Speaker 1: Late fifteen to ten touched up.
Speaker 2: All right, Welcome to Chargers Weekly. Here at the boat
Speaker 2: with jaliel Adaie post draft, the post press conference, getting
Speaker 2: ready for the first bit of offseason activities, rookie camp,
Speaker 2: all that stuff has come up in the next couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. We got our list of eighteen undrafted free
Speaker 2: agents that have been brought in. But Jalil, since it
Speaker 2: was pretty much Chris and me doing the post round
Speaker 2: draft wrap up, figure, it's important to get you and
Speaker 2: on this thing and kind of talk about your thoughts
Speaker 2: on the hall that Joe Ortiz and Chad Alexander and
Speaker 2: all those guys came up with and what they're walking
Speaker 2: into the season with in terms of rookies. Just maybe
Speaker 2: your overall perspective on all the guys that they.
Speaker 1: Got, all right, when you just just look at the
Speaker 1: guys that they picked, right, they failed avoid in every
Speaker 1: position that we even talked about, you know, previously weeks
Speaker 1: on the pod right right, starting off with Marion Hampton.
Speaker 1: You just see who he is. We talked about him
Speaker 1: several times, big physical running backs, quick fast, he checks
Speaker 1: all the boxes, right, He's a guy that you know,
Speaker 1: Jim Harball and those guys want to build this offensive
Speaker 1: around they want a big, physical running back, and they
Speaker 1: got him in with the first round pick. We talked
Speaker 1: about it before. We talked about the d tackle Mari right.
Speaker 1: So he's big, stout, keeps his shoulder square to the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage right. He plays very square. He has he.
Speaker 2: For people that are listening to they may not know
Speaker 2: what that means when you.
Speaker 1: So when you play square right as a defensive lineman,
Speaker 1: you never want your shoulders turned to the sideline right,
Speaker 1: because then you just get washed by and you create
Speaker 1: lanes for running backs to run. He's a guy that
Speaker 1: plays with physical solocent and gravity. His hands are on
Speaker 1: he's square to the line of scrimmage, so he can
Speaker 1: shock and shed at any direction that he wants to,
Speaker 1: and he does that really good. I watched a lot
Speaker 1: of his film when they drafted him. I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: let me look at him. And he's double teamed a lot,
Speaker 1: and he's holding his anchor that coach call it the
Speaker 1: anchor point, right, So he's eating up to and then
Speaker 1: he's able to get skinny when he needs to to
Speaker 1: defeat the block and make a lot of plays in
Speaker 1: the backfield. Yeah, and I think just just looking at
Speaker 1: their top three, we talked about they like hit it
Speaker 1: out the park and you look at receiver, right, you
Speaker 1: look at Trey and what they did with Trey Harris,
Speaker 1: big physical guy, and he's in the SEC. So he's
Speaker 1: seeing the best of the best defensive backs weekend and
Speaker 1: week out. So when you're watching that film to be
Speaker 1: able to evaluate him, it's not a hit or miss.
Speaker 1: It's like, listen, he's going against top competition weekend, week out,
Speaker 1: very very fast. Gets for being as tall he is
Speaker 1: and lank as he is, he gets in and out
Speaker 1: of his breaks really really well. And then you move
Speaker 1: over to Kyle Right, we talked about him and I
Speaker 1: was like, hey, uh, SEC defensive player of the year
Speaker 1: in the conference and in the nation. To fall that far,
Speaker 1: I just I don't know how he felt that far,
Speaker 1: but I'm happy that he did. Right. We talked about
Speaker 1: him being in the package, the NASCAR package, and you
Speaker 1: have just your your guys that are just going on
Speaker 1: third downs. We're not worried about to run, We're just
Speaker 1: coming after the quarterback. And I think they did a
Speaker 1: really really good job just addressing those positions that we
Speaker 1: talked about a lot of times throughout prior to the
Speaker 1: draft and going to get those guys. And then you
Speaker 1: look at the tight end position, right, we talked about
Speaker 1: that a lot and we were, hey, it was gonna
Speaker 1: be first round, its gonna be second round. But they
Speaker 1: did their work, they did a due diligence and they
Speaker 1: found a guy who they feel like, you know, we
Speaker 1: said it was a deep tight end draft, right, and
Speaker 1: they and it was, and they were able to get
Speaker 1: their first four picks that they wanted, well they think
Speaker 1: that that they needed. And then he was still he
Speaker 1: was there, he was available floor to guy. I know
Speaker 1: the high school. He went to a very prestigious high school,
Speaker 1: big body type guy, big rated catching radius for for
Speaker 1: for Herbert. So I think they knocked it out the
Speaker 1: park man, I really do. I can go on and
Speaker 1: on if you want me to money.
Speaker 2: I wanted to put it out there for yalation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll start, you know what, then.
Speaker 2: Then I'll kind of sort of dig in. Now we'll
Speaker 2: go player by player, because certainly the one thing that
Speaker 2: that you notice, especially you know, the position that you
Speaker 2: played at safety, specifically boxed safety kind of like when
Speaker 2: you look at Amar and Hampton. The first thing that
Speaker 2: jumps out is when he gets an south man, it's
Speaker 2: all gas. It's it is a freight truck. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's a tractor trailer coming at you. Challenges of being,
Speaker 2: you know, a defensive back when you see that come
Speaker 2: through the line with the explosion he has the burst
Speaker 2: that he has and why that is challenging for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's crazy. He's a he's a North Carolina guy.
