A Deep Dive Into the 2024 Los Angeles Chargers (Ft. Guilty As Charged)
what is going on everybody welcome into the next episode of my offseason deep dive series as today we reveal the number 25 team in my power rankings heading into next season with the Los Angeles Chargers probably the first team that I do feel a little bit lower on especially when you look at their Super Bowl odds they’re like 15th in Super Bowl odds so certainly a good bit lower there so I guess I have some splaining to do in this episode it is a team that I see a lot of holes in still that we’ll get into here but obviously some optimism anytime you have a quarterback like Justin Herbert and a head coach like Harbaugh coming in too so a lot of fun stuff to talk about here before we do get started if you’ve been enjoying the series or if you enjoy the video if you could take just a second to hit that like button it’s a free and easy little thing that actually really supports my channel supports this series I really appreciate it and make sure you’re subscribed we’ve got 24 more of these to go you’re not going to want to miss them and we do have another wonderful interview with the guilty is charge podc always a pleasure to have on to the channel so make sure you don’t go anywhere and don’t miss that conversation towards the back end of the video but without further Ado let’s dive into the Los Angeles Chargers as always taking a look at this teams off season where they got better where they got worse going position group by position group and that does start with the coaching staff which is obviously upgraded Brandon Staley was a dumpster fire of a head coach a dumpster fire of a defensive coordinator his iteration of the Vic fangio defense was a true disgrace and with all due respect to Brandon Staley I’m happy for the Chargers to be rid of that and to be able to look forward with Jim harba coming in as the head coach we’ll have plenty of time to talk about in the staff section what this new look staff is going to look like but um really from the head coach down to the coordinators on both sides of the ball complete overhaul there and presumed upgrades though maybe some pause on swapping Kell Moore for Greg Roman we’ll talk about that um but still upgraded for the coaching staff overall quarterback no change at all staying neutral obviously then at running back look I’m going to leave this as upgraded based on what Austin Eckler was for this team last year it was again hard to watch I mean he lost the juice especially as a rushing threat just nothing really there and even if you liked what you saw from Austin Eckler to not have to give a third of your snaps to Josh Kelly anymore is going to be huge for this team he was so bad some of the worst Vision I’ve seen on tape over the last couple of years so going with Gus Edwards a six round pick in kamani Vidal who I love and JK Dobbins I do see that group as an up upgrade especially in terms of the actual Run game they might not quite get what they got from Eckler in terms of the receiving game um and then with the tight end room I’m going to leave this as neutral Gerald Everett was very solid for this team but only played half of this team snaps they bring in will dley not quite the receiving threat but a substantial upgrade in the blocking game and then Hayden Hurst if he can stay healthy could give you 80% of Gerald Everett the receiving game so going to keep it neutral at tight end nothing too exciting there but I get the direction they’re going there going with more of a blocking Focus starter but then the wide receiver room this is obviously downgraded it’s one of the biggest downgraded rooms in the entire NFL Keenan Allen traded to the Bears for a fourth round pick he was still fantastic last season so that’s going to be a big loss and then on paper losing Mike Williams even though he only got through uh about two and a half games last year and then I got to give a little nod to my guy Alex Erikson who played pretty well down the stretch with Easton stick in company um but you are excited about bringing in lad makoni in the second round but he is not Keenan Allen at least not yet um and then DJ CH definitely had his issues for the Panthers last year um and then Brandon rice in the seventh round so it’s just you know trying to replace that true number one that you had in Keenan Allen it’s it’s it’s tough and something they’re they’re going to have to kind of scheme around and work around this season certainly one of those holes where you’re like well they weren’t going to completely fix this room in one off season um but then on the offensive line definitely upgraded I mean they draft Joe alt in the top of the draft you love that they signed Bradley Boseman who this staff is familiar with going back to the days in Baltimore they do lose a pair of centers Cory Lindsley a big name but had kind of fall off for this team unfortunate uh neck injury only played a couple games for them last year and then retired basically um before he retired uh and then will clap stepped in gave you a replacement level guy but you expect Bradley Boseman to at least be a push there and then he add joal to the mix obvious upgrades overall definitely a shift though towards you know prioritizing the line of scrimmage the Run game a blocking tight end a tackle over a guy like Malik Neighbors in the draft that’s the focus of this team in year one right there’s they’re not trying to hide that even down to the offensive coordinator going with a run focused Greg Roman over a pass focused Kell Moore but then you look at the defense and it’s it’s quietly pretty much the same definitely some change on the interior of the defensive line but that was already a pedestrian group so you’re just moving some names around you Sebastian Joseph day was cut at the end of last season Austin Johnson a veteran Nick Williams a veteran they bring in Puna Ford who’s been quiet the last couple of years but still you would think an adequate piece and they draft Justin Abby in the fourth round you know as we’ll see later this is still very much a problem group for this Chargers team but it’s not like they had any had any good players to lose anyway so I’m just going to leave that as neutral Edge group leaving that is neutral they brought back their key pieces there in mac and Bosa they added a fourth guy in bud dpri not enough for me to note that as any sort of upgrade um at linebacker they definitely are shifting this room around I think this is to be determined you know Eric Kendricks and Kenneth Murray as a combo platter was an adequate group last year and this year they’re going with you know a rookie Junior Coulson and an injury-prone Denzel Perman who I like but how many games are you going to get out of him so so to be determined there I see the direction they’re going again more of that priority towards the physical smart run Defenders as opposed to more of the athlete types there so staying consistent with that theme for the team um and then at cornerback going to have this as slightly upgraded strictly off the fact that Michael Davis was truly horrible last season it’s going to be difficult for Christian Fulton to be worse than that and then they also draft cam Hart in the fifth round tarhe still in the fifth round no major upgrades but hoping to be a little bit better there at least safety room is mostly the same they bring back aloy Gilman and then they you know have already crossed the line of all of these nepotism Ravens hires why not bring back Tony Jefferson two years removed from retirement and bad football we’ll see if he makes the team um and then special teams they had an outstanding special teams last year no reason to change anything they actually even kept the special team’s coordinator despite Harbaugh flipping the staff Inside Out shout out Ryan ficken who seems to have ended years and years of horrific special teams play for the Chargers but I think it was a good off season as we’ll see later in the video as we really go through position by position breaking down these rosters you’ll see that there are still some major holes on this team holes that were going to be impossible for this team to fill in one off seon especially coming off the heels of spending a lot of money being a little more aggressive to make that push with guys like JC Jackson and KH Mack they didn’t have a bunch of free agent money to move around here so I do think for what they had to work with kind of implementing this new regime they did a good job but we’ll put the roster conversation on the back burner for a second as next I want to focus on this coaching staff breakdown how Jim harah and Company kind of rank and stack up against the rest of the league and what this team is going to look like schematically on both sides of the ball here and with Harbaugh coming in the theory here is that the Chargers finally after a run of just abysmal head coaches finally will have an adult running the room right Jim harah is the guy that has won everywhere he’s went right from San Diego State to Stanford to the 49ers to Michigan he has met or exceeded expectations every single step of the way leading the charge with his kind of Rah R CEO mentality where he has really proven that he can come in and establish toughness culture and physicality within an organization and I’m not going to lie it’s going to be weird to think of the Chargers like that the team that honestly has been beat into my brain at this point that this is year in year out typically one of the softest teams in the NFL and the Brandon Staley defense was maybe the Pinnacle of that playing 10 yards off the line of scrimmage afraid to get into base defense and stop the run Harbaugh’s goal here is to have a complete rooll reversal in terms of the type of football team that the Chargers are and in this series we rank team’s overall coach and culture being obviously the culture of the team but kind of that benefit of the doubt slider and all of the new incoming head coaches that we’ve revealed in this series so far have ranked very low in that category not so much with the Chargers I give them a bgrade ranking 12th to 18th in the league in terms of just coach and culture in fact Jim Harbaugh I expect to kind of pick up somewhere around where he left off when he was with the 49ers years ago I rank him as the 16th best head coach in the league before ever coaching a game for this Chargers team so I do buy into that aspect of things I do think this was a good hire and he’s given us like I said no reason to believe that this isn’t going to work here now if there are criticisms or at least like areas of pause on this hire number one it’s that Harbaugh isn’t like the vast majority of head coaches in the league in being a true kind of x’s and o’s schematic elevator of his football team there’s only two or three CEO type head coaches in the league one of which being his brother JN in Baltimore and as his brother has shown that can work but it does mean you better be a damn good leader which we do think Jim Harbaugh is um but you got to really stay on top of your staff make sure you’re hiring the right guys make sure that message is consistent throughout the entire team and you’re going to run the risk of potentially losing the good guys that you do hire and you got to be good at replenishing those guys so it it is a tall task it can be done but there is a reason the major that the majority of coaches in the league stem from either being a great defensive coordinator or an offensive coordinator that’s not really Jim Harbaugh and then maybe just the other area of again slight pause not criticism or even that I don’t think this is going to work out but just like a little bit of a hm was this idea of hiring Greg Roman the kind of in General overemphasis on this basically Ravens Michigan nepotism going with a guy like Greg Roman that a he’s comfortable with has worked with has had success in the past but B is kind of a little over the top in ter terms of we’re going to run the ball we’re going to be old school that’s all great and they’ve done a lot of stuff to get in that direction but is there is there a line is there a point in time where you need to accept Okay but we do have Justin Herbert we can sling The Rock there are you know assets to having that player that hiring a Greg Roman and this is a good transition into who Greg Roman is as the offensive coordinator here you know Greg Roman for years and years and years years has been known for his teams can run the ball but when it’s third and eight can he scheme up a passing game and for the most part the answer to that question has been no and that’s what kind of ran him out of Baltimore we saw Lamar Jackson the first year after Greg Roman um won an MVP throwing the ball a lot more graned he also won an MVP under Greg Roman in that run heavy play action heavy offense too so there are assets to Greg Roman but this hire and this overall decision by Jim Harbaugh is interesting to say the least and when you look at the rankings for the offensive coordinator here I have them ranked with a B+ grade fifth to seventh in Run game coaching there is an obvious tip of the cap to give to Greg Roman for being one of the Run game gurus around the NFL he’s proven that but pass game coaching tied for worst in the league 28th to 32nd and I think that has also been warranted as you reflect back on what Greg Roman has done in the NFL and I think you do have to beg the question of is this the right coordinator for Justin Herbert Greg Roman has had all these Great Run games but with Lamar Jackson Colin Kaepernick Elite rushing threats at the quarterback position and it’s not that they can’t or won’t run with Justin Herbert but he’s not those guys in terms of speed agility running creativity Vision all of that stuff yeah you can run a read option and he can get the edge and pick up a first down but is he someone you’re going to do all of the various different Run game stuff that Greg Roman has been able to tap into with some of these other quarterbacks in years past I I think that’s very much to be determined but also going with a guy that wants to live in 12 13 personnel with multiple tight ends and fullbacks on the field a guy that is really shown to have struggles in terms of scheming up the dropback passing game and you look at Justin Herbert being one of the premium pocket passers in the NFL there’s questions to be had about how this is all going to work and I think every Chargers fan for the most part is willing to accept that this is interesting and might not work and I am just so curious to see what this iteration of Greg Roman’s offense is going to look like is this going to be the Ravens offense where like I said it’s it’s heavy packages all play action a QB oriented Run game with read options and even getting into things like QB power and all that stuff or has he taken some time to reflect and learn and is he going to bring more of a modern approach to designing this offense and tapping into Justin Herbert’s arm and the passing game a little bit better time would tell you it’s going to be the former but needless to say one of the bigger kind of wildcard X factors for this team is what is the you know coordination of this offense going to look like but then as you look at the defensive side of things not so much to question here a very sound hire in Jesse Minter who’s going to get a B minus grade for me for run defense coaching and a C+ grade for me for pass defense coaching obviously can’t rank him too high as an unproven new mind in the NFL but those grades are all just unproven and not anything negative to say about Jesse Minter essentially long story short there looking to recreate Mike McDonald who has obviously emerged as perhaps the premium defensive mind in the NFL not just getting the head coach with the Seattle Seahawks after being with the Ravens and coaching this Michigan defense for a little bit but you also look around the league and there’s a handful of other teams that have poached the Ravens staff trying to recreate the scheme that has been built really between Michigan and Baltimore and who better than Jesse Minter to be that guy who was with Mike McDonald really side by side as an assistant coach for about four years in Baltimore and then went to I want to say Vanderbilt for a year and then once Mike McDonald left Michigan Jesse Min stepped in there and did a phenomenal job orchestrating a championship defense in Michigan so plenty of good things to say about Jesse Min and plenty of reason to believe that this is going to work out um in terms of what this scheme is going to look like we have covered this already when we talked about the Titans and we will continue to talk about this team with this Mike McDonald scheme that is permeating throughout the league it is at its core an attacking 34 defense but it is so far removed from the dean P’s wink marale style 34 Blitz happy team uh that we got so used to in Baltimore for years it has taken a lot of these same principles using