REVELATION: 6th-Round Rookie RJ Mickens PROVES Chargers Found ANOTHER Diamond in Late in the Draft

REVELATION: 6th-Round Rookie RJ Mickens PROVES Chargers Found ANOTHER Diamond in Late in the Draft

The Chargers secondary has been insanely good in 2025 and it looks like Joe Hortiz has found another late round diamond in rookie safety RJ Mickens. You are Locked on Chargers, your daily podcast on the Los Angeles Chargers, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up and welcome into the Locked On Chargers podcast. I’m your host, Daniel Wade, joined as always by my co-host, David Drogmire, and we’ve been covering the Chargers now for 10 seasons. But this is our eighth year as a host of the Lockdown Chargers podcast, bringing you your team every day as a part of the number one sports podcast network. But thank you to all the Everydayers for making us your first listen. To make sure you never miss the show, go subscribe or follow for free on the Lockdown Chargers YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from. David, what do we got today? Daniel Cam Hart, Tarhee Steel, and now looks like RJ Mickens is joining that crop of late round steals by general manager Joe Hortiz. And also the Chargers defensive line has been playing some really good football, especially lately. This is a very much underrated unit. And where and when may we see Trevor Penning? That’s the question. He spent a sixth round pick on him. Are we going to see him? We’re going to get into all that, but today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. If your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. And David, I wanted to start today by talking about a player maybe we haven’t talked enough about just because of everything going on. But with all the kind of, you know, back and forth we go through of how good the Chargers are. Can they still do it? How far can they go? The good parts of it, you know, and the great parts of it sometimes get undertalked about just because you’re so worried about the big picture. And I don’t want to do that with R.J. Mickens, who obviously now has a couple interceptions now over the last couple of games, which is awesome to see. And with the Alohi Gilman trade, it feels like the Chargers just have not missed a step at all. Tony Jefferson goes out of the lineup. They still have dominant defensive performances. And a lot of that is because of this sixth round pick out of Clemson, RJ Mickens, who was awesome in the preseason and dropped about three interceptions. Now that he’s at the NFL level, he’s found a way to take advantage, which is fantastic news. But and I think when when we saw him and we w when we watched the film on him when the Chargers first brought him in, we saw some things that we liked. I mean, I think the the ball skills were there. he was in the right place at the right time. Uh feel like he was a trustworthy tackler in open in the open space and a guy that you could feel comfortable being that last line of defense defender. And so far he’s played good football for the Chargers. 157 total snaps, a 75.1 defense grade, 74.5 coverage grade, 10 tackles, two re only two receptions allowed on five targets for eight yards, and the two interceptions that Daniel Wade just talked about. So, a guy that uh people have said that, you know, coach Harbaugh said, “Hey, this is a guy that when he makes mistakes, he learns from them. He does not repeat them. Seems like he’s coachable. Dur is able to tell him where to be and uh he’s able to go out there and make plays.” So, RJ Mickens looking really, really good so far and it just gets keeps getting better for the Chargers secondary. Yeah, man. It’s crazy that they’ve been able to do as much as they have. and we’ll get more into kind of the full room and just all of the guys they’ve been able to not only, you know, get to improve, but playing some of the best football in their career and also getting contributions from rookies so early on in their career and we know the Chargers love to have three safety looks out there defensively. So to not have Alohi Gilman, to not have Tony Jefferson, to still be able to, you know, basically be able to play the same way and and not miss a beat is crazy. I’d also point out only two missed tackles as that kind of last line of defense defender in the back. No missed tackles really by him have gone for big games especially in recent games. But yeah, his passer rating allowed so far is 8.3. Yeah, it’s pretty good. That’s out of 159 almost 160. So over the last four games he’s played at least 30 plus snaps. Uh to get that kind of contributions from a rookie is crazy. And and I just think that it’s just he’s just really solid like coverage-wise as a run defender, as a tackler, he’s just been so solid. And it looks like again Joe Ortiz in the sixth round a late day three pick is finding another starting player. And I also