May 9, 2023 • 50 mins
Steven Haglund and Tyler Schoon of the Guilty as Charged podcast are bringing their insights and perspective to the Chargers podcast network, every Tuesday! In today’s episode Steven and Tyler are joined by Bolts General Manager Tom Telesco (3:00) to break down Quentin Johnston and LA's 2023 draft class, how the tight end room stacks up (15:00), and why he likes using mock draft simulators (21:00).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey, what is up everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Guiltyest Charged Podcast, presented by the Chargers
Podcast Network. As always, my name is Steven and I
am the host today and I am joined by Tyler,
my guy, Tyler.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
What's up man doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm doing pretty well, Stephen?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm doing great? Really excited about today's episode. We've been
teasing this on our own platforms obviously for the last
week or so. We got to interview Chargers general manager
Tom toe LESCo last week, so you know, lots of
great insight from Tom, very gracious with his time. Actually
got to keep him longer than we were expecting to,
(00:48):
so cannot thank him enough again.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
For joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And you know, after we interviewed Tom, we're gonna kind
of revisit some of our expectations on the Chargers second
year players for this upcoming season. So we've obviously had
a lot of focus on the draft recently on our
show and on this channel as well, so we figured
it would be a little wise to take some time
(01:15):
and maybe talk about some of the second year players
who are expected.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
To take on some bigger roles.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Obviously, we spend a lot of time throughout last season
talking about Zion Johnson and Jamari Sallier. But you know,
there's a lot of other guys in that class that
the Charger as gonna be counting on this year. So
we'll have some revisiting of those kind of conversations on
today's show as well.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yep, sounds really good. I think it's definitely a mixed bag.
And I think there's something to be said about Tom
Telesco and Brand and Steely coming out and saying we
didn't take projections this year, and I think that has
a lot to do with last year's class.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, Yeah, And there's that's all of the group, And
you know, there's a lot of feelings on social media
towards Jtu. I think some of it's unjustified, obviously, but
you know, JT's not the only guy that the Chargers
kind of took a chance on, it took a swing on,
if you will, and that's going to be counted on
to play a more pivotal role in year two. So
(02:12):
we'll cover all of those, all of that group today quickly, obviously,
because we have the interview with Tom Telesco, which is
going to be about twenty twenty five minutes for you guys,
And before we get to that, of course, have to,
as always clarify that we are fans, we are independent contractors.
The opinions that we share on this podcast are not
reflective one hundred percent of the time of the Chargers organization.
(02:35):
At the end of the day, we are fans just
like you guys who are listening. We just happen to
get to talk about the Chargers full time on the
Chargers channel. So with that being said, let's go ahead
and transition to our interview with Tom Telesco.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Hopefully you guys enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Hi, guys, we are so happy to be joined today
by mister Tom Telesco, the Chargers General Manager.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We can't thank you enough for taking the time out
to join us today.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
How are you doing.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I'm doing great. Yeah, I'm doing great. And uh, let's
be fun. You want to talk about but you got me,
so I'll answer whatever you guys want to talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There we go, There we go.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We we can't wait to dive into this draft class. Obviously,
it's been a few days. We're recording this on Tuesday,
May second, So how you know now that you've had
a chance to kind of reflect a little bit on
the draft. How how are you feeling about how the
draft class went last week?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Good? I mean, you know, I said this the other day,
like I've never been part of a draft where we
came out of it disappointed. Just never happens. You know,
you put so much work in and there's so many
people are involved in the draft. It's by far more
than just me. But it's exciting making those picks and
seeing how excited everybody is. And then we'll get these
(03:47):
guys in here. Now are the draft picks, but the
college regents on Thursday next week, and uh, you know
that's the first time we can see them really live
in Chargers colors and helmets running around. And then you
kind of, you know, you kind of do this to
make sure everybody looks like you know sometimes with some
of the college free agents, make sure everybody looks like
they belong and come in and compete for a job,
because we don't we don't want guys just here just
(04:09):
for camp, like we want to have a chance to
make the team. So and then kind of slowly get
these players transition in with the veterans. The veterans are
a couple weeks in front of them right now. So
the goal with these rookies is try and get them
ready for training camp. That's you know, that's where they
have to go in and try and win a job
or win a role. The offeasing program for our rookies
is really trying to get them ready for them. There's
(04:30):
another competition period for them this time of year. It's
a lot of learning, trying to figure everything out, and
then we'll be going in training camp.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, I love that phrasing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm curious to get your thoughts here because I mean,
you've talked a lot about what you liked about Quentin
and how you might fit into the offense. How does
Kellen being hired to maybe change that or help that
evaluation process of drafting a first round receiver.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Well, it doesn't change the process, but what's going with
the process is Kellen's a great evaluator and knows what
he sees can communicate it really easily as far as
how a player will fit into the offense. And that's
the big thing through the scouting process is using the
coach's input on who fits what we're doing, both on
offense or defense. If his defense is Derek Ansley as
(05:17):
far as who really fits the scheme, and those were
those guys are experts in that, which is really nice.
So you know, with the receivers, you know Callen, you know,
he's he's a he's not he's he played in the league,
he's coached for a little while. He knows good players
when he sees them. He knows what fits with what
he wants to do. And with Quinton and then all
these players drafted, but certainly in Quentin's case, you know,
(05:40):
we're not just drafting him for this season. We're drafting
him for now till you know, twenty twenty seven essentially,
and you know kind of go from there.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So with Quinton Johnson, I think his testing reminds me
of Joey Bosa for you guys, where some of the
numbers really didn't reflect I think the athleticism on the field.
So was that an advantage for you guys to get
him at twenty one? And do you use any GPS
tracking data or other data to evaluate his true game speed?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Yeah? Love the GPS tracking data and we've used it
probably more each year now that we know more about
it and have more comparisons with it. And I think
you know, everybody moving forward, will probably go that route,
you know, but there's no end all be all tests
that we do, so we try and just put everything
together and try and make a determination. His GPS numbers
(06:29):
were very high. His forty time was what four five zero,
you know, he thought it would be a little bit
faster than that. You know, his jumps has brought up
his broad jump vertical really explosive, big time numbers there.
But yeah, I mean the numbers are a big deal
to us. We look at him a lot. It's a
big part of the process and you know, but with him,
(06:49):
you also have to add in that he's you know,
six three, two hundred and ten pounds. You know, he's
not you know, one hundred and seventy five pounds, So
that all that's all part of the equation too. But yeah,
I really liked that the g PS tracking that we
can pull off the game tape and because for a
long time, you know, we would get the forty times
on a player and then all of us as a
scout wold say, hey, look, you know, my eye tells
(07:11):
me that it is whatever four five to five by
the four six four six five, and you know, we
would go with that a lot because that is part
of scouting. But now it's kind of really nice to
be able to pull this GPS tracking off off the tape.
And now now the players are not they don't actually
have it shift in their paths at the college level
for the game that our players have on game day,
(07:33):
and maybe the colleges will go to that that at
some point. I hope they do. But we do have
software now it's available that we can kind of pull
it off the game tape. So it's just, uh, you know,
we have so much information we use We have too
much information. But that's one of them that that I
really like in all the positions.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I know, we as casual fans, right like there's
a lot of information available to us now, you know,
like Pro Football Focus and things like that, but our
front argent actually PFF, and even like the information that
they have is just like at another level than what's
out there to public knowledge.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah no, and we've got each year there's been more
and more and more, and it just like historically, like
going back you know, twenty years ago, you know, before
PFF started, when I was with the Colts, you know,
we used to try and do a lot of that
on our own as far as just tracking each player
and every play. The thing with us though, when you
(08:27):
do it manually, you know, we could do like three
or four games. We couldn't do every college game. We
just didn't have the manpower to do that. So to
now to have that information on every pro player, every
college player, and then a lot more now than we
had twenty years ago, it's just great information to have.
And then what allows us to do is really cross
check ourselves. Like you know, if you have a scout,
say that you know this tight end has great hands,
(08:52):
and we look at his catch rate and it's eighty
eight percent. Okay, well let's talk about this, so that
that's you know, that's that's cut or dry, that that's
black or white. Yeah, but there's a lot of other
things as far as like pass rush and pass protection
and the win rates and where they come and how
they happen, and then kind of compare that with their eyes.
A lot of times have been verifies with our ic
perfect we can move on. If it doesn't verify with
(09:14):
our I see, we have a lot of questions to
talk about, and that's why we have meetings to kind
of pull in the objective data, the subjective one kind
of pull it all together and try and make a
decision on these players.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, so switching from speedy receivers to offensive line play,
it's the hard hitting question. You've taken three straight projected
tackle to guard converts the last three drafts with with
high miss with Salar, now with McFadden. So what do
you evaluate when it comes to those players, especially if
they don't have any college reps at guard, Like, how
do you look at a tackle and know they're better
(09:49):
suited for guard?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Well, I don't know if we know they're better suited
for guard. I mean, someone is just based on dimensions.
But the whole tackle to guard thing, it's it's it's
almost it's almost more like like we need that versatility
if you're a tackle only, or a center only, or
a guard only for that matter, and if you're not starting.
It is really hard to get dressed on game day
(10:12):
because typically you know we're gonna address eight offensive linemen.
They have to play multiple spots. So you know, when
we take a college tackle and project him the guard,
a lot of times it's because hey, look we know
he can play tackle. We think he can play guard
when he gets here, and then we've got a two
way go. He can play guard and tackle, So that's
very It just really helps our roster and a lot
you know, same with the guard that can play guard
(10:32):
and center. We really need those dual positions. So but
there's certainly things you can watch as a player to see,
you know, can this tackle, can he go inside and
play guard? Does he have the anchor ability in size?
Does he have the leverage? Things move a lot faster
the closer eart of the football, So you know, does
he have quick twitch movement? Does he have quick twitch
up here in his mind to see things You have
(10:55):
a little bit of extra time at tackle. You also
can just get some help at tackle. You don't get
a lot of help but guard either, you know, maybe
from the center going left or right. But but that's
you know, that's part of the process when we're scotting
these players is projecting them here. And if you're not
going to come in as a walk in starter, you
really need to be able to play more than one spot.
And you know, Jordan McFadden's situation like like we think
(11:17):
he could play four spots and you know he may
be able to play some center down the road. We'll
see that would be great too.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I'm curious just in general, there's a lot of
like positionless football conversations nowadays, more so than maybe in
years past. And whether that's a guard tackle or maybe
somebody like tu Lee. Like you know, you turn on
the Stanford game and two Ley's lining up as a
as a nose guard. Half the time, a lot of
people viewed him as defensive line only. Some people viewed
him as edge only. How do you guys go about discerning,
(11:46):
you know, like in the tweener conversation, is he a tweener?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Is he an edge? Is he like?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Just that conversation in general is so interesting to me
because so many people viewed two lead differently. How do
you guys go about figuring out the difference between let's
find him a home or let's let's be versatile and.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Move him around.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, that's a great question because certainly when you talk
about Tuley, Yeah, if you say last half empty, like
he's a tweeterer, doesn't fit anywhere, right, he say last
half full like, No, he fits a lot of places.
He's a hybrid player. He can play outside, he can
play inside. So I mean there's a lot of great
things about Brandon Staley. But one of the things I
love is for defensive line and then defensive backs, like
(12:25):
they really can be positionless, especially the secondary. It really
makes scouting really easy because we can find players that
you know, maybe they're a little bit of a corner,
a little bit of a safety. Well, you know what,
for us, he's gonna be a defensive back. You know
a little bit of both. You can play some nickel play,
some outside play, some safety. And then when you talk
about Tuley, you know the fact that we can he
can play on the edge. He's shown that in college.
