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Surely, this is the year | The Los Angeles Chargers

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 12 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 3, 2026
Published
Thu, September 3, 2026
5
Player insights
3
Players mentioned
Topics
Justin HerbertKeaton MitchellTrey Lance
Player analysis

Player insights

5

Justin Herbert

PositiveProjection0:25

Justin Herbert is positioned as an MVP frontrunner for the upcoming season, with the source noting that Mike McDaniel's offensive scheme will allow Herbert to make throws he never could in previous systems, effectively acting as a 'kid in a candy store' with Herbert's elite arm talent.

Insight page
PositiveUsage45:18

Justin Herbert is expected to thrive in Mike McDaniel's new offensive scheme, which will leverage his ability to throw deep; the source notes Herbert is a 'mad bomber' who can execute complex route variances and protections once the team moves past initial growing pains.

Insight page
PositiveProjection66:13

If the offensive line stays healthy and Herbert is unleashed by the offensive scheme, the source believes the Chargers could produce 'biblical' passing numbers.

Insight page

Keaton Mitchell

PositiveBreakout70:02

Keaton Mitchell is viewed as an incredibly explosive player who will add significant value to the Chargers' backfield once he returns from injury.

Insight page

Trey Lance

PositiveDepth Chart65:50

Trey Lance appears to have secured the backup quarterback position behind Justin Herbert for the upcoming season.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