Speaker 1: And the first thing I did I text Trey Boston,
Speaker 1: who is a very north He is a strong North
Speaker 1: North Carolina guy, played in North Carolina. He's still heavily
Speaker 1: involved with that program. And I said, give me your
Speaker 1: two cents. He said, jeltl He's one of those running
Speaker 1: backs that we would watch on film and we did
Speaker 1: not want to tackle on Sunday. That was his exact words, right,
Speaker 1: And it's just that physical presence when you come down
Speaker 1: into the box as a box safety, which what I
Speaker 1: did majority of my career. You it's almost like a
Speaker 1: derreck Henry. You want to get them before the will
Speaker 1: start turning, right, If you can meet him at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, if you can meet him before you
Speaker 1: know he gets his pad square and he's coming downhill.
Speaker 1: That's idea when you have a back like a Martin
Speaker 1: Hampton who can get in and out of holes quickly.
Speaker 1: He reads, he reads the line, he reads the linebackers,
Speaker 1: he's shooting downhill. It's tough for a five ten two
Speaker 1: hundred type two hundred pound type safety six foot one
Speaker 1: ninety five safety to really want to go in there
Speaker 1: and stick your nose in there from four quarters and
Speaker 1: when and when that physical battle, it's just it's challenging,
Speaker 1: and it truly is so like he is what the
Speaker 1: Chargers build. They're franchise on what Harbor bills. His franchise
Speaker 1: on is being tough, physical and tough as nails, and
Speaker 1: that's what he brings to the table.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's just so much there. I think
Speaker 2: the oh drafted running back in the first round value
Speaker 2: and look, values are starting to get so I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say out of whack, but you know they got nase
Speaker 2: for an incentive laden deal that could push it to
Speaker 2: like nine million. But you see the Trey McBride contract,
Speaker 2: and I just kind of think about that conversation around
Speaker 2: Quinton a couple of years ago, and it's like ah,
Speaker 2: you know, tight end. There's just not enough value there.
Speaker 2: And it's like, well, Trey McBride just got nineteen million
Speaker 2: bucks a year, George Kittle just got twenty million dollars
Speaker 2: a year. Like the the economics of football to me
Speaker 2: are so far beyond just not taking the right guy
Speaker 2: like it just does, especially at twenty two, like, there's
Speaker 2: no there to me, there's you're already getting a financial
Speaker 2: If Omari and Hampton is what we think he can become,
Speaker 2: you know you're going to get the bump right away.
Speaker 2: If we believe that he can be a top ten
Speaker 2: back in this league, a top eight, a top five
Speaker 2: back in this league, then yeah, I mean it's it's
Speaker 2: worth it. If you take him in the top ten,
Speaker 2: you're going to get financial value out of that. And
Speaker 2: I think the other thing too that we brought up
Speaker 2: Julil and just kind of from your experience being in
Speaker 2: the locker room when you hear a coach and a
Speaker 2: coaching staff and just kind of the overall foundation of
Speaker 2: a team is physical brutality. That's what we want to
Speaker 2: do week in and week out. This to me, when
Speaker 2: he walks through that door and you're a teammate and
Speaker 2: you see what he looks like. It's not it's not
Speaker 2: five ten one ninety five, it's six foot twenty five.
Speaker 2: Like I would assume that goes a long way, like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is what coach said, we're gonna be mm hm
Speaker 2: clearly with our first round pick. This is what we're
Speaker 2: gonna be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's like, okay, well it's not. He's just not
Speaker 1: blowing hot air. He's he means what he's saying. And
Speaker 1: I think the guys know that already with Coach Harball
Speaker 1: and what he says he means. He goes about it
Speaker 1: every each and every day, I mean coaching here last
Speaker 1: year with the coaching internship. I seen him behind closed doors.
Speaker 1: I've seen him in meetings and what he's preaching to
Speaker 1: the choir in the public. He's preaching to the choir
Speaker 1: behind closed doors. And like you said, when you see
Speaker 1: a guy come in. I keep talking about it, the
Speaker 1: physical as the physical aspect of Martin Hampton. How big
Speaker 1: he is, how physical he is, I'm telling you now.
Speaker 1: And I was a hitting safety. I prided my game
Speaker 1: on being physical, right, being able to come into the
Speaker 1: box play after play after play, and the only thing
Speaker 1: that's more demoralizing than having to chase around Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: is having to tackle of running back for four quarters,
Speaker 1: who you know, wants all the smoke, who he wants contact,
Speaker 1: He's seeking out contact, and you got to make a
Speaker 1: business decision. It's like, hey, do I want to do
Speaker 1: I want my uh lay him to stay in tact
Speaker 1: I want to make this tackle right. And it's a
Speaker 1: true thing. Like it's guys, look at these players like
Speaker 1: the superheroes, but they're all human at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. And when you walk into the stadium with
Speaker 1: a team that coach is building right now that's very physical.
Speaker 1: You can have all the fancy buzz and whistles, you
Speaker 1: can have the speed outside, you can have the jet sweeps.
Speaker 1: But when you got a team that's coming in with
Speaker 1: the offensive line like the Chargers do right, and of
Speaker 1: running back not just one, but two that are very
Speaker 1: physical runners like when Mario, when Marion comes out of
Speaker 1: the game, here comes Na. It's like you're not getting
Speaker 1: a break, right. So when you have that that wears
Speaker 1: and tears, not only like the four quarters, but over
Speaker 1: the season on teams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know that that actually is if you
Speaker 2: were going through strengths and weaknesses. Like that's one of
Speaker 2: the concerns with with a Marian is he sought out contact.