(12:46):
They moved him inside on some pass rush downs. You
can see him do that. They can stand them up
and move him around. I think that's a big asset
for a player to be versatile enough to move him around.
I mean, it gives the defensive coordinator more options. Right
this lining up and you know, the straight, straight front
all the time, you don't know where guys are going
to be. So for us, it's an asset. It's a positive.
(13:06):
And the fact that Tully can do a lot really
I think it can help our defense. But those are
discussions we have, the scouts, the coaches, and like I said,
our coaching staff is really flexible, which is a big
part of this process.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So whether it is Tully or maybe someone like Will
McDonald where I mean even Robert Sola got on the
phone and said, Hey, we're going to get you out
of what you did in college and move you to
a wide nine. Like, when you're grading players that can
do so many things, is the grade that you give
them kind of a formulation of everything that they're able
to do, or just do you just focus and grade
the plays at the quote unquote position that you've sort
(13:39):
of envisioned them in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Now we have to project them to what they'll do here.
So and like, I've never had any problems with how
any college coaches is their players because those college coaches,
first of all, they're smart. They know they have to win.
They're gonna put that player, you know, in the best
position to help them win. They're not so much worried
about how that player is going to fit the LA
charges when he gets there. It's no different, no different
(14:02):
than justin Herbert at Oregon, they used just in the
way that was really beneficial to them. They won a
lot of games, you know, they won the Pac twelve championship,
won the Rose Bowl, scored a lot of points. We
use just in a different way here. We had to
project moving forward how he'll fit in our offense. And
it's the same thing with Will McDonald with how he
was used at Iowa State. And there's a lot of
other players that are like that that maybe use one
(14:23):
way in college, but you know, for us how they're
gonna fit, we have used them a different ways. So
that's why when we talk about the subjective end of scouting,
that's why we still need the eyes on these players.
We can't just go based on numbers and based on analytics.
We scept that somehow blend that all together, the eyes
of our scouts, how the numbers line up. And then
you know that doesn't even talk about all the you know,
(14:45):
the character, the makeup, the intangibles, the medical, the psychological,
you know, all that stuff that has to be part
of the formula too, that I know people don't see
on the outside, but that stuff's really important to every
team that kind of goes through this to try and
you know, mitigate your risk on these players.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that's super important.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So there were a lot of people us included tom
that thought that maybe the Chargers would be taking a
tight end in the first couple of rounds in this draft,
including Brandon Bean saying that he didn't think that you
guys would pass on Dalton kincaid, how much of a
priority was tight end for you guys heading into the draft,
and maybe talk about as well, how you feel about
(15:23):
this group now that there was not a tight end selection.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah, you know what, I thought Buffalo was going
to trade up for a wide receiver, So it goes sometimes.
I didn't with Dawson Knox. I didn't know they would
take a tight end. So all you know, all the
work that we do, it's just like you guys. You
guys are trying to predict what's gonna happen. I'm trying
to do the same thing, and you know, I'm wrong
at least half the time. Like I was wrong on Buffalo,
They're gonna try and come up for a receiver. Yeah,
(15:48):
I mean we went in the draft kind of with
a pretty broad based look at it as far as
what we can add to a football team, both short
term long term. It was a pretty good tight end class,
you know, to really presented it to us but it's
not like we went in the draft saying we have
to draft the tight end. We like the players that
we have. You know, we think it's a pretty good group.
(16:09):
Is there a Is there a Kellen Winsle in that group?
You know, I don't cry, not not quite sure. We
think we have a pretty good cross section of guys.
I mean, Jerald Everett did a heck of a job
for us last year catching the ball. His run after
catch skills are excellent. He's a better blocker than people
give them credit for it, as is Donald Parum. Donald
Parham is a better blocker that people give him credit for.
And and Trey McKitty is really strong at the line
(16:31):
of scrimmage. So we think we have some people there. Now,
could we have added somebody, sure, you know, but just
didn't present itself. And you know, that's just kind of
the way it went. It was a pretty good tight
end class. We liked a lot of them. We didn't
maybe necessarily, you know, like all of them. But you know,
let's you know, beauties in the eye of the beholders sometimes.
But uh, but you know, we're gonna go with what
(16:52):
we have for right now. Something could change between now
and camp. I wouldn't anticipate it, but you know, you
never really know, but yeah, we'll be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah sounds great. Going back to the draft and how
you guys evaluate, how do you evaluate players who are
physically talented or for whatever reason, you guys love them,
but they never played against that Power five competition. Because,
first of all, congratulations on Trey Pipkins, but that's certainly
an example, right, Like what is the discussion when you're
trying to evaluate someone like Nick Melsot from Delta State.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Interesting name, Yeah, so this way really wouldn't work for him.
But the great thing is a lot of these smaller
school players are being invited to the Senior Bowl or
even the East West Rhine Games, so you could see
a player from a lower level division play against other
Division one prospects. So that always makes the evaluation a
lot easier because you can go watch them for practice
for three or four days, maybe playing the game and
(17:46):
get a better feel for that level of competition. But
if you don't have that, and we used to say
this about Pierre Garson when we drafted him from Mount Union,
when now it was with the Colts in the sixth round,
I want to say, if you play at a lower level,
you really you need to dominate that level of competition
to have a chance at this level. So in Pierre's case,
(18:08):
at the Division III level, where Pierre was you know,
six one and a half six two, two hundred and
ten pounds a ran four to four and was a
really good player, like he was running by I mean
the corners of that level were like me. I mean
literally they were me. I was a receiver, but you know,
but he showed at that level like they could not
cover him. His production wasn't great because he only played
(18:28):
the first half of most games. Mount Union was up
by sixty points by halftimes. They would pull people. So
when when you watch Delta State, you know, we want
to see this big guy really kind of handle people.
And he's got really really good quickness initial quickness for
that size at that level that really stands out. And
that's what our scout in that area, Donovan did a
(18:50):
great job kind of trying to see, hey, look this
is a bigger it's a big player, I know, not
a Division IE level, but he has some athletical he
has some feet, has some toughness, and we're going to
in here and see if he can compete for a job.
But yeah, that's what you do with the best case
scenario is one of these kids ends up at a
big or All Star game. He was watch them there.
That makes it really easy. If not, you got to
really kind of hope that kid at least dominates at
(19:12):
his level.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Trey was a Senior Bowl guy, was it he?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Trey was I think a Senior Bowl player at the
very least he was East West game. I can't remember.
I should remember, but I can't remember. The Senior Bowl
has been doing a really good job with with Meggie
as far as you know, inviting a lot of these
smaller school prospects that are legit guys and we can
actually see them against other Division one players. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, absolutely last one here for me, Tom. You guys
have really prioritized linebackers, whether it's inadvertently or not, linebackers
or used to be safeties. Obviously, Dayon Henley is the
latest here. Does how does that experience for these guys
help them transition to the NFL And maybe what's kind
of your vision for day On as a rookie.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I mean, it's it's a passing league. The game is
much more spread out than it was when I first
came in into the league. It's certainly much more spread
out at the college level. So you know, these safeties
that are that transition to linebacker, you know, they have range,
they have speed, they have the instincts and feel of
playing in the passing game. A lot what has to
come along for them is going to use to playing
(20:15):
inside the box at this level. But with with Dyon Henley,
I mean, he's super athletic, really a quick twitch player,
and for a player that hasn't played linebacker that much,
he's really instinctive, which is just rare to see usually
it plays these guys some time. But he's really good
in the passing game, has a fewl forward and he's
(20:35):
a hitter, like he really hits. And the one thing
that stood out to us with him too is a
lot of college starters, especially you know NFL prospects, they
don't typically like to play on a lot of special
teams in college, and he was begging to play on
specialties and played a lot of snaps on special teams
and was highly productive doing it. Because you know, initially
(20:56):
that's what that's his role here is going to have
to be special teams first and then trying to earn
a role on defense after that. But that really drew
us to him. His athletic ability's quick twitch, his ability
to hit, he's a violent hitter, and his special team's ability.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
All right, last them for me. I'll make it easy.
What is the go to mock draft simulator?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I'll tell you. I like the PFF a lot. I
just like that you can make so many changes to
how you want it to spit out, and and I
also like that it's really fast. I can do a
lot at one time. You know, we'll do some different
mock drafts in house, and we'll give either a coach
or a scout a specific team and you're drafting for
(21:39):
that team. And I like that too because you got
one person acting as GM for that team. But that
process takes forever. It takes a long time. I can
come in on a Sunday morning and start running these
mock draft simulators and just run them over and over
and over again and try and get a feel for
what could happen. And then the big thing is if
this happens, what are we going to do? Because we
have all these discussions way before the hand. We don't
(22:01):
you know, we're not discussing when we're on the clock. Hey,
do we want to go receiver at tight end here?
That those have been had already. So I tried the
ESPN one and that that broke a couple of times
on me. It didn't work as well as I would
have liked. I kind of got off that the PFF
when I thought was pretty slick. I thought it ran
pretty well and I liked it. It came out with different
(22:22):
different outcomes each time, and you could do some slide
bars moving around, and you know, I used to This
is way before your guys's time. Unfortunate. Don't even know
how you guys are, but I know you're younger than me.
But you guys ever heard a pair of Joel bushbomb
no no. Bill worked for Pro Football Weekly. This is
this is probably before we were on the internet that much.
(22:44):
And he had a book every year. But he had
so many contacts in the NFL, all across the league,
and he would do a mock draft the night before
the draft. But he had to call into a phone
line and you had to listen to a recording of
his mock draft. Oh my god, he was so good.
He was so tied in. He was also a really
good scout, and we used to use that mock draft
(23:05):
to try and get a feel for where guys were
going to go draft day. And this was the night
before the draft. So we've come a long way that
I can do god knows how many mock draft simulations
to try and get a feel for what could happen.
And then you know, hate, trade up, trade down is
what we're going to do. And and uh, it's been
really cool. Yeah, I like it a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, I love draft season. I don't know if I
would go to a phone line and listen to a
recording of a mock draft.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Hey that's all we had then we didn't I mean
I don't even think true. We didn't have, you know,
a website to go to. I mean, Mel Kuiper did
his mock draft, but that was in his book. He
had to buy the book and he had to mail
it to you and even though he was on ESPN,
but we didn't get as many mock drafts from him
as we had to wait for the book to come out.
But yeah, things have come a long way for the better.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Absolutely, shout out to Mail the Godfather obviously he's really.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
He's really good. I know, he just he is and
he's not only is he tied into the league, but
I think he's a really good evaluator. You know. The
difference is is you know, when he's you know, mocking
the draft players each team, like he doesn't have to
worry about, you know, the fit and the scheme and
right the medical and the character and all that stuff.
But that's normal. But he's you know, he's really good
at what he does. Like you guys know, like like
(24:15):
Daniel Jeremiah, he's really good. He's sharp, he knows football,
he's got contacts in the league. Todd mcshay's still pretty
good too. I mean, he does a really good job.
There's just a lot of people that put a lot
of work into it. I mean we have all that,
we have more information than anybody, and we're wrong half
the time. So I mean it is what it is.
I mean there's Hall of Fame gms that are wrong
(24:36):
half the time. So that's uh, that's just kind of
the business that we're in.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Hey, you said glass half full though, so you're right
half the time as well.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Hey, if I'm right half the time with making his
picks that I'll take that. It sounds terrible, he's wrong
half the time. But look, if you can hit like
first round hit right, it's like fifty to fifty five percent,
and that's pretty been consistent since I came in the league.