674
0:00I'll tell you what, I thought I was out.
0:03I really did. And yet here I am, getting pulled back in.
0:08One of the greatest pairings that I think the rest of the world needs to see is Jim Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel.
0:16With their new starting center, Tyler Biotish and Alec Engel.
0:19It's a mindset today. It's a mindset today. Urgency in every finish and go make some plays.
0:25This is going to be insane. Like, Herbert's going to be an MVP frontrunner.
0:30They're probably going to win the division. They might even win the Super Bowl.
0:36If you're looking at this offense from top to bottom, I really do not think there is anything that could stop it.
0:44Welcome back to First Take where we have breaking news.
0:47Moments ago, our Adam Schefter tweeted, Chargers center Tyler Biotish is out indefinitely after suffering damage to his ACL and additional injuries
0:55to his left knee during Tuesday's joint practice against the 49ers.
0:59Hello darkness my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.
1:04Welcome to the bootleg football podcast. I'm Brett Coleman.
1:07That's EJ Snyder. Here's a fun stat for you.
1:10Last week, I think it was last week at this time, we talked about the Buccaneers starters missing a combined 250 starts in 2025.
1:19The Chargers beat them 261 combined starts missed for the LA Chargers, and they still went 11 and six and they still made the playoffs.
1:28I don't think anybody expected them to actually go on a run with how many guys they were missing.
1:35But all things considered, last year was kind of a miracle.
1:39Miraculous in many ways. We'll talk about a lot of those today, but it is so funny that the other team, their
1:47northern neighbors in California, get a lot of press for how many games they miss with injury because of one looming and diabolical electrical substation.
1:56But nobody really talks about it with the Chargers or they just say, come on, it's the Chargers.
2:02Like that's just their lot in life. But in terms of the 49ers, they had 262 games missed the Chargers 261.
2:10So these two teams are nothing if not in the same neighborhood in terms of injuries.
2:16And yeah, it was tremendously impactful for both of them.
2:19But I would say the Chargers motored through it a little bit better last year.
2:25But yeah, down the stretch, again, the healthiest teams are the ones that go the furthest in the playoffs.
2:32That plays out statistically. And the Chargers got there, but they were literally on one leg, if that.
2:38I mean, in the case of their offensive line, half a leg by the end of it.
2:44They just had nobody left. We will get into some of the really disgusting trench stats that Justin Herbert had to deal with.
2:53Before we do, though, let's do a quick recap of 2025.
2:57What happened and how? Again, because of both the talent that we'll talk about on this team and I think the coaching,
3:05not only the head coach, but Jesse Minter was there as the defensive coordinator.
3:10Y'all know we're big fans of him and he's now the head man in Baltimore.
3:15Overall record of 11-6, second in the division even with all of those games lost.
3:21Home record of 6-3, road record very similar, 5-3.
3:24Last five games, 3-2, even with all those injuries mounting.
3:28So when we say miraculous, we'll get into how much impact those missing starters had.
3:33Because if you're missing a backup special teamer, it still counts as games missed.
3:38If you're missing a starting offensive tackle, not exactly the same thing in the NFL.
3:44In terms of how that all played out in effectiveness summary, we do that with bootleg power score.
3:50We do the passing EPA per play, rushing EPA per play, defense against the rush in the pass, then points scored and points allowed.
3:59So six total numbers, we assign their NFL ranks, we add them up, divide by six, and then we just stack the scores.
4:07Typically it's a pretty good indicator. Passing EPA per play last year, 26th, a lot of that comes down to offensive line issues.
4:15Justin Herbert did Yeoman's work, we'll talk about how.
4:19But when you're running for your life on every play, your passing offense is not going to look great.
4:26It was also not the strong suit of their offensive coordinator at the time, so that plays into it as well.
4:33Well, rushing EPA per play is the strong suit of their former offensive coordinator.
4:38They were 13th even with offensive line injuries. A lot of that came through volume, but we'll talk about how.
4:46In terms of defense, this is where Minter made a huge difference for this team.
4:51They were 9th against the pass and 3rd against the rush.
4:55This was an elite defense. Minter lived up to billing.
4:59We were very excited about him. Last year on this show when we were previewing the charges, we thought they were going to have a big year.
5:08We liked the talent they had assembled, and honestly, they did.
5:12They held up their end of the bargain. Points scored 368.
5:16That was good enough for 20th in the league, which is not awesome in an offensive-minded league.
5:23Points allowed. They were a top 10 scoring defense.
5:26They were 9th. So, 26th, 13th, 9th, 3rd, 20th, and 9th.
5:30Lots of single-digit ranks there. Add that up, divide by 6, your raw score is 13.33.
5:36That puts them 11th overall, just one spot behind yesterday's team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
5:41Again, all things in the wash get into this stat.
5:45It's all 17 games. It is offense, defense, scoring, the whole bit.
5:49But to have them be just outside the top 10 with the season they had and the injuries they took, it's a
5:57heck of a coaching job by that staff. I know there's a lot of Chargers fans that maybe didn't see the Chiefs episode.
6:05They're like, what do you mean behind the Chiefs?
6:09We explained it yesterday. The Chiefs rushing EPA got all sorts of fucked in our model because of the brilliance of Mahomes' scrambles.
6:17I've actually been talking to a couple different people that suggested a way to weight the model for next year that accounts
6:25for that and also uses designed runs versus scrambles.
6:28Because real talk, the Chiefs thing yesterday. Again, fraudulent is not a good word.
6:33It wasn't accurate. It's one of the limitations of EPA where if you get really explosive runs in a high-leverage situation like
6:41third and seven, it's going to really weight heavily on your rushing EPA.
6:46And they were not a good run game. Everybody knows they were not a good run game.
6:52It's just Mahomes was that good with his feet before he got hurt.
6:57So that, to me, is going to cause us to probably change the model for next year a little bit to account for that.
7:06And I would say the Chargers rushing EPA of 13th is also another one that I think could push us towards doing that.
7:14A, because Herbert contributed as a scrambler too. But really, the reason why they were 13th is because they were so good after contact.
7:23Like, these were two backs, in Omari and in Kamani, that if you look at their ability to make something out of
7:31nothing, you could argue they were one of the five best backfields in the entire league last year doing just that.
7:38Omari and individually, if you look at, this comes from NextGenStats, by the way, if you look at every single running back
7:46that had at least 50 carries last year, he was third in missed tackles forced percentage.
7:52Like, he was absolutely sensational. And so you have an offensive line that objectively was bad.
7:58They were 29th in average yards before contact per attempt.
8:02They weren't giving their running backs anything to work with.
8:05And yet this team was still 6th in yards after contact per attempt.
8:10And 12th in explosive run rate. That is solely on the running backs raising the ceiling of this run game to above
8:18average, where lesser running backs would have, like, they probably would have been in the 20s, if we're being honest.
8:25Maybe in the 20s. Very well could have been in the 30s with how bad this offensive line was.
8:32So, again, rushing EPA per play, we'll have to tweak that for next year because the Chiefs were not the 10th most powerful team in the NFL.
8:42And you could argue the Chargers weren't 11th because of how bad this offensive line was, which, of course, brings me to Justin Herbert in the passing game.
8:52We have a new contender to go along with the Raiders and the Browns for worst pass protection unit in the league.
9:00They were 32nd in pressure rate allowed, which is just absurd.
9:04Like, they were that bad after Alt and Slater got injured.
9:08Even with some of the games that Alt played healthy, they were still 32nd in the NFL.
9:14That is how bad the interior was. That is how bad their backup tackles were.
9:20Justin Herbert had more pressure dropbacks than any other quarterback in the league.
9:24Still put up 3,700 yards. Still put up 26 touchdowns and 13 picks.
9:29The fact that it was only 13 picks, again, flat-out miracle.
9:33Would I have voted for him for MVP? Not necessarily, but I do understand why Sam cast his vote that way because