want to think, you know, it’s worth mentioning Nico Reed because it’s not just the late round draft picks they’re getting contributions from. Sometimes it’s even undrafted free agents. And David, we ain’t kind of seen the Jier Taylor, you know, experiment run its course, right? They don’t trade Jir Taylor in my opinion without having confidence in Nico Reed. He’s paid that off. You could say the same thing about R.J. Mickens, right? They made that Alohi Gilman trade to help bring in Adaf because they knew they had this guy waiting in the wings and they knew they could still play at a high level. Also, Alohi Gilman’s been great with Baltimore. It’s been, you know, a good trade for both sides, but R.J. Mickens was the reason they felt comfortable doing that. Nico Reed made Jir Taylor expendable and it was great to see him in his first real NFL action last week come up and not just make one big play but just have an all-around solid game. Yeah, I mean he’s played 36 total snaps. Most of that came in in the last game and has a very good coverage grade and only one catch on four targets for eight yards and just seems like a guy who’s real comfortable out there. It doesn’t seem like it’s too big for him. He’s feels very smooth out there being able to adjust, turning his head around, looking for the football. Like those that’s veteran stuff, right? That that’s stuff that tends to come a little bit later. You don’t always see young defenders, especially young corners, be able to, you know, stay in stride, stay and turn their head around, look for the football. That’s good quality stuff. Like that’s what you look for in a young corner. He has that and hopefully he’s able to continue playing good football for the Chargers. When it did seem like the Steelers to a certain extent tried to pick on him, right? They targeted him four times in the game in only 21 snaps, had allowed only one reception for eight yards, gets the big pass breakup, allowed a passer rating of only 39.6. that’ll do, you know, and it’s crazy to think that he wasn’t even the most impressive undrafted free agent cornerback because they still have Eric Rogers who picked off multiple passes in one game sitting on their injured preserve. And the other great thing about Nikico Reed is because he made the team and has been with the team. You have him three years for cheap this year and two more years for really really cheap. Whereas someone like Kammani Vidal, a great breakout, but since they released him and had to put him on the practice squad, he’s only under contract through the rest of the season now. So another kind of added bonus of keeping him on the roster for this moment is now you have him for the foreseeable future on a really really costcontrolled contract. So awesome there. But really the story this so far this year defensively has been the LA secondary as a whole because the Chargers pass rush has been much better recently, but it’s not been an elite unit for most of the year. Most of what this Charger secondary has been able to do has been without the benefit of an elite pass rush that’s just forcing terrible throws all the time. And right now, you’re talking about a pass rush, David, that ranks fourth in completion percentage against, second in passer rating against the Chargers, have as many interceptions as they have touchdowns allowed so far in 2025. Third in yards per attempt allowed. Much better against the deep balls at stopping big plays recently. This group is on fire. And I think the craziest part about it is like they haven’t invested very much in it. You know, Tony Jefferson comes out the streets, plays at a high level. RJ Mickens, rookie. Elijah Molden traded away for nothing, right? Benjamin St. Juice brought in as an afterthought coming in playing really good quality football. Yeah, absolutely. Like the list goes on and on. I mean, look at the guys I mean that have really like cuz we haven’t even talked about Christian Fulton, Tarhee Still. Yeah. Cam Hart, Dante Jackson, Elijah Molden, R.J. Mickens, right? Even guys like Eli Apple and Marcus May. All those guys have come in and been serviceable or better. And like I just think we have to tip our caps and give the flowers out to you know like we said before the show like this is giving Steve Clinkcale his flowers giving Jesse Mentor his flowers cuz they have worked some serious magic. They’ve been phenomenal. I mean especially coach Clinkcale to be able to just no matter who it is. I mean to be able to bring them off the street with absolutely no time. They’re coming in. They’re understanding the game plan going out there playing fast and providing high quality play for the Chargers in a pinch. That is coaching to a te. If you’re looking for the applications of coaching right there, that’s where it is. Also, no 300yard passers allowed the entire season. No more than two passing touchdowns in any game