And then it goes down from there as you go
to each round from there. So it's always funny like
when we everybody looks at everyone's drafts right now and think,
(25:04):
you know, people are filling needs with third, fourth, fifth,
and sixth round draft picks. But in reality, as we
all know, all these guys aren't going to make it,
you know, unfortunately. So the hope is that these guys
make it as a role to earn a role first
and if you get lucky, you hit on a starter.
But you know, the odds aren't always with you.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, yeah, nature of the beast. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, Tom, we will not keep you for much longer
than that. We cannot thank you enough for your time today.
This is being incredibly insightful and can't wait to see
what's coming down the pipeline in terms of Chargers football.
So thanks again and charge fans. Hopefully you enjoyed that
insight from the general manager of the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
All right, thanks for everying me on guys, take care.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
All right, that was our chat with Tom Tellasco. Again,
thank you to him for joining us. Tyler, what was
your biggest takeaway from our interview with mister Tom Telasco.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He's a very nice guy, and he's a very smart guy,
and I really enjoyed talking to him. It was really
really cool to be able to do that, and it
was really cool to see or at least hear some
of how they look at different players. I mean, you, guys,
just listen to the interview. How do you evaluate tackle.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
To guard converts?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Do you use GPS tracking, how do you look at
positionless players?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
It was a lot of fun hearing how they do that,
and it was really truly an honor to be able
to get to do this.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Absolutely, I think my favorite part was just him talking
about the like positionless trends, because I think there are
a lot of gms, a lot of coaches who still
feel like you have to fill a very specific role
on this team, in this position room, or we're just
not going to be able to like make you fit
on our team. And so to hear that the Chargers
(26:44):
are you know, really practicing what they preach when it
comes to versatility and flexibility within a position. I think
is great news. I think fans should be excited about
that trend. You know, they're not going to pigeonhole a
guy like two week below two It was kind of
the inspiration of that question. They're not going to pigeonhole
him into hey you're only an edge rusher or hey
(27:05):
you're only an INTI your defensive lineman. Like, they're going
to use him in a variety of roles. And we've
seen that, you know, with guys who we're going to
talk about today, like just her Taylor, you know, playing
outside last year inside. You know, they've had some flexibility
with with other players. Of course, you know, Kenneth Murray
has played linebacker and some edge rusher. So they really
like mean what they say when it comes to like
(27:26):
valuing versatility within a position group.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, and even though I don't know what designs they
initially had for someone like Jamari Sallier playing tackle, but
he was a sixth round pick. And if you're a
sixth round pick, especially if you're a lineman, I mean,
of course it'd be great if you were just really
really good at one position and you could immediately start there,
but that's not the case for a late day three picks.
You have to be able to play a couple of
(27:49):
spots on the line. And Jamari Sawyer even though they
had him as a guard the entire way, and you know,
we talked to him in the off season last year,
you know, about him being guard and why guard is better,
and then he played tackle the entire year basically, and
that was really necessary for the Chargers too. So yeah,
really cool conversation about positionless players, players who can do
a lot of different things.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
And speaking of Jamori, he's gonna be asked to play
another different position this season, So great segue there. Obviously,
jamais starting games for the Chargers, many many games, many
more games than anyone expected at left tackle. You know,
now he's gonna be playing right guard after really practicing at
left guard and training camp last year. So again, then
(28:30):
versatility here. So we'll transition now to this conversation about
second year players, and again we'll kind of you know,
jump around here, you know, kind of taking stock, if
you will, of a bunch of these players who are
gonna be counted on for key roles. I kind of
wanted to start with Isaiah Spiller, if that's cool with you, Tyler,
because I think this is there's been a lot of
(28:52):
talk obviously around the Austin Eckler contract situation, you know,
and we talked on our last episode on our channel,
which go subscribe by the way, if you aren't already,
you know, just kind of the expectation around Austin Eckler
still being on this team. You know, if they were
gonna move him, that would have probably happened already at
this point. So Austin Eckler is going to be on
(29:13):
this team. We know that Kellen Moore's is very excited
to work with him. But there's there's snaps available for
either of these running backs, whether that's Josh Kelly or
Isaiah Spiller, to play in this offense. And so I
just went back and looked at just snap counts for
the running backs under Kellen Moore. And obviously some of
(29:34):
this is you know, Tony Pollard ascending, some of its
Ezekiel Alla kind of descending. But for the most part,
there's a lot of snaps we had for a running
back behind a starter in Kellen Moore's offense in twenty
twenty two is it was basically a.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Fifty to fifty split.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Ezekiel had six hundred and thirty four snaps and Tony
Pollard had six hundred and twenty seven. The RB three,
though only logged eighty four snaps last season for the Cowboys.
In twenty twenty one, Ezekiel Elliott had eight hundred and
fifty three snaps, Tony Pollard had three hundred and ninety eight,
so pretty close to four hundred. Corey Clement the RB
(30:10):
three again not many snaps to be had there seventy
nine for him. In twenty twenty, Ezekiel Elliott had seven
hundred and eighty nine snaps and Tony Pollard had three
hundred and sixty seven and Rico Dawdle again thirteen for him.
So that's just the last three seasons with the Cowboys
for comparison's sake. Last season, Austin Eckler had seven hundred
(30:32):
and eighty snaps.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Joshua Kelly, who was.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Injured a little bit, had a two hundred and ninety six,
which if he had not gotten injured, would have been
right around a three hundred and fifty pace, but The
bottom line here is Kellen Moore is going to use
multiple running backs. It's likely going to be two. I
think he ideally would like to have just two. So
how does Isaiah Spiller fit into that conversation for you
(30:56):
with Joshua Kelly? Maybe kind of as an extension from Spiller.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Joshua Kelly to start camp last year was their RB
two right away and there was no competition.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
There was.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Eckler was one, Kelly was two, and then round Tree
and Spiller kind of battled for four and even Roundtree
got ahead of Spiller in some regards for RB two,
and of course it ended up being a whole different
thing with Sony Michelle. I think this is the year
that we I mean, I guess it's the only other
next year that we see Isaiah Spiller, and I think
he's going to take that RB two job. I don't
(31:29):
know what it is that I have to go off
of for that, but to me, and I don't feel
this way for all the players on offense or some
of the guys that are on defense, but I feel
like with Isaiah Spiller, it just felt like, and I
hate to do the blame game here, but this felt
very Joe Lombarding not playing the guy and for some
reason not being able to find ways to get him involved.
(31:51):
Because with someone like j T. Woods we'll talk about
in a bit. I feel like I understood pretty early
on and immediately why he wasn't on the field, And
then when he was on the field, you could tell
why he wasn't on the field, and you know why
he didn't get so many snaps.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And we'll talk about him in a bit.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
With Spiller, if you look at training camp, you look
at the preseason, you look at the snaps that he had.
Granted I understand, I understand some of the averages and
his rushes aren't super high, but I feel like that's
more scenario than anything else. Watching him play, I didn't
see anything that suggested that he should not be active
on offense. Now, if you want to talk about special
(32:27):
teams role, I guess I could understand that because they
wanted Larry Roundtree to be the special teams guy and
Spiller was not that guy. But I just feel like
with Isiah Spiller and the talent that he has and
what he can do as a pass catcher, I think
he's going to take RB two from Josh by Kelly.
Maybe that's kind of a hot take, but I really
just do believe in him and I think Kelly. I
(32:47):
think Kelly will start out.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
As the RB two.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Don't get me wrong, but I think that throughout the
course of the offseason and the preseason, you know, the
Chargers are moving towards moving and on from most of
their running back room and changing things. And I think
you have to see what you have on Isaiah Spiller.
You drafted him high. He was their third pick in
that draft, after taking J. T. Woods in the third,
Robin Spiller in the fourth. I think there's enough invested
(33:11):
in him, and I think he's talented enough, and now
he's actually, like, you know, twenty one, and he is
able to drink now after being twenty four a lot
of his rookie season, you know. So I think that
he's hopefully and I haven't seen anything, I haven't heard anything,
but I feel like he's matured into this now he's
in his second year in the league. I think by
the end of the training camp and the end of
(33:31):
the preseason, I think he's RB two over Joshua Kelly.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
All Right, there we go.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You know, I think that's a great conversation starter because
you know, some people, some fans are really really excited
about Isaiah Spiller. Others are not so excited about Isaiah Spiller.
You know, I thought that Joshua Kelly was was solid
for the Chargers last year, and when he went down
and they didn't play Isaiah Spiller, that was kind of
it was really frustrating to watch because it's like, we
(33:58):
know who Sony Michelle is, Like, no, I don't want
to like throw shade at him. You know, he's a
two time Super Bowl champ and a very key player
on those two super Bowls, but like we knew who
he was at that point, Like it didn't take you know,
a ton of touches early on in the season for
us to see.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That he just didn't have it anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
And so once you get late into the season, Joshua
Kelly gets injured, like those were very valuable snaps for
Isaiah Spiller, and for whatever reason, you know, Joe Lombardy
and his staff just did not believe in giving him
that opportunity. And then same kind of thing in the
Week eighteen game, like that should have been a game
where Isaiah Spiller is getting you know, ten twelve touches
(34:37):
and he just didn't. So I I was not super
thrilled with the idea of adding somebody like Isaiah Spiller
in the draft because I feel like him and Joshua
Kelly were very similar. But then you get into training
camp and like, the thing that I was most excited
about was his ability as a pass catcher, because that
was something that was very different than Joshua Kelly. Josh
(35:00):
tra Kelly has worked very hard in that and he's
become a much better pass protector. But Isaiah Spiller, like
was running isolation routes like with relatively relative ease in
training camp and had some one handed catches and you know,
was was routing some linebackers up in training camp and
that was exciting. And I think that's a role that
hopefully the Chargers are leaning into. So I think this
(35:21):
is going to be a very curious thing for killing
more because like I just kind of laid out right,
like he's very traditionally like RB one, RB two and
that's it. But this year with the Chargers case, like,
I think you have three guys who are are capable players.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
And obviously we know it.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Joshua Kelly is a really good special teams player and
has has developed into a good special teams role. So
I don't know if I necessarily agree with Spiller as
finishing the season as RB two, but I think we
will see him be more involved this season. And you know,
he has to put in the work. Obviously, he has
to earn that right. But you know, they, like you said,
they kind of don't have a choice, like you need
(35:59):
to see what you.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Have in him.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
And then you have Austin Eichler and Josh Kelly who
are free agents at the end of at the end
of the season.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, I'm I'm I think more optimistic than most about
Spiller as someone who didn't like him during the draft
process as is, but then everyone goes, hey, go back
and watch the previous season in college where he played
at a different way. Things were just a bit different
that year. He looked like a different back. So if
he's working back towards what that looked like, I think
(36:27):
we're in for something. And I know you said, you
know Spiller RB two by the end of the season.
I think it's to start the season.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Oh wow, Okay, all right, some clarity from Tayler. I
will say that Kelly has a special team's RB three role.
I think that's good. That's a good spot for him.
I think he could be an RB two in a pinch.
But I think there is some inconsistencies with Joshua Kelly
and his decision making, in particular on the field. I
think there's his vision does leave kind of a little
(36:54):
left to be desired. But you know, as somebody who
can be that RB three pass protector, special team guy,
I think that's a great fit for him. So I
would love to see Isaiah Spiller become that dude, to
become that RB two. I think that would be a
great outcome this year. So I'm kind of in between
you and what the consensus is on Isaiah Spiller. I
guess you know, I do expect him to get more
(37:15):
touches and play well.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But we'll see there.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
All right, let's shift gears here a little bit and
talk about mister J. T.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Woods, who you mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Again, a role that is going to be very valuable
for the Chargers is that third safety. You know, obviously
there was a little bit where Alohiguman was kind of
starting at the end of last season, but he played
five hundred and forty eight snaps on the season last year,
which was like fourteenth most on the defense. In twenty
twenty one, Alohi Gullman was was hurt a little bit,
(37:47):
but he played three hundred and fifty five snaps and
Trey Marshall played one hundred and ninety seven. Again, there
were some games where Trey Marshall was was starting there.