standup Edge rushers dropping them into coverage varying your looks disguising blitzes and running a lot of You Know cover three fire zones it’s taken a lot of those principles but modernize them in a very creative way that really works for these young players and I’ve talked about this but you know with Mike McDonald and Jesse Min here they had to design this defense to be a pro style defense at the college level but in a way that the players could understand cuz at the college level you have 19-year-old kids you’ve got the transfer portal you have only you know three or four years of experience opposed to as opposed to like true veterans in the NFL and what they did was completely modernized the terminology in a way that is very easy to understand but can also be extremely multiple and I’m still very much learning how this works and I obviously can’t break down all of the lingo in depth if I could maybe I’d be the next guy getting hired to run this defense in the NFL but um one of the big kind of emphasises on what they do that helps them achieve all of this is they teach their guys every single Gap up front they’ll rotate these guys around in practice and then based on the call their lingo wherever you’re lined up you can know every single different Blitz and they can stay incredibly adaptable throughout a drive throughout a game from week to week and essentially have the same calls that can look entirely different to the offense and needless to say that’s a handful to deal with so their fronts are very creative but I also think that what we’ve seen from these Michigan and Mike McDonald defenses is that not only are they Innovative and creative UPF front but because they’ve had to coach college kids I think they’ve really found a way to implement these pattern matching zones that were seeing all around the NFL you know the the influx of cover six and cover four in college football you know Sabin inspired sainy his defense has infected all of college football but again having to coach college kids to run this stuff is different and they are just really good communicators of these Zone responsibilities on the back end and in Baltimore you just you straight up didn’t see the coverage busts you saw guys playing confident knowing when to jump routes when to pass things off but also when you do need to stay more conservative they’re just very good at teaching every individual player their role whether that is is up front on the back or on the back end but also making sure they understand how their role impacts the rest of the defense and it just has all come together into this beautiful scheme and when you can have creative Blitz looks up front that create free rushers and keep the offense thinking speed up the processor of the quarterback while also disguising pattern matching zones on the back end it is incredibly difficult to deal with just as we saw in Baltimore last year so they are looking to replicate that system here for the Chargers and while all these other guys are getting hired to replicate that system around the league technically speaking Jesse Minter is the only guy that has shown that he can do that so it’s exciting um but he does have to prove that he can do that at the NFL level but a good hire makes total sense why arba brought him over from michig so there’s your coach and scheme breakdown Chargers fans have every reason to be excited about this staff with perhaps some um cause for pause with Greg Roman here but let’s shift to the roster breakdown here we’re going to go position by position ranking each position group how they stack up against the rest of the league and that’s going to start with the quarterback and Justin Herbert and I I feel like I have been dubbed this Justin Herbert hater especially by you Chargers fans watching this because I was obscenely low on him coming out I was dead ass wrong about the type of player he was going to be at the NFL level obviously and when it comes to a lot of those Twitter debates I do tend to put a name or two higher than Justin Herbert than a lot of chargers fans would like to see and there are some things with with him that I do think hold him back from being an elite quarterback I will talk about those later but look Justin Herbert is phenomenal he is fantastic he’s still frankly the reason that the Chargers are 15th in Super Bowl odds because you know if things do go right with the team around him you have a quarterback that yeah he’s never won a playoff game but you think with a much better team he is a Super Bowl caliber quarterback the type of quarterback that you win with right so many things to like about him as a quarterback I have him ranked as the fifth best passing quarterback the sixth best overall quarterback in the NFL genuinely one of the Elite Arms in the NFL and he weaponizes it uh as as good as anybody I mean the way he throws those deep outs especially it’s just gorgeous man you can go opposite Hash a 20 yard out teams get used to not having to defend that throw because you’re not supposed to you know put the ball on the sideline from the opposite hash 20 yards away with the Precision that he’s able to throw or on like a back shoulder as well his command of the football in that like 20 to 25 yard range is impeccable and it shows up in the middle of the field too he can needle the middle of of the defense some of these digs and posts that he throws are unbelievable uh the Velocity in which he can get the ball in there and the nice thing too is he can do it from the pocket and does do it from the pocket consistently um but when he does get outside the pocket which I wish was more often but when he does it he makes some of the most Sensational throws that you’ll see in the NFL throughout the course of the Season he can do it running left running right off his back foot doesn’t matter so he has one of the best arms in the NFL and he knows it and then you get into the processing and decision-making aspect of things um you know it’s it’s certainly good enough that when paired with his level of arm Talent that’s how you get a you know Superstar quarterback I I think it’s not perfect there’s still room to grow there for the most part he makes the right reads he plays on time he will still miss reads he’s not quite on the level of the the game’s best players at that position guys like maybe Dak Prescot Kurt Cousins Patrick Mahomes Joe burrow he’s not quite up into the top maybe five to seven in that category but I would say top 10ish in terms of processing and decision making I think what he lacks in that department is something you hear people talk about with him is you want to see just a little bit more aggressiveness from him especially when you’re talking about a guy with with this arm Talent take a few more risks within the structure of the offense you know there’s a play against Minnesota that’ll highlight here where they’re running a double move he gets single High coverage and he just checks off the double move before he even sees if the wide receiver wins he would have had a touchdown he ends up coming to the backside and um overthrowing a pass it’s obviously just one play but throughout the course of a game you’ll see maybe once or twice a week situations like this where you wish he pushed the ball a little bit more instead of you know trying to you know needle in you know the short to intermediate zones where he loves to Target he just does he loves to throw short but again very good in the processing and decision making department for the most part just does not put the ball In Harm’s Way especially as one of the um least interception prone quarterbacks in the league for good re reason but does that come at the cost of some added aggressiveness would you rather him throw five more picks but his average depth of Target goes up one and a half throughout the course of a season You could argue yeah but that’s very nitpicky um and and frankly not what keeps him out of the elite quarterback conversation for me um honestly what straight up bothers me about Justin Herbert and what does quote unquote hold him back just a little bit in my my mind is the pocket feel and this is where I have to differentiate between what in my mind is pocket presence and pocket feel because I have said a lot of times I don’t like Justin Herbert’s pocket presence and Chargers fans will throw sack rate at me and all this stuff and it’s true there are parts of Justin Herbert’s pocket presence that are very good um in this in the fact that if pressure gets in quickly Justin Herbert can see that and do something about it right if his guard loses or the blitz gets in or tackle loses the edge that is when you do see Justin Herbert use his feet make something happen or get rid of the ball avoid sacks there are aspects of him within the pocket that are very good but for me his pocket feel to naturally Feel the Rush to know when and how to use his feet to buy time and extend plays is below average way too often with Justin Herbert you’ll see him throw the ball short of the sticks on third down you’ll see him bail out of a clean pocket you’ll see him step into pressure you’ll see him not use his feet to manage that space within the pocket to buy time whether that is inside the pocket or outside of the pocket to me that Supernatural feel that all of these Elite quarterbacks have for that space within the pocket it’s an intangible thing that something like sack rate is not going to tell you if a guy has it or not you have to watch the film and yes come to a subjective opinion on if the guy has it or not but to me Justin Herbert is missing that trait that in my opinion Mahomes has burrow has Josh Allen has Lamar Jackson has Aaron roders has Drew Brees had it Tom Brady had it call it Poise call it pocket presence call it pocket feel call it it Factor whatever that needs to be that is what I see missing a little bit with Justin Herbert and it’s not to say there aren’t individual plays where it’s there and he does Feel the Rush and gets out of the pocket at the right time and does incredible things on the move it’s just I find myself when he does do those things it goes away for two quarters two weeks and you just find yourself saying Herbert use your feet more whether that’s moving inside the pocket or breaking outside of the pocket and doing all these incredible things you can do um so I don’t need to belab the point I think I used film evidence as well to show you what I’m seeing and why I have that opinion so Chargers fans the next time we get into it on Twitter it’s all there that’s where I’m at on Justin Herbert the dude’s fantastic and even if this is who he is as the sixth best quarterback in the NFL that is a guy worth every single penny that they paid him and a guy that this team should be able to win a Super Bowl with someday if they do things the right way and then there is the rushing aspect of this that with a Greg Roman offense we’re going to need to talk about we’ll save that for the uh backfield breakdown that we’ll get to in a little bit but in terms of the um backup room Easton stick did step in and ran the show last year I actually especially think his Mobility inside a Greg Roman offense in like a you know Herbert hurt his wrist and needs to sit a week I would actually be very curious to see him basically do the Greg Roman read option stuff he’s very athletic and and can definitely be a weapon in that way so I think he’s a good backup to have here frankly especially now with the new coordinator um and you can honestly say the same thing about Max Dugan who the only good thing he did at TCU was run the ball in my opinion so they’ve got a they’ve got a type with their backup room that is is workable especially now but let’s transition to the Weaponry for this team and unfortunately for the Chargers I do rank them dead last in the NFL with a D+ grade it’s it’s honestly kind of hard to argue against that as well they lost some premium weapons and um as much as I love the lad makoni pick and I’m going to Hype that up in a minute there’s just there’s not a lot here heading into the year their number one wide receiver is Joshua Palmer who was very serviceable as a number three Wide Receiver right but I think we have seen in those weeks where Mike Williams is out Keenan Keenan Allen is out it’s not like he’s blown up in those situations and has never really taken the mantle and been like oh my God you’ve got some great starter here you know it’s it’s not a huge surprise either when you look at his college profile he’s he’s tough he’s got Good Feet he runs good routes good hands but just a limited athlete and a non-sensational player and for that to be quite clearly your best wide receiver heading into the year it lays the ground workor for you being the worst group of weapons in the league now that’s not to say I don’t love lad makoni right um but he is an unproven second round pick I can’t come out and grade him out as this great wide receiver but I I’ve I’ve said it before I’ll say it again he is up there with the best rout out running prospects I’ve ever watched um in the mix with guys like Jerry Judy and Chris olve in fact I think his potential is somewhere in that range and while I think he can thrive in the slot with his dare I say Elite foot speed technique within his short routes the Nuance to set guys up with shoulder fakes and the way he can run a two-way go from the slot is is indefensible certainly was in the SEC and I I don’t see a lot of NFL Corners being able to keep with them uh keep up with them in a lot of these routes too and I think a lot of people just slide him into the slot I I don’t see lad makoni that way I think he can thrive in the slot but can also be a weapon outside and part of that makes him the ideal Keenan Allen replacement because they loved to do that with Keenan Allen move him all over the place and while this is a different staff I am very excited to see if they do that with lad because I think when you put him outside he flashed the ability to get off of press coverage he didn’t see a lot of press in college but he does have a good release package and he’s not tiny he’s not the biggest wide receiver but we compared him to guys like Chris alve and Jerry Judy he’s actually very similar in size to those guys and I would say he’s very similar in terms of top speed to those guys he actually pulls away from guys and is more of a deep threat than he gets credit for he wasn’t used that way in George’s offense but I do think when teams are going to be so worried about him running speed outs and Slants and two-way goes from the slot all of these different things that Herbert and Keenan Allen were so good at together I think you can destroy guys on double moves or just run a go and catch a guy flat-footed and create some deep separation and become a bit of a super weapon for the Chargers I loved this pick from a fantasy football angle I have been targeting lad as hot and heavy as I can I maybe I’m crazy but I had the fifth pick in a dynasty draft I genuinely considered him over Malik neighbors because of the fit and the quarterback that he gets to play with and I think year one has a chance of being special for lad makoni so I don’t know really what else I can say there I I don’t remember a second round wide receiver that I had such high expectations for but he does have to prove he can be that guy he’s got to prove he can stay healthy he was always getting banged up at Georgia and has to prove that he can produce like that because the film was incredible but the stats were never quite there with George so there’s been a little bit missing in that department he’s got to prove that his best football is ahead of him here right but then you get to Quinton Johnston and he was my wife receiver won last year I’m obviously pulling for him for that reason um and and to be fair when the Chargers drafted him I said give him a year he’s got a lot to learn he’s got to diversify his route tree he’s got to learn how to attack the football better and he was forced into a larger role in year one and frankly the team last year didn’t do a good enough job using him in the ways that I thought they should have used him in terms of just get him the get the ball in his hands he’s this Elite run after catch threat I didn’t think they did a good enough job running crossing routes just bubble screens and other creative ways to get the ball in his hands and with all that year one was ugly now I’m not trying to just attach to my Draft take on the guy but I think the fact that we knew he was a little bit more raw than some of these other rookies does matter to bring that up and not every great wide receiver is great right away though most are hell you don’t even have to look any further on this depth chart to find another guy in DJ CH who was horrible his rookie season and then looked like a star in year two now I can’t explain what happened after that but you do at least have one voice in the building to tell Clinton Johnston hey year one doesn’t Define your career now that’s goes