Speaker 2: He wants hits, and it's like love it, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: It's maybe just let's go fifty Percent's dial it back
Speaker 2: a little bit because obviously, but the crazy thing is, guy,
Speaker 2: not only do not miss a game? Really snap right,
Speaker 2: dude was just he just would bounce right back up
Speaker 2: and I think I'm right back at it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why Najir hair is being here
Speaker 1: is so big for him because he's coming in with
Speaker 1: a veteran. He's coming in with a guy who's built
Speaker 1: similar to him, similar running style right in a way
Speaker 1: coming out of Alabama, and then you see his career
Speaker 1: he's been healthy. Yeah, right, So he's a guy that
Speaker 1: he can he's a vet that he can lean on
Speaker 1: and say, so, what is it? What are you doing
Speaker 1: to take care of your body? Who works on you?
Speaker 1: What's your regimen? How do you see this? Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're running on the sideline and there's two defensive
Speaker 1: backs coming at you, this isn't college. Maybe gain an
Speaker 1: extra yard and step out to save your body from
Speaker 1: that contact. Right now, if you're at the goal line,
Speaker 1: that's a different situation. You're low on your shoulder, You're
Speaker 1: gonna do whatever it takes to get that extra end
Speaker 1: to get get into the end zone. But he's coming
Speaker 1: into a situation where a veteran that he can learn
Speaker 1: from and I think will benefit a lot in the
Speaker 1: long run.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you know, three down back, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about a guy that had twenty five or more
Speaker 2: touches in eight of his twelve games, and he's eighty
Speaker 2: career targets, two drops, and I know the Chargers posted
Speaker 2: it on their social media feed. Go ahead and watch
Speaker 2: his past, bro, Like that's so for all the people
Speaker 2: that are like, well, should take the receiver and take
Speaker 2: the back. It was a deep running back draft. It's like,
Speaker 2: not like this. There's not the guys that can do
Speaker 2: it all that can catch the ball, that can pass
Speaker 2: pro they can be a hammer that have explosiveness. I
Speaker 2: wish thought I had it, but I know we had
Speaker 2: a ton of explosive runs, which you know, explosives consider
Speaker 2: ten or more yards, and I think he was second
Speaker 2: or third in explosive runs. So it's it's everything you know,
Speaker 2: And I think that's But for me, we've already kind
Speaker 2: of talked a lot about Marinehampton, so we don't need
Speaker 2: to get too deep into it. But to me, it
Speaker 2: just kind of set the tone of this is what
Speaker 2: we're all about, this is who we're gonna get. And
Speaker 2: then you mentioned Trey Harris, like, if he doesn't get hurt,
Speaker 2: he's probably a first rounder. If not, he's in that
Speaker 2: that same window of where you know, Higgins got drafted
Speaker 2: right there at the start of Day two as a
Speaker 2: guy that was one hundred and fifty yards ahead of
Speaker 2: everybody else in the NCAA when he went down. I
Speaker 2: mean he was so he was on pace for sixteen
Speaker 2: eighteen hundred yard season, just mind boggling numbers in the
Speaker 2: SEC playing for All miss And you know, again just
Speaker 2: speaking to what you did out there, Juliel, build the room,
Speaker 2: you know, build the wide receiver room. We always talk
Speaker 2: about it in terms of a basketball team. Right to me,
Speaker 2: you get you now have your power forward. Trey Hair
Speaker 2: is a power forward man. He likes to be physical,
Speaker 2: he likes to mix it up. When you're bumping and
Speaker 2: moving downfield, he's the guy that's going up and getting
Speaker 2: the ball. He enjoys that, and I think people look
Speaker 2: at the time the four to five and it's like
Speaker 2: you're perfect, this perfect thing for you to share. Like
Speaker 2: when you're six three and you're a four or five guy,
Speaker 2: what's that look like to it?
Speaker 1: And it looks like it looks like low four four.
Speaker 1: All you see is knees and elbows right like literally
Speaker 1: that's all you see. Like he's eating up your ground.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter about his speed, because let's not get
Speaker 1: it twisted. Like a lot of people like to look
Speaker 1: at the forty and be like, oh, he didn't run
Speaker 1: a four three. He didn't run a four four. If
Speaker 1: you're six three and you're running four five, four to
Speaker 1: five is moving, yeah, okay, Like at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it's moving. Like I've played ten years in
Speaker 1: the league and I've played against four to three guys.
Speaker 1: I've played against four four guys that played against four
Speaker 1: five guys. At the end of the day, like if
Speaker 1: they can get in and out of their breaks, it's
Speaker 1: it all looks the same, right, And that's what he
Speaker 1: does really, really well. He's a big, physical receiver, but
Speaker 1: he can run double moves, he can run posts, he
Speaker 1: can run post digs, he can run. He can give
Speaker 1: you a dig I seen on one highlight. They motioned
Speaker 1: the motion one in he was at two, and then
Speaker 1: they ran one on an over right. And technically, when
Speaker 1: you watch film one on the over you're clearing the
Speaker 1: zone for a dig. It's called a dag right. So
Speaker 1: one ran the over right. So everybody at every corner
Speaker 1: and every safety is thinking, this guy is running the dig.