But the safety three for the Chargers is gonna play
and right now that's slated to be JT.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Woods.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
And again there was a lot to be made about
his fit with Derwin James and a Sierra Atalie maybe
potentially being a pretty natural replacement for Nacierratalie because he
has that range, she has that deep safety ability, obviously
leading the country and interceptions in twenty twenty one as
(38:22):
a college prospect at the University of Baylor.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So where are you at with j T. Woods?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
We've kind of talked about maybe adding a safety veteran
guy like John Johnson. But if JT is given that
opportunity to start, how comfortable art or not start? I
should say, start the season as a safety three? How
comfortable are you with that?
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Okay that I don't mind as much. I would have
said more pessimistic projections. But if you're talking to me
about starting the season as a safety three, then I
do feel a bit better at that. And I'm assuming
here safety three is sort of as a low Hi
Gilman's backup, because I think right now Rahem Lena is
sort of drown James backup.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
We talked about this.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I don't feel great about that, but.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Okay, let's talk about j T.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Woods's safety three. I'm okay with that. I'm cautiously optimistic
about the safety three role in terms of his chances
ever starting over a Lohi Gillman, I feel awful about
those chances, But in terms of a safety three role,
I can get that. And I think you look at
the game against the Chiefs last year, like the only
game where he really played any meaningful snaps, and I thought,
(39:26):
in terms of being a deep safety and defending the
post against the past, I think he was very strong
in that role. Granted, I think it was fourteen coverage snaps,
so I'm hinging all of this off of barely any
snaps last year. So in terms of that role, as
a safety three, you're bringing someone down or whatever you're
doing with a LOOHI Gillman or Derwin James, whatever you're
doing with that group, I feel okay with him in
(39:49):
that particular role, But that I think is as far
as I'm willing to say that he's going to play
barring injury this year for the Chargers. I feel much
more optimistic about Spiller, where some of the J. T.
Woods I'm very concerned about his future. And that doesn't
mean that he's not talented, but I almost think you're
you're hoping at this point for like a Trey Pipkins
(40:10):
sort of projection, and will a safety like J. T.
Woods get that long? I don't know, but you know,
I think it's going to be something we look at
in twenty twenty four, twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Five for J. T.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Woods rather than this season. I mean they like J T.
Woods played the fewest number of snaps of any Telesco
third rounder ever, except for Max Turk who had a
torn acl so zero. Otherwise, the next lowest was Trey
McKitty with two thirty seven Craig Mager with two hundred
and thirty one snaps. J T Woods played thirty Like
(40:42):
that's really bad for a player in the third round
who was their second pick.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
In the draft.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
You compare that to the other Telesco third rounders. I mean,
not everyone's Keenan Allen played nine hundred and fifty snaps
in their rookie year, but JT. Woods with thirty, and
like you know, Craig played one hundred or so special
team snaps.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
J T.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Woods played seventy three, which was behind Raheem Lane. Like,
it's not even just the trust in the defensive coaching staff,
it's the trust in the special teams group too. And
I guess you could say that's sort of the same
thing with Isaiah Spiller, but I just feel slightly better
about Spiller with this offense, and I almost feel like
that was more coordinator and coaching related this one. I
(41:25):
really just feel like J. T. Woods is to them
the projection that they wanted to avoid this year with
their draft. Like a lot of you know, singles, a
lot of doubles with the Chargers draft this year with
J T. Woods, they swung and listen, this could pay off.
They could connect at some point, absolutely, but I think
they're looking at where they are as a team and
(41:45):
knowing this is kind of this is kind of the
year you got to get things done. But we're all gone,
and so I don't think they're going to look at
j T. Woods and give him safety two at all
this season barring an injury. And to be honest, I
think he's probably safety four. And if I'm really honest,
I'm even worried about him being active this season if
they bring on John Johnson. I think Raheem Lane is
(42:07):
active because Ryan Ficken loves him and Ryan and Raheem
Lane rewarded Ryan Ficken with that trust.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
I think JT.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Woods there's a lot of different things that can happen.
I think the max is safety three, and I think
we could also look at him being inactive. And I'm
not gonna say cut yet, but let's go to the
third rounders have been cut for less.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, that's very true. You know, the range of outcomes
for JT is is pretty drastic. You know this upcoming season,
and you know this is a big off season for him.
This is his first true off season like being able
to like really focus in on football and like only
football and and not like draft training, not track stuff
because he was a track athlete at Baylor, same thing
(42:49):
in high school.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
So this is a big time offseason for him. And
he's got to be.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Able to show the coaching staff that he's taken some strides.
And I think that it's possible that we see some
flashes for sure. But I think part of the reason
why the coaching staff has really preferred Alohi Gillman in
that spot and preferred Lowhi Gillman over no Seri Atli
at the end of the season is because Aloi just
doesn't make mistakes, Like like that's that's really what you
(43:14):
need as a free safety in this kind of defense
is you need to be a reliable tackler, you need
to be a reliable, you know, match coverage player. You
need to just like be play really sound, you know,
smart football. And Aloi also made a lot of plays
like he was always around the football. It seemed like
last year winning given the opportunity, whether it was interceptions
(43:36):
or fumbles or force fumbles, fumbles.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Recoveries, like he was around the football.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
But also he was just not making a lot of mistakes.
And I think you feel good about him as a
safety three. I think he can be a starter in
a pinch. So I would like to see them kind
of upgrade that room because I just think there's a
lot of uncertainty with JT.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Woods.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
We have barely seen Raheem Lane play like meaningful football Eitherbviously,
we know he can play special teams. You know, there
was that great moment I want to say against the
Dolphins where he like lit up somebody and yeah, when
he was on the punt return team at the end
of the season. So I think they feel comfortable with
him on special teams. So this this is a very
(44:16):
important offseason for J. T. Woods, and I have a
hard time thinking that they're just gonna hand him snaps,
like he's going to have to really earn this. Like
I think of any of the second year players, he's
the one who has the longest chance of like playing
key snaps because we just like we know how important
it is to play mistake free football as of free safety,
(44:37):
and if he can't do that, that's gonna be a tough.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Ask for him in this defense.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Yeah, I mean, that's what they tried to get away
from with this year out of the last year.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I think Alohi Gilman at this point has deserved the
right to be out there as safety two, whether that's
you know, a high end safety two play I don't know, like,
I don't know what his feeling is, but he's progressed
every year. So I think Alohi Gilman, I know this
is not the Alohi Gilman portion of the show, but
I think he's earned the right to be out there.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yeah, and maybe that maybe their faith in him kind
of lends themselves maybe towards like a Ronnie Hamerson safety
an as opposed to John Johnson or somebody else that
they're connected to that's maybe more of a lower tier,
you know, backup starter kind of player.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
But we'll see there.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
All right, Well, we'll touch on one more here, and
that's gonna be John Taylor because we're running out of
time a little bit already. But John Taylor also another
kind of winner of the draft, if you will, because
the Chargers did not add a potential starting slot corner.
You know, there was some buzz that the Chargers were
interested in the cornerback market in the draft leading up
to it.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Ultimately did not come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
They have not resigned Bryce Callahan as of today on
May eighth, so we'll see what happens there. But as
of now, like Jossier, Taytor is expected to start in
the slot. I'll start with this one. I'm excited about
Joss Taylor in year two, man. I think that he
showed a lot of promise, particularly as a run defender,
and also like that Miami game where he was working
(46:04):
against jaln Waldall, I think really showed what kind of
coverage player he can be in the slot. I think
on the outside, I'm a little bit more dicey about
just like his ability in space against players like Jerry
Judy kind of gave him a tough, tough go but
in a scheme that's really going to value his physicality,
(46:25):
I think that's that's a good thing for him because
he can, you know, get up in guys faces, he
can match up with tight ends, he can blitz, he
can tackle. So I know everybody wants Brice Callahan back,
but I'm I'm cool with Joshy Taylor as the starting
slot corner man.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
I really am.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I think he's going to be able to come in
in year two really show some great signs of growth.
I don't think he should be handed the starting spot obviously,
but I'm as of today, I'm cool with Joss Taylor
starting from day one in this defense.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
And he probably is.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I don't know who else other than Keimon Hall is
out there to challenge him for the slot, right, Yes,
it could be a Santai Sanmuel junior, but jc's not
back yet. So yeah, I think John Taylor is one
of the biggest winners of the entire offseason because and
really last year too, gone from a sixth round pick
who was projected to play special teams, Like we knew
he'd be good at special teams based on what he
(47:16):
could do on film, like solid tackler, you know, athlete,
not like a huge guy, but certainly a bigger body guy.
So everything that he did at Wake four US, he
felt okay, Like, okay, good special team, you're here, Fine,
that's kind of the max here. Then you watch him
in training camp and you're thinking, okay, like, you know,
we don't get to see a whole lot of it
during the season, but I was there for most of
(47:36):
the training camp days and he was consistently and Bryce
Callahan as well, one of the better players out there,
just so smart, so fluid. I was honestly stunned like
them finding Jaw Taylor in the sixth round, kind of
like Jamari Solier too. Was a revelation, honestly with how
I feel about what they can do in the sixth round.
And part of that is probably Ryan Ficken right with
(47:58):
the special team's work and to bring him up to
speed and all that, but just being able to identify
a defensive back like that and get him working in
the slot. He looked so good, Like you said, the
Miami game looked fantastic.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
There.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I'm in the middle because I would understand why they
bring bring back Bryce Callahan because he's a good slot
corner and you know about him. I'm not saying he's
Eric Kendricks by any means, but like you know, they
know about Eric Kendricks. They've seen the consistencies they brought
an Eric Kendricks, so I could see why they do
with Bryce Callahan too. But I mean John Taylor, man,
I haven't seen anything from him in terms of working.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
The slot that I'm worried about.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
We haven't seen a lot of film, but I really
do feel confident about him and being able to do that,
and if that's the jump he could make from a
six round pick to what he did last year, I
can't wait to see what he does. Knowing that he
has this role I think so far, and what he
can do in the slot moving forward.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, getting back to training camp, it
felt like every other day he was like making you know,
a force tumble, an interception and tackle for loss. Like
I'm really excited about where John Taylor can go and
we'll see what happens. You know, we're gonna get closer
here towards mandatory mini camp and OTAs and training camp
is right around the corner. So obviously we didn't get
(49:15):
to touch much on Zion Johnson, Jamari Solier, Dean Leonards
and or Horrath today. We'll spend some other time on
another episode, perhaps breaking down those guys. Obviously, Zion on Jamari,
we know what we know what we have there. You know,
they're they're starting caliber offensive lineman and that should be
exciting too. So Tyler, any final thoughts before we head
out this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
Zion and Slater on the left side is going to
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
That's gonna be a.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Lot of fun to watch man and Kellen Moore is
gonna have a ton of fun calling plays for those
two in the rushing attack. So all right, guys, that's
gonna do it for us. Today, Thanks so much for
tuning in again. Thanks to Tom Telesco for jumping on
with us and join us. Thanks to Brian and Greg
here for producing our show with the Charge, and as always,
(50:01):
make sure you go subscribe over the Guiltiest Charge podcast
as well, follow us on Twitter, all that good stuff. Alright, guys,
that's gonna do it. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (50:17):
M
Hey, what is up everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Guiltyest Charged Podcast, presented by the Chargers
Podcast Network. As always, my name is Steven and I
am the host today and I am joined by Tyler,
my guy, Tyler.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
What's up man doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm doing pretty well, Stephen?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm doing great? Really excited about today's episode. We've been
teasing this on our own platforms obviously for the last
week or so. We got to interview Chargers general manager
Tom toe LESCo last week, so you know, lots of
great insight from Tom, very gracious with his time. Actually
got to keep him longer than we were expecting to,
(00:48):
so cannot thank him enough again.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
For joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And you know, after we interviewed Tom, we're gonna kind
of revisit some of our expectations on the Chargers second
year players for this upcoming season. So we've obviously had
a lot of focus on the draft recently on our
show and on this channel as well, so we figured
it would be a little wise to take some time
(01:15):
and maybe talk about some of the second year players
who are expected.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
To take on some bigger roles.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Obviously, we spend a lot of time throughout last season
talking about Zion Johnson and Jamari Sallier. But you know,
there's a lot of other guys in that class that
the Charger as gonna be counting on this year. So
we'll have some revisiting of those kind of conversations on
today's show as well.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yep, sounds really good. I think it's definitely a mixed bag.