9:41if you just watch the Chargers offense last year, they might have been one of the three to four worst offenses in
9:49the NFL if they didn't have Justin Herbert. The way that he handled all that pressure and was still productive, still had
9:57an explosive offense, at least in spurts, just very few other quarterbacks could have done that under the circumstances.
10:04A true miracle worker, a guy playing on the hardest hard mode in terms of what his offensive line was allowing him
10:12to get away with, and he still got away with a lot just purely through physical prowess and guile, toughness, like he took a ton of hits.
10:22It is unfortunately slightly reminiscent of the Andrew Luck thing.
10:25Now, Justin Herbert is not Andrew Luck, but he is a very quality quarterback playing behind a shell of an offensive line, not because the Chargers haven't invested.
10:35Again, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, if they were healthy, completely different story.
10:40Health is not up to the Chargers in this particular case, and it's not like the Colts who kind of said, hey,
10:48make do with whatever we put in front of you, but the end result on the field looked eerily similar in terms
10:56of very talented quarterback who can make a ton of throws, manages pressure really well considering how much of it he had to deal with and how often.
11:06Got some tremendous results out of it, but still, it was like, guys, I can't do it all myself.
11:13You're going to have to give me just the slightest bit of help, and they're like, we're trying, but literally this is all we got.
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13:21And with that, let's get back to it. And quite frankly, I don't think Greg Roman was really up to the task
13:29to handle their personnel deficiencies after they took these injuries.
13:33This is another team similar to Houston where they couldn't run block worth a damn and they still kept trying to run the ball on first down.
13:42Fifth highest first down run rate in the NFL.
13:46And because they were so bad at it, again, it's not the running back's fault, it's the offensive line's fault, or rather
13:54the backup offensive line's fault to be realistic about it.
13:57They led the league in first downs that went for either no gain or a loss.
14:03And that was still with running backs that averaged that much after contact.
14:08So they, on average, were getting hit in the backfield on first down.
14:12And they were fighting just to get it to a no gain.
14:17So because of that, the only teams that had more plays that were second and 11 plus were Arizona and Houston.
14:24And it was similar stories with their offense. They had to be extremely pass heavy on second and long.
14:31They were not a team that could kind of keep it ambiguous.
14:36You know, if you listen to the Bears episode, if you listen to the Colts episode that had like high first down
14:44success rate, so they could kind of keep it ambiguous in terms of run pass rates on second down, Chargers couldn't do that.
14:52They had to throw the ball on second down because they were always in long downs and distances.
14:59They had a 25th or were 25th, I should say, in second down run rate.
15:04So they were what, seventh or eighth highest in second down pass rate.
15:09And I just, when you're that one dimensional on second down and third down, yeah, you're going to give up a lot
15:17of pressure because defenses can pin their ears back.
15:20They can call up, you know, different stunts and blitzes without getting worried about, oh, are we going to get caught in
15:28a run here if we're calling this stunt? And like, they just don't care at that point.
15:34They're in attack mode and they stayed in attack mode all game, every game.
15:39And when you already have a banged up offensive line and they're on their back foot from the jump, again, it's just
15:47a miracle that they won 11 games. And I really wish that Justin Herbert got more recognition for the season that he had.
15:56I understand why he didn't, right? Because of the way it ended and because of just the box score.
16:02But if you watched him last year, that might have been the best football I've ever seen him play.
16:09It was tremendous football from a tremendous football player and you said you didn't think Greg Roman was up to the task
16:17after the injuries robbed them of sort of top line talent.
16:21We'd said last summer in this episode, we're not sure that he's up to the task even with the offensive talent.
16:29Like, we can see a path forward to success but even in his best years, and I'm talking about Greg Roman's best
16:37years, when he has had top line talent because he's had some of the top quarterbacks in the NFL that he's coordinated
16:45offenses for, and even when they did stay healthy, he wasn't able to find balance or play with it in the way
16:53that we've talked about in terms of guys like Liam Cohen or Ben Johnson.
16:58Like, he never elicited those feelings. He was a run-first offensive coordinator and he went away from it a little bit.
17:06I think he kind of pulled on Mike McCarthy and said, hey, I sat at the kitchen table with all my coaching buddies and I've changed my ways.
17:16The answer is, no, not really and as a result, he's not there.
17:20I'm excited to watch the Chargers offense this year.
17:24I am trepidatious about injuries as always and will remain so until we can see if they can stay healthy because it
17:32doesn't seem to be something the Chargers are particularly good at.
17:36But, again, count me as ready to be hurt again.
17:39I'm interested to see Mike McDaniel unleash Justin Herbert because McDaniel's never had a quarterback like Herbert and Herbert's never had a coordinator like McDaniel.
17:48I mean, you hear it just in the sound from practice like when McDaniel's mic'd up and just the way he talks
17:56about Herbert he's floored with what he's able to do.
18:00He's never had it before. It's like he's blown away by the stuff that he can call now because he has somebody talented enough to do it.
18:10So I think we're going to see it an entirely new version of this Mike McDaniel offense.
18:16I think obviously it's going to be just as explosive as ever, but I think he's going to call things that he
18:24never would have dreamed about calling with Tua because he just knew the ball wasn't going to get there.
18:31Like we're going to see like high sevens from the far hash like shit that you just never would have seen in Miami.
18:39Not that Miami didn't throw the ball down the field.
18:43They didn't throw it down the field like that.
18:46Like just absolutely disrespectful play calls. That's what we're going to see with the Chargers this year.
18:52Again, if everybody stays healthy, but the fact that he has a guy that can make those throws and there's five of
19:00them, six of them in the league, he's a kid in a candy store.
19:05Now flipping it over the defensive side. We had said when Minter first got there, he was probably going to be a future head coach.
19:14We were kind of just counting down the days for that to happen.
19:19And of course, as soon as John Harbaugh parted ways, I guess you could say with the Ravens, he was obviously at the very top of the list.
19:29It was kind of what we expected on the Chargers behalf.
19:33We hoped not. We hoped that they would have hired somebody else so that Jesse could stay another year, but very slim chance that was going to happen.
19:43With Minner being available and the Ravens job being open, there was nobody who was a better fit.
19:50So I kind of saw that one coming, but it's an absolute dream fit for Baltimore and for Minner.
19:57And so the question then became, okay, well, how did the Chargers replace him?
20:02Enter Chris O'Leary, who had some experience as the safeties coach in this defense a couple years ago.
20:08Everybody in that secondary loved him, including Derwin James, who got a huge vote of confidence, went over to Western Michigan for a year to call their defense.
20:19But him coming home, really felt more like a continuation of the system that already existed rather than, you know, a new identity coming in.
20:28I think it's going to look very similar to what it did the last couple years, right?
20:34They were a 90% zone team under Jesse, highest zone rate in the league.
20:3964% of their snaps were either cover three or quarters.
20:43That's what they did over and over and over again.
20:46It's just cover three and quarters. In particular, heavy cover three on first down, stopped the run, you mentioned, you know, really
20:54good EPA per play allowed against the run because they played a lot of first down cover three and that's the main
21:02coverage people call when they want to stop the run.
21:06You get to second down, they became a heavy quarters team.
21:10Why? Because if you can't run the ball on first down, I mean, just look at the Chargers offense.
21:17If you can't run the ball on first down, you're going to throw it on second along.
21:23We're going to call quarters. We're going to limit our explosive plays, get to third down, and that's where they started to blitz, right?