this entire season. And they’re also allowing a measly 132 passing yards per game over the last three games. This Chargers pass defense has been straight up dominant all year long. And and also, you know, one thing we haven’t mentioned, Derwin James getting back to an allp pro form. Like, there were conversations we had about wondering if he’d ever get back there. One of the first things that Jesse Mentor promised to do and delivered on and and that secondary man is playing at such a high level that it is the ultimate equalizer and is going to give the Chargers a chance in some of these games against these better teams. But many of us have been worried about, hey, was Jesse Mter going to leave for a head coaching job? Maybe we should worry about Steve Quinskill leaving for a defensive coordinator job, right? or another guy, Mike Ston, leaving for a defensive coordinator job because that man has been a a you know, medicine man, miracle worker for this team as well. And we’re going to talk about how underrated his group has been so far and more in today’s Locked On Chargers podcast. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. As the days get shorter and the nights come earlier, it can start to feel a little heavier, especially when life is already packed with work, family, and everything else. This season, it’s so important to reach out and check in with friends, family, or even yourself. Just like checking on a teammate or reconnecting with someone you haven’t seen in a while can lift your spirits, reaching out for therapy can make a real difference, too. 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Listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/lockedon. That’s betterhelp hp.com/lockedon. Because taking that step forward, support might just leave you wondering, why didn’t I do this sooner? David, we still have more to get into because we did want to make this a Chargers mailbag day and let the everydayers get their contri contributions in on today’s show. And we have a lot of really good ones to get to. So, thank you to all the everydayers out there for making us your first listen and helping make us the number one sports podcast network, which just feels crazy to say and surreal. So, thank you guys for that. But, I do want to talk about this defensive line unit because that’s another unit that it just feels like whoever they plug in there, they’re getting meaningful contributions from. And I think that’s where Cartik is coming from here. Hey guys, this is Cartik from Toronto. Love the show and all the work you guys been doing this year. Excellent as always. I just had a question about the defensive line with Deshawn Han coming back. How excited are you about this group’s overall potential? They looked really strong against the Steelers, stopping the run early and then letting the pass rushers go to work once Pittsburgh had to throw. Do you think this is something the Chargers can sustain week to week where the run defense sets the tone and the edge guys get to feast or do you think this was more matchup dependent? Thanks. Appreciate all the work you guys do. Bolt up. Such a good question and such a, you know, underrated group I think overall especially because a lot like last season we went into this one wondering do the Chargers have enough in that room? You’re talking about Justin Abigby who played 26 snaps last year, right? You draft a third round rookie who had zero sacks last year and Jamari Caldwell and then you bring in a Deshawn Hand who’s been opted injured and you know was coming off his own injured reserve stint this season and Tiier Tart who you felt good about but none of them were Puna Ford and what he was in 2024. We didn’t know how they would be able to piece it together but once again like you look at defensively kind of where their weaknesses are. the pass rush, you know, could be better for sure. And like they still don’t have that one guy that can just totally take over a game consistently on a game-to-ame basis, but it feels about like they’re doing as about as much as they possibly can for like the sum of their parts. I still feel like it’s a plus on this defense. And like I think for the most part, they’re going to be able to continue to do it week in and week out. Yeah. Honestly, I think the best thing that could have happened to this Chargers defense was getting their butt whooped by the Indianapolis Colts because after that game, the physicality in which they played with is noticeably different from that moment on. They absolutely are setting the edge. They are playing more physical. You can see it. They’re playing more technically sound with their tackling. Everything looks much much better out there because of that physicality that they’re playing with. It has completely changed the whole outlook of the defense that absolutely starts up front just as on offense as it does