And I think there's something to be said about Tom
Telesco and Brand and Steely coming out and saying we
didn't take projections this year, and I think that has
a lot to do with last year's class.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, Yeah, And there's that's all of the group, And
you know, there's a lot of feelings on social media
towards Jtu. I think some of it's unjustified, obviously, but
you know, JT's not the only guy that the Chargers
kind of took a chance on, it took a swing on,
if you will, and that's going to be counted on
to play a more pivotal role in year two. So
(02:12):
we'll cover all of those, all of that group today quickly, obviously,
because we have the interview with Tom Telesco, which is
going to be about twenty twenty five minutes for you guys,
And before we get to that, of course, have to,
as always clarify that we are fans, we are independent contractors.
The opinions that we share on this podcast are not
reflective one hundred percent of the time of the Chargers organization.
(02:35):
At the end of the day, we are fans just
like you guys who are listening. We just happen to
get to talk about the Chargers full time on the
Chargers channel. So with that being said, let's go ahead
and transition to our interview with Tom Telesco.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Hopefully you guys enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Hi, guys, we are so happy to be joined today
by mister Tom Telesco, the Chargers General Manager.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We can't thank you enough for taking the time out
to join us today.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
How are you doing.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I'm doing great. Yeah, I'm doing great. And uh, let's
be fun. You want to talk about but you got me,
so I'll answer whatever you guys want to talk about.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There we go, There we go.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We we can't wait to dive into this draft class. Obviously,
it's been a few days. We're recording this on Tuesday,
May second, So how you know now that you've had
a chance to kind of reflect a little bit on
the draft. How how are you feeling about how the
draft class went last week?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Good? I mean, you know, I said this the other day,
like I've never been part of a draft where we
came out of it disappointed. Just never happens. You know,
you put so much work in and there's so many
people are involved in the draft. It's by far more
than just me. But it's exciting making those picks and
seeing how excited everybody is. And then we'll get these
(03:47):
guys in here. Now are the draft picks, but the
college regents on Thursday next week, and uh, you know
that's the first time we can see them really live
in Chargers colors and helmets running around. And then you
kind of, you know, you kind of do this to
make sure everybody looks like you know sometimes with some
of the college free agents, make sure everybody looks like
they belong and come in and compete for a job,
because we don't we don't want guys just here just
(04:09):
for camp, like we want to have a chance to
make the team. So and then kind of slowly get
these players transition in with the veterans. The veterans are
a couple weeks in front of them right now. So
the goal with these rookies is try and get them
ready for training camp. That's you know, that's where they
have to go in and try and win a job
or win a role. The offeasing program for our rookies
is really trying to get them ready for them. There's
(04:30):
another competition period for them this time of year. It's
a lot of learning, trying to figure everything out, and
then we'll be going in training camp.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, I love that phrasing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I'm curious to get your thoughts here because I mean,
you've talked a lot about what you liked about Quentin
and how you might fit into the offense. How does
Kellen being hired to maybe change that or help that
evaluation process of drafting a first round receiver.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Well, it doesn't change the process, but what's going with
the process is Kellen's a great evaluator and knows what
he sees can communicate it really easily as far as
how a player will fit into the offense. And that's
the big thing through the scouting process is using the
coach's input on who fits what we're doing, both on
offense or defense. If his defense is Derek Ansley as
(05:17):
far as who really fits the scheme, and those were
those guys are experts in that, which is really nice.
So you know, with the receivers, you know Callen, you know,
he's he's a he's not he's he played in the league,
he's coached for a little while. He knows good players
when he sees them. He knows what fits with what
he wants to do. And with Quinton and then all
these players drafted, but certainly in Quentin's case, you know,
(05:40):
we're not just drafting him for this season. We're drafting
him for now till you know, twenty twenty seven essentially,
and you know kind of go from there.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So with Quinton Johnson, I think his testing reminds me
of Joey Bosa for you guys, where some of the
numbers really didn't reflect I think the athleticism on the field.
So was that an advantage for you guys to get
him at twenty one? And do you use any GPS
tracking data or other data to evaluate his true game speed?
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Yeah? Love the GPS tracking data and we've used it
probably more each year now that we know more about
it and have more comparisons with it. And I think
you know, everybody moving forward, will probably go that route,
you know, but there's no end all be all tests
that we do, so we try and just put everything
together and try and make a determination. His GPS numbers
(06:29):
were very high. His forty time was what four five zero,
you know, he thought it would be a little bit
faster than that. You know, his jumps has brought up
his broad jump vertical really explosive, big time numbers there.
But yeah, I mean the numbers are a big deal
to us. We look at him a lot. It's a
big part of the process and you know, but with him,
(06:49):
you also have to add in that he's you know,
six three, two hundred and ten pounds. You know, he's
not you know, one hundred and seventy five pounds, So
that all that's all part of the equation too. But yeah,
I really liked that the g PS tracking that we
can pull off the game tape and because for a
long time, you know, we would get the forty times
on a player and then all of us as a
scout wold say, hey, look, you know, my eye tells
(07:11):
me that it is whatever four five to five by
the four six four six five, and you know, we
would go with that a lot because that is part
of scouting. But now it's kind of really nice to
be able to pull this GPS tracking off off the tape.
And now now the players are not they don't actually
have it shift in their paths at the college level
for the game that our players have on game day,
(07:33):
and maybe the colleges will go to that that at
some point. I hope they do. But we do have
software now it's available that we can kind of pull
it off the game tape. So it's just, uh, you know,
we have so much information we use We have too
much information. But that's one of them that that I
really like in all the positions.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I know, we as casual fans, right like there's
a lot of information available to us now, you know,
like Pro Football Focus and things like that, but our
front argent actually PFF, and even like the information that
they have is just like at another level than what's
out there to public knowledge.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah no, and we've got each year there's been more
and more and more, and it just like historically, like
going back you know, twenty years ago, you know, before
PFF started, when I was with the Colts, you know,
we used to try and do a lot of that
on our own as far as just tracking each player
and every play. The thing with us though, when you
(08:27):
do it manually, you know, we could do like three
or four games. We couldn't do every college game. We
just didn't have the manpower to do that. So to
now to have that information on every pro player, every
college player, and then a lot more now than we
had twenty years ago, it's just great information to have.
And then what allows us to do is really cross
check ourselves. Like you know, if you have a scout,
say that you know this tight end has great hands,
(08:52):
and we look at his catch rate and it's eighty
eight percent. Okay, well let's talk about this, so that
that's you know, that's that's cut or dry, that that's
black or white. Yeah, but there's a lot of other
things as far as like pass rush and pass protection
and the win rates and where they come and how
they happen, and then kind of compare that with their eyes.
A lot of times have been verifies with our ic
perfect we can move on. If it doesn't verify with
(09:14):
our I see, we have a lot of questions to
talk about, and that's why we have meetings to kind
of pull in the objective data, the subjective one kind
of pull it all together and try and make a
decision on these players.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, so switching from speedy receivers to offensive line play,
it's the hard hitting question. You've taken three straight projected
tackle to guard converts the last three drafts with with
high miss with Salar, now with McFadden. So what do
you evaluate when it comes to those players, especially if
they don't have any college reps at guard, Like, how
do you look at a tackle and know they're better
(09:49):
suited for guard?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Well, I don't know if we know they're better suited
for guard. I mean, someone is just based on dimensions.
But the whole tackle to guard thing, it's it's it's
almost it's almost more like like we need that versatility
if you're a tackle only, or a center only, or
a guard only for that matter, and if you're not starting.
It is really hard to get dressed on game day
(10:12):
because typically you know we're gonna address eight offensive linemen.
They have to play multiple spots. So you know, when
we take a college tackle and project him the guard,
a lot of times it's because hey, look we know
he can play tackle. We think he can play guard
when he gets here, and then we've got a two
way go. He can play guard and tackle, So that's
very It just really helps our roster and a lot
you know, same with the guard that can play guard
(10:32):
and center. We really need those dual positions. So but
there's certainly things you can watch as a player to see,
you know, can this tackle, can he go inside and
play guard? Does he have the anchor ability in size?
Does he have the leverage? Things move a lot faster
the closer eart of the football, So you know, does
he have quick twitch movement? Does he have quick twitch
up here in his mind to see things You have
(10:55):
a little bit of extra time at tackle. You also
can just get some help at tackle. You don't get
a lot of help but guard either, you know, maybe
from the center going left or right. But but that's
you know, that's part of the process when we're scotting
these players is projecting them here. And if you're not
going to come in as a walk in starter, you
really need to be able to play more than one spot.
And you know, Jordan McFadden's situation like like we think
(11:17):
he could play four spots and you know he may
be able to play some center down the road. We'll
see that would be great too.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I'm curious just in general, there's a lot of
like positionless football conversations nowadays, more so than maybe in
years past. And whether that's a guard tackle or maybe
somebody like tu Lee. Like you know, you turn on
the Stanford game and two Ley's lining up as a
as a nose guard. Half the time, a lot of
people viewed him as defensive line only. Some people viewed
him as edge only. How do you guys go about discerning,
(11:46):
you know, like in the tweener conversation, is he a tweener?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Is he an edge? Is he like?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Just that conversation in general is so interesting to me
because so many people viewed two lead differently. How do
you guys go about figuring out the difference between let's
find him a home or let's let's be versatile and.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Move him around.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, that's a great question because certainly when you talk
about Tuley, Yeah, if you say last half empty, like
he's a tweeterer, doesn't fit anywhere, right, he say last
half full like, No, he fits a lot of places.
He's a hybrid player. He can play outside, he can
play inside. So I mean there's a lot of great
things about Brandon Staley. But one of the things I
love is for defensive line and then defensive backs, like
(12:25):
they really can be positionless, especially the secondary. It really
makes scouting really easy because we can find players that
you know, maybe they're a little bit of a corner,
a little bit of a safety. Well, you know what,
for us, he's gonna be a defensive back. You know
a little bit of both. You can play some nickel play,
some outside play, some safety. And then when you talk
about Tuley, you know the fact that we can he
can play on the edge. He's shown that in college.
(12:46):
They moved him inside on some pass rush downs. You
can see him do that. They can stand them up
and move him around. I think that's a big asset
for a player to be versatile enough to move him around.