Speaker 1: He hit him with a dig, dropped his hips, and
Speaker 1: came back out for like a deep out completion. Like
Speaker 1: that's not an easy route. You don't run that with everybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody's not able to do that, right. So when you
Speaker 1: look at his frame, you look at his size, and
Speaker 1: you put a four or five speed behind it. Look,
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a good packet that you have.
Speaker 1: And I know everyone wants to four to three and
Speaker 1: the four to four, but I've played and I didn't
Speaker 1: run a four to five, and I've covered wide receivers
Speaker 1: that were four fours and some guys have football speed.
Speaker 1: And that's why you got to watch the film.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's something that George said in the press or too,
Speaker 2: And it's so important because people now have access to
Speaker 2: so much advanced analytics and data that they're like, well,
Speaker 2: it was all hitches and it was a limited route tree.
Speaker 2: It was three routes and it's like and Hortie, you know,
Speaker 2: Joe put it perfectly. He said, yeah, but watch the watch,
Speaker 2: just watch the routes that aren't hitches and goes and
Speaker 2: curls and you see it and it's exactly what you
Speaker 2: just described. Can he dip and can he get in
Speaker 2: and out of his breaks? How smooth is it? Changing speeds?
Speaker 2: Building speeds back up? And he's he's got all of
Speaker 2: that one hundred yards or more ten times out of
Speaker 2: his twenty games. And again to me, lad as a
Speaker 2: two guard, he can do it all. Man, He's gonna score.
Speaker 2: He can play D. He can handle the ball if
Speaker 2: you want him to. Now you've got your power forward Q.
Speaker 2: I think we're trying it. Can he be that three
Speaker 2: and D guy? You know? Is that kind of and
Speaker 2: then you get KeAndre Lambert Smith in the fifth round
Speaker 2: and that's kind of your point guard, right, Smaller kind
Speaker 2: of gets pushed around a little bit, but if he
Speaker 2: gets free, lookout, man, that's where that that four to
Speaker 2: three time shows up. You mentioned Gadsden and you know
Speaker 2: I think in terms of tight end, you look at
Speaker 2: what they have. You got Tucker Fisk and block his
Speaker 2: tail off. You got Will Disley, one of the three
Speaker 2: best blocking tight ends in the league. You needed the athlete,
Speaker 2: I mean, because I felt like oftentimes we talked a
Speaker 2: lot about man, it'd be great to get Stone Smart
Speaker 2: out there a little bit more and get a little
Speaker 2: more reps for the athlete at the tight end position.
Speaker 2: This is a joker, you know, this is this is
Speaker 2: a guy that was a wide receiver converted tight end
Speaker 2: fifty eight percent of his snaps and the slot thirty
Speaker 2: two percent in line, nine percent out wide. Like he's
Speaker 2: he's your athlete. Don't talk about his blocking. They say
Speaker 2: he's capable blocker, that he's fine, You're not turning it down.
Speaker 2: But that's that's what he is.
Speaker 1: And then it's crazy because you have two catching tight
Speaker 1: ends or you have tighter conkling in the game and
Speaker 1: you have Okay, we're looking at twelve personnel, right, so
Speaker 1: who who is the safety going to come down to? Now?
Speaker 1: Teams have to play you in nickel, which means you
Speaker 1: have to take a lineback out of the game, but
Speaker 1: in twelve personnel, you create extra running lanes, so you
Speaker 1: still have a strong running game. Now, if you come
Speaker 1: in and you stay with Bass, then we spread you
Speaker 1: out and now we're attacking you in the past. If
Speaker 1: you coming with Nickel trying to defend the past because
Speaker 1: we have two pass catching tight ends, now you can
Speaker 1: run the game. So it's it's chess, man, it's not checkers,
Speaker 1: and the Chargers are really really good at doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So those are the offensive players. Branson Taylor, you know,
Speaker 2: I wish I could share. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: want to share anything. On the big tackle, A lot
Speaker 2: of Pittsburgh looks like he's just trades. Giant dude, two
Speaker 2: year starter, two knee injuries probably one of the reasons
Speaker 2: why he slipped. But you know, former basketball players six
Speaker 2: six three, twenty thirty three and.
Speaker 1: Charms, that's what do you have for you. So there
Speaker 1: we go.
Speaker 2: Those are your offensive players. Get to the defense, and
Speaker 2: obviously on a bigger picture, the defense as a whole.
Speaker 2: With Jesse Minner, well what a treat Julia coach Minner
Speaker 2: joining us right now. And I'm going to start with
Speaker 2: this coach because I bite your style. Man, I don't
Speaker 2: know if I don't know if coaches get to choose
Speaker 2: their own gear, but he was wearing a quarter zip
Speaker 2: last year and I had my eyes on it, like
Speaker 2: I got a figure off how to find that. They
Speaker 2: took me a while. I finally tracked it down, got one,
Speaker 2: And now you're coming with the best looking hoodie that
Speaker 2: we've seen?
Speaker 1: Is that all you? Is that what they get? No?
Speaker 3: This is uh, you know, shout out to the equipment room.
Speaker 3: You know, they give us the good stuff and like
Speaker 3: to wear what's comfortable and what sort of fits fits
Speaker 3: my style. So it's a good give us great options,
Speaker 3: and so shout out to them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good style.
Speaker 1: I mean it's the powder of blue, I think. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're a good looking dude, but the power blue and
Speaker 1: the yellow, that's a combination.