without saying his tape was really poor as a rookie as a first round rookie and the biggest thing I think with with Quinton was the the lack of ball skills this was an issue for him at TCU and continue to be a problem in his rookie year where he just he fights the ball he doesn’t have the I guess Poise confidence awareness whatever it is to do his job and bring the ball down you know honestly the raw drops where he was open and got an accurate pass those actually weren’t that bad he only had two drops on 65 targets but what was really what what really showed up and where the the frustration came from watching him was in the contested catches just seven of 22 on contested catch looks for a bigger Wide Receiver right and a lot of these were they weren’t like oh you’ve got to go Elevate over a DB back it’s just like yeah you’ve got a corner on your hip pocket and you’ve got to play through contact you’ve got to show some of that toughness some of that my ball [ __ ] mentality it’s not there with him and that to me is going to be the defining thing in whether or not Quinton Johnston can work out cuz if you can’t trust him down the field he is just liscus Chenal someone that you can only throw you know Crossing routes and bubble screens to and there have to be legitimate concerns on if that can come from him based on now multiple years of tape cuz that was an issue at TCU now the other issue with him and his rookie year was separation he had all those contested catch targets because he couldn’t get open and I’m less worried about that to be honest I think his athletic tools are phenomenal and I think on certain routes he still shows the foot speed and the technique within the those routes to get open and it’s not like he was never open he did um have some flashes of getting open down the field and then whether or not he was going to catch the ball was spotty but with Quenton it it comes back to playing through contact UM he did struggle with press coverage at the uh NFL level much more than I thought he would better Corners with better technique that could stick their hands on his chest he struggled to get off of that and then having to deal with more physical contact down the field he didn’t show ability to accelerate through that uh as you need to have at the NFL level and I just it’s to me that’s it’s a coaching thing it’s a technique thing and it’s going to come down to being an effort thing from him but the opportunity is still going to be here for Quenton Johnston just as it was last year I mean from the opportunity alone believe it or not he did still have 38 catches for 430 yards last year and a pair of touchdowns so I’m gonna choose to believe in Quenton Johnston it is an overwhelming Title Wave of negativity surrounding him but hey it’s also not like draft Twitter’s lovech child of Jackson Smith and jigo is that much better as a rookie so he’s a polarizing player um there’s clearly a world where he’s just a bust but I also think that um if if any receiver here is going to benefit from Greg Roman being the offensive coordinator I think it’s Quenton Johnston because um for all of Greg Roman’s problems in the drop back passing game he is very good at manufacturing Touches for players like Quenton Johnston who are very good with the ball in his hands so I’m going to maintain a one foot in one foot out approach with him and I am going to put the arrow up on him because I just I do think it’s even if he’s a he’s a little bit better than he was last year and a little bit more useful within this offense it’s going to be better than he was last year now he’s going to rotate I think with DJ who until lad makoni shows that he’s some great deep deep threat on the outside and even then they’re going to want to use him in the slot right um DJ CH is going to be the guy that this team can trust to just run a deep post off of play action get those manufactured deep shots once or twice a game that’s kind of the role he had in Detroit the year before where he was much more efficient obviously then having to be that guy in Bryce Young’s Panthers offense last year um I think he’s a useful player to have here he’s going to play that role give you nothing more give you nothing less a fine enough signing and maybe somebody I’d want in as like a last round draft pick in best ball cuz he might have um you know when he catches the ball it could be 55 yards and a touchdown but someone in your normal fantasy leagues you’re not going to want to touch cuz you don’t know what week that’s going to happen after that I I don’t I don’t really believe in any of these guys to be honest um I was not a Brendan rice guy to me he was just missing a gear considering he was Jerry Rice’s son um his acceleration is some of the worst I’ve seen for a wide receiver and and we talked about Quenton Johnston not being able to accelerate through contact in his routes I mean that happened to Brendan rice at the college level the second a dback gets his hands on him it’s like he’s been lassoed into tight coverage just he can’t pull away he can win some contested catches if if he goes completely untouched and he’s running a go against off coverage he has okay speed like long speed but um to me I just I didn’t see the twitch of an NFL wide receiver so he’s getting some hype I’ll believe it when I see it you’ve got Darius Davis who is a phenomenal kick returner he played into this team’s um special teams being as good as they were last year entirely limited to a gadget role within the offense though you got Cornelius Johnson who might make this team for a kind of Gunner and special teams role clearly that’s a locker room guy that harball wanted to bring in here from Michigan he was a role player uh within that offense made tough catches in the clutch but not much of a separator um also a very good run blocker something that they might want to you know put him in in C certain packages you get SIM foko another big bodied guy was a fourth round pick for the Dallas Cowboys who I kind of liked hasn’t really gotten that opportunity but I don’t think he’s also shown that he sucks either so if there’s anybody after DJ CH that I’m fascinated in it would be foko as maybe like a big slot within this offense but obviously not something you’re counting on there and then you have four other undrafted free agents that I didn’t get to um but there are opportunities for one of these guys to win in a roster spot you know I think wide receiver five and six are are wide open so if any of these guys makes the team it’s it’s someone to at least keep an eye on because there are opportunities to go around with with a great quarterback here in justtin Herbert and then you get to the tight end room and will dley will be the primary tight end here because he is frankly one of the better blocking tight ends in the game they signed him for that reason he does stuff as a receiving tight end he has very strong hands wins contested catches but not a separator at all so he is exactly as advertised in that department and then when they have to get into third and N 11 personnel that’s where I expect to see this combination of Hayden Hurst Donald parum whoever is healthy that week maybe um both these guys have had a really hard time staying on the field um but Hurst obviously a former first round pick for what it’s worth did have a good final season with the Ravens before he signed with the Panthers and then couldn’t stay healthy so if they can lock into a healthy season from him theoretically he could have a nice season but counting on that is very very hard to rely on obviously and then Donald parm kind of the same deal I can’t quit Donald parum because he’s such a freak he’s 68 can run makes really tough catches uh made it to the NFL after breaking out in the XFL and he again just has not been able to stay on the football field I really wish I could sit here and predict a Donald parm breakout season in the Mark Andrews role within this offense um but from a durability standpoint I just can’t go there but he is my favorite player in this tight end room for whatever that’s worth and then you have another um receiving specialist in stone smart I don’t even know if he’ll make the team over guys like Zack Haynes and Luke Benson they might want another blocking guy in the room which really isn’t Stone smart and then you have the receiving backs and it’s it’s one of the more lowly groups in terms of receiving threats from the running back room you know JK Dobbins is good at it but again how many games are you getting from JK Dobbins at this point he has not been able to stay healthy if he is though he’s a guy that can catch dump offs be a really good threat on screens that type of receiving threat hasn’t really shown to be a guy that you’ll Flex out wide and do all these crazy routes with or anything like that um Gus Edwards is is a non-factor Beyond screens big straight line back but then kanman Vidal we’re about to Hype him up in a big big way when we get to the backfield section here but uh he has great contact balance was a relatively productive back um that didn’t have drop issues or anything like that at Troy so again we’ll we’ll hype him up in a big big way in a minute here but I I am a huge fan of him if that opportunity comes you got Isaiah Spiller likewise can catch the ball pretty smooth hands but I’m just a limited athlete I think his athleticism was always overrated coming out of Texas A&M um and then Jared Patterson another guy to keep an eye on kind of that short stocky contact Balance style guy but needless to say we don’t have anybody in this room that is anything close to what Austin Eckler’s been over the years or any sort of dynamic threat out of the backfield so that’s how you get your D+ group of weapons you are entirely counting on the upside of two young players lad makoni and Quenton Johnston and then beyond that it’s you know health health questions Galore with all the ancillary weapons and even Josh Palmer is coming off an injury as well so certainly the first room that we’re looking at here that you can see yeah they uh got work to do and we’re going to fix everything here this offseason alone even if there is some developmental upside with some of these guys but next up let’s talk about the backfield and frankly having to talk about Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins are just a roadblock to get to kamani Vidal who I am so excited for here for the Chargers but I do think it’s going to be a little bit because Gus especially and a little bit of JK Dobbins are capable running backs you know I’m just I’ll get it out of the way I just really am not a JK Dobbins believer I I already wasn’t the biggest JK dobins guy in Baltimore and now you stack on top of that severe injury questions not only do I wonder if he can stay available but I just wonder how good he really is when healthy at this point I do think we’ve seen a drop off in his athletic juice due to the really serious lower body injuries that have stacked up for him and it’s not like they gave him a lot of guaranteed money either them them signing him was entirely like look we believe in the football character we believe in the film when you are a healthy player but anything you get from him is house money when healthy though you know he has great vision good contact balance good patience a nice back but you get the point there but when it comes to Gus Edwards you know I do think there’s still juice there it’s just more of a durability question for him but when he’s played at least recently he’s looked every bit as good as Gus Edwards has been he is a massive speed train Runner he’s a one-trick pony you kind of know what he is but he’s very effective at being that straight line PowerBack and one thing that does set Gus Edwards apart from the typical 230 plus pound running back is he does have a really explosive first step it allows him to slip into smaller holes get into that second level quickly and then also generate that momentum more quickly that allows him to run with a lot of power and that does set him apart from maybe someone like an AJ Dylan or a variety of other really big backs that haven’t even gotten to the point that AJ Dylan did for Green Bay so he’s a useful player but again someone that has had durability concerns over the last I mean really throughout his career physical Runner takes a lot of big hits and tends to wear down and those durability concerns on both of these two players play into a massive amount of excitement from me for the rookie kamani Vidal look I already liked kamani Vidal he was my fifth ranked running back in this draft class definitely thought he should have been drafted around the top 100 picks in the draft and he ends up falling to the sixth round but it’s not like this is a position group where we never see guys fall later in the draft and then end up proving you right right like running backs just fall in the draft because of the positional value but I’m not so much worried about it as I would be with other positions and this dude to me even though he played at Troy just has the traits and the tape that I so confidently believe will translate to the next level I love these shorter stocky running backs kamani Vidal comes in at 58 215 lbs and when you’re built that low to the Earth and you’re that big and strong you’re just a bowling ball of needles to try and get down his contact balance is exceptional he was second in all of college football in Miss tackles forced for for a reason and even though that was at Troy he looked good at the Senior Bowl and it’s a skill set that I firmly believe will translate it’s like trying to wrestle a boulder and get it to the ground it’s just extremely difficult to do very much shades of Someone Like A Kareem hunt coming out of Toledo who had a very similar trait but kamman Vidal is actually faster he ran a 445 he did catch balls out of the back field so he’s not just a plotter he’s got juice and big playability too I I wish I had the words to truly capture what I mean by this because I talk positively about players throughout this series but this might be the player in this entire 32 Team Series in over 60 hours of content that I am planning my flag and saying you have to draft this guy in whatever fantasy league format you’re in look out for this six-year player to break out as a rookie because granted I can’t give him a rating that is higher than Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins that have shown stuff in the NFL whereas do whereas Vidal is just coming into the league as a sixth round player but forget the health stuff for a second I actually kind of believe kamani Vidal is just a better running back than the other two guys right now so even if Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins don’t get hurt on a team that clearly wants to run the piss out of the foot football even if they don’t get hurt I think Vidal might take this job I think Harbaugh might see what he sees in kamani Vidal and be like oh my God that’s what we had in Blake Corum at Michigan but he’s faster but then you sprinkle in the very likely possibility that one of or both of these players get hurt I think all it’s going to take is Vidal to just get on the field and show how good he is and he’s not going to look back and after Trey Benson and Jonathan Brooks I think the opportunity for kamman Vidal is is better than any other rookie running back in this entire draft I called my shot a few years back with James Robinson I feel even stronger with kamani Vidal when I say he he could be your League winner in fantasy football this year so if you are playing on Underdog fantasy or your home leagues or whatever it might be get yourself kamman Vidal and I really hope I’m right but it’s not can cost you much either cuz again sixth round rookie he’s not going all that high I could very easily seeing if you’re talking fantasy football him being a top 16 running back this season at least in the second half of the year once those opportunities come and for real football I actually think he can be a star running back in the league reminds me a little bit of like a Doug Marton coming out of Boise State another contact balance oriented small school running back and I wish I could show you the highlights but they uh they did get copyrighted because they were from a broadcast but go watch some kamani Vidal highlights if you don’t believe me the dude can ball out um you do have some interesting backups behind him though Isaiah Spiller was kind of the reverse in terms of what I thought about a guy in the draft uh someone that a lot of people liked I didn’t ever really see it don’t like his vision or his first step juice his opportunities haven’t come here for for the Chargers despite their backup running back room being horrific so not really any reason to believe in Isaiah Spiller at this point um but Jarrett Patterson another kind of stocky compact undersized contact Balance style back did actually get some reps as a rookie for Washington a couple years ago and was okay