I mean, it gives the defensive coordinator more options. Right
this lining up and you know, the straight, straight front
all the time, you don't know where guys are going
to be. So for us, it's an asset. It's a positive.
(13:06):
And the fact that Tully can do a lot really
I think it can help our defense. But those are
discussions we have, the scouts, the coaches, and like I said,
our coaching staff is really flexible, which is a big
part of this process.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So whether it is Tully or maybe someone like Will
McDonald where I mean even Robert Sola got on the
phone and said, Hey, we're going to get you out
of what you did in college and move you to
a wide nine. Like, when you're grading players that can
do so many things, is the grade that you give
them kind of a formulation of everything that they're able
to do, or just do you just focus and grade
the plays at the quote unquote position that you've sort
(13:39):
of envisioned them in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Now we have to project them to what they'll do here.
So and like, I've never had any problems with how
any college coaches is their players because those college coaches,
first of all, they're smart. They know they have to win.
They're gonna put that player, you know, in the best
position to help them win. They're not so much worried
about how that player is going to fit the LA
charges when he gets there. It's no different, no different
(14:02):
than justin Herbert at Oregon, they used just in the
way that was really beneficial to them. They won a
lot of games, you know, they won the Pac twelve championship,
won the Rose Bowl, scored a lot of points. We
use just in a different way here. We had to
project moving forward how he'll fit in our offense. And
it's the same thing with Will McDonald with how he
was used at Iowa State. And there's a lot of
other players that are like that that maybe use one
(14:23):
way in college, but you know, for us how they're
gonna fit, we have used them a different ways. So
that's why when we talk about the subjective end of scouting,
that's why we still need the eyes on these players.
We can't just go based on numbers and based on analytics.
We scept that somehow blend that all together, the eyes
of our scouts, how the numbers line up. And then
you know that doesn't even talk about all the you know,
(14:45):
the character, the makeup, the intangibles, the medical, the psychological,
you know, all that stuff that has to be part
of the formula too, that I know people don't see
on the outside, but that stuff's really important to every
team that kind of goes through this to try and
you know, mitigate your risk on these players.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that's super important.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So there were a lot of people us included tom
that thought that maybe the Chargers would be taking a
tight end in the first couple of rounds in this draft,
including Brandon Bean saying that he didn't think that you
guys would pass on Dalton kincaid, how much of a
priority was tight end for you guys heading into the draft,
and maybe talk about as well, how you feel about
(15:23):
this group now that there was not a tight end selection.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah, you know what, I thought Buffalo was going
to trade up for a wide receiver, So it goes sometimes.
I didn't with Dawson Knox. I didn't know they would
take a tight end. So all you know, all the
work that we do, it's just like you guys. You
guys are trying to predict what's gonna happen. I'm trying
to do the same thing, and you know, I'm wrong
at least half the time. Like I was wrong on Buffalo,
They're gonna try and come up for a receiver. Yeah,
(15:48):
I mean we went in the draft kind of with
a pretty broad based look at it as far as
what we can add to a football team, both short
term long term. It was a pretty good tight end class,
you know, to really presented it to us but it's
not like we went in the draft saying we have
to draft the tight end. We like the players that
we have. You know, we think it's a pretty good group.
(16:09):
Is there a Is there a Kellen Winsle in that group?
You know, I don't cry, not not quite sure. We
think we have a pretty good cross section of guys.
I mean, Jerald Everett did a heck of a job
for us last year catching the ball. His run after
catch skills are excellent. He's a better blocker than people
give them credit for it, as is Donald Parum. Donald
Parham is a better blocker that people give him credit for.
And and Trey McKitty is really strong at the line
(16:31):
of scrimmage. So we think we have some people there. Now,
could we have added somebody, sure, you know, but just
didn't present itself. And you know, that's just kind of
the way it went. It was a pretty good tight
end class. We liked a lot of them. We didn't
maybe necessarily, you know, like all of them. But you know,
let's you know, beauties in the eye of the beholders sometimes.
But uh, but you know, we're gonna go with what
(16:52):
we have for right now. Something could change between now
and camp. I wouldn't anticipate it, but you know, you
never really know, but yeah, we'll be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah sounds great. Going back to the draft and how
you guys evaluate, how do you evaluate players who are
physically talented or for whatever reason, you guys love them,
but they never played against that Power five competition. Because,
first of all, congratulations on Trey Pipkins, but that's certainly
an example, right, Like what is the discussion when you're
trying to evaluate someone like Nick Melsot from Delta State.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Interesting name, Yeah, so this way really wouldn't work for him.
But the great thing is a lot of these smaller
school players are being invited to the Senior Bowl or
even the East West Rhine Games, so you could see
a player from a lower level division play against other
Division one prospects. So that always makes the evaluation a
lot easier because you can go watch them for practice
for three or four days, maybe playing the game and
(17:46):
get a better feel for that level of competition. But
if you don't have that, and we used to say
this about Pierre Garson when we drafted him from Mount Union,
when now it was with the Colts in the sixth round,
I want to say, if you play at a lower level,
you really you need to dominate that level of competition
to have a chance at this level. So in Pierre's case,
(18:08):
at the Division III level, where Pierre was you know,
six one and a half six two, two hundred and
ten pounds a ran four to four and was a
really good player, like he was running by I mean
the corners of that level were like me. I mean
literally they were me. I was a receiver, but you know,
but he showed at that level like they could not
cover him. His production wasn't great because he only played
(18:28):
the first half of most games. Mount Union was up
by sixty points by halftimes. They would pull people. So
when when you watch Delta State, you know, we want
to see this big guy really kind of handle people.
And he's got really really good quickness initial quickness for
that size at that level that really stands out. And
that's what our scout in that area, Donovan did a
(18:50):
great job kind of trying to see, hey, look this
is a bigger it's a big player, I know, not
a Division IE level, but he has some athletical he
has some feet, has some toughness, and we're going to
in here and see if he can compete for a job.
But yeah, that's what you do with the best case
scenario is one of these kids ends up at a
big or All Star game. He was watch them there.
That makes it really easy. If not, you got to
really kind of hope that kid at least dominates at
(19:12):
his level.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Trey was a Senior Bowl guy, was it he?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Trey was I think a Senior Bowl player at the
very least he was East West game. I can't remember.
I should remember, but I can't remember. The Senior Bowl
has been doing a really good job with with Meggie
as far as you know, inviting a lot of these
smaller school prospects that are legit guys and we can
actually see them against other Division one players. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, absolutely last one here for me, Tom. You guys
have really prioritized linebackers, whether it's inadvertently or not, linebackers
or used to be safeties. Obviously, Dayon Henley is the
latest here. Does how does that experience for these guys
help them transition to the NFL And maybe what's kind
of your vision for day On as a rookie.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I mean, it's it's a passing league. The game is
much more spread out than it was when I first
came in into the league. It's certainly much more spread
out at the college level. So you know, these safeties
that are that transition to linebacker, you know, they have range,
they have speed, they have the instincts and feel of
playing in the passing game. A lot what has to
come along for them is going to use to playing
(20:15):
inside the box at this level. But with with Dyon Henley,
I mean, he's super athletic, really a quick twitch player,
and for a player that hasn't played linebacker that much,
he's really instinctive, which is just rare to see usually
it plays these guys some time. But he's really good
in the passing game, has a fewl forward and he's
(20:35):
a hitter, like he really hits. And the one thing
that stood out to us with him too is a
lot of college starters, especially you know NFL prospects, they
don't typically like to play on a lot of special
teams in college, and he was begging to play on
specialties and played a lot of snaps on special teams
and was highly productive doing it. Because you know, initially
(20:56):
that's what that's his role here is going to have
to be special teams first and then trying to earn
a role on defense after that. But that really drew
us to him. His athletic ability's quick twitch, his ability
to hit, he's a violent hitter, and his special team's ability.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
All right, last them for me. I'll make it easy.
What is the go to mock draft simulator?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I'll tell you. I like the PFF a lot. I
just like that you can make so many changes to
how you want it to spit out, and and I
also like that it's really fast. I can do a
lot at one time. You know, we'll do some different
mock drafts in house, and we'll give either a coach
or a scout a specific team and you're drafting for
(21:39):
that team. And I like that too because you got
one person acting as GM for that team. But that
process takes forever. It takes a long time. I can
come in on a Sunday morning and start running these
mock draft simulators and just run them over and over
and over again and try and get a feel for
what could happen. And then the big thing is if
this happens, what are we going to do? Because we
have all these discussions way before the hand. We don't
(22:01):
you know, we're not discussing when we're on the clock. Hey,
do we want to go receiver at tight end here?
That those have been had already. So I tried the
ESPN one and that that broke a couple of times
on me. It didn't work as well as I would
have liked. I kind of got off that the PFF
when I thought was pretty slick. I thought it ran
pretty well and I liked it. It came out with different
(22:22):
different outcomes each time, and you could do some slide
bars moving around, and you know, I used to This
is way before your guys's time. Unfortunate. Don't even know
how you guys are, but I know you're younger than me.
But you guys ever heard a pair of Joel bushbomb
no no. Bill worked for Pro Football Weekly. This is
this is probably before we were on the internet that much.
(22:44):
And he had a book every year. But he had
so many contacts in the NFL, all across the league,
and he would do a mock draft the night before
the draft. But he had to call into a phone
line and you had to listen to a recording of
his mock draft. Oh my god, he was so good.
He was so tied in. He was also a really
good scout, and we used to use that mock draft
(23:05):
to try and get a feel for where guys were
going to go draft day. And this was the night
before the draft. So we've come a long way that
I can do god knows how many mock draft simulations
to try and get a feel for what could happen.
And then you know, hate, trade up, trade down is
what we're going to do. And and uh, it's been
really cool. Yeah, I like it a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, I love draft season. I don't know if I
would go to a phone line and listen to a
recording of a mock draft.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Hey that's all we had then we didn't I mean
I don't even think true. We didn't have, you know,
a website to go to. I mean, Mel Kuiper did
his mock draft, but that was in his book. He
had to buy the book and he had to mail
it to you and even though he was on ESPN,
but we didn't get as many mock drafts from him
as we had to wait for the book to come out.
But yeah, things have come a long way for the better.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Absolutely, shout out to Mail the Godfather obviously he's really.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
He's really good. I know, he just he is and
he's not only is he tied into the league, but
I think he's a really good evaluator. You know. The
difference is is you know, when he's you know, mocking
the draft players each team, like he doesn't have to
worry about, you know, the fit and the scheme and
right the medical and the character and all that stuff.
But that's normal. But he's you know, he's really good
at what he does. Like you guys know, like like
(24:15):
Daniel Jeremiah, he's really good. He's sharp, he knows football,
he's got contacts in the league. Todd mcshay's still pretty
good too. I mean, he does a really good job.
There's just a lot of people that put a lot
of work into it. I mean we have all that,
we have more information than anybody, and we're wrong half
the time. So I mean it is what it is.
I mean there's Hall of Fame gms that are wrong
(24:36):
half the time. So that's uh, that's just kind of
the business that we're in.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Hey, you said glass half full though, so you're right
half the time as well.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Hey, if I'm right half the time with making his
picks that I'll take that. It sounds terrible, he's wrong
half the time. But look, if you can hit like
first round hit right, it's like fifty to fifty five percent,
and that's pretty been consistent since I came in the league.
And then it goes down from there as you go
to each round from there. So it's always funny like
when we everybody looks at everyone's drafts right now and think,
(25:04):
you know, people are filling needs with third, fourth, fifth,
and sixth round draft picks. But in reality, as we
all know, all these guys aren't going to make it,
you know, unfortunately. So the hope is that these guys
make it as a role to earn a role first
and if you get lucky, you hit on a starter.