Speaker 2: That I have.
Speaker 4: It looks good on anybody, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 2: We saw just I'll start with some of the free
Speaker 2: agents that signed, and it was interesting listening to Benjamin
Speaker 2: Saint Chu's kind of talk about how we got here
Speaker 2: and obviously starting at Michigan. And but the one thing
Speaker 2: that really stood out is something you hear a lot,
Speaker 2: and he's like, I just you know, I know how important.
Speaker 2: This moment in my career is a pivot point, and
Speaker 2: coach Minner just seems to always have guys in the
Speaker 2: right spot and doing what what are their strengths? Kind
Speaker 2: of take us through how you do that. There's so
Speaker 2: many different guys. How can you get all of them
Speaker 2: to be in the right place and doing the right
Speaker 2: things that play to their strengths.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a player driven game, and I think
Speaker 3: I think when you realize that, you understand that. I
Speaker 3: don't know if as a young coach I fully understood
Speaker 3: that it's about it's about taking the people that you
Speaker 3: have available and not complaining about what you don't have,
Speaker 3: not worrying about what you might have the next year.
Speaker 3: It's like, what do we have for this this particular moment,
Speaker 3: what's available to us? What can they do well? What
Speaker 3: are their strengths? Where do we need to maybe protect
Speaker 3: them at times? And to me, that's just how how
Speaker 3: try to learn the game. And and so it's not
Speaker 3: it's not magical, it's not always perfect. But I think
Speaker 3: I think that guys now have a belief in how
Speaker 3: we play and what we're trying to do that uh,
Speaker 3: they make me look good more than I make them
Speaker 3: look good.
Speaker 1: So great questions of great answer. So, coach, I got
Speaker 1: a question for you. I was talking on the podcast
Speaker 1: before you came on. We were covering Jamari right, and
Speaker 1: I talked. I was saying, how he plays really really
Speaker 1: square to the line of scrimmage, and Money was like, well,
Speaker 1: explain that to you know the is who don't understand
Speaker 1: what being playing square means? Right? Can you explain in
Speaker 1: just a better depth than I did, how much it
Speaker 1: means to have a guy who can take up to
Speaker 1: play square to the line of scrimmage low send the
Speaker 1: gravity and what that can do by creating a new
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage for your defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to me, it's it's upfront. Is about, you know,
Speaker 3: creating a new line of scrimmage, creating knock back on
Speaker 3: the offensive line. And so what what Jamari is able
Speaker 3: to do is at times play with penetration through gaps
Speaker 3: and shooting gaps, at times play square, take on double teams,
Speaker 3: and when when we talk about playing square and big,
Speaker 3: it's like if you were if you were watching the
Speaker 3: game from the end zone, behind our behind our defense,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, to be good, you would you would
Speaker 3: want to be able to read everybody's jersey number as
Speaker 3: the plays going on, and guys that get turned, guys
Speaker 3: whose shoulder turn you have more of an opportunity to
Speaker 3: get washed, get pushed down by offensive line, which creates
Speaker 3: movement for them. They're now creating movement, they're creating a
Speaker 3: new line of scrimmage. And so the ability to play
Speaker 3: square knock the offensive line back clears things up for
Speaker 3: the second level, clears things up for the third level.
Speaker 3: And everything about being good on defense starts with the
Speaker 3: ability having guys up front to be.
Speaker 1: Able to do that.
Speaker 3: And so we're super excited about him and the guys
Speaker 3: we added in free agency, some of our returning players
Speaker 3: that we feel we can be improved on the D
Speaker 3: line as well.
Speaker 2: If we just stick with Jamari. It's you know, it's funny.
Speaker 2: Is someone you know, we cover the draft and it's
Speaker 2: all the build up and you've got months, so you've
Speaker 2: got a million different This guy's top one fifty and
Speaker 2: this is the depth and how they rank, and it
Speaker 2: just seemed like when Jamari got picked based on where
Speaker 2: he was slotted on all of those lists, everybody just
Speaker 2: start they lit up, They glow. Hey, you watch Derek
Speaker 2: Carr and this guy pops off the tape. It's when
Speaker 2: you described him, it sounded like Poona Ford. It almost
Speaker 2: sounded like you were describing exactly what Poona did. So
Speaker 2: how do you identify those guys? And why judging by
Speaker 2: the contract you got poon On last year and where
Speaker 2: you drafted Jamari, why maybe are they not seen valued
Speaker 2: is high?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not sure about the last part.
Speaker 3: I think you know, teams certainly certainly have their own
Speaker 3: style of evaluations, their own style of defense that they're
Speaker 3: trying to play for us. It's like you've got to
Speaker 3: be big enough to hold up, so there's a size
Speaker 3: requirement needed. And then to me, it's like, do you
Speaker 3: have good enough feat to be able to be athletic
Speaker 3: to push the pocket, to win one on ones on
Speaker 3: guards or centers in the passing game. And when you
Speaker 3: watch his film, you know he's it's really cool because
Speaker 3: he's played really in two different systems.
Speaker 4: In college.
Speaker 3: He played at Houston in a very penetrating get up
Speaker 3: the field, calls havoc. He was very successful doing that.
Speaker 3: And then he goes to Oregon, a defensive system that
Speaker 3: you know I have seen a bunch over the years
Speaker 3: on tape, their guys play square at times, their two gapping.
Speaker 3: They also do some movements. And so what he's been
Speaker 3: asked to do the last two years and been able
Speaker 3: to put on tape really jump off the tape at us.