21:32We're not a super blitz heavy team until they got to third down.
21:36Coincidentally, they had the fifth highest pressure rate on third down.
21:40They had the tenth highest third down sack conversion rate.
21:44Like, they were very simplistic, quite frankly. Cover three, quarters, blitz your ass off on third down.
21:50Wash, rinse, repeat, worked over and over and over again, and I think that's kind of why the defense felt better than the sum of its parts.
22:00There's very few, like, individual superstars here, but they all played their roles brilliantly.
22:05The system made sense, and even just kind of the nuances of how they would bring pressure on third down, like, their
22:13pressure plan week by week never looked the same.
22:16It was always tailored for their opponent in terms of attacking what they like to do in protections.
22:23You know, if they found, like, a weak link, whether it was, hey, their running back can't cross-protect, or, hey, this backup
22:31guard probably is not going to be able to handle stunts super well, like, let's attack him that way.
22:38Like, their pressure plans week by week always were tailored in that way, but everything else was pretty much the same from
22:46week to week, and nobody could crack it. Felt very Ravens-esque from when Minter and Mike McDonalds were with the Ravens.
22:53There was a lot of very good players who played together, but they didn't necessarily have outright superstars that they relied on
23:01like division rival Kansas City does with Chris Jones.
23:04It's like, oh, we need a pressure. It's got to be Chris Jones late because he's Chris Jones.
23:11Ravens were never like that back in the day, and this version of the Chargers defense felt the same way.
23:18They did have Khalil Mack, they've got Tuley, they've got quality players, and much like that Baltimore system, they're very quality players.
23:26It's not like they were scrubs, but there wasn't one that they always relied on.
23:32This defense is multiple changeable, makes the same thing look different, exchanges roles before the snap with just one word.
23:39Hey, you take my job, I'll take yours. We don't necessarily have to switch alignment, and all of that added up to
23:47a defense that played at or above the level of their talent, frustrated offenses, and to your point, didn't have to be
23:55complicated because if what you're doing is simple and it's working, just keep at it.
24:00Hi, alternate timeline, Brett here. Before we get to all the 2026 stuff, if you've liked a lot of the data that
24:08we brought up so far, we have companion infographics for every single team, including the one we're talking about today, with over
24:1615,000 total data points that we have collected throughout this summer.
24:20Each team gets its own companion infographic, which is roughly about 20 pages long.
24:25It has all the data on this team you can think of, whether it's alignment data, personnel data, cap allocation, coverage data
24:33broken out by down and distance, blitz data. I mean, basically anything you can think of, we've got it.
24:40So if you want access to that, you can find that down at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.
24:50Reminder, we also have bonus episodes that go live every single Friday over on Patreon, recapping every single division.
24:57We're going to pick division winners, MVPs, rookies of the year, all that stuff.
25:02So if you want bonus episodes plus more data than you could probably handle, that is over on the Patreon.
25:09Thank you once again to all of our patrons that have made, honestly, this series possible to make in the first place.
25:17We could not have paid the people who help us make it without your guys' financial support.
25:23So thank you to our patrons. Thank you to all of our executive producers on Patreon.
25:29Their names are on screen right now. They have been OG supporters of us and made so much in our lives possible
25:37while we try to chase this dream. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
25:42And with that, let's get back to the show.
25:46All right, from here on out, we're talking 2026, though we've kind of hit 2026 stuff already a little bit.
25:53Again, this is everything they've done this offseason to try to improve on the 11 and 6 result from last year.
26:01Start with the power structure, the people in charge who've been in charge for a few years now.
26:07And, you know, while they haven't made it as far into January as I think Chargers fans would like, if you compare
26:15it to what they were pre-Jim and Joe, I would take this.
26:19Yeah, most fans would, but it gets difficult in the NFL.
26:23A little bit of a taste of success being able to sort of thump on some division rivals who've been standing on
26:31your head for a few years, and you don't want to stop there.
26:36You just want more, and I don't blame Chargers fans for that.
26:40And I think there is more there, and so do the Chargers, because again, at the top of the power structure, you
26:48said Jim and Joe, that's GM Joe Ortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh.
26:53Underneath that, again, both coordinators changed, but for different reasons.
26:57Defensive coordinator, look, Minter moved on, they found what they believe is the best possible replacement for him, and the offensive coordinator,
27:05they wanted something different, and boy, if there is something disparate and different from Greg Roman, it is Mike McDaniel.
27:12Not at all the same approach offensively, but we are going to see explosion in different ways.
27:18We are going to see an offense that once the get it, and I mean really get it, all of their players,
27:26the offensive line understanding the shifts, Herbert understanding both protections and route variances, again, all the receivers and backs getting on the same page.
27:35It's not going to happen immediately. We've seen fits and starts even through the preseason.
27:40We saw a bunch of motion penalties in the second preseason game for the Chargers where the Chargers were just like, we
27:48saw a lot of like, oh, receiver uncovered, like I thought he had it.
27:53No, okay, that was mine. As soon as they get over those growing pains, which I think could happen five, six weeks
28:01in and this starts clicking, presumably, with Herbert slinging those absolute bombs downfield, I think the rest of the league is going
28:09to take a pause at that moment and go, uh-oh, what did we let happen?
28:15We let the mad bomber meet up with the mad scientist.
28:19This is not good, right? Mike can now call stuff he could never call.
28:24Justin is like, yeah, I can throw it that far.
28:27I can absolutely see the conversations between those two because Mike, very animated, a complete football nerd on offense.
28:34Justin, an absolute gym rat, but like, super quiet about it.
28:38I've met him twice now. He's just an understated guy.
28:42He's very, very level. Like, you can tell he's very into it and it means a lot to him, but outwardly he's not super demonstrative.
28:51He definitely holds his circle pretty tight. He's pretty quiet about it.
28:55So I could just see Mike going like, hey, Justin, can you throw this?
29:01He'd be like, yeah, yeah, coach, I can throw that.
29:04Like, you sure? Like, oh, yeah, I'll get it there.
29:08He's like, all right, you've never seen this before.
29:11Give it a rip. Like, and Justin hits it and Mike's like, ah, it's going to be a lot of fun when this evens out for the Chargers.
29:21Defensive coordinator, again, we said is Chris O'Leary and the special teams coordinator is Ryan Ficken.
29:27It gets really interesting both on the offensive side and the defensive side when we get to the position coaches.
29:34The pass game coordinator and QB coach is Shane Day.
29:38The pass game specialist is one Adam Gase. And I know that gives a lot of people moments for pause, but he,
29:46again, is going to be a problem solver for this offense, not a play caller.
29:51And you know what? Nevermind. It's fine. It's fine.
29:55Keep, keep, I'm, we all have let it happen.
29:58I will watch the bus crash. And I don't think he's driving the bus.
30:03And that's what I think I really need to sort of talk everybody down from.
30:08And trust me, this is from someone who has survived Adam Gase in a position of power for my team.
30:16It's, it's not pretty, but again, he's not driving.
30:19He's in the back going, hey, I can come up with a concept like you said, in terms of, oh, what is this defense vulnerable to?
30:28Mike can give him an area to attack and say, hey, drop some concepts that if we get these situations, we're going to roll in.
30:37And he can do that as a passing game specialist.
30:41That's pretty much what he's there for. The run game coordinator and offensive line coach.
30:46I love the combination is Butch Berry, assistant offensive line coach named Barry familiar to Chargers fans, Nick Hardwick, of course, an
30:54alum as a player, and the running backs coach again on offense, Max McCaffrey, son of Ed, brother of CMC, coached under
31:02McDaniel from 23 to 25 in Miami, had a bunch of different roles, but Mike liked his work well enough to bring