But you know, the odds aren't always with you.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, yeah, nature of the beast. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, Tom, we will not keep you for much longer
than that. We cannot thank you enough for your time today.
This is being incredibly insightful and can't wait to see
what's coming down the pipeline in terms of Chargers football.
So thanks again and charge fans. Hopefully you enjoyed that
insight from the general manager of the Chargers.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
All right, thanks for everying me on guys, take care.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
All right, that was our chat with Tom Tellasco. Again,
thank you to him for joining us. Tyler, what was
your biggest takeaway from our interview with mister Tom Telasco.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He's a very nice guy, and he's a very smart guy,
and I really enjoyed talking to him. It was really
really cool to be able to do that, and it
was really cool to see or at least hear some
of how they look at different players. I mean, you, guys,
just listen to the interview. How do you evaluate tackle.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
To guard converts?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Do you use GPS tracking, how do you look at
positionless players?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
It was a lot of fun hearing how they do that,
and it was really truly an honor to be able
to get to do this.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Absolutely, I think my favorite part was just him talking
about the like positionless trends, because I think there are
a lot of gms, a lot of coaches who still
feel like you have to fill a very specific role
on this team, in this position room, or we're just
not going to be able to like make you fit
on our team. And so to hear that the Chargers
(26:44):
are you know, really practicing what they preach when it
comes to versatility and flexibility within a position. I think
is great news. I think fans should be excited about
that trend. You know, they're not going to pigeonhole a
guy like two week below two It was kind of
the inspiration of that question. They're not going to pigeonhole
him into hey you're only an edge rusher or hey
(27:05):
you're only an INTI your defensive lineman. Like, they're going
to use him in a variety of roles. And we've
seen that, you know, with guys who we're going to
talk about today, like just her Taylor, you know, playing
outside last year inside. You know, they've had some flexibility
with with other players. Of course, you know, Kenneth Murray
has played linebacker and some edge rusher. So they really
like mean what they say when it comes to like
(27:26):
valuing versatility within a position group.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, and even though I don't know what designs they
initially had for someone like Jamari Sallier playing tackle, but
he was a sixth round pick. And if you're a
sixth round pick, especially if you're a lineman, I mean,
of course it'd be great if you were just really
really good at one position and you could immediately start there,
but that's not the case for a late day three picks.
You have to be able to play a couple of
(27:49):
spots on the line. And Jamari Sawyer even though they
had him as a guard the entire way, and you know,
we talked to him in the off season last year,
you know, about him being guard and why guard is better,
and then he played tackle the entire year basically, and
that was really necessary for the Chargers too. So yeah,
really cool conversation about positionless players, players who can do
a lot of different things.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
And speaking of Jamori, he's gonna be asked to play
another different position this season, So great segue there. Obviously,
jamais starting games for the Chargers, many many games, many
more games than anyone expected at left tackle. You know,
now he's gonna be playing right guard after really practicing at
left guard and training camp last year. So again, then
(28:30):
versatility here. So we'll transition now to this conversation about
second year players, and again we'll kind of you know,
jump around here, you know, kind of taking stock, if
you will, of a bunch of these players who are
gonna be counted on for key roles. I kind of
wanted to start with Isaiah Spiller, if that's cool with you, Tyler,
because I think this is there's been a lot of
(28:52):
talk obviously around the Austin Eckler contract situation, you know,
and we talked on our last episode on our channel,
which go subscribe by the way, if you aren't already,
you know, just kind of the expectation around Austin Eckler
still being on this team. You know, if they were
gonna move him, that would have probably happened already at
this point. So Austin Eckler is going to be on
(29:13):
this team. We know that Kellen Moore's is very excited
to work with him. But there's there's snaps available for
either of these running backs, whether that's Josh Kelly or
Isaiah Spiller, to play in this offense. And so I
just went back and looked at just snap counts for
the running backs under Kellen Moore. And obviously some of
(29:34):
this is you know, Tony Pollard ascending, some of its
Ezekiel Alla kind of descending. But for the most part,
there's a lot of snaps we had for a running
back behind a starter in Kellen Moore's offense in twenty
twenty two is it was basically a.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Fifty to fifty split.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Ezekiel had six hundred and thirty four snaps and Tony
Pollard had six hundred and twenty seven. The RB three,
though only logged eighty four snaps last season for the Cowboys.
In twenty twenty one, Ezekiel Elliott had eight hundred and
fifty three snaps, Tony Pollard had three hundred and ninety eight,
so pretty close to four hundred. Corey Clement the RB
(30:10):
three again not many snaps to be had there seventy
nine for him. In twenty twenty, Ezekiel Elliott had seven
hundred and eighty nine snaps and Tony Pollard had three
hundred and sixty seven and Rico Dawdle again thirteen for him.
So that's just the last three seasons with the Cowboys
for comparison's sake. Last season, Austin Eckler had seven hundred
(30:32):
and eighty snaps.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Joshua Kelly, who was.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Injured a little bit, had a two hundred and ninety six,
which if he had not gotten injured, would have been
right around a three hundred and fifty pace, but The
bottom line here is Kellen Moore is going to use
multiple running backs. It's likely going to be two. I
think he ideally would like to have just two. So
how does Isaiah Spiller fit into that conversation for you
(30:56):
with Joshua Kelly? Maybe kind of as an extension from Spiller.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Joshua Kelly to start camp last year was their RB
two right away and there was no competition.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
There was.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Eckler was one, Kelly was two, and then round Tree
and Spiller kind of battled for four and even Roundtree
got ahead of Spiller in some regards for RB two,
and of course it ended up being a whole different
thing with Sony Michelle. I think this is the year
that we I mean, I guess it's the only other
next year that we see Isaiah Spiller, and I think
he's going to take that RB two job. I don't
(31:29):
know what it is that I have to go off
of for that, but to me, and I don't feel
this way for all the players on offense or some
of the guys that are on defense, but I feel
like with Isaiah Spiller, it just felt like, and I
hate to do the blame game here, but this felt
very Joe Lombarding not playing the guy and for some
reason not being able to find ways to get him involved.
(31:51):
Because with someone like j T. Woods we'll talk about
in a bit. I feel like I understood pretty early
on and immediately why he wasn't on the field, And
then when he was on the field, you could tell
why he wasn't on the field, and you know why
he didn't get so many snaps.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And we'll talk about him in a bit.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
With Spiller, if you look at training camp, you look
at the preseason, you look at the snaps that he had.
Granted I understand, I understand some of the averages and
his rushes aren't super high, but I feel like that's
more scenario than anything else. Watching him play, I didn't
see anything that suggested that he should not be active
on offense. Now, if you want to talk about special
(32:27):
teams role, I guess I could understand that because they
wanted Larry Roundtree to be the special teams guy and
Spiller was not that guy. But I just feel like
with Isiah Spiller and the talent that he has and
what he can do as a pass catcher, I think
he's going to take RB two from Josh by Kelly.
Maybe that's kind of a hot take, but I really
just do believe in him and I think Kelly. I
(32:47):
think Kelly will start out.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
As the RB two.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Don't get me wrong, but I think that throughout the
course of the offseason and the preseason, you know, the
Chargers are moving towards moving and on from most of
their running back room and changing things. And I think
you have to see what you have on Isaiah Spiller.
You drafted him high. He was their third pick in
that draft, after taking J. T. Woods in the third,
Robin Spiller in the fourth. I think there's enough invested
(33:11):
in him, and I think he's talented enough, and now
he's actually, like, you know, twenty one, and he is
able to drink now after being twenty four a lot
of his rookie season, you know. So I think that
he's hopefully and I haven't seen anything, I haven't heard anything,
but I feel like he's matured into this now he's
in his second year in the league. I think by
the end of the training camp and the end of
(33:31):
the preseason, I think he's RB two over Joshua Kelly.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
All Right, there we go.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You know, I think that's a great conversation starter because
you know, some people, some fans are really really excited
about Isaiah Spiller. Others are not so excited about Isaiah Spiller.
You know, I thought that Joshua Kelly was was solid
for the Chargers last year, and when he went down
and they didn't play Isaiah Spiller, that was kind of
it was really frustrating to watch because it's like, we
(33:58):
know who Sony Michelle is, Like, no, I don't want
to like throw shade at him. You know, he's a
two time Super Bowl champ and a very key player
on those two super Bowls, but like we knew who
he was at that point, Like it didn't take you know,
a ton of touches early on in the season for
us to see.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That he just didn't have it anymore.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
And so once you get late into the season, Joshua
Kelly gets injured, like those were very valuable snaps for
Isaiah Spiller, and for whatever reason, you know, Joe Lombardy
and his staff just did not believe in giving him
that opportunity. And then same kind of thing in the
Week eighteen game, like that should have been a game
where Isaiah Spiller is getting you know, ten twelve touches
(34:37):
and he just didn't. So I I was not super
thrilled with the idea of adding somebody like Isaiah Spiller
in the draft because I feel like him and Joshua
Kelly were very similar. But then you get into training
camp and like, the thing that I was most excited
about was his ability as a pass catcher, because that
was something that was very different than Joshua Kelly. Josh
(35:00):
tra Kelly has worked very hard in that and he's
become a much better pass protector. But Isaiah Spiller, like
was running isolation routes like with relatively relative ease in
training camp and had some one handed catches and you know,
was was routing some linebackers up in training camp and
that was exciting. And I think that's a role that
hopefully the Chargers are leaning into. So I think this
(35:21):
is going to be a very curious thing for killing
more because like I just kind of laid out right,
like he's very traditionally like RB one, RB two and
that's it. But this year with the Chargers case, like,
I think you have three guys who are are capable players.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
And obviously we know it.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Joshua Kelly is a really good special teams player and
has has developed into a good special teams role. So
I don't know if I necessarily agree with Spiller as
finishing the season as RB two, but I think we
will see him be more involved this season. And you know,
he has to put in the work. Obviously, he has
to earn that right. But you know, they, like you said,
they kind of don't have a choice, like you need
(35:59):
to see what you.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Have in him.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
And then you have Austin Eichler and Josh Kelly who
are free agents at the end of at the end
of the season.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, I'm I'm I think more optimistic than most about
Spiller as someone who didn't like him during the draft
process as is, but then everyone goes, hey, go back
and watch the previous season in college where he played
at a different way. Things were just a bit different
that year. He looked like a different back. So if
he's working back towards what that looked like, I think
(36:27):
we're in for something. And I know you said, you
know Spiller RB two by the end of the season.
I think it's to start the season.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Oh wow, Okay, all right, some clarity from Tayler. I
will say that Kelly has a special team's RB three role.
I think that's good. That's a good spot for him.
I think he could be an RB two in a pinch.
But I think there is some inconsistencies with Joshua Kelly
and his decision making, in particular on the field. I
think there's his vision does leave kind of a little
(36:54):
left to be desired. But you know, as somebody who
can be that RB three pass protector, special team guy,
I think that's a great fit for him. So I
would love to see Isaiah Spiller become that dude, to
become that RB two. I think that would be a
great outcome this year. So I'm kind of in between
you and what the consensus is on Isaiah Spiller. I
guess you know, I do expect him to get more
(37:15):
touches and play well.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But we'll see there.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
All right, let's shift gears here a little bit and
talk about mister J. T.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Woods, who you mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Again, a role that is going to be very valuable
for the Chargers is that third safety. You know, obviously
there was a little bit where Alohiguman was kind of
starting at the end of last season, but he played
five hundred and forty eight snaps on the season last year,
which was like fourteenth most on the defense. In twenty
twenty one, Alohi Gullman was was hurt a little bit,
(37:47):
but he played three hundred and fifty five snaps and
Trey Marshall played one hundred and ninety seven. Again, there
were some games where Trey Marshall was was starting there.