shades of like Devin single ter there with with Jared Patterson so they clearly like that style they had that or at least Harbaugh had that in Blake corm so someone again if if I’m wrong about kammani vial you could maybe hedge that with a Jarrett Patterson if those injuries started to stack up on guys like Edwards and Dobbins ultimately obviously I can’t rank this room too high you have two adequate starters that are extremely injury-prone and a sixth round rookie running back that I’m fired up about but is a sixth round rookie running back so they do rank towards the bottom of the league with a c grade at running back ranking 28th to 30th that’s not unfamiliar territory for the Chargers in terms of the Run game they have not ranked all that high but obviously if kamani Vidal hits this could look a lot better at the end of the year and in turn this run game will project much better and then it is time to talk about the kind of Greg Roman factor with Justin Herbert and what the QB Run game is going to do for this run game I do think it’s going to be obviously a I mean I can’t say Obviously but with almost certainty utilized here to a larger degree than they’ve ever done with Justin Herbert who is not Lamar Jackson as a runner nobody really is is not even Colin Kaepernick as a runner I think relative to his size he is very fast right but he’s stiff he doesn’t necessarily have quick twitch athleticism to change lanes as a runner he doesn’t have a lot of experience doing it I don’t think he has the sort of Ball Carrier Vision to run a lot of the variety of stuff that Greg Roman can and has done with his quarterback clearly doesn’t have the shiftiness and all-around creativity of a true running quarterback but like I said they’ll use it more here specifically just read options to keep that backside end honest I think will certainly be a part of this I think they can go with an inverted read option where Herbert is the inside run threat if things open up and you might even see the occasional Q Power QB sweep type of deal some of the stuff that Buffalo does with like Josh Allen and I would imagine they will do all of these things maybe three four times a game just to keep you honest and I think Herbert will be relatively effective doing those things again I don’t think he’s Lamar Jackson I don’t think he’s Josh Allen even who has a little bit more of that that it Factor as a true Runner but this should be a weapon for this offense that is new in terms of how they tap into Justin Herbert’s talents going to be one of the more fascinating things to monitor this season is is how and how much do they lean into the QB Run game and then as mentioned earlier if anything were to happen to Justin Herbert for a week or two I would actually be very fascinated to to just watch this offense with East stick uh or even Max Dugan both those guys were very good rushing threats in college and could in theory run a grego uh Greg Roman offense fairly well but obviously before I tell you how the overall Run game ranks we have to talk about the offensive line the hog mol’s Paving the way here and this is clearly a group that the Chargers are hoping to be a strength of this team hence the Joe Walt pick at the top of the draft and there’s very little reason to believe that this can’t be a strength for this team team I rank them very kindly um tied for the 11th best overall offensive line with B minus rankings across the board it’s not flooded with Superstar talent but there’s really no true holes here and there’s upside for um guys to continue getting better here now you do have a superstar left tackle in Ran Slater one of the most technically polished left tackles from a pass protection standpoint in the entire league I don’t want to say he’s had to lean on his technique because he is still a very good athlete but he does have shorter arms is is a little bit quote unquote undersized which is why they were able to get him outside the top 10 of the draft but he’s kind of grown up um I I will say like leaning on his technique to uh help compensate for some of the lack of size and length that he does have but it it absolutely works for him he gets on guys quickly he protects the edge with good foot speed he has great a Wess to cut off Inside Moves he’s excellent with his hands what’s not to love about ran Slater and then you see some of that athleticism show up in the Run game for whatever reason wasn’t as much of a factor as a run blocker last year as he’s been throughout his career but I definitely think he’s the best run Blocker on this offensive line for now with the potential to be passed up by Joe Al but uh yeah I mean I don’t have a bad word to say about rashan slater he’s been fantastic since the second he stepped on the football field was a steal for the Chargers when they drafted him and he’s still an absolute Rock but then you have Zion Johnson their former first round pick from a couple years ago at left guard he hasn’t been the superstar that I thought he was going to be coming out I was really high end Zion Johnson loved this pick when they made it and he’s just been frankly very weak to week for the Chargers there’s been tons of flashes he’s played both left and right side he’s had games where he like locks Down Chris Jones and everything’s coming together and he looks like the polished you know Monster that he was at Boston College and then there’s weeks where his size seems to be a disadvantage for him there’s weeks where he stops his feet and lets guys get in front of him and has a bunch of pass rush losses and then in the Run game he’s been very weak to we as well there are moments of him clearing out linebackers and showing off his remarkable athleticism ISM in the trenches and then there’s weeks where he’s not able to create some of that leg drive and where he does Miss assignments in the run games so it’s it sounds lazy anytime you say a player just needs to improve his consistency but for me that’s the definition of what Zion Johnson’s problems have been it’s one thing here one thing there and a lot of flashes I do think this staff this commitment to the Run game their ability to kind of weaponize him a lot more as a puller and in a larger variety of run schemes that they just didn’t really use for the Chargers since Zion Johnson has gotten has been here could be good for him and um I’m still going to say the arrow is pointing up on him it’s not that he’s been a bust it’s just he hasn’t really cemented himself as a quality starter he’s just been okay and it’s a big year for him you know year three to make that leap I think um if he doesn’t do it this year this just might be what he is then they signed Bradley Boseman at Center I’m totally fine with him as kind of a weak Link in pass protection your Center can be very easily schemed around in terms of getting him to work on double teams as much as possible and I think in Carolina we saw the worst of Bradley Boseman get brought out because they were getting blitzed constantly because they couldn’t handle it that meant Bradley Boseman was getting left on one uh one-on-one a lot more and he showed one-on-one he’s just not that great in pass protection his hands and his feet just have a hard time staying in front of guys but in terms of his anchor and the experience he has and Blitz recognition he’s all right again as a weak link you’ll live with it and especially when he’s a very good run blocker and even in Carolina he showed to be that that was something he thrived at in Baltimore before they brought in Tyler Linder bomb no longer needed him but he’s got that play strength and that [ __ ] mentality you look for and he going to be an asset for them and and better than what they had last year at least as a run blocker to move guys out of the middle of the the defensive line so I like the signing reminds me of the many various players that uh kind of you know go elsewhere aren’t as successful and then return home this of course being Baltimore Ravens West with Bradley Boseman returning home in so many ways and then Jamari saer at Right Guard an interesting player because he is 63 330 pounds very much built like someone you would expect to play guard but in his rookie season he actually played left tackle when rashan Slater got hurt and arguably showed better film out there it’s kind of weird to explain um I don’t have a great answer as to why but that kind of held up in year two where he was an okay guard he very clearly understands pass protection he has accurate hands um you know his feet are technically sound but are clunky cuz he’s just not this overwhelming athlete and his foot speed can uh leave him a little bit behind but I I thought he was an okay pass protecting guard um and the Run blocking for him is just again more underwhelming than you would expect for a guy his size he doesn’t really fly off the ball doesn’t create a lot of leg drive you know he plays more like a 63 300 lb offensive lineman and that he just isn’t like his his functional play strength isn’t as good as you would think his anchor is pretty good but I I really wouldn’t describe Jamari sawer as the merer that I kind of anticipated he would be coming out of Georgia a very unique player but he’s he’s okay especially in pass protection someone you’re not necessarily going to have to worry about he’ll take his losses but a solid option at Right Guard and then Joe alt the rookie right tackle such a phenomenal Prospect a lot of parallels have been drawn to what the Detroit Lions did taking pen suul as a left tackle flipping him over to right tackle when they already had their left tackle in place and just creating this foundational tackle Duo to build their offense around and when you pair that with everything we’ve said about what the Chargers want to do in terms of dictating things at the land of scriage being the tough guys it makes total sense to bring joal in here and as a player you just won’t find guys with his size and length profile that are as athletic and as just naturally gifted as a blocker as Joe Walt is and it it sounds lazy to say that but sometimes as you’re grinding through all these offensive linemen um and their tape you just feel a little differently with some guys in the sense that they just get it they enjoy the blocking aspect of what they’re being asked to do I think a lot of these guys were told when they were 15 years old hey you’re an offensive lineman and they’ve grown up trying to do the best at that but I think Joe Al truly enjoys what he does and was born to do this it’s I don’t know it’s maybe lazy analysis but you feel it in in the sense of how quickly he gets off the ball how accurate he is with his hands how he’s able to somehow maintain really good leverage as a blocker despite the fact that he is 6’8 a lot of taller tackles are at a massive disadvantage because defensive players are constantly able to get into his chest and push the guy around and you know low man WIS and all of that but Joe Al lives under the shoot he maintains good pad level and it’s really impressive for a guy that’s moving that fast that is that big and you put all that together and I think his floor as a run Blocker in the NFL is exceptionally high and they should be able to really weaponize him on polls outside Zone sweeps get him to the second level and I think you will see some I wouldn’t shy short of saying Trent williamses blocks where you have that dude with freaky traits coming downhill at linebackers and safeties and he’s going to clear the way out in space for the ball carrier so there’s a lot of fun stuff there um now in terms of pass protection I I’m not going to say I’m worried about it but I think his floor is a lot lower in terms of pass protection I don’t think he’s ever really going to suck as a pass blocker but that is if anywhere where you see his height working against him which again is normal for a 6’8 player and then get his harder when you’re more you know really when you’re pass blocking you’re in defense mode and when you’re run blocking you’re in attack mode I think it’s harder when you’re in defense mode to constantly stay low and win that leverage and when guys do get into his chest you’ll see him kind of Weeble wobble his top you know he can get a little topheavy he will give up some ground on the bull rush but even then he has really good reaction time and great technique to reset with his anchor and he resets with his hands to grab on and go for a ride so even in the losses that he has where he might be registering a pressure because he’s getting pushed back into the quarterback not too often you’ll see the guy actually get off of joal and he gives the quarterback a chance to do something about it so you’re hoping that translates and then I do think he actually has room to grow in terms of his pass protection technique I don’t want to say he just wins with athleticism as a pass blocker but you know this isn’t ran Slater coming out of Northwestern where you saw him as a college Prospect ran Slater mixing up his punches using different teex techniques as a pass blocker you know Jo Walt didn’t really need to do that in college so he didn’t it’s kind of like the equivalent of like miles Garrett coming out where he didn’t have this massive variety of pass rush moves CU he didn’t need him joal could just set stick his arms on dudes and run his feet if he’s going to be an Elite pass protector you want to see him VAR his hand techniques mix up his sets a little bit more so the guys can’t um take advantage of him and I expect that those things will happen so I do love the pick to give Justin Herbert a you know potentially like the best tackle duo in the NFL is really what this boils down to if joal hits his potential this is like having the equivalent of Lane Johnson and David bakari as your tackles and for a guy like Justin Herbert that doesn’t have the best pocket presence I think over time that could really pay dividends even if the gut reaction from a lot of chargers fans was man I really wanted to see justtin Herbert throwing to Malik neighbors it’s it’s a lot harder to find guys like Joe Walt in the draft and when you have a quarterback like Justin Herbert the thinking is he can Elevate you know later drafted wide receivers but uh yeah there’s your starting five obviously a pretty damn solid group but they have good depth as well Trey pipkins who you know I hate to keep coming back to the Malik neighbors thing but it is relevant um you know had they gone the other direction and taken the weapon which would have also been a good decision I think it was you know fork in the road couldn’t have made a bad choice there if Trey pipkins had to be their right tackle again you could have lived with it he’s been okay he earned like a threeyear thir $3 million contract to be kind of a bridge starter at tackle he’s okay as a pass protector he instantly becomes one of the best backup tackles in the entire NFL I think when they watched his run block tape that’s when they made the decision to go with Joe alal because pipkins really just didn’t have the kind of the intensity we talked about with Joe Walt being that natural run blocker Trey pipkins was like the opposite always guessing himself whiffing on blocks just really lacking in that department so he becomes a great backup to have I also think he could be a guard and just be the perfect Swingman in a typical season you only see two to four offensive lines in the entire league get through the year healthy so the most probable outcome is that you will have weeks where Trey pipkins can be a very useful backup to step in and you don’t miss a beat in terms of pass protection then you do have a falloff after that you have Alex Leatherwood the former first round pick for what it’s worth he’s been a pretty solid run blocker when he’s had to play but his pass protection is just a non-starter foster cell made the team last year not very noteworthy there and then I actually like a pair of their interior offensive lineman Brendan hus I I wouldn’t be stunned if he continues to get better and um continues to learn the center position he was a tackle at Nebraska and has been sliding inside he was a nice player in terms of athleticism and technique but just lacked the play strength and that’s why he fell in the draft but if he’s bulked up over the last couple of years he started at the very end of last year and held up very well at Center he has piqued my interest and that transition to that position makes sense in my mind for him so someone to at least keep an eye on and then Jordan mcfaden was someone I really liked in the draft who I think has guard tackle flexibility maybe not ever going to have starter traits but thought he was really technically sound and played a Million snaps for Clemson and was always a very solid player for them so I like him as Flex depth as well I think you have eight players on this offensive line that can play and that really is better than a lot of teams can say um they also get some good help from the skill players with especially with