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, I mean, yeah, we we're watching a
Speaker 3: lot of a lot of times it happens you're watching
Speaker 3: a guy, another guy starts showing up.
Speaker 4: On the tape.
Speaker 3: Then you then you do your evaluation on him, and
Speaker 3: it just you know, sort of just makes everything make
Speaker 3: make great sense of the type of player he is.
Speaker 3: To me, it's great value for us at the spot
Speaker 3: we got him at, you know. And and I think
Speaker 3: he's got a chance to come in and be immediate contributor.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 3: I do see some similar qualities to Poona and his
Speaker 3: skill set and and major shout out to Puna Ford.
Speaker 3: I mean the way the way that he played this
Speaker 3: past year. He took a chance on us as coaches,
Speaker 3: as an organization. Uh, super happy for him and his
Speaker 3: family for for what he was able to get.
Speaker 4: And so it's like, yeah, you.
Speaker 3: Do got to find a find a guy that can
Speaker 3: maybe replace those things. And feel great about Jamari and
Speaker 3: excited to get him here over this next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Just speaking to Poona and getting the deal, and like
Speaker 2: you said, great, I mean, played his tail off and
Speaker 2: was just an incredible reason for the team success. How
Speaker 2: does that help you in free agency when something like
Speaker 2: that happens and a guy ends up getting a deal
Speaker 2: like that, coming here on a prove it deal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think we had a couple guys
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Really, you know, I think Kristin Folten the same thing.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: Just just the respect and love I have for both
Speaker 3: those guys when they come in. You know, you when
Speaker 3: you go through a season together, you become really really close.
Speaker 3: I mean you're you're in the trenches, you're counting on
Speaker 3: each other, you're working together, you're working really hard. And
Speaker 3: so both those guys, you know, we kind of pointed
Speaker 3: out of like, hey, let's get him here. Yeah, they
Speaker 3: were certainly on maybe prove it type of contracts that
Speaker 3: whatever that is, and both certainly have now you know,
Speaker 3: help help their own futures, their own families futures with
Speaker 3: the deals that they got.
Speaker 4: So so it does it makes you.
Speaker 3: Know, like like Ben talking earlier, you know, it makes
Speaker 3: him see a couple of those type of guys, and
Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, now I'm kind of I kind of
Speaker 3: want to put myself in that position. And so, uh
Speaker 3: it's something that we did talk about with some of
Speaker 3: the guys of the ability to come here and and
Speaker 3: hopefully be put in position to take advantage of your
Speaker 3: skill set. And yeah, so it was a good selling
Speaker 3: point having a few guys like that, and then and
Speaker 3: then you know, and then ultimately you know, Elijah and
Speaker 3: was kind of in the same boat, and that was
Speaker 3: when we were we were able to re sign. So
Speaker 3: you always you always want to try to try to
Speaker 3: resign all those guys. The way it works, you can't
Speaker 3: resign everybody. That's just the nature of salary cap and
Speaker 3: and uh, the way the league works. But uh, man,
Speaker 3: just happy for those guys, Happy for those guys and
Speaker 3: how they played them and their families now, happy that
Speaker 3: we got some of them back, uh, and then happy
Speaker 3: that we're able to kind of add some new ones
Speaker 3: and see if we can see if we can do
Speaker 3: that for a couple more guys this year.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you can't coach, you can uh. So I'm late.
Speaker 1: I was undrafted, right, and obviously safety, and you guys
Speaker 1: played a lot of safeties with the safety rotation with Dringwin,
Speaker 1: Elijah A. Lowhi allouned during to play close to the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. And for those who may not be
Speaker 1: from Marrie with r J Mickens right a six round
Speaker 1: draft pick out of Clemson. And if you're RJ and
Speaker 1: you're watching this this podcast and you want an opportunity
Speaker 1: to make this squad you'r a late round draft pick,
Speaker 1: you see that they do use safeties a lot in
Speaker 1: this In his defense, obviously, special teams is majority of
Speaker 1: what he's going to get the opportunity to show what
Speaker 1: he can do. But what are you looking for in
Speaker 1: a young safety? Like how versatile does he? Does he
Speaker 1: have to be? What do you see and what makes
Speaker 1: you light up about a young safety like this guy?
Speaker 1: I trust him. I want to see him out there
Speaker 1: make plays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and and kind of the way the way
Speaker 3: that I look at safeties is there's there's a couple
Speaker 3: of different types. There's the types that are more maybe
Speaker 3: back guys first, where when you're playing split safeties and
Speaker 3: and guys in the post they have the ability to
Speaker 3: be an eraser, they have ball skills, they have anticipation,
Speaker 3: they're really good tacklers in the open field. That's what
Speaker 3: I see with RJ. He also does have the versatility,
Speaker 3: so he's kind of got a little bit of combination
Speaker 3: of both types of guys. But you know, you look
Speaker 3: at our roster and it's and really all three of
Speaker 3: those guys have some versatility, but a couple of them
Speaker 3: are maybe built better to stay back to not be
Speaker 3: as close at times. They can still get the guys
Speaker 3: down if they break through. They got great route anticipation,
Speaker 3: they got great ball skills, they got great communication skills,
Speaker 3: and then you got a guy like DJ, where the
Speaker 3: closer you can get that guy to the ball, the
Speaker 3: better he is. And it doesn't matter if you just
Speaker 3: knew where the ball was going, you'd want to put
Speaker 3: him at the point of attack. And so that's what
Speaker 3: we try to do with him. Teams know that, so
Speaker 3: at times they do things away from him or whatever.