on defense. You set the tone with the spine of your football team. The defensive line has absolutely tooken that challenge and it has reverberated through the rest of this defense. And I think once you got Deshawn Han back, you have a little bit more of everything. Like you have Tier and Jamar Caldwell who are super disruptive in the run game. And then now you add back in Deshan Han to go along with a career season by Justin Aloy and you have a little bit of pass rush to feel good about as well. Now I I still worry about where you know some elite interior offensive lines could do against them. Sure. At the same time, like I I think they’re going to be solid and like they get blamed a lot for the Chargers run defense. Let’s remember where those big runs were coming from. They weren’t going in the direction of Jamari Caldwell, right? No. Almost all of those were containment issues. The Chargers not being physical enough on their edges and teams getting outside and running backs going untouched. That’s not on the interior of the defensive line. I can promise you that. But yeah, good players brings good problems, David. And that’s what the dude has for us here. With the ascension of Caldwell and both Tier Tart and Deshawn Hand are free agents next season, which one do we let walk or do we keep them both? I see us drafting defensive line in the first three rounds. David, what do you think here? Yeah, I’m actually going to push back on that last part. I don’t think they are going to draft defensive line in the first three rounds. I feel like especially the fact that the Chargers defensive line coach Mike has been able to show you that he can get guys the type of guys that he likes that fits his system the way he likes to coach and get the absolute most out of them. So I don’t know if they would actually go look to take defensive line in the first three rounds. I mean you look at all of the examples there are I mean there are are plenty of them. Obviously, he just got paid got a guy paid a lot of money who to go play across town for the Rams. Obviously, uh you know, you know exactly who I’m talking to. So, or talking about no secret there, you know. So, to me, when I look at this defensive line unit, the Charger and also when you look at the money, if they want to, they can bring all these guys back. I mean, money is absolutely no object next year. They’re going to have north of 100 million in cap space. But if the decision was on me, I think there’s no way you can’t resign Tiier Tart. I think TR has been a guy who has brought that nastiness, has brought that attitude that you need on on on a defensive line. You just need it and he brings it in spades. Yeah, you might get the occasional, you know, you know, unnecessary roughness penalty, but I’m okay with that quite honestly because sometimes you need it. Um I I I really do believe that. So Tier Tart you got to bring back. I think with, you know, the emergence of Justin No Boy and the way he’s played in year two and with Jamari Caldwell on deck, I think I would be happy with that. If they decide to bring back Deshan, I’m okay with that, too. I feel like he brings a little bit of pass rush upside from the middle of that defensive line, and you can never have enough of that. Yeah, I mean, I think I’d be in favor of resigning both of them, too. I think mostly because you have those, you know, couple of young players in Justin Aborgby and and Jamari Cwell the build around and and like the thing is is even if you do take another defensive lineman, right, which I I think it’s much more likely they would take an edge rusher in the first three rounds than they would a defensive lineman, but I wouldn’t say, okay, you know, you’re so good here that it’s not done. It’s just not the top of their priorities. Obviously, the interior of the offensive line and and edge rusher to me are the two clearest big needs. I know some people say corner, but like you have Cam Hart and Tarheep still and Nico Reed and Dante Jackson all coming back next season. So, I’d say yeah, you could make the argument they should be taking one of those guys if one falls to them, right? Obviously, hopefully you’re picking late in the first round, but it doesn’t feel like it’s as much of a necessity as maybe it has in years past. But let’s switch gears a little bit here and go with Seth from Instagram who says, “If the offensive line was fully healthy and we had our running backs back, would we be the AFC favorites?” This is interesting, David. Obviously living in the hypothetical land, but like I don’t think that’s crazy to say, uh, you know, if this team even with, you know, at seven and three right now had Rashawn Slater and Joe Walt, had Omaron Hampton in, Naji Harris back, and some of the other guys they’ve had injured that they would absolutely be one of the favorites in the AFC. Yeah. I mean, I think you look at it and you look