Will dley who is one of the premium blocking tight ends in the NFL he’s a fun watch in terms of putting his dirt uh put his putting his hand in the dirt and flushing out a defensive end so they do get a slight bump to the Run blocking there as well obviously the Chargers think that this is going to be a strength of this football team and and I I tend to agree with them so let’s take a look at the entire offensive picture they come out as my 22nd ranked offense heading into the year I think the lack of weaponry and the question marks in terms of the the pass game coordination under Greg Roman are the obvious question marks there that drag down the passing game and then in terms of the Run game they came out 22nd but very close to like 16th and that is a massive jump up frankly from what they were last year it was hard to watch this team try and run the ball and even if they don’t have the best running backs and you know their their run blocking is I would say good not great at this point in time this should still be a much more improved Run game and maybe as the year goes on with some of these young additions guys like Joe alal and kamani Vidal and getting to see kind of how they tap into Justin Herbert in the Run game this has potential to be a top half Run game in the league but still some things to answer until that happens overall it should be a very solid offense that is working through some new things as the year goes on but let’s transition to this defense that I’m just going to press it with this it’s a very porous um topheavy defense I I’ll say that um keep an eye out for that as we talk about this but let’s start with the defensive line and immediately you can see the holes specifically on the interior of the defensive line I’m excited to ask Stephen about what the hell is going on with this um because it’s to me it’s not a fieldable interior defensive group and it does drag them down in fact um they rank as the 36 second best or the worst uh dline for run defense in the entire league with a D+ grade we’ll talk about that group a little bit more in just a minute um they are for me A B minus graded pass rush which is basically smack dab in the middle of the league 14th to 17th there and all of that combines to give them in my opinion the 26th best defensive line in the league and like I said a very topheavy group they are almost entirely counting on the success of Aging veterans khil Mack and Joey Bosa with some nice sprinkles of the young Tuli Tui Palou also off the edge but I will start with some positivity here um and some apologies frankly for Chargers fans that have been around the channel um you know as I was getting through last year I think I undersold what khil Mack was doing I really do and I kind of hate that I did that cuz I’ve always been such a big KH Matt guy um but coming off the heels of 2022 where it did look in his 30 his age 32 season that he had really fallen off his efficiency fell off a cliff for whatever reason as I was watching KH Mack last year watching him rack up sacks and have this monster season that he had last year truly one of the best years of his career I had had kind of given him credit for developing this finesse pass rush skill set and kind of reshaping his game into something that it hasn’t been in years past I pointed to the six sack Raiders game saying that that was potentially inflating his season making it look better than it was I want to take some of that stuff back now I I will say I think he has developed some different finesse pass rushing moves that have worked well for him that he didn’t necessarily have to use in his prime but especially the point about that Raiders game where he did have six sacks inflating his season um no man he he was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to dive into some Chargers all 22 and and focus on him more because he had a complete reversal from like I said his first year with the Chargers in 2022 he was lackluster but last year he was bullying dudes the bull rush was there I mentioned the addition of some of these spin moves and swipes and quick-hitting pass rush moves that have worked as an ADD add to his skill set sure he might not have the fullon elite Khalil ma bull rush that he had in 2017 for the bears but there’s still a lot of that in there I mean he made Ronnie Stanley his [ __ ] against the Ravens and to steal the name of today’s guest I am guilty as charged that I did not give khil Mack the credit he deserved for the season he had last year I’m doing that now um now there are still questions with him at 33 years old can he repeat that I’m not going to bet against him I have been a massive khil Mack fan he’s been one of my favorite players of the decade I would love to see him do what he did last year again but five times a [ __ ] and it catches up with everybody at some point so it’s worth noting that there are some question marks he is 33 years old but man it was great to see them get the guy that they thought they were trading for a year before and then Joey Bosa on the other side not quite as positive of a conversation there kind of similar to what we said about JK Dobbins earlier not to the same degree but like even if he’s healthy I don’t know that he’s the same Joey Bosa that we knew and loved I just don’t see a lot of quick twitch there I don’t see the same power and the efficiency over the last 2 years just has not been there and even me giving him an 83 grade here for this series that’s saying he’s like a low-end number one frankly even when he’s played he’s been much closer to a high-end number two than any sort of number one and then you factor in the fact that I mean how many games are you going to get from him at this point he from my understanding willingly took a pay cut which is really cool I mean maybe there’s a part of them that’s been like you know what I haven’t returned my value to this organization Maybe maybe I should take a pay cut maybe it’s him betting on himself I I don’t fully know but um yeah it’s I don’t want to be all negative he’s still a good player when he’s out there but he’s more named than he is SuperStar at this point and there is um almost a more likely than not scenario that tuy tuy Palou is the better Edge rusher for this team certainly the more productive one in terms of availability not only does he not have massive injury questions but he’s a really good player they stole him in the second round made a couple teams look foolish for taking other Edge rushers ahead of him teams like the chiefs with uh Felix and aduk oama the Saints with Isaiah fosi uh Tuli was substantially better than those guys and he was straight up one of the better run defending Edge players in the entire league he is a menace up front he’s he’s 265 pounds um so he’s tough to move but he also has lightning quick feet that’s what I liked about him coming out is you just don’t see guys that big with the lateral agility that he has and he’s able to you know slip and shed blocks really well when guys do come his way so he sets a hard Edge and can get off blocks but that very much shows in his Rush style as well where he’s got swims and Spins and swipes and a very good finesse pass rushing skill set I compared him to to zidus Smith I think we saw those flashes someone that they’ll also walk up as a standup Rush linebacker so that they can get all three of these guys on the field he’s really effective at that hopefully this new regime continues to tap into that but even his power as a bull rush flashed more than I thought it would as a as a rookie so I see a guy that can be a a really good number two in time I don’t know if he’s quite the athlete in terms of straight line explosiveness to be like an elite number one type of guy but certainly within the construction of this team as a compliment to KH Mack and a compliment to Joey Bosa when he’s healthy he’s awesome and I think in time he’s going to be a really good starter for them and then they did sign Bud dpri he’s going to be a Smasher an early down run Defender um you know he’s been an overrated pass rusher for a long time at this point but they’re not asking him to really do that so it’s fine for what they signed him to do Chris rump has played some adequate snaps for this team um to round out their Edge room which is one of the better Edge rooms in the entire league which is funny when you compare it to their interior defensive line and even their best interior defensive lineman is a hybrid end who can’t really play run defense on early Downs unless you’re in like a base three four and he’s a four ey kind of split in a gap and that’s Morgan Fox um I list him as a rotational starter for that reason he’s um you know a unique player to try and get on the field field but he is a very useful pass rusher he’s a handful for player uh for offensive linemen to handle really G great quickness a good bll Rush he’s got some um lateral agility to slip by guys he’s been a pretty consistent you know 45 pressure eight sack guy on the inside as a really good complimentary piece so he’ll still be here for that role but um man in terms of the actual defensive tackles on this team holy woof they signed Puna Ford who three years ago I really liked as a fourth or fifth piece a number two defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks an interesting player where he’s he’s like 511 310 lbs so you you really struggle to move the guy but he can’t always see into the back field when he does create run stops he kind of has to guess cuz you know if you’re going to stack Peak shed the peak aspect of that matters and when he goes to Peak there’s just not enough of him to look around a big offensive lineman and you’ve seen that really be reflected in his Effectiveness and and over time his his playing time now he’s got a nice First Step he can do some stuff as a pass rusher you know you Trot him out there next to Bosa and Mack and Tuli and Morgan Fox he might have a nice five six sack season and be a capable piece of this pass rush but when he is your best run defender on the inside that’s a joke and then the fallof from him is colossal none of these guys have proven anything otito AGB is potentially slated to get the most playing time after Puna Ford I’m not excited about that he is a straight line Sledgehammer he’s got really good size and and an adequate bull rush but has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to finding the in the Run game that was his problem at UCLA and it’s held him back from becoming a force for the Chargers in two years here um Scott Matlock is a is a fun player but extremely light and undersized he’s kind of like a long-term potential replacement for someone like a Morgan fox or if he can bulk up and learn how to defend the Run uh you might get something there but for him to be in the mix for significant early down playing time is not great he will get moved around Justin Abby same deal undersized guy he plays at about 290 lbs he’s got discipline he’s got the ability and technique to defend the run but asking him to play in between the guards no that’s that’s not who he is and that’s not really why the Chargers should have drafted him and I don’t think that is why they drafted him honestly in my opinion potentially the two best run Defenders on this team might be Christopher Hinton who came out early out of Michigan I think still only 23 or 24 years old I I liked his raw shed strength was surprised he didn’t get drafted and then gerro Clark who was a raw to toolsy nose tackle out of Coastal Carolina honestly those two guys might be the best run Defenders on this team for the interior of the D line so two guys to keep an eye on I like that they’re here but the fact that they’re borderline counting on those guys to step up is rough so I like the pass rush I think it’s it’s above average and if Joey Bosa can stay healthy frankly this is more of a top 10 pass rush I’ll be honest they got dinged for Joey Bose’s Health they would have been a b-grade but I lowered it to a B minus when I factored in Joey Bose’s Health um but yeah I like this this group from a pass rush perspective but if the idea of this Chargers team is you know we’re going to be a more physical team we’re going to set the tone at the line of scrimmage um run the ball and in theory defend the run as well um I think that’s really the position group where you look at their offseason and say well they just they ran out of ammo they couldn’t fix everything at once and I think for this year’s Chargers team they might even be taking a step back in terms of run defense something that they’ve been so God awful at over the years teams will get off the bus us and say great we can just smash these dudes up front and again that has cost the Chargers countless games over the years so it’s it’s a major concern for me and having good run Defenders on the edge like Bosa and Mack and Tuli can only go so far to help you against that but let’s talk about the linebackers they don’t grade out all that well because you have a third round rookie and a guy in Denzel Perman who again you’re sensing a theme now at this point has struggled to stay healthy this is going to turn into one of the major question marks on the Chargers is all these guys that they went after that have been injury-prone can they stay on the field um but they rank with a c overall grade for linebacker tied for 27th worse off in terms of coverage with a c minus grade for linebacker coverage 27th to 30th and then for linebacker run defense a little bit better tied for 22nd with a c plus grade so definitely putting an emphasis on the run defense first with this group and while they rank obviously fairly low there I I do see some long-term upside in this room and that does of course start with third round pick Junior Coulson I mean look the Chargers had the 37th pick in this draft if that would have been Junior Coulson I would have celebrated it then he was my lb1 and the fact that they were able to get him in the third round is fantastic no better home for him obviously just getting to run Jesse min’s defense coming straight over from Michigan it’s a really unique and cool thing here for all the time I spent dunking on rookie linebackers and how stupid they are relative to guys that have been in the league for four or five years Junior Coulson is going to know this defense better than anybody in the building not named Jesse Minter so really cool for that to be a rookie and for him to be a true building block for this defense and his tape was really good man he’s a really he’s he the reason he was my lb1 is you just don’t get a lot of linebackers these days coming out of college that were actually asked to do pro style stuff and obviously that was a pro style defense at Michigan they would have him drop into true coverage um assignments they asked him to go through his run Keys play with discipline maintain his app it sounds silly but so many linebackers and so many linebacker prospects in college football it’s SE ball hit ball run and chase don’t worry about a lot of stuff third down you’re either blitzing or on a QB spy not Junior Coulson he did all the stuff at Michigan that they’re going to ask him to do here and that’s really cool I think out the gate he is a better run Defender than he is a coverage player he’s a smart coverage player but just not quite there yet he’s very young and he’s also not a superb athlete that was the knock on him but I just I think athleticism at the linebacker position gets overrated a lot of the times I’d rather have the guy that’s a good athlete that actually knows what he’s doing and that’s Junior Coulson so he’s going to have to prove himself but I believe in him I believe in his upside and I believe in him working out as a very capable starter and someone that maybe someday could be a top 10 linebacker in the league he’s got a very balanced profile one of my favorite picks in this entire draft and then you have Denzel Perman next to him and and look I I love Denzel Perman but how many games are you getting from him he throws his body around he’s a Smasher he’s aggressive he’s one of the better run defending linebackers frankly in the league when he’s healthy and 100% And that just is half the season typically that’s followed him even to when he was younger so I like that he’s here but I just can’t count on 17 games of Denzel pamman and maybe that’s a best case scenario where you’re not relying on guy and a guy like Diane Henley to be a starter but because he’s going to get opportunities to show you what he can do while also having to compete for that job um you can you know really unlock a guy like Diane Henley if that makes sense Henley was as well a really good third round pick for the Chargers last year someone that I loved as a you know used to play wide receiver really understood the coverage aspects of the position obviously having played wide receiver a really fluid mover but the play strength aspects of the position were lacking for him not necessarily allaround run defense he has a quick trigger