But the safety three for the Chargers is gonna play
and right now that's slated to be JT.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Woods.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
And again there was a lot to be made about
his fit with Derwin James and a Sierra Atalie maybe
potentially being a pretty natural replacement for Nacierratalie because he
has that range, she has that deep safety ability, obviously
leading the country and interceptions in twenty twenty one as
(38:22):
a college prospect at the University of Baylor.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So where are you at with j T. Woods?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
We've kind of talked about maybe adding a safety veteran
guy like John Johnson. But if JT is given that
opportunity to start, how comfortable art or not start? I
should say, start the season as a safety three? How
comfortable are you with that?
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Okay that I don't mind as much. I would have
said more pessimistic projections. But if you're talking to me
about starting the season as a safety three, then I
do feel a bit better at that. And I'm assuming
here safety three is sort of as a low Hi
Gilman's backup, because I think right now Rahem Lena is
sort of drown James backup.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
We talked about this.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
I don't feel great about that, but.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Okay, let's talk about j T.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Woods's safety three. I'm okay with that. I'm cautiously optimistic
about the safety three role in terms of his chances
ever starting over a Lohi Gillman, I feel awful about
those chances, But in terms of a safety three role,
I can get that. And I think you look at
the game against the Chiefs last year, like the only
game where he really played any meaningful snaps, and I thought,
(39:26):
in terms of being a deep safety and defending the
post against the past, I think he was very strong
in that role. Granted, I think it was fourteen coverage snaps,
so I'm hinging all of this off of barely any
snaps last year. So in terms of that role, as
a safety three, you're bringing someone down or whatever you're
doing with a LOOHI Gillman or Derwin James, whatever you're
doing with that group, I feel okay with him in
(39:49):
that particular role, But that I think is as far
as I'm willing to say that he's going to play
barring injury this year for the Chargers. I feel much
more optimistic about Spiller, where some of the J. T.
Woods I'm very concerned about his future. And that doesn't
mean that he's not talented, but I almost think you're
you're hoping at this point for like a Trey Pipkins
(40:10):
sort of projection, and will a safety like J. T.
Woods get that long? I don't know, but you know,
I think it's going to be something we look at
in twenty twenty four, twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Five for J. T.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Woods rather than this season. I mean they like J T.
Woods played the fewest number of snaps of any Telesco
third rounder ever, except for Max Turk who had a
torn acl so zero. Otherwise, the next lowest was Trey
McKitty with two thirty seven Craig Mager with two hundred
and thirty one snaps. J T Woods played thirty Like
(40:42):
that's really bad for a player in the third round
who was their second pick.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
In the draft.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
You compare that to the other Telesco third rounders. I mean,
not everyone's Keenan Allen played nine hundred and fifty snaps
in their rookie year, but JT. Woods with thirty, and
like you know, Craig played one hundred or so special
team snaps.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
J T.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Woods played seventy three, which was behind Raheem Lane. Like,
it's not even just the trust in the defensive coaching staff,
it's the trust in the special teams group too. And
I guess you could say that's sort of the same
thing with Isaiah Spiller, but I just feel slightly better
about Spiller with this offense, and I almost feel like
that was more coordinator and coaching related this one. I
(41:25):
really just feel like J. T. Woods is to them
the projection that they wanted to avoid this year with
their draft. Like a lot of you know, singles, a
lot of doubles with the Chargers draft this year with
J T. Woods, they swung and listen, this could pay off.
They could connect at some point, absolutely, but I think
they're looking at where they are as a team and
(41:45):
knowing this is kind of this is kind of the
year you got to get things done. But we're all gone,
and so I don't think they're going to look at
j T. Woods and give him safety two at all
this season barring an injury. And to be honest, I
think he's probably safety four. And if I'm really honest,
I'm even worried about him being active this season if
they bring on John Johnson. I think Raheem Lane is
(42:07):
active because Ryan Ficken loves him and Ryan and Raheem
Lane rewarded Ryan Ficken with that trust.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
I think JT.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Woods there's a lot of different things that can happen.
I think the max is safety three, and I think
we could also look at him being inactive. And I'm
not gonna say cut yet, but let's go to the
third rounders have been cut for less.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, that's very true. You know, the range of outcomes
for JT is is pretty drastic. You know this upcoming season,
and you know this is a big off season for him.
This is his first true off season like being able
to like really focus in on football and like only
football and and not like draft training, not track stuff
because he was a track athlete at Baylor, same thing
(42:49):
in high school.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
So this is a big time offseason for him. And
he's got to be.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Able to show the coaching staff that he's taken some strides.
And I think that it's possible that we see some
flashes for sure. But I think part of the reason
why the coaching staff has really preferred Alohi Gillman in
that spot and preferred Lowhi Gillman over no Seri Atli
at the end of the season is because Aloi just
doesn't make mistakes, Like like that's that's really what you
(43:14):
need as a free safety in this kind of defense
is you need to be a reliable tackler, you need
to be a reliable, you know, match coverage player. You
need to just like be play really sound, you know,
smart football. And Aloi also made a lot of plays
like he was always around the football. It seemed like
last year winning given the opportunity, whether it was interceptions
(43:36):
or fumbles or force fumbles, fumbles.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Recoveries, like he was around the football.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
But also he was just not making a lot of mistakes.
And I think you feel good about him as a
safety three. I think he can be a starter in
a pinch. So I would like to see them kind
of upgrade that room because I just think there's a
lot of uncertainty with JT.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Woods.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
We have barely seen Raheem Lane play like meaningful football Eitherbviously,
we know he can play special teams. You know, there
was that great moment I want to say against the
Dolphins where he like lit up somebody and yeah, when
he was on the punt return team at the end
of the season. So I think they feel comfortable with
him on special teams. So this this is a very
(44:16):
important offseason for J. T. Woods, and I have a
hard time thinking that they're just gonna hand him snaps,
like he's going to have to really earn this. Like
I think of any of the second year players, he's
the one who has the longest chance of like playing
key snaps because we just like we know how important
it is to play mistake free football as of free safety,
(44:37):
and if he can't do that, that's gonna be a tough.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Ask for him in this defense.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Yeah, I mean, that's what they tried to get away
from with this year out of the last year.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I think Alohi Gilman at this point has deserved the
right to be out there as safety two, whether that's
you know, a high end safety two play I don't know, like,
I don't know what his feeling is, but he's progressed
every year. So I think Alohi Gilman, I know this
is not the Alohi Gilman portion of the show, but
I think he's earned the right to be out there.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yeah, and maybe that maybe their faith in him kind
of lends themselves maybe towards like a Ronnie Hamerson safety
an as opposed to John Johnson or somebody else that
they're connected to that's maybe more of a lower tier,
you know, backup starter kind of player.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
But we'll see there.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
All right, Well, we'll touch on one more here, and
that's gonna be John Taylor because we're running out of
time a little bit already. But John Taylor also another
kind of winner of the draft, if you will, because
the Chargers did not add a potential starting slot corner.
You know, there was some buzz that the Chargers were
interested in the cornerback market in the draft leading up
to it.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Ultimately did not come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
They have not resigned Bryce Callahan as of today on
May eighth, so we'll see what happens there. But as
of now, like Jossier, Taytor is expected to start in
the slot. I'll start with this one. I'm excited about
Joss Taylor in year two, man. I think that he
showed a lot of promise, particularly as a run defender,
and also like that Miami game where he was working
(46:04):
against jaln Waldall, I think really showed what kind of
coverage player he can be in the slot. I think
on the outside, I'm a little bit more dicey about
just like his ability in space against players like Jerry
Judy kind of gave him a tough, tough go but
in a scheme that's really going to value his physicality,
(46:25):
I think that's that's a good thing for him because
he can, you know, get up in guys faces, he
can match up with tight ends, he can blitz, he
can tackle. So I know everybody wants Brice Callahan back,
but I'm I'm cool with Joshy Taylor as the starting
slot corner man.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
I really am.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I think he's going to be able to come in
in year two really show some great signs of growth.
I don't think he should be handed the starting spot obviously,
but I'm as of today, I'm cool with Joss Taylor
starting from day one in this defense.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
And he probably is.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I don't know who else other than Keimon Hall is
out there to challenge him for the slot, right, Yes,
it could be a Santai Sanmuel junior, but jc's not
back yet. So yeah, I think John Taylor is one
of the biggest winners of the entire offseason because and
really last year too, gone from a sixth round pick
who was projected to play special teams, Like we knew
he'd be good at special teams based on what he
(47:16):
could do on film, like solid tackler, you know, athlete,
not like a huge guy, but certainly a bigger body guy.
So everything that he did at Wake four US, he
felt okay, Like, okay, good special team, you're here, Fine,
that's kind of the max here. Then you watch him
in training camp and you're thinking, okay, like, you know,
we don't get to see a whole lot of it
during the season, but I was there for most of
(47:36):
the training camp days and he was consistently and Bryce
Callahan as well, one of the better players out there,
just so smart, so fluid. I was honestly stunned like
them finding Jaw Taylor in the sixth round, kind of
like Jamari Solier too. Was a revelation, honestly with how
I feel about what they can do in the sixth round.
And part of that is probably Ryan Ficken right with
(47:58):
the special team's work and to bring him up to
speed and all that, but just being able to identify
a defensive back like that and get him working in
the slot. He looked so good, Like you said, the
Miami game looked fantastic.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
There.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I'm in the middle because I would understand why they
bring bring back Bryce Callahan because he's a good slot
corner and you know about him. I'm not saying he's
Eric Kendricks by any means, but like you know, they
know about Eric Kendricks. They've seen the consistencies they brought
an Eric Kendricks, so I could see why they do
with Bryce Callahan too. But I mean John Taylor, man,
I haven't seen anything from him in terms of working.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
The slot that I'm worried about.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
We haven't seen a lot of film, but I really
do feel confident about him and being able to do that,
and if that's the jump he could make from a
six round pick to what he did last year, I
can't wait to see what he does. Knowing that he
has this role I think so far, and what he
can do in the slot moving forward.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, getting back to training camp, it
felt like every other day he was like making you know,
a force tumble, an interception and tackle for loss. Like
I'm really excited about where John Taylor can go and
we'll see what happens. You know, we're gonna get closer
here towards mandatory mini camp and OTAs and training camp
is right around the corner. So obviously we didn't get
(49:15):
to touch much on Zion Johnson, Jamari Solier, Dean Leonards
and or Horrath today. We'll spend some other time on
another episode, perhaps breaking down those guys. Obviously, Zion on Jamari,
we know what we know what we have there. You know,
they're they're starting caliber offensive lineman and that should be
exciting too. So Tyler, any final thoughts before we head
out this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
Zion and Slater on the left side is going to
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
That's gonna be a.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Lot of fun to watch man and Kellen Moore is
gonna have a ton of fun calling plays for those
two in the rushing attack. So all right, guys, that's
gonna do it for us. Today, Thanks so much for
tuning in again. Thanks to Tom Telesco for jumping on
with us and join us. Thanks to Brian and Greg
here for producing our show with the Charge, and as always,
(50:01):
make sure you go subscribe over the Guiltiest Charge podcast
as well, follow us on Twitter, all that good stuff. Alright, guys,
that's gonna do it. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (50:17):
M
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