at the the games that the Chargers have lost. You have Rashan Slater and Joe Alt at 100% full capacity. There’s no way you lose to that Giants team. absolutely no way. You you beat the breaks off of them like you should have. So, yeah, that’s one for sure. I I even think the Washington Commanders game as well, the pass rush doesn’t impact that game as much as it as it did if you have both your tackles there and healthy. Uh and obviously the running game to be able to control it. That’s two more wins and you’re looking at, you know, I think the Indianapolis Colts game wasn’t really on the offense as it much as it was on the defense and the defense kind of got ran over as I mentioned earlier on. But yeah, I think absolutely the you I mean the way that they navigated the injuries that they’ve had to go through and are still sitting here at seven and three and one of the top teams in the AFC. I don’t know how you could see it any other way. And there’s probably other teams that feel the same, right? I mean, you’re go is going to have injuries for the Chargers. It’s just hard because it happened to their star players and has happened to multiple guys at the same position, which has really killed them running back and tackles specifically. But yeah, I mean, Justin Herbert would have, you know, 30 plus touchdowns already. I think the big thing here though is like obviously the interior of the offensive line would still be a big problem. When you lose by 17 to the Commanders, I won’t just automatically chalk that up to the Chargers winning that game, but the Giants for sure. So you’re talking about 8 and2 at worst if you had those guys and you know if you’re eight and two the same as you know the Colts and the other top teams in the AFC like the Patriots everyone with Justin Herbert I don’t think that’s crazy right you still have a better record than the Bills and the Chiefs and those other powerhouse teams the Ravens as well so I don’t think that’s crazy at all but obviously that’s what kind of made it so hard so you know seeing these guys out this year is just feeling like man if we had them like they would be legitimate Super Bowl contenders and I truly believe that. But we still have more to get into because there’s still an offensive lineman for the Chargers we haven’t seen yet. And that is Trevor Penning. Are we going to see him soon? Who is going to be playing tackle for this team down the stretch? And could we be seeing more Keenan Allen Sue? We’re getting into all that and more on today’s Locked On Chargers podcast. 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Florida trips have not been kind to them. First chance really to exact revenge since that 2022 playoff game as well. I’d love to see the Chargers get it done. And going into the the bye-week at 8 and three would just be such an undertaking with the injuries that they have had so far this year. and they are two and a half point favorites to get it done. So, right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fandle.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. David, we still have more of the Everydayers fan mail questions to get into. And thank you to all you guys for making us your first listen every day. If you need a second listen, make sure to check out the guys at Lock NFL. You’ll be hearing one of them tomorrow. my guy Tony Wiggins who’s with you every day covering everything around the NFL and does an excellent job on the Locked On Jaguars podcast. Super excited to have him on the show tomorrow. But let’s get to this one here. David from Darren Was who I think has a really good question asking, “Hi guys, David, thank you for your service and to all who have served. Who do you see as the starting tackles down the stretch run of the season? Trevor Penning, Bobby Hart.” David, this is interesting. Uh especially cuz of course, you know, as we’ve seen in short stretches, Trey Pipkins was good on Sunday, right? That being said, you just meant a sixth round pick on Trevor Penning. I think we all think Bobby Hart should get his spot back when he comes back, but how do you, you know, not ride the hot hand of Trey Pipkins as well. I think this could be pretty interesting on how this all shakes out. Yeah, I certainly think it it will be. I mean, it all depends on the health of the situation, right? We got to see what Bobby Hart’s looking like. If he gets back to practice this week, obviously that’s going to do a lot. Now, if he is getting healthier and he’s back, I firmly believe he should go back to riot tackle. I mean, he he’s been great. I mean, 143 pass blocking snaps, only four pressures allowed. I mean, yeah, wasn’t pretty in the beginning because he had a couple of false start penalties, but once he found his groove, man, he played some really quality football for the Chargers. And for me, uh, I think Trevor Penning goes to the left side. If it’s