he’s a good tackler he’s got good length there’s stuff to like from him in terms of run defense but that’s why you put him next to Junior Coulson who’s a full-size 240 lbs and there is a world where Junior Coulson plus Diane Henley 2 years from now is a superstar linebacker Duo I love those complimentary skill sets for this room but for 2024 it’s it’s just really hard to expect that to be the case and then last year when they did have injuries instead of turning to Diane Henley they actually went to Nick nean who was a hyper athletic guy coming out of Iowa went really late in the draft like fifth their sixth round and he actually played pretty well when he got got his opportunities last year as well so in terms of having interesting High upside bodies in a linebacker room where these guys are going to kind of compete and I don’t think Denzel Perman is locked in as the starter if either Neiman or Henley earn it in Camp after being forced to earn it I think that could be healthy for this team and especially the long term so while this group ranks low and they’re unproven I I actually like the position room and think maybe by the end of the year or or by the end of next year we’re looking back on this and saying wow they they did a really good job with this group and then not really any other names to focus on after that uh Troy Das played a little bit in Minnesota but really just a special teamer there but let’s go to the secondary it’s an okay group but again an incredibly thin group you you have injury-prone starters on the dline at linebacker and then in the secondary if anybody does get hurt there’s nobody that you’re counting on to step in here so I’d be lying if I said that’s not a concern but um in terms of the starters four out of five look really good I mean Asante Samuel I’m I’m like okay with as your number one corner I think still ideally he’d be number two as a guy that he does get beat he’s a total risk taker he he has a little bit of that Trayvon digs in him where he he’s got such great awareness for the position he’s got such great hands that he he can kind of leave a little extra space at times intentionally try to bait you into a throw make that big play um but it can can and will lead to him giving up a lot of yards and and Asante Samuel over the last couple of years um has given up a lot of passing yards but he’s also towards the top in terms of pass breakups and plays on the ball so he’s that type of corner and I don’t mind that but ideally you’d have a number one that is a little bit more sticky in coverage and then you’re funneling targets towards the playmaker in a Sante Samuel but even as your number one I think he’s a he’s a good playmaker and and a good player to have and then they signed Christian Folton really underwhelming tape last season I I like Christian Fulton but he was kind of burnt toast last year I think he has better football in him than that I don’t know all of the reasons why he was so bad last year but he was available for cheap for a reason but I still see him as a technically Sound Player and an adequate starter someone that can be a Band-Aid for them if nothing else but his his contract is a reflection of how poorly he played last year he got a one-year Pro it deal for 2.8 million that’s very low so still just 26 years old again I think there’s potentially better football ahead of him ahead for him but in many ways approve it year um and then their slot corner is a massive question mark it’s jir Taylor another spot where I think you look at the offseason you’re like yeah I wish they could have invested more in getting a good slot Corner in there but it just didn’t land that way Taylor played a large chunk of last season and from a coverage perspective was hit or miss to put it lightly ended the year kind of in and out of the lineup but he did have eight pass breakups on the season had some good starts against teams like the Jets and the Bears so he’s not a complete Lost Cause but to count on him as your starting slot is very like just questionable a sixth round pick in 2022 and um honestly his run defense is frustratingly bad not only is he undersized and struggles to get off blocks but he missed 23 and a half% of his tackle attempts last year that’s that’s just brutal so ideally you’d have someone better in the slot but as you look at their depth I I don’t see who that would be I mean cam har is a an outside only Corner coming out of Notre Dame Chargers fans are very familiar with Michael Davis cam Hart is in that family of the lengthy Pressman Corner not a ton of athleticism frankly but he’s tough and if anybody in this cornerback room is going to fill in and and step up in the event of an injury or or maybe even be better than someone like Christian Folton that might be a stretch but um I I think it would be cam Hart uh tarhe still was also a fifth round pick with Cam har I didn’t watch his tape so I’m open to the possibility that um the Chargers found some diamond in the rough out of Marilyn there I guess we’ll just have to kind of wait and see what he can do they have Dean Leonard who’s been on this team for a couple years has never done much it’s um it’s needless to say a group that they’re probably going to need to invest more in in the future now the safety Duo is really good you have aloy Gilman who had a bit of a breakout year last year I think one of the underrated players certainly on this team and maybe around the league I I didn’t think he would ever become this good of a player coming out of Notre Dame because he just he didn’t test well he doesn’t have the speed but he has totally made up for the lack of speed that he has uh with Incredible anticipation and Zone IQ football awareness whatever you want to call it he’s just got those playmaking instincts man he he collapses downfield when a lot of safeties are just overly conservative and don’t trigger on stuff he loves to hit he’s got ball skills he rips the ball out he made some Sensational plays for his Chargers team last year and earned a contract extension and honestly two years 10 million probably underpaid for what he did last year a consistent run Defender coming down field as well he’s a nice player man very much in line with um what this sort of ravens oriented scheme had last year in Gino Stone who did a lot of good stuff on the back end and I think led the league in interceptions last year so should be another good year for Loy Gilman has been again a really nice pleasant surprise for this Chargers team um and then Derwin look I’m I’m a huge Derwin James fan I’ve got a jersey he’s on the banner for my channel he is that enforcing safety that is an aesthetic that I think every football fan gravitates towards but um the idea of Derwin James really over the last couple of years has been better in theory than it has been on the field especially in terms of coverage but how much of that was Brandon Staley forcing this fangio style defense on this team and just using Derwin as a rotation you know up and down split safety in that two shell defense that’s not how you use Derwin James you know how you should use Derwin James in the Kyle Hamilton role strong safety linebacker blitzing slot Corner keep him within 10 to 15 yards of the lant of scrimmage where his length and physicality and instincts can be a complete weapon for you and hello Raven staff coming in Kyle Hamilton roll you put two and two together Derwin James is actually going to be on my breakout list for this upcoming season something I hope to publish at some point before the year starts if they’re able to put him in that specific spot I will not shy short of saying that he could be what Kyle Hamilton is straight up and that’s not an insult to Kyle Hamilton that’s reminding you all like it’s Derwin freaking James there’s no reason he should have been as unproductive as he’s been in the Brandon Staley era but there is one hold up there and that is well who the hell else is playing safety because if you’re going to use Derwin and the Kyle Hamilton role you need two guys on the back end right Baltimore had Gino Stone and Marcus Williams and then they used Kyle h just all over the place and if they’re going to use Derwin that way I mean you’re counting on JT Woods um it’s possible JT Woods was a freak coming out of Baylor he’s got ball skills he runs in the four threes he in theory could make for a very good free safety you use aloy Gilman as the kind of doit all Gino Stone guy and then Derwin as your Kyle Hamilton I pray that that’s what we get here because not only do those roles all make sense and allows you to really replicate what this team wants to do looking at that Ravens defense but that’s also going to get jir Taylor off the field right but at this point in time that is entirely counting on JT woods and that’s when I look at the Chargers and I’m like man can you make one more play to go get a safety can you go out and get a quandre Diggs or a Micah Hyde or a Justin Simmons to be a deep safety that allows Derwin to come down field um I’m I’m honestly begging the Chargers to do that because I almost view it as a non-negotiable variable for this defense to really work this year cuz I would bet against JT Woods looking good enough for them to feel confident to put him back there and not blow assignments on the back end and miss a bazillion tackles as he’s done I I like putting a veteran in there that JT Woods is going to have to work for that job and my Lord it is not Tony Jefferson it’s just not to me them signing Tony Jefferson is them saying he’s going to be the Kyle Hamilton role whereas Derwin is going to be kind of the movable strong safety and then aloy Gilman will be the free safety I just don’t think that’s his ideal and that’s not to disrespect that AJ Finley might get into the mix here but come on that’s what I really want to see I’m still going to put the up arrow on Derwin James and call my shot on the breakout and just pray that they do go get a free safety or that JT Woods emerges there but uh it does it does muddy the waters there a little bit so when putting this all together the defense actually came out really poor for me 30th in the league I don’t know how controversial that’s going to be or not but man the holes are rough there are some very severe weaknesses on this defense especially when you look at the Run defense I’m worried about it man I just am as much as this team wants to preach toughness and physicality and discipline can that transcend frankly garbage roster Talent with the most important position for run defense being the interior of the defensive line I I don’t know that it can so you pair that with um a shaky unproven linebacker Duo and and that’s where you get the 302 run defense in the league and and unproven coaching as well certainly doesn’t help there in terms of pass defense it’s it’s better you have the groundwork of an adequate secondary and a good pass rush definitely worried though about some of the intermediate pass defense with the linebackers in the slot corner and some of the lack of safety depth and then again that pass game coaching is just going to have to um you know prove prove itself out if this team can stay healthy I think they could be around a top 24 defense but especially on this side of the ball I I see a lot of holes and and if and when those injuries start to stack up it it could get ugly for a year um until they’re able to get younger and and get more durable on this side of the ball and get some damn big boys in the middle of the D line please now we do get to finish with some massive positivity on the Special Teams I have to like pinch myself looking at this with the Chargers being the number one ranked special teams wow we’ve come a long way it it was a meme for like five years like death taxes and the Chargers having a joke of a special teams and here they are using um for the most part objective metrics things like PFF team grade dvoa team grade kicker grade punter grade and then a little bit of subjectivity using my overall team and coach and culture ranking but it spits out the Chargers as the best special teams in the league and that starts with the kicker cam Dicker the kicker was phenomenal last season missed just a handful of kicks and has been good since he got to La no reason to believe that’ll drop off knock on W um JK Scott has a boot on him he’s been very good as well you’ve got Darius Davis as a featured kick returner and punt returner who’s one of the better punt returners in the League last year and clearly a coverage unit that somehow really stepped up last year we bang on this team for a lack of depth but they covered kicks man so not a ton of reason to believe this is going to change they might not be number one again but same special teams coordinator a lot of the same bodies and and even an influx of good coaching and discipline and an emphasis on special teams you know Jim’s brother JN is one of the legendary special teams coaches around the league so in a Elite ranking at least in one phase of the game for this Chargers team um let’s recap taking a look at this team’s strengths and weaknesses and their schedule before we get to the interview with Steven and the guilty is charged podcast strengths quarterback a massive strength offensive line they have some good stuff to work with on the offensive side of the ball special teams as we noted a strength for this team and then hey they finally have an adult running the team in Jim Harbaugh but a handful of weaknesses on this team the worst ranked group of weapons what is the play design in the passing game going to look like under Greg Roman the interior of the defensive line that we harped on the depth in the secondary they are an injury away from being really rough there and just overall especially on the defense they are a wildly injury-prone football team very much playing with fire with some of the players they are hoping can stay healthy this year then we take a look at the schedule it is actually a very favorable schedule for the Chargers the AFC West is the weakest of the AFC divisions and they get to play the NFC South the weakest of the NFC divisions on top of that they get the fourth place schedule which lands them the Patriots the Titans two teams we’ve already revealed in this series and the Cardinals very winnable games for them and then they do have to play the AFC North which is a potential World beater this year so that’s not great very much looking forward to that week 12 Hara versus Hara Grudge Match but um for a team that we were pretty harsh on I think the schedule is very favorable now I still think the odds on this team are a little Hefty an 8 and a half win total does feel rich for me I mean do really think this is a n and8 football team with the schedule it’s certainly possible but they’re going to need a lot of things to go right they’re going to need to stay healthy in a lot of spots and then to me I mean 40 to one Super Bowl odds that seems like a waste of money I mean this team is not complete enough this year to win the Super Bowl I obviously have them ranked a good bit lower than that um 25th in our rankings the um but I I think I would actually bet the under on this I think the Chargers are much closer to a seven or an eight- win team than they are a nine or a 10- win team which is what they need to hit that over I believe in the future of this team I loved their offseason they’re heading in the right direction but as we broke down here there’s a lot of holes on this team and a lot of certain matchups are really going to be able to pick on this team effectively having no wide receivers and no interior defensive line can catch up to a to a team um and I expect that to plag them at points throughout the season but that is going to do it for just my side of things we are going to turn things over to the interview with Steven of the guiltiest charge podcast one of my favorite guests every year I hope you guys don’t go anywhere and stick around for this you’re not going to want to miss it and now I am thrilled to welcome back for yet another year Steven hagland of the guilty is charged podcast of my favorite interviews every year so good to see you Stephen how you doing buddy I’m doing great uh super happy to uh carry on the tradition I think this is our fifth year doing this uh Deep dive on the Chargers so um you were one of the first content creators I got to meet online and we’ve managed to you know maintain a close you know relationship if you will and uh super excited to be back on the show this year yeah well it’s been really cool I I feel like both both sides we’ve kind of grown a lot since we started doing this I mean you guys are freaking on the field at mini camp for the Chargers you guys are absolutely legit so it’s an honor to uh have have you and the guiltiest charge show join us here unfortunately for the Chargers in your time coming it’s been a dip and a dip and a dip and a dip every year um what are your impressions when you hear 25th ranked La Chargers is that what what what’s