31:10him along when he ends up in LA. On the defense, elite last year, we said it, ninth versus a pass, third versus the run.
31:20Now the challenge is to continue that without the wonder kid, Jesse Minter, guiding it.
31:25But I think they have a coaching staff in place, again, under O'Leary that is going to be able to continue that.
31:33When I reached out to my folks that cover the Chargers day-to-day, I said, who are the stars on the defensive coaching staff?
31:41Who are folks that the organization sees as true elevators of talent or rising stars?
31:47And the answers were Steve Klinkscale, who is the defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach, the defensive line coach, Mike
31:55Elston, somebody that's mentioned as an elevator of talent.
31:58Again, gets the most or even maximizes the players that he has.
32:02That's how the organization sees him. And luckily enough for them, he's said openly that he doesn't really want to be a defensive coordinator.
32:11He is quite happy doing what he does. That is good news for the Chargers.
32:16It means he's probably not going to get poached and they love the work he does because, again, he maximizes their roster for them.
32:25The linebacker's coach is Sean Spence. This is his first NFL coaching job.
32:30If you recognize his name, he was a third-rounder, 86th overall for the Steelers out of Miami in the 2012 draft.
32:38But his connection to this staff is that he was with O'Leary at Western Michigan in 25 last year.
32:44Which, in large part, is why they brought in Adomit Tucker's UDFA, because he played for both of them at Western Michigan.
32:52Now, full disclosure, we're recording this on cut-down day.
32:56Yeah, fun times. We don't know if Nodami made it.
32:59Maybe he did. We'll find out later. We can put a little thing on screen of yes or no.
33:06But that is why Nodami went there. If you're a UDFA and you're going to go anywhere, it's where your coaches that
33:14just coached you are in the NFL, which was the Chargers.
33:18Yeah, that's going to get you up to speed as quickly as possible.
33:23So it makes sense from a professional standpoint, this is my best chance to make it moving up a step in competition.
33:31The defensive run game specialist, much like there is an offensive pass specialist, is Mike Keistan.
33:37And that is funny to me because his dad, Harry, longtime offensive line coach, now retired, but both on the college football
33:45and the NFL level, he had a long stint with the Bears as the offensive line coach.
33:51I think it's hilarious that Mike, his son, is selling out the family secrets on the other side of the ball.
33:58Mike started out as an offensive coach, but switched to the defensive side of the ball in 23 and has been there ever since.
34:07I always find it fascinating when coaches start on one side or have a long family history on one side of the
34:15ball and end up saying, you know, those guys have it better over there.
34:20I'm going to shift sides. And the name to watch that came out on this staff is a young coach, Dylan Ronnie,
34:28the outside linebacker coach, considered a rising star in defensive coaching.
34:32So just sort of put a tab next to his name and see how his career progression goes because on a staff
34:40full of great defensive coaches, you've got a coach that young who is not the assistant outside linebackers coach.
34:47He is the outside linebackers coach. That's your first clue.
34:51And the second one is a lot of people saying, oh yeah, that guy's not going to be here in five years.
34:59He's going to have a better job. Before we get to free agency, do you want to thank our friends over at Woodinville for the bourbon?
35:08This is actually, I'm almost done with this bottle.
35:11I don't know if they ever made it again.
35:15I got to double check. So this is the muscatel finish.
35:19Again, I might only have like one pour left.
35:22I've had it for a few years now. I think I actually got it when I was up there with you.
35:30You did. As a matter of fact, three years ago.
35:33It's delicious. So what you see here is a nice smooth bottle.
35:38They don't make these smooth bottles anymore. Now they have a newly redesigned bottle, which I will put on screen for you.
35:46It's absolutely gorgeous. They put a lot of work into it and that work paid off.
35:51I'm a sucker for beautiful packaging and they just have an absolutely beautiful bottle now.
35:57They have bourbons, they have rise, they have different cask finishes, they have special releases, of which I have several behind me on the shelf.
36:06If you guys want to check out the entire Woodinville catalog, you can go to the QR code on the screen or the link in the description below.
36:16Just browse everything. You're probably going to find something you like.
36:20Even if you don't like spirits, they make syrup.
36:23So if you're a pancake lover or a waffle lover, either one, I won't besmirch you.
36:29Put it on biscuits at this point. You'll love it.
36:33Whatever. It is delicious. Get whatever you want over at Woodinville.
36:37Again, if you guys support our partners, our partners come back and help fund the show.
36:42So thank you once again to Woodinville for working with us.
36:46Getting the free agency. This team had a lot of turnover on the offensive line, but if you watched the offensive line
36:54last year, you're probably okay with that. So Mekhi Becton, gone.
36:58Jamari Salyer, gone. Zion Johnson, gone. Bobby Hart. I can't believe Bobby Hart was still in the league last year.
37:06He is gone. He is now with the Seahawks.
37:09Andre James, he who must not be named, is with the Titans.
37:13Will Disley, also gone. I'm not going to, he's not an offensive lineman, but he is involved in the run game, I guess, to a degree.
37:23Austin Dekulis, the other, other, other, other tackle. He's also now in Tennessee.
37:27As far as other names that are also gone, Keenan Allen, Odafe Owe, a million dollars from the Commanders after being with
37:35the Chargers for eight games, nine games, somewhere around there.
37:39Atito Ogbonia is now in Dallas. Deshaun Hand is with the Falcons.
37:43Najee Harris is a giant. Ben St. Juiced is a Packer.
37:47It just goes on and on and on. There's a lot of roster turnover here for a team that went 11-6.
37:55Yeah, not only the coaching turnover that we did not think they had any false aspirations about, we should just run it back.
38:03No, they were like, not good enough. We should be first in the division.
38:08We should be in the playoffs. We should be winning games.
38:12What do we need to do that? They did that on the coaching side.
38:18And this shows you how deeply they cut into that roster and said, hey, look, I know you've been very serviceable for us.
38:26You've played a lot of games. There's a lot of snaps just in that offensive line because of injury, but we're talking
38:34about 50% of the snaps, 40% of the snaps.
38:37When you add them all up, that is tremendous turnover on that side of the ball.
38:43And in terms of folks that they kept and paid, Derwin James, you mentioned him earlier, obviously a longtime star for this
38:51organization, played a ton of snaps for them. They re-signed him.
38:55They re-signed Khalil Mack as well. T.R. Tart, who I mentioned, I don't know, like three weeks ago at this point, another
39:03one of these episodes, as one of those guys who plays, again, above his sort of name recognition and is a very valuable part of this defensive line.
39:13Denzel Perryman, who changed my mind on inside linebackers in terms of scouting, I was like, Denzel Perryman, he's just a madman
39:21against the run, he's never going to make it a lead because he can't cover, we're going on year what, because he's 34 now?
39:30He's up there. People can change, and Denzel Perryman was the one for me that I came down hard on and said,
39:38nope, he's not going to last, he'll be out of the league or he'll be a special teamer only in five or six years.
39:46No, no, still starting for the Chargers at 34.
39:50Okay, then, Trey Lance, who looks like he has won the number two quarterback job behind Justin Herbert, Jarrett Patterson, another member
39:58of that running back room, along with Kamani Vidal, also re-signed this off season.
40:03So, lots of money for players. They got paid.
40:06Again, lots more names in this, but those are the ones that we thought were most important.
40:12As far as where they spent their outside money, they brought in Dalvin Tomlinson to make a good run defense even more stout, because why not?
40:22Only six and a half million, which is a pretty good deal to me for what Dalvin brings to the table.
40:29Charlie Kohler spent 8.1 million on him to be the best blocking tight end the Chargers have had in, boy, maybe more than 10 years at this point.
40:39Kind of thinking back to maybe since like young, no, he's a better blocker than young Hunter Henry actually, now that think about it.
40:48God, when's the last time the Chargers had a tight end that could actually block like this?
40:54It might have been a while, a while. And I know people look at that number for a blocking tight end and