Speaker 3: But he is really impactful when he's up close, when
Speaker 3: he's attacking, when he's playing fast and physical and free.
Speaker 3: He's great in the run game. So when you need
Speaker 3: when you're playing with some of these lighter boxes that
Speaker 3: by playing split safety you need a nickel or a
Speaker 3: guy from the perimeter that can come in late and
Speaker 3: be a really physical presence in the run game. And
Speaker 3: so you know, we have a lot of versatility now
Speaker 3: in that room.
Speaker 4: RJ.
Speaker 3: You mentioned it special teams, but also just hey, come in,
Speaker 3: learn those backspots first. I think when you learn that first,
Speaker 3: and then and then maybe have the ability to move
Speaker 3: forward as he develops.
Speaker 2: One thing during the draft that you'll hear and I
Speaker 2: just feel, you know, I'm sure fans love it, but
Speaker 2: there's so much coming at them, is there? Oh, this
Speaker 2: is a great corner for them because they play zone
Speaker 2: x percent of the time. They play a lot of
Speaker 2: quarters and and so I look at at bridges and
Speaker 2: just kind of looks like a Pressman corner. And then
Speaker 2: they say, oh, the Chargers play more zone than almost.
Speaker 2: So kind of walk us through if you don't mind.
Speaker 2: We love kind of doing this with people that listen
Speaker 2: and watch they as people are talking about these how
Speaker 2: they describe you versus how you see yourself and what
Speaker 2: you're looking for in a corner in a zone corn,
Speaker 2: a boundary corner, a pressman corner, and why you're drafting
Speaker 2: these guys are signing these guys.
Speaker 3: You know, it goes back a little bit to the
Speaker 3: first question of like you take what you have and
Speaker 3: you utilize what their skill sets are. So you know,
Speaker 3: if I'd been in rooms where you got a bunch
Speaker 3: of really good man guys, guess what our man percentages
Speaker 3: would probably be a lot higher. So I think you're
Speaker 3: I think at corner you're always trying to draft guys
Speaker 3: that can play man first, that have that ability to
Speaker 3: match up on all the elite receivers that we have
Speaker 3: to defend, but also have some sense. And I don't
Speaker 3: think you can be a scheme where you play exclusive
Speaker 3: against the quarterbacks that we play against. It doesn't matter
Speaker 3: what the coverage is. You can't play the same coverage
Speaker 3: over and over again without them eventually figuring out the holes,
Speaker 3: the weak spots, whatever. So you know, whether you're spinning
Speaker 3: zones or whether you're spinning man. To me, it's like,
Speaker 3: it's what you have, it's what your players are good at,
Speaker 3: it's what they're best at.
Speaker 4: It's what you know.
Speaker 3: Maybe in a situation where you can sprinkle something in
Speaker 3: that you haven't done as much because it may.
Speaker 4: Catch them by surprise.
Speaker 3: So I would like to play more man, but I
Speaker 3: also I'm also gonna always do what our guys do
Speaker 3: well and try to put them in position to be successful.
Speaker 3: So when when we're looking at corners in the draft,
Speaker 3: I do think it starts with the ability to play man,
Speaker 3: but also having some sense. He is a very versatile
Speaker 3: piece in the secondary. He has started games at both
Speaker 3: corner and safety. He's a really good open field tackler,
Speaker 3: and and so that ability once again all these guys
Speaker 3: to move around to play different positions. When you're at
Speaker 3: this level and you know from being it's there's there's
Speaker 3: a numbers game, and you may have ten dbs on
Speaker 3: your roster for an entire season, and you're gonna have
Speaker 3: guys that go down. And I've always told Clink and
Speaker 3: I our secondary coach works so well together because if
Speaker 3: our if our starting whatever safety or corner goes down,
Speaker 3: I want the next best defensive back into the game,
Speaker 3: and it and it's whatever whoever that is, whatever position
Speaker 3: they're on, pakersand the next best guy into the game.
Speaker 3: So guys that have the versatility, you know, Ben's the
Speaker 3: same way Ben's played in the slot before, he's played outside.
Speaker 3: D Jack has played all over the secondary and his time.
Speaker 3: Uh tar Heeb did that as a rookie, and so
Speaker 3: really just the versatile pieces. Uh but make no mistake
Speaker 3: about it. I do think at corner it starts with
Speaker 3: being able to cover people. And uh so there's a
Speaker 3: little bit of like, well they're a zone team, and
Speaker 3: I hope you know that stays out there as the narrative.
Speaker 2: We'll keep pushing it.
Speaker 1: Most definitely, I got one more for Kyle Canard right.
Speaker 1: SEC Player of the Year, National Player of the Year
Speaker 1: falls around four And to me, I was telling the money,
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the steals of the draft,
Speaker 1: just what he brings in aspect of past rushing. When
Speaker 1: you look at a guy like him, and obviously I
Speaker 1: don't from what I've watched, he's not every right now,
Speaker 1: He's not a first and second down guy. I see
Speaker 1: him as like a NASCAR package guy, right, pin your
Speaker 1: ears back, get after the quarterback third down. Do you
Speaker 1: see that's Do you see the similarities in what I'm
Speaker 1: saying about him when you watch his tape when you
Speaker 1: evaluated him and what you're getting out of him as
Speaker 1: a pass.