your gut reaction to to seeing that ranking uh I thought it was a little harsh but I I can understand why I think you know Chargers fans uh after hiring Jim Harbaugh and after having you know nailing the draft and having a good free agency to a certain extent depending on how you view the Keenan Allen trade a lot of chargers fans are are completely sipping the Kool-Aid and there are still some like National media members who have them kind of in the same range that you do I’m kind of in the middle there like some Chargers fans don’t like that we are predicting kind of like 10 and seven n and8 this year um while you know the national media is kind of like well the roster is just in this terrible shape and so I’m kind of in the mix there but you know if I went through the whole list I’d probably have them in like the 18 to 20 range so I don’t think it’s like that crazy but 25 is is a little harsh for me I was stunned um I don’t actually check like the Super Bowl odds too much until I start to put the series together and I was stunned they were like 15th in super odds I was like a little rich with all the holes on this team but uh let’s get into it uh talking about gut reactions I was curious like what’s your gut reaction when you see the news come across Jim Harbaugh is the head coach of the Chargers how did you feel when that came in uh gut reaction was uh shock uh I never really actually thought that he was going to leave Michigan um I kind of had the the belief that I would believe it when I saw it happen um um you know Harbaugh’s obviously done the the flirting with the NFL thing for years leading up until this point so I never really thought that it was a realistic option um I just felt like he was more likely to stay in Michigan especially coming off the national championship like once they when the championship I was like oh he’s staying like there you can’t just leave after a national championship um once you get past the shock though I think it was just the the perfect time to hire a Jim Harbaugh because you know the Chargers have been such a finesse team for my whole life as a fan outside of a few years of Marty shimer when I was like a child so you go through like this especially coming off the Brandon Staley regime I think there’s no better like pressure washer cleaning than you could hire than Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman and Jesse Minter and these guys so I think it’s exactly what the team needs Joe Ortiz I think brings a lot of that as well to the front office so I think you know once you get past the shock or the excitement if you thought that this was happening all along which some Chargers fans did um you just understand that it it’s just a perfect time there’s a lot of quirks about Jim Harbaugh but for the Chargers and this specific era and moment there’s no better Coach than Jim Harbaugh for what they need and kind of facelift that they uh needed to undergo yeah it’s gonna be like a total mental reset required because you think of the Chargers and the baby blues and it’s like you know finesse is a great way to put it but yeah they’re they’re trying to become the Baltimore Ravens which have a completely different aesthetic about it so I can’t wait to see it um on that note as well the Greg Roman news comes in how did you feel about that because I know if I was a Chargers fan that would have been a little bit of a knockoff on my excitement just a little bit just yeah a little bit of a nepotism higher a little bit to old school maybe how do you feel about Greg Roman coming in I I feel okay about the hire I think you know the whole emphasis of the offseason was like we want to establish our identity and Greg Robin obviously gets you to that point I you know leading into the process once they hired Harbaugh I like I would have been okay with the hire I didn’t like how they handled the hiring process because they only interviewed one other candidate at least that we know publicly they can always interview candidates in leaked them out but the only other candidate they interviewed was Marcus Brady who is on the staff as the passing game coordinator but there were several other coaches with ties to Harbaugh that I thought were more intriguing you know Tanner angrand from Detroit obviously being potentially like the number one candidate there and I thought that that could have been the best of both worlds of hey we’re going to bring in like this physical harau identity but also a modern NFL passing game yeah that angran has been around um there were some others um I forget his name with the Saints right now uh he’s the quarterback’s coach Ronald Curry um he’s another one that I thought was like potentially intriguing same kind of idea so it does feel a little disappointing just with the process that they went through to hire to get to that point with Greg Roman but overall I think it’s it’s kind of again the timing is right for Greg Roman to reunite with Jim Harbaugh more so than like potentially with this roster I know a lot of Justin Herbert fans hated it um but I I think with where the roster is at I think Greg Roman is is is a good good coach is the right time for him to join up back up with Jim Haro have you obviously being so close with the team have have you been able to pick up any breadcrumbs in terms of just how much of a kind of ravens heavy 12 Personnel 13 Personnel heavy off this might be or do you think there is some hope that they’ll be able to kind of thread the needle a little bit and maybe you don’t maybe you just have no idea and you’re just guessing but um what are your kind of expectations for uh schematically what this could look like they’re saying publicly that it’s not going to be as drastic of a run heavy split as it was with the Ravens and I think part of that is that Herbert is not the runner that Lamar was right so there’s this huge chunk of the Greg Roman Playbook of the quarterback run game that I mean Justin Herbert can run but he actually does not like to do it so that part of the Playbook I think is just going to transition more into like an RPO kind of world so I don’t think it’s going to be full 5050 split but it’s definitely not going to be like the 7030 split that it’s been over the past couple of Seasons under Brandon Staley that is for sure okay so the next I want to talk about is selfish I wanted to bring you on and talk about Justin Herbert because of all the things that I get hate for on Twitter right now I think it is that I am this massive Justin Herbert hater I ranked him sixth for the purposes of this series fifth for passing grade and sixth for overall quarterback am I a Justin Herbert hater and uh where are you at like where would you rank Justin Herbert in terms of I guess just his you know overall quarterback ranking in the league no I I don’t think six classifies you as a hater I I think you know depending on how you feel about certain other quarterbacks and you know if your main argument is is going to be talking about wins which I know it’s not on this show but like General you like if your main thing is like well Herbert hasn’t won enough I don’t really care about your opinion I think that’s kind of the worst place to start quarterback discourse um but if you’re just if you’re looking about like depending on how you feel about CJ Stout depending on how you feel about Jordan love Matthew Stafford uh you know and his age and things like that I think the the ceiling for Herbert right now is probably fourth I would say um you know so if you have him in that four to seven range I’m more than okay with it you know I saw a list where he was like 12th and like that’s just that’s just ridiculous there someone lower than me or like uh Colin coward and Nick Ry did like a quarterback draft and Herbert was like 11th and like okay like okay we’ve gone too far and Nick Wright took like Caleb Williams second which was ridiculous but yeah um I think six is fine like I don’t think that classifies you as a hater I would probably like right off the top of my head you know having you you sent this to me today but I would probably have him at fifth um because I do think like the lack of playoff success does matter somewhat like if you’re breaking a tie between him and Joe burrow like I’m sorry like I’m gonna put the guy who went to a Super Bowl with the worst offensive line of the league ahead of him not by a ton but I think objectively Mahomes and Josh Allen are one and two and then it’s like everybody else kind of fighting for pecking orders after that well and I think we’ve talked about this in the past um and I really try to make an emphasis on like collecting clips of this for this video here but yeah it’s not so much the he doesn’t win but there’s a a situational it Factor kind of missing a little bit with Herbert in terms of the pocket feel getting those high percentage looks on third down consistently that is kind of what leaves him behind um I guess my last Herbert question is do you see the same thing in terms of kind of a general lack of pocket feel relative to the other Elite quarterbacks I mean I I think Herbert is one of the best in the league at avoiding sacks which obviously does come with like pocket presence but I think the thing with Herbert is that he is so prone to I need to avoid a mistake and that is something that really got drilled into him as a rookie by Anthony Lynn and also at Oregon like it was like you know if you make a mistake then we’re screwed but if you take the punt we’re fine like we can survive and I think there is a lot of that that is still stuck in him so they’re they’re definitely are moments where I would like to see him be more of an aggressive playmaker yeah but when it when that switch does flip on he’s one of the three best quarterbacks in the league like I think if you really watch the games like the Detroit Lions game from last year the Ravens game from last year you know the Pittsburgh Steelers from a couple years ago their first win at arrowead there are games where playmaking wise he is right there with with Josh I’m not Mahomes is in his own tier in that regard but I think there is a world where if Justin was just more consistently aggressive he could be in that Josh Allen conversation in terms of creativity so I think it’s a fair criticism but he avoids Sachs at such a high level that there’s kind of a middle ground there too yeah because you look at some of these other quarterbacks who might be a little bit more like aggressive Playmakers but they take sacks at a really really high rate like I love Lamar Jackson but his sack rate is really really high because he’s too aggressive so there’s a bit of give and take there but I think Herbert you live with it because he doesn’t take sacks like some of these other quarterbacks and yeah hopefully ideally the Chargers have not the worst defense in the league and punting isn’t like the worst thing in the world anymore yeah man I I would just love to see him like take that consistent leap and be that dude but yeah it’s obviously it’s fair it’s just not every single week yeah it’s a hard nuanced conversation CU like other than sack rate which I agree with you I think like when the pressure gets in quickly he’s so good at like seeing it and do something about it it’s more of that like natural feel when plays break down that he’s just kind of like I don’t want to call him timid but just doesn’t quite have that it factor is is kind of and I am I am curious about you know one of the big things for like and we can talk about this too is The Playmakers around him if Keenan Allen was not getting open in a scramble drill he was not throwing the football like there was no nobody else uh kind of Austin Eckler a little bit but Austin Eckler was never like that wasn’t his game either but so it is going to be so curious to see Who develops the trust with Justin in scramble situations because it was okay I’m scrambling Keenan is not open okay I’m running or I’m throwing the football away and it’s such trust is such an important thing with Justin Herbert I think it’s a really underrated aspect of him like I think from a fantasy perspective I think a lot of people are fading Josh Palmer for the wrong reasons because him and Justin have such a great connection together that yeah lad makoni the rookie Quenton Johnston DJ CH these guys just don’t have so that is something I’m just so curious to see who becomes that trust receiver that Justin Herbert needs and right now it kind of probably is Josh Palmer well that might be the answer to my next question but I I wanted to ask you where is the fantasy value on this offense and why is it kamani Vidal Vidal’s a good one I I would say that Vidal is more of like the upside swing yeah um you know value-wise though I do think it is Josh Palmer I I don’t think he has a ton of like wide receiver one upside and there’s injury concerns here as well um but if you take out the games where Mike Williams played and Josh Palmer did Play Joshua Palmer was like a top 20ish wide receiver in Fant fasy football and as well as like Ys per run first downs created stuff like that so I think it is Josh Palmer and then I think it’s lad mcon like I I I think lad is going to have a real role in from A Creative Touch standpoint uh Greg Rowan spoke about this recently actually that they they think lad can be a gadget guy as well as a designed touch guy as well as potentially like a future wide receiver one like Greg Roman loves lad makoni I think for this year though I think that trust with her and Palmer is just that much I’m definitely staying away from the tight ends I’m staying away from the running backs like as much as you possibly can because I think Gus Edwards he’ll have the touchdowns so that maybe could be like a value standpoint but I I don’t see him getting like 18 carries a game like I think it’s gonna be a pretty even split between him and then whoever wins like the JK doin kamani but all battle I think there’s going to be a 5050 split in the running back uh Back Field cool yeah I love hear that cuz I I feel like I I may have been one of those people that undersold Josh Palmer and I I 100% agree with the chemistry like he is a high high IQ receiver like that is what has made him essentially relevant um yeah and Ian ways he worshiped Keenan Allen like he he was picking Keenan Allen’s brain every single day and there’s like some moments like from a route running perspective where you’re watching Josh Palmer you’re like man that looks like Keenan Allen from 2017 a bit here yeah I feel feel like when you’re not moving that fast sometimes routes can look really nice because again I’m hating on Josh Palmer but it’s like a four five guy well you see it with like Drake London I think like when you’re not when you’re not blazing speed you can really change directions a little easier so I think I think that helps him a little bit um but let’s talk about the defense a little bit sure dude the the defensive line is a joke like the interior of the defensive line what is going on there like they have to sign somebody right they I’m looking at this group and I’m like okay so you you have Puna Ford and then all projects is this really the group they’re going to roll out here you think or are you expecting another signing here um I don’t know if I’m expecting a signing before the season uh I do think it is something like midseason that they could look at the the Chargers do have a pretty manageable schedule to open so if they’re six and three we’ve talked about this on our show we could definitely see Joe Ortiz going out and saying hey like we need a defensive tackle Difference Maker like let’s go get one on the trade market I think that is a real possibility but they have like a hundred million doll in cap space next year they have a lot of draft picks coming in from the the compensatory pick formula so it feels like it’s a let’s throw a bunch of options at the wall we’ll see if anything sticks and if nothing sticks yeah we figure it out next year I will say um they love Justin Ebby they had Jim Harbaugh and jores both said they had a second round grade on him coming out and again that could just be like coacheak GM speak and like they drafted the guy um I I liked his run defense I thought it was a good fit you know from a fourth round perspective um they do also have Morgan Fox who is an awesome super efficient pass rusher right but yeah it’s a lot of question Mar s like I I think you know uh Nate Ty always talks about like the spine of the defense on the athletic football shows now the Yahoo sports shows and the spine is a big concern for the Chargers defense and I’m right there with you but it’s a lot of question marks if Justin boy can hit if Puna Ford can play like 2021 Puna Ford fotito Bona can go back to his rookie season and jusy boy can like flash a little bit you feel okay like at best about this room but definitely it’s a concern and I think it is something that they will address at some point in the season because like if Morgan Fox gets hurt you have zero pass