not going to be Jamari Sawier, which I would be in favor of. I feel like when he when he got that spot start and had to fill in, he played good football for them. Um I think, you know, you got to get Austin Decklas out of there. I mean, he he’s he’s not been the best so far. I mean, no matter what metrics you’re looking at, uh it it’s not pretty. Uh and so I feel like you got to give Trevor Penning an opportunity out there at tackle uh to see what he’s capable of. You brought him in for a reason. And uh I mean it can’t be much worse than what what we’ve seen out there so far. Yeah, I saw Alex Kson say that uh the Chargers don’t think they can run the same way with Austin without Austin Decis out there or at least with Jamari Sawer at left tackle. So that part’s interesting. They obviously think that Deculus is the better run blocker. And with the heavy formations they’ve been putting out there, they’ve been basically telling you, okay, this is the way we’re going to try to protect. And it’s hard to kind of argue with the rushing results with Austin Deculus out there, right? Yeah. That being said, he’s allowed four or more pressures in all of his last five games and and a total of 26 over his last five games. So averaging more than five per game over the last five. That is really bad. Also, you just traded a six round pick for a rental of Trevor Penning. I get it. It’s good to have depth, but man, it’s going to be really hard to not feel like that was a wasted pick if that guy can’t get in the lineup and help you right now knowing that he really only has seven games potentially to do that, right? Like the only thing you’re guaranteed by drafting him is that you get him for the next seven games. So, trading for him. Yeah. with Austin Decklas. Do they feel like he Trevor Penning can bring close to what Deculus is bringing in the running game, but also bring you at least some relief as far as a pass protector? Because even though it’s been pretty bad with Trevor Penning, you know, in a short stint in the NFL, it hasn’t been as bad as what’s happened with Austin Decula so far. So, the Trey Pipkins Bobby Hart thing could get interesting if Trey Pipkins plays really well again this week. I mean, one pressure allowed by Trey and 41 pass blocking snaps last week. One pressure allowed in the game before that. So now it’s two pressures and over 70 pass blocking snaps. I don’t know. But I do think with Trevor Penning, it’s like if we’re going to wait for the Chargers to lose before we decide to make a big change here, it feels like not good enough. It feels like 11 wins right pop type of energy if we’re going to wait until something bad happens before we make a trade. Just because you’re winning with Austin Deculus playing poorly doesn’t mean that he should continue to go out there because it will catch up to you eventually. So yeah, let’s get this next one here from Don V who has a question about the hero of last week in a way. Do you guys feel like we will see Kanan Allen’s role in the offense continue to diminish with the emergence of Trey Harris? David, what do you think here? Well, I don’t know how you could see his role diminished. He’s only had one game where he’s had less than 20 snaps. And I I mean plenty of the games where he’s had 30 or 40 plus. So I don’t, you know, just because he’s not like fully targeted, you know, 10 15 times doesn’t mean that his role is diminished. And I think for Trey Harris, like they want to get Trey Harris on the field. I mean, he’s an asset, a huge asset as a run blocker. I mean, they they’re using him to pull a lot, you know, to be one of those lead blockers to pick off a linebacker or pick off a safety and, you know, try to seal that off to create a big big run. And it’s been very effective. And I think, you know, he’s shown that, you know, when he’s given those opportunities to, you know, be able to pick up a big catch on a third down, a fourth down, he’s been able to make those and that’s only going to breed confidence in him and from the quarterback. So, they’re going to give him more opportunities. But Keenan Allen’s role uh is also to get attention away from Lad. And I think you’ve seen Lad have a lot of success recently with what he’s done and the stats that he’s put up. So, it’s just a more well-rounded offense, especially from a skills standpoint when you have Keenan out there, when you have a Ronda out there, when you have Trey Harris getting mixed in. You have a lot of different mouths to feed, a lot of weapons to utilize. And sometimes, you know, that’s not going to be everybody getting five, six targets in a game. Yeah. I think part of this though is just, you know, he had at least four catches in each of the Chargers first eight games, and he has only four catches over the last two weeks. His snap count did bump back up to normal, but I mean, in weeks eight and nine, he had a total of 37 