41:02they're saying, what are you guys doing? It's a valuable thing.
41:06Because if you look at the run game, or rather teams that don't have a tight end that can block and what
41:14their run games look like, they look like Houston, right?
41:18It looks like Dalton Schultz just getting ragdolled every single play.
41:22Believe me, it was not just the offensive line that caused the Texans run game to be terrible.
41:28Their tight ends couldn't block either. And I think if you're looking at Heronday Gadsden, bless him, he tries.
41:35He's 240, maybe 245 on his best day. especially a run game that looks like Mike McDaniels.
41:42So I think it's $8.1 million well spent. I truly can't remember the last time the Chargers had a tight end that
41:50could block, like a real tight end, not a fake tight end, a real tight end that could block like this.
41:57It's been a generation, I guess, if you think of it that way.
42:02Keaton Mitchell also brought in to contribute. I don't know when he's coming back off injury.
42:08I think he might be, hold on, let me Google this.
42:12We're doing it live. Hold on. We're doing it live.
42:15All right, through the magic of editing, no, we do not have an answer of if Keaton Mitchell's going on short-term IR yet.
42:24We'll find out eventually. Again, we'll put that on screen with whatever happens with him.
42:29But when Keaton Mitchell is healthy, incredibly explosive player, just adds to an already explosive backfield.
42:35I love that signing. In theory, on paper, in a vacuum, all the caveats.
42:40Cole Strange, Yikes. That one hasn't gone well so far.
42:44Season hasn't even started, but that one has not gone well so far.
42:48Then Tyler Biotish paid 10 million. That was a great deal at the time for a quality starting center.
42:55And then of course, his own teammate threw somebody into his knees during joint practice and now he's hurt.
43:02So, kind of back to where we were last year of an interior offensive line that may or may not suck and
43:10an offensive tackle duo that if they stay healthy are going to have to basically do everything by themselves.
43:17We'll see again from the free agency side you said oh he tries about running ass and the front office tried.
43:25It's not that they didn't say that this was a need or recognize it or refuse to pay for it.
43:32They saw it was a need, recognized it and did pay for it.
43:37Injuries are a funny thing. Also, about Charlie Kohler, if you had sent this as a dispatch from the future to five
43:45years ago me and said Charlie Kohler is getting a big contract for blocking when I was doing his pre-draft eval, I
43:53would have been like, you're out of your mind.
43:56You're from a bizarro future. That's not true because Charlie Kohler was a lousy blocker in college and he really came to
44:04that side of the profession in the pros and has become very, very good at it, but he was not very good at it as a collegiate.
44:14So, again, people do change, progress is not linear, he is now getting paid largely for his blocking prowess, which is hilarious
44:22because his scouting report coming out was much closer to Rondae Gadsden, the guy that he's ostensibly replacing as the primary blocker,
44:30but in terms of the interior offensive line, help might have come in the second round of the draft.
44:36My second graded center, Jake Slaughter from Florida, is now the guy probably manning the hub for the Chargers.
44:43They got him in the second round at 63, and I think they're glad they did.
44:49They thought they were going to play him at guard.
44:53I think they would still like to play him at guard.
44:57They would certainly rather have Beatish healthy, but sort in emergency break glass.
45:01He had one of the best centers in college football.
45:05When I got to Slaughter State, I was really impressed.
45:09He doesn't impress you physically standing next to him.
45:12On the field of the combine, I was like, it looks really average, quite frankly, not necessarily a guy that's body beautiful.
45:20You put on the tape, he wins over and over and over again.
45:25In the run game, in the pass game, he is wildly effective.
45:29He just sort of moved up the rankings. I had a group of four centers that I really liked.
45:36Slaughter ended up being second and just barely in that group.
45:40The fact that the Chargers, I'm not going to say lucked into him, they drafted him, thought he was going to be
45:48a guard, maybe he was going to be the center of the future.
45:53He's the center of now and they're lucky to have him.
45:57I don't want to skip over the first round in this particular case because I think that would be a racer of a very good player.
46:06At 22nd overall, they get Akeem Mesidor, the edge out of Miami, who a lot of people threw stones at in the
46:14draft process because he's 25 years old when he was drafted.
46:18And everybody said, oh, he's a grown man beating up on kids.
46:22That's an argument I hate. If you look at the tape, it was not just that Reuben Bain was on this defense.
46:30It was not just that Keontae Scott was blitzing off the edge.
46:35The key Mesidor had really good tape. I liked his tape as an edge.
46:40I think he is going to come in. And the flip side of that argument of, he's 25, is he's ready to go.
46:48He's a grown ass man. You talk to him at the combine and his approach showed that the way he approaches it
46:56mentally and physically combined, he's he's just ready to go right now.
47:01Right? And I think a lot of teams, they try to draft for three years down the road.
47:07They try to project, okay, what's this guy going to be when he's in some cases 25 years old, which Mesidor is already 25 years old.
47:16But to me, if I look at what Mesidor is right now, take the health stuff out of it, I understand there were health concerns.
47:26If you just look at the tape, you look at the talent, a lot of the guys that you draft when they're
47:3421, you hope they look when they're 25 like what Mesidor looks like right now when he's 25.
47:40And so if you discount that because you're like, oh, we might only get two contracts out of them, I don't care.
47:48Nobody is building their team for what it looks like seven seasons from now.
47:53Three years max is what you're looking out in the future for.
47:57And even then, in the Chargers position right now, we're really kind of year to year.
48:03We think we're in a window right now. We can win right now.
48:08We think the AFC is vulnerable. We have a great quarterback in his prime.
48:13We have weapons. We have a great tackle duo.
48:16We have a defense. We have a coaching staff.
48:20Now is the time to strike. Why would I draft somebody who's 21 and I can't put on the field yet?
48:27We need somebody who can contribute right now, which is Akeem Mesidor.
48:32And quite frankly, most of the guys that you draft when they're true juniors out of college, you hope they look like
48:40what Akeem looks like after you develop them. He's already there.
48:44So I think it's a great pick. The age stuff doesn't really bother me.
48:49Maybe in the past the age could have mattered more.
48:52These days, not really. It really doesn't. It's much more common than it if he and Mesidor sort of rotate snaps at
49:00a 60-40 clip through the first 10-12 weeks, that's a win for the Chargers.
49:05It's less mileage on Mack. He stays explosive later in the season.
49:10Mesidor gets more experience for that stretch run. And then you have two fireballers.
49:15So a tremendous pick at number one for them.
49:18Obviously in the second round they pick Jake Slaughter.
49:21Then they skip all the way down to the fourth to day three.
49:26They did not have a third round pick and they have three picks in the fourth round.
49:32Brennan Thompson, the wide receiver out of Mississippi State, Travis Burke, the large and talented offensive tackle out of Memphis, and Genesis
49:40Smith, who we mentioned many times because we've been talking about his defensive backfield mates at Arizona at 131.
49:47So overall the fourth round nets them a bunch of talent.
49:51Brennan Thompson obviously incredibly fast, made waves with his 40 time, has punt return versatility as well.
49:57I do not think he is just a fast guy.
50:01However, he is a small guy. He is not a guy that's going to play from height weight speed perspective more just a speed perspective.
50:10And he's not just a speed guy. I think he has a lot more development in his route tree and knowledge of
50:18the offense that people gave him credit for because they saw the speed and said oh he's just a burner.
50:25You're just going to run him deep. That's it.
50:28He's a returner flash in the pan kind of a guy.
50:32Already penciled in to the Chargers starting lineup as wide receiver three if they go wide receiver sets.
50:39I think it's a great place to start in the fourth round.
50:43Where did you come down on Brennan Thompson? He's the guy that McDaniels thinking of when he's concocting all these throws that
50:51he's never had a quarterback that could make Brennan is the guy he's going to throw it to.
50:58If you want something to go 65 yards down the field it's going to be to him.