rushers in that in that interior room and if Puna Ford gets hurt you have zero like capable run Defenders that are proven so uh I do think it is something that they could certainly address here in the next few weeks and even Puna Ford like he can hold his own but he can’t see where he’s going because he’s 5’11 so in terms the weirdest body type yeah I love Puna and I I don’t want to hate on him but he’s he’s definitely faded away a little bit the last couple years yeah um all right let’s talk about the secondary my my dream I mean you know I’m a big Derwin guy but I have been a little underwhelmed by what we’ve seen from him basically since Brandon Staley ruined him um my dream for him is the Kyle Hamilton role because I just think you know obviously this is the Ravens inspired defense um but look at the safety room and I I wonder how they might get there because if you’re going to put him down into that slot position I mean you have Gilman is is kind of the doit all up and down guy but they need a free safety um a I guess my it’s a two-part question for you is there a chance we see Derwin in the just true Kyle Hamilton role and B who could be the free safety in that situation is it JT Woods might they sign someone there’s still some guys out there what do you think that safety room looks like so for Derwin I’ll start with uh you know last season it was really funny because once they fired Brandon Staley they put him in one specific role and he had his four best games of the season and I think with Brandon stayy like he came in with this idea uh he called it arming the defense around Derwin James which like sounded so cool and he’s like Derwin James is gonna play both safety spots he’s going to play the slot he’s going to play nickel backer he’s play dime backer and he’s going to play Edge rusher for us like if you go back to 2021 he was legit playing like Edge rusher like setting the edge in a few games that and it was like so cool that somebody looked at Derwin James and said hey like maybe this guy can just play everywhere uh 2021 they actually had him shadow CD lamb like it was so cool but I think it just became too much like your asking Deron James to play eight different positions you’re asking him to be your best cover guy which he was you’re asking him to be your best run Defender at your third best pass rusher your best safety your best like it was too much like it it was like nobody can really do that and I think even Kyle Hamilton would say hey man like I’m not an edge rusher like play me where I want to play right um so Jesse Minter has talked about we’re going to have him be versatile but in a simplified manner so like maybe this one game we might like his matchup against the slot or this matchup against the tight end or maybe this one game we like him around the football playing the Box more maybe this one game he needs to play deep more depending on who you’re playing so it’s more of kind of a matchup thing which I think is the right approach for Derwin and you’re just gonna say hey like this week you’re a box safety this week you’re a free safety this week you’re playing the slot this week you’re going to Blitz 10 times I don’t know yeah so I think that is going to get the better version of Derwin out there and I still think like you see the glimpses of it over last season that that all proo best safety in the league is still in there it just became you know such a an untenable situation for him last year that uh it led to his downfall but I I do firmly expect him to bounce back in 2024 yeah um they just signed Tony Jefferson out of retirement I saw that yeah which I think is an indication that they don’t really trust the safety room outside of alohi Gilman who I think is one of the more under underrated players in the league for what it’s worth yeah I agree but it’s a major concern because JT Woods has played like a hundred regular season snaps he had some mystery illness last season which there was never any clarification on he was injured the year before that um and then when he came back from the injury from the illness last season they were playing two undrafted free agents ahead of him uh guys that are like good special teams players AJ Finley and Raheem Lane but it was a it was a big concern and we were down there in training camp and you could tell that things were not just like clicking for him mentally like athletically he’s he’s definitely got all the tools um so I think their third safety is GNA be Tony Jefferson coming out of retirement he worked with the Ravens last year in the scouting office with Joe Ortiz uh and Joe’s like hey man you want to come out of retirement so so I really think he’s the third guy I think that’s crazy it is and I think that’s another position where it’s like hey like next year we have money we have draft picks maybe we go get somebody through the trade market um but it really just the Chargers resources were it was just not a scenario where they could go out and be aggressive and get a third safety in the draft or in free agency but next year they probably can yeah good breakdown I like it all right um let’s finish this up we you hinted at it early but I don’t think we got a clear answer um the Chargers over under is eight and a half this season would you gun to your head go over or under on that I’m putting you on the spot I’m taking the over there yeah if you look at the you strength of schedule based off of future Betty markets they have one of the third easiest schedules in the league um I I think I’m safe like I safely think that they can get to nine win and like I think there is some upside for more depending on how much of like the Harbaugh effect really kind of matters with all these question mark players that we’re we’re talking about maybe like they’re able to just get the best seasons out of all these guys I don’t know but I kind of doubt it but you know just reality speaking but uh over eight and a half to me is is an easy decision because the schedule is just so so favorable to them um and then the end of the season schedule as well like their last four games are all very very winnable games to me so there’s a really difficult stretch between weeks 10 and 14 where they have to play the Ravens and the Bengals and I and somebody else that I’m forgetting right now um but I I think overall the schedule is easy enough for me to say Justin Herbert Jim Harbaugh easy schedule I think that’s nine wins at minimum okay well I’ll be the Chargers hater and I’ll I’ll bet you a sandwich or Chipotle or whatever we uh we can we can pick something I’m going to I’m going to take the under this year just under like seven or eight wins I don’t think they’ll suck but uh I’m I’m a little bit lower little I’m just worried about the the spine of the defense some of the in like they have a lot of injury-prone players I was looking at this thing I was like man they could really run out of talent quickly so I’ll go against you on that one and we’ll see how it ages yeah no there’s uh there’s a lot of upside with some of these guys but like Christian Fulton is gonna be their best cornerback this year and he’s got a ton of hamstring injuries his his and kind of underwelming football but Jim Harbaugh thinks that Ben Herber can cure any injured player and honestly like I I don’t know if there’s any reason to doubt him um but we’ll see how it goes I mean like DJ CH as well Hayden Hurst almost retired last year and he’s gonna be their best receiving tight end and I don’t know man like it’s just all over the roster with these injury questions JK dobins has not played a full season since his rookie season and he might be their best running back I don’t know but uh it’s not like the Chargers have ever had a history of injuries Stephen that’s never been a problem no but to be fair they’ve also never had a legitimate Sport Science Department either with a legitimate strength and conditioning coach and they do have that now so maybe Ben Ben Herbert can just work some Miracles over here love it all right it’s a fun team I can’t wait to see where this goes it’s been a pleasure as always uh everybody definitely follow the guilty is charged podcast um anything else you want to say before we get out of here no uh fun team always the Chargers you know you’re going to get some chaos it happens every single year um if you’re not tuning into the Jim Harbaugh press conferences I definitely would they are hilarious he is so great about never answering the questions but also answering the questions at the same time so uh it’s a good time man just Justin herbart Jim Harbaugh it’s gonna be a good it’s gonna be a fun season and then next year when they have money and resources it’s gonna be great absolutely absolutely all right thanks for your time Steve thanks Marcus appreciate it thank you stevenh and the guiltiest charge podcast for coming on yet again it’s a pleasure as always and thank you to all of you for watching this was a really fun one for me to do I I see a lot of upside in the Chargers future with some uh bumps in the road along the way this season potentially um but I hope you enjoyed the breakdown please do hit that like button on the way out if you did make sure you’re subscribed as well and until next time peace out we’ll see you later [Music]
We Dive Deep into the 2024 Los Angeles #Chargers … who rank 25th in my Power Rankings heading into the year. We preview EVERY aspect of their team for the upcoming season and beyond.
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Formula for my Rankings:
OVR = 65% Offense, 33% Defense, 2% Special Teams
Offense = 67% Passing Game, 33% Run Game
Passing Game = 42% Quarterback, 28% Weapons, 19% Pass Blocking, 9% Pass Game Coaching, 2% OVR Coach & Culture
Run Game = 50% RB, 36% RBK, 12% Run Game Coaching, 2% OVR Coach & Culture
Defense = 68% Pass Defense 32% Run Defense
Pass Defense = 45% Pass Rush, 31% DB Coverage, 8% LB Coverage, 15% Pass Defense Coaching, 1% OVR Coach & Culture
Run Defense = 45% DL Run D, 30% LB Run D, 23% Run Defense Coaching, 2% OVR Coach & Culture
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Chapters
Intro 0:00
Offseason Changes 1:20
Coach & Scheme 8:57
Quarterback 23:19
Weapons 32:30
Backfield 49:42
O-Line 1:00:41
Offensive Summary 1:16:12
D-Line 1:17:20
Linebackers 1:30:14
Secondary 1:36:17
Defensive Summary 1:46:08
Special Teams 1:47:47
Team Summary & Schedule 1:49:26
Interview With G.A.C. (Steven Haglund) 1:52:44
25 comments
Last years* elite- and star-ranked players:
Columns are es follows: Players' names, Franchise, Position, Grade Overall or diverse Grades for RBs, CBs and Safeties ( respectively diverse grades for "receiving" and "running" or "covering" and "run defense" ), last coumn: if the position is listed in the last column again, the player is the "King" within this position. The franchises are in alphabetical order: For example the first player in this list is Trent Williams, 49ers, Left Tackle ( LT ), Grade: 99. Since the LT appears at the end again, Trent was ranked "King" of all LTs by Marcus last year ( 2023 ). If you have questions, feel free to post them! Regards to all the data- psychos ;0) !
1 Trent Williams 49ers LT 99 LT
2 Nick Bosa 49ers ED 96
3 Fred Warner 49ers LB 93 LB
4 George Kittle 49ers TE 92
5 Deebo Samuel 49ers WR 90
6 Christian McCaffree 49ers RB 87 A+ RB Receiving
7 Javon Hargrave 49ers IDL 87
8 DJ Moore Bears WR 86
9 Stefon Diggs Bills WR 94
10 Josh Allen Bills QB 93 3
11 Tre'Davious White Bills CB 88 C
12 Jordan Poyer Bills S 86 B
13 Micah Hyde Bills S 86 B-
14 von Miller Bills ED 86 PUP
15 Patrick Surtain Broncos CB 92 B+
16 Justin Simmons Broncos S 87 B
17 Miles Garrett Browns ED 97 ED
18 Nick Chubb Browns RB 96 B- RB Running
19 Joel Bitonio Browns LG 92
20 Denzel Ward Browns CB 88 C
21 Z'Darius Smith Browns ED 87
22 Amari Cooper Browns WR 87
23 Tristan Wirfs Buccaneers LT 89
24 Lavonte David Buccaneers LB 88
25 Mike Evans Buccaneers WR 87
26 Antoine Winfield Jr. Buccaneers S/ SCB 86 A+
27 Vita Vea Buccaneers NT 86
28 Joey Bosa Chargers ED 89
29 Justin Herbert Chargers QB 88
30 Corey Linsley Chargers C 87
31 Jonathan Taylor Colts RB 93
32 Quenton Nelson Colts LG 90
33 DeForest Buckner Colts IDL 87
34 Shaquille Leonard Colts LB 86
35 Terry McLaurin Commanders WR 90
36 Jonathan Allen Commanders IDL 87
37 Micah Parsons Cowboys ED 95
38 Zack Martin Cowboys RG 91
39 CeeDee Lamb Cowboys WR 89
40 Tyreek Hill Dolphins WR 99 WR
41 Jalen Ramsey Dolphins CB 92 A+
42 Jaelan Phillips Dolphins ED 86
43 Christian Wilkins Dolphins IDL 86
44 AJ Brown Eagles WR 94
45 Jason Kelce Eagles C 90 C
46 Lane Johnson Eagles RT 88
47 Hasson Redick Eagles ED 87
48 DeVonta Smith Eagles WR 86
49 Dallas Goedert Eagles TE 86
50 Chris Lindstrom Falcons RG 92
51 Jessy Bates Falcons S 91 B
52 Bijan Robinson Falcons RB 89 A
53 A.J. Terrell Falcons CB 88 B
54 Dexter Lawrence Giants IDL 92
55 Andrew Thomas Giants LT 92
56 Saquon Barkley Giants RB 90 A
57 Sauce Gardner Jets CB 92 B+ CB
58 Aaron Rodgers Jets QB 90
59 Quinnen Williams Jets IDL 87
60 Garrett Wilson Jets WR 86
61 Frank Ragnow Lions C 87
62 Jaire Alexander Packers CB 93 B
63 David Bakhtiari Packers LT 92
64 Rashan Gary Packers ED 88
65 Aaron Jones Packers RB 87 A
66 Kenny Clark Packers IDL 86
67 Davante Adams Raiders WR 97
68 Josh Jacobs Raiders RB 91
69 Max Crosby Raiders ED 90
70 Kolton Miller Raiders LT 86
71 Aaron Donald Rams IDL 97
72 Cooper Kupp Rams WR 95
73 Roquan Smith Ravens LB 90
74 Marlon Humphrey Ravens CB 89 B+
75 Mark Andrews Ravens TE 89
76 Ronnie Stanley Ravens LT 88
77 Marcus Williams Ravens FS 86 B+
78 Marshon Lattimore Saints CB 88 B-
79 Tyrann Mathieu Saints S 86 B-
80 Damario Davis Saints LB 86
81 Ryan Ramczyk Saints RT 86
82 DK Metcalf Seahawks WR 87
83 T.J. Watt Steelers ED 95
84 Minkah Fitzpatrick Steelers S 92 B
85 Cameron Heyward Steelers IDL 88
86 Laremy Tunsil Texans LT 90
87 Derrick Henry Titans RB 95 C+
88 Kevin Byard Titans S 90 A
89 DeAndre Hopkins Titans WR 90
90 Jeffery Simmons Titans DT 87
91 Justin Jefferson Vikings WR 98
92 Danielle Hunter Vikings ED 86
93 Ja'Marr Chase Bengals WR 92
94 Joe Burrow Bengals QB 94
95 Tee Higgins Bengals WR 87
96 Trey Hendrickson Bengals ED 86
97 DJ Reader Bengals IDL 88
46:54
I understand Harbaugh & Roman have their systems but they know they have to utilize Herbert. He’ll still be slinging it I believe
The first year I feel like the “hype train” and optimism as a chargers fan is finally logically is when TFG gives up on us 🤣
LA Ravens Deep Dive 😂
Not surprised Chargers are this low, probably a bottom 5-10 roster in a very good AFC. Herbert and Harbaugh can only cover so many cracks even with a expected easier schedule.
O-line is a downgrade for me till i see Alt play. They'll probably be better overall including run blocking because of the scheme but Corey Linsley was the 2nd most important player on offense after Herbert the last few years imo. Disagree, he was still playing well and made the rest of oline better. He had a heart issue rather than a neck problem too.
God I love this series so fucking much. As a casual fan these videos are awesome entertainment that I understand like 40% of, the content is just too good
It does feel like we’re in a different TIER with the Saints up. Like the Chargers aren’t gonna suck, but they also have a ton of problems on paper.
Ultimately, they might be like the 2023 Rams where if they have the QB and the coach, all the rest of it can be figured out.
Marcus Brady, Shane Day, Sanjay Lal, and Marc Trestman better have a major say on that passing offense, not just Harbaugh and Roman.
If it is the same issues with Baltimore, than that is a problem.
Worse than the Raiders and Cardinals!? I'm skeptical but here for it
First hot take so far
Prediction at 24 Cardinals, Raiders, Buccaneers, or Steelers
Cannot wait for the chargers to go 5 – 12 again after all these people hyping up jim harbaugh. Justin herbert about to have the worst season of his career with greg romans offense and these weapons.
Finally I can have my opinion
Cardinals still going strong
People acting like Jim Harbaugh is John Harbaugh.
Trey Pipkins is the right guard, not Salyer.
If Derwin stays healthy and they make him San Diego's Hamilton it's going to be off the fucking chain! I love your recommendations for free agent signings, they would all do so much to help this defense as a whole.
The only way this makes sense is if Herbert isn’t a top 10 qb for you this year r
Jim Harbough was a successful NFL QB I think you're underselling him a bit 💀
I hope you were lucky enough to score many vidal shares in the 3rd of your dynasty leagues. If he were to not succeed, what would you think that keeps him from success?
Are you going to do a review of everything you’ve said about the team power rankings at the end of the season?
RAAAAIDERRRRSSSSSSSSS. TFG sees the vision! Best DL in the NFL🤫💯
You’re a clown… Herbert holds or is second in every passing statistic in nfl history .. have a seat please
Watching the dolphins run the exact same play 4 times in a row and Justin not make a single adjustment was kinda damning