snaps or 38 snaps, and then this week, he had 37 snaps. So, I do think it’s game plan specific. I think the other big part of it, too, is they just haven’t really had him out there on a lot of running downs. And it’d be interesting to see kind of how he feels about it. When they’re obvious passing situations, he’s usually out there, right? So, for example, during those, you know, really four games that the snap count dipped a little bit, he had like a total of 15 of those snaps being run blocking snaps. So, he was basically not out there for more than, you know, six or seven run blocking snaps in any one game. And I think that’s formationally them going heavy to trying to protect Justin Herbert only having a couple wide receivers out in the field. But it’s been Quinton Johnston that’s actually, you know, taken snaps away if you are arguing that because he’s actually led the Chargers wide receivers and snaps over the last two games. So, there’s different things obviously Quinton Johnson brings to the table. I think last week it was the threat of just being able to throw it out to him and have him pick up seven yards, 15 yards and like he brings that to the table and the Chargers have that. You know, they have a great Yak guy. They have a guy who gets open all the time in Lad Maki. But I do think the big thing here is like Keenan Allen can still play. So I think bigger games are coming ahead. I wouldn’t worry too much about him only having four catches over the last two games. I mean we’ve seen that with Lad Mcconkey kind of disappearing early on in the season. We’ve seen that happen when you have as many guys as they have. It’s going to happen to a certain extent, but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. ESPN does their wide receiver basically nextgen stats, their metrics. They have Keenan Allen tied for 21st amongst wide receivers and open rating, how often they get open, and 22nd overall amongst wide receivers out of guys just, you know, how often they get open, how well they catch the ball, how well they do after the catch. So, the guy still has some juice left. I think we’ll be seeing some more big games from him, you know, coming soon. It was only a few weeks ago where he had 11 for a buck 19 against the Colts. Obviously, a game where they were trailing and had to try to, you know, win a shootout, but still, I I think this is just kind of an es and flow thing. He was back up to kind of his normal snap count last week, and the only guys that are consistently outnapping him are Quinton Johnson and Lad McConi, not always Trey Harris. But that’s going to wrap things up for today’s show. Make sure you guys are back here tomorrow for Crossover Thursday with locked on Chargers and Locked on Jaguars, my boy Tony Wiggins, one of the best on the network. I think you guys are really going to enjoy that show. And we’re going to tell you exactly kind of what needs to happen and what the biggest matchups are for it. So to make sure you don’t miss it, go subscribe or follow for free on Locked On Charges YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from, as well as finding the show every day on all of our social media where you can also hit us up for fan shows like this. Lockdown LAC on Twitter, Lockdown Chargers on Instagram, and our Locked Chargers Facebook page. Couple shout outs really quickly. Got to shout out uh my boy Tim who has had two hunches uh when I picked the Chargers to lose and he’s gotten me both times. So, he won a shout out on today’s show because he told me the Chargers were no doubt going to beat the Steelers. And also a shout out to Clara and Sabon who won their playoff game in the Poweway Friday Night Lights flag football game. Second overtime crazy crazy game. So shout out to those girls as well. But that’s going to do it for us today. We’ll be back with you guys tomorrow with crossover Thursday, the best day of the week. But until then, take it easy and go Bulls.

Los Angeles Chargers rookie safety RJ Mickens is proving to be Joe Hortiz’s latest late-round gem, transforming into a playmaking force with two interceptions in recent games. The sixth-round steal from Clemson has been dominant in coverage, anchoring a secondary that’s dominated 2025 without allowing a single 300-yard passer all season.

Daniel Wade and David Droegemeier break down the Chargers’ defensive excellence, from the secondary’s coaching masterclass under Steve Clinkscale to the underrated defensive line’s physical transformation after the Colts loss. The discussion covers critical decisions at offensive tackle with Trevor Penning, Bobby Hart, and Trey Pipkins competing for snaps, plus Keenan Allen’s evolving role as Tre Harris emerges. Fan questions explore whether a fully healthy Los Angeles Chargers roster would be legitimate AFC favorites over Kansas City and Buffalo.

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