51:04I think Ladd can run. He can get vertical.
51:07Quinton can run. He can get vertical. Almost nobody can get vertical like Brennan Thompson.
51:13I think if you have all three of these guys on the field together you're going to back up.
51:20There's going to be a lot of space in the intermediate area because even hell you put Arande on the field too
51:28because Arande can run for a tight end. Four verts with those four guys is just absolutely disgusting.
51:34I would be terrified if I was a DC of just maybe two can your fourth DB run with these guys when
51:42all of them are going vertical so it's a really tough proposition to give a quarterback like Justin Herbert with that kind
51:50of arm all of this speed at the same time and I think they're going to be able to eat people up
51:58in the intermediate because you have to play over the top I would be terrified of being a press corner against this
52:06team because if you misstep even a little bit you're giving up a 50 yarder Mike McDaniels got experience with smaller faster
52:14receivers as well Jalen Waddle only about not a full inch taller than Brennan Thompson and about 10 pounds heavier everybody said
52:22Waddle was too small to be a full time functional NFL wide receiver when he came out he's added a little bit
52:30in this offensive system mentioned Travis Burke raw but absolute animal athletically and I think has not even come close to his
52:38ceiling for a team that needs tackle depth they know they go through it every year whether they want to or not
52:46I thought this was a good get I actually thought with the run we saw on offensive tackles that Travis Burke might
52:54have gone earlier with somebody gambling on potential ends up the chargers of the beneficiary at 117 at 131 14 picks later
53:02they took the other other other Arizona safety Genesis Smith they had three drafted in this class which is you don't normally
53:10associate Arizona with having an NFL secondary technically they did they guys drafted he was really really talented the tape was fun
53:18the I mean his talent says he could have gone maybe two rounds earlier most likely one round earlier but still the
53:26reason why he dropped at minimum a full round from where his talent suggests just struggled to get guys on the ground
53:34there was kind of a nightmare stretch in the middle of the season where god they're off top years defensive coaches right
53:42but if you're looking at just size height weight speed there's very few safeties that are as naturally talented in this class
53:50at least as Genesis Smith yeah and if you believe in recency bias there was a point and we looked it up
53:58during the draft at which Arizona went hey man gotta change something in your approach again we were not privy to what
54:06happened in the room but after that point which was about week eight or nine of the college season his miss tackle
54:14rate dropped precipitously to single digits he didn't miss him at the end so if you believe hey as a coach I've
54:22seen it once I've end of round three easily from height weight speed his ability to cover his ability to hit like
54:30hitting and tackling hitting and wrapping two different things but if you believe he's gotten past that missed tackle stretch which was
54:38gaudy you are getting a tremendous value at 131 with Genesis Smith as we get into the tail end of day three
54:46they had a fifth and two sixth fifth was 145 Nick Barrett the defensive tackle from South Carolina in the sixth round
54:54at 202 they get Logan Taylor the guard out of Boston college and then four picks later at 206 Alex Harkey the
55:02guard out of Oregon who I guy again fifth sixth round as a developmental prospect swing guard I would take a shout
55:10on him so Harkey was my favorite of the three who did you like out better bodies cheaper bodies ideally both I
55:18think they're really tired of screwing around on interior offensive line now was my dream for them to either a look into
55:26Venga Iwane or maybe do like a little slight trade up for Venga Iwane yes but also realistically Venga even getting to
55:3414 was kind of long odds it was almost impossible to imagine he was going to get to 22 so the backup
55:42plan if you can even call it that was okay we're going to get the best edge available because they also had
55:50to future proof the edge room too but I really do believe if Venga slipped maybe another couple picks I got of
55:58July of so might not get to see him but again if that potential plays out and you get a playable NFL
56:06tackle as UDFA you're doing great and Dami Tucker one of my favorite edge rushers in this class we got to do
56:14a thing with Mike Mayock on the Sumer podcast about underdogs and Dami Tucker was one of mine edge out of Western
56:22Michigan again familiarity with his coach Sean Spence who is now the linebackers coach here makes this a perfect landing spot for
56:30him again we don't know if he made the speaking of again interior offensive linemen they didn't quit the center from Fresno
56:38State had himself a very nice camp and looks to be a member of 20% of the roster is going to be
56:46just interior offensive linemen they're going to look at everybody and like what do you blame us come on before we get
56:54into our patron viewer note I do want to plug homage real quick again if you're a chargers fan you need to
57:01refresh your chargers gear or if you're a fan of any team in the NFL and you want to go get gear
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57:33stuff if you use our link at the description below or the QR code on the episode this one comes from Jack
57:41one of our longest page oh geez for sure a day one or I would say Jack Hunter fantastic shout out to
57:49Jack he is a everybody's favorite British Chargers fan might be the only British Chargers fan long suffering Chargers fan gotta put
57:57that in there Chargers question for use both with the Chargers going out and signing Alec Ingold David Njoku and Charlie Kohler
58:05what do you think we had a similar conversation about a different position when the Vikings brought in Kyler and J.J.
58:13McCarthy it was still unknown what was going to happen with McCarthy at the time and you know the conversation we had
58:21was the competition is the confession right you don't bring in Kyler for that kind of competition unless you're confessing that you don't think that J.J.
58:30McCarthy is the guy lo and behold what four or five days into camp it was like yeah Kyler's the starter the
58:38competition was the confession when you sign Kohler to a big money deal when you sign a J.J.
58:45it's not a competition with Arande it's a confession we don't think he can do this in our offense and when you
58:53bring in Alec Engel it's like well we don't think we can convert him to fullback to be our use check either
59:01so what is he probably going to be a big slot to your point now how much is Mike McDaniel going to
59:09use that when you have other guys that are also slot receivers that in theory could be better slot it's tough to
59:17project the role when they go into 12 personnel it's probably going to be Kohler and a joke if I had to
59:25bet he wants more size in the field he wants to be mission and if they want to throw the ball we
59:33mentioned they got a bunch of speed at receiver they got lad they got QJ they got Brennan and I think if
59:41they want to go really vertical sure you put all those guys in the field together beyond that what's he going to
59:49do like what fits here I I I'm not sure he does what's the best predictor of the future what happened in
59:57the past hmm did Mike McDaniel ever have a big slot tight end who didn't block very well he did he did
60:05what did he do with in and he got rid of him he tried it it didn't work and he got rid
60:13of him unfortunately for Gaston he might not try it this time he might go well you know this is the similar
60:21role I know how this works out I have other players that can make it happen in my particular offense you might
60:29become a trade chip at this point or you could have a small package of plays but it's very difficult to have
60:37a small package of plays for a player like that that is in not around a strength either so he's literally down
60:45to a very narrow role which is if you want to throw that guy a ton of pass targets he's going to
60:53pay off a lot of them but it is literally as a big receiver which is the way he started at Syracuse
61:01before he converted to tight end late in his career there so it would be a return to form but they're not
61:09necessarily short of receivers it's always nice to have extra talent extra guys with great hands but if that's all you can
61:17do back to the old NFL adage the more you can do the better off your spot is for the 53 can't
61:25do special teams definitely not a blocker if you just watch the preseason he got abused by guys that are lesser talent
61:33but more physical right those guys that were trying to you know gain a role on special teams by showing pure aggression
61:41in preseason games they ragdolled him in the run game it's not his strength it's not something he's growing into so while
61:49they might want him to follow the Charlie Kohler career path the early returns on that don't look pretty good so right
61:57now he's fighting for his life with a very narrow role if he does get on the field yeah he's a very
62:05good receiving target but how do you get him on the field in this balanced offense with a lot of receiving talent
62:13some backs that can catch it as well some explosive threats you want to get touches guys like Keaton Mitchell who brought
62:20in it to the offense Durham Smythe was starting over him and why because Durham Smythe is a dog as a blocker
62:28and not much else doesn't give you hardly anything in the receiving game but that doesn't matter in this particular offense Mike
62:36has a need he needs to fill it he's filled it now through free agency where does that leave around day and
62:44the question is we don't know if you have a is but it might not be with the Chargers I was actually
62:52kind of thinking like maybe the Ravens would poke around for him now the Ravens also brought in a couple other young
63:00athletic tight ends but you know Jesse Jesse's familiarity with him you know being in the scene obviously didn't coach him but
63:08being in the building with him and seeing what he could do I thought okay maybe when they brought in a lot
63:16of have been traded he's not one of them so they're keeping him for now the role is hard to project you
63:24know where Durham Smythe is right now where is he's a Raven oh well there you go you can do it to You too.
63:33Yeah. It's funny how the league works. It is very funny how the league works for sure.
63:39Speaking of hard to project, the ceiling can floor for this team.
63:44I really wanted to go 13. Yep. You could even talk me into 14.
63:49If you guaranteed offensive line health, you could talk me in 14.
63:53Ding, ding, ding. But because you can't, I was like, all right, let me dial it back a little bit.
64:00I'll go 12 as my ceiling because something's going to go wrong.
64:05Like something, I don't know what it is. Something's going to go wrong.
64:09It's the chargers. And the fact that so much went wrong last year and they still won 11 means if just slightly
64:17less goes wrong this year, they can win 12.
64:21But for me, that's, that's the ceiling. And you know, once you get to the playoffs, all bets are off.
64:28We'll see how healthy they are. But I, I feel comfortable with 12 and like pushing to win the AFC West and then floor wise.
64:37I mean, God, they, they went 11 and six last year with no offensive line.
64:42Yeah. You can't, short of Justin getting hurt in a major way, you can't really talk me into them being a sub
64:50500 or even a 500 ball club. I think nine is probably the absolute floor.
64:56If Justin is healthy, you and I agree completely on floor.
65:00Harbaugh will, will them to nine wins. Even if Herbert's not out there, he will find a way.
65:06He is going to keep these teams competitive. He has that little slice of like Mike Tomlin DNA that was like, we're not going to be bad.
65:16We're a professional football team. We will scratch and claw.
65:20And I see that the same way. Floor for this team, nine wins.
65:24So why would they get to nine or only to nine?
65:28Same old chargers. Offensive line devastation leads to Herbert running around, possibly getting crushed while doing his best.
65:35Defense falls the way the Detroit offense fell after Ben left.
65:39Rush EPA for Detroit dropped from fifth to 25th.
65:42That again was on some offensive line health, but it is a precipitous drop when a, you know, wonder kid coordinator leaves.
65:50Elite coaching does matter. The question is how much for the chargers, do you a little or a lot?
65:57That's the floor. For me, I went not necessarily a bridge too far, but a bridge farther.
66:03I went to 13. So why I could all work if, again, we've said it all episode, you're tired of hearing it, but it's the truth.
66:13If the offensive line can keep upright and Herbert is truly unleashed by McDaniel, we could see some biblical like AFL style
66:21passing numbers out of the chargers, which would be very appropriate because they started in the AFL.
66:27I was going to say, it's very Dan Fouts of them.
66:31It's very just air choreo, like unleash the beast.
66:34We're going forwards and because we got a quarterback that can do it.
66:39And to your point, you don't have the corners that can stop us.
66:44Defense, I think will, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
66:48It's likely not going to be quite as sharp with Minter gone, but even a decent drop would still have them as an above average unit.
66:57And if you have an above average defense and an elite offense that's putting up just gaudy numbers, you could, you could sneak in and win 13.
67:07Do I think they will? No, but I could see the path to them doing that.
67:13So that's my ceiling. Floor is the same as nine with you.
67:17So, you know, again, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
67:2111-12 win team fighting for the division title late in the season.
67:26And again, if they gel, they get on the same page with the offense.
67:31The defense just holds on at a similar level.
67:34They're really a very, very dangerous team down the stretch.
67:38All right, we got one more team this week with the AFC West, the reigning division champion Broncos.
67:44And then the day after that, keep in mind, I don't know what day this is going live.
67:51The schedule is murky, goofy right now. It goes live when it goes live.
67:56How about that? At some point after the Broncos episode, or maybe sometimes before, like I put out the Patreon episode for
68:04the NFC South before I even got the Panthers episode live.
68:08So we're just kind of fucking winging it at this point, folks.
68:12But at some point in this general vicinity, we will be doing our Patreon episode for the AFC West where we're picking
68:20our division winner, our offensive and defense player of the year, our rookies of the year, coach of the year, bold predictions, MVP, everything AFC West related.
68:30We'll be going up on the Patreon at some point near right now, whenever right now is.
68:36And then let's just say before week one, maybe, we'll finish the NFC West.
68:41We're just going to be releasing them as they're done at this point, folks.
68:46So we have the entire NFC West to go, Cardinals, Niners, Rams, Seahawks, and then that's it.
68:52Then it's football season and we're in a much more reasonable cadence for 22 weeks.
68:58My sleep schedule will thank me. Weirdly, this started when we started doing summer series, the regular season of the NFL is the easiest time of our year.
69:08Yep. And I really can't wait for it. Partially because I love football.
69:13Partially because I have a normal routine at that point.
69:16I can't wait. No, we can breathe at that point.
69:20A lot of people don't believe it that an NFL podcast's easiest or most manageable, I won't say easiest, but most manageable season is during the season.
69:30But draft season is an incredibly busy time for us.
69:33It overlaps with the playoffs and, you know, deep into the Super Bowl at this point.
69:39We go all the way through draft season. We get a little bit of a break, a few weeks, and then we
69:47start this series' development, which is an absolute beast.
69:50And, you know, it is the largest series this summer that we've ever done with the cinematic openings and the Patreon infographics
69:58and, you know, just a step up every year.
70:02And we've, you know, this has been six and a half, seven days a week for two months.
70:08And people are like, you know, what are you doing in the summer since you just covered the NFL and nobody's playing any games?
70:17It's like, what day is it? I don't know.
70:20Like, I didn't sleep much last night and they're like, what are you talking about?
70:26But no. I got reminded when I was figuring out when we were finishing the NFC West that they're doing the Wednesday
70:34opener this year and I was like, fuck, that cost us a day.
70:38We really need that extra day. Please. We're down to 24 hours.
70:43Just start on Thursday. We're down to 24 hours mattering a lot, but it does.
70:48And again, we do it as a labor of love.
70:52It does get us ready for the season. It is tremendously helpful to us, but it is super busy and can't thank
71:00all of you enough for engaging with the content, staying with us this deep.
71:05For all of you sickos out there that watch every episode, and there are a few of you every year that make that tour, good on you, man.
71:15I, it's impressive work. We appreciate all of you.
71:18We appreciate our patrons. We appreciate our brand partners, whether it's Woodinville, whether it's homage, the sponsors on this episode, whoever that
71:26may be, could be a bidet, could be a cookware company.
71:30I don't know. We'll find out together. Either way, thank you to all of our sponsors.
71:36Thank you to our audience. We will see you soon-ish, probably, with the Broncos episode.
71:42We'll be right back.

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