Speaker 3: Rusher, Yeah, I mean you know, there's no there's nothing
Speaker 3: that replaces production. And when you look at his production
Speaker 3: in the SEC, SEC, you know, when you got to me,
Speaker 3: it's like there's there's the big ten in the SEC.
Speaker 3: However you want to rank him, I'm not. I'm staying
Speaker 3: out of that argument. But the SEC always leads the
Speaker 3: NF the draft and picks. Of course, you know they
Speaker 3: had a tackle go with the fourth pick in the
Speaker 3: draft that this guy lined up against in rush against
Speaker 3: and had some really good opportunities, some really good one
Speaker 3: on ones. And so the production speaks for itself.
Speaker 1: You don't.
Speaker 3: You don't become SEC Defensive Player of the Year or
Speaker 3: win the Nigirsky Award if you're not a really dominant
Speaker 3: player in that conference.
Speaker 4: And uh so I do.
Speaker 3: I do think his path early is as a rusher,
Speaker 3: but I also think his game really translates to to
Speaker 3: how we play on every down. He's walking into a
Speaker 3: room with two really strong veterans to learn from, a
Speaker 3: young guy that's a sending that's also a guy to
Speaker 3: learn from, and I think there's a lot of similarities,
Speaker 3: maybe not in their play style, but truly super productive
Speaker 3: college player and the sack numbers and things like that.
Speaker 3: Same thing with Kyle, and so I think you know,
Speaker 3: Kyle was at another school, an older player. Sometimes those factors,
Speaker 3: for whatever reason, may hurt a guy sliding in the draft,
Speaker 3: But we couldn't be more excited to get him whatever
Speaker 3: whatever spot we were in. That's a guy that I
Speaker 3: know myself and Dylan Roney, who works with our edges,
Speaker 3: we had targeted as a guy we really liked and
Speaker 3: so super excited to get him and excited to see
Speaker 3: the impact that I think he'll make for us.
Speaker 2: You kind of two other draft picks sort of, I mean,
Speaker 2: just based on playing time in Colston and a boy
Speaker 2: Be so kind of walk us through their development. I mean,
Speaker 2: Colston's different because of the injury, but a boyd Be.
Speaker 2: It felt like coach Elston had said, hey, this is
Speaker 2: probably a developmental pross he total set right after the draft,
Speaker 2: just kind of where he is and what the view
Speaker 2: is for each of those guys going into this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, justin start with Justin. I mean, this guy, you know,
Speaker 3: I know, I know, he's a competitor, and anytime you're
Speaker 3: a competitor and you don't play as much as your
Speaker 3: competitive self wants you to play, there can be frustrating times.
Speaker 3: I give him a lot of credit for keeping his
Speaker 3: head down, working, developing, getting better.
Speaker 4: As the season went on.
Speaker 3: And after the season, you know, some of some of
Speaker 3: the conversations were just around the ability to make a
Speaker 3: big jump from year one to year two, and so
Speaker 3: many guys do that. I think it's it's it's more
Speaker 3: rare to have the rookies come in and have success,
Speaker 3: maybe like the corners were able to do, and it's
Speaker 3: more it's more normal to get your feet wet a
Speaker 3: little bit as a rookie and now you know what
Speaker 3: it's like, and now you develop, and now your second
Speaker 3: year you really step in there. So you know, not
Speaker 3: to put super high expectations on Justin uh, but we
Speaker 3: have a we do have high expectations for him.
Speaker 4: I could not be.
Speaker 3: More proud and excited of the work that he's put in.
Speaker 3: He's put on twenty plus pounds since the end of
Speaker 3: the season. He's trained with coach Herb quite a bit,
Speaker 3: which I'm really excited about because I know the impact
Speaker 3: that he can have on guys in their in their development.
Speaker 3: And so he's in a great place right now. He's
Speaker 3: he's got another really good room. But now I think
Speaker 3: he's he's in a better position physically to do some
Speaker 3: of the things that we need him to do. And
Speaker 3: he's in a great place going into year or two
Speaker 3: to to be able to help.
Speaker 1: Us, right.
Speaker 2: And then obviously with Junior.
Speaker 3: Just yeah, Junior, you know, I think similarly. And then
Speaker 3: that's the when you when you pick a guy third round,
Speaker 3: you have a couple older linebackers on the team, you know,
Speaker 3: I think at this time last year, I mean didn't
Speaker 3: really know the development that dayon the track, that dayon
Speaker 3: might go on. Obviously super excited about him and what
Speaker 3: he was able to do. And and so Junior, uh
Speaker 3: kind of kind of suffered a few I don't want
Speaker 3: to call him flukes, because nothing's really a fluke, but
Speaker 3: he had an appendectomy right before camp started, missed most
Speaker 3: of training camp in and out with a few things.
Speaker 4: He's another one that he's spent a lot.
Speaker 3: Of time uh here, spent a lot of time with
Speaker 3: Coach Herb getting getting back to kind of the training
Speaker 3: that I know he's used to and getting his body right.
Speaker 3: And another guy that and you said it, I I
Speaker 3: told the defensive staff, I mean, I really feel like
Speaker 3: in the front seven, it's really for four draft choices,
Speaker 3: four young guys where we needed to add younger pieces.
Speaker 3: When you just look at the future of the roster
Speaker 3: and how it's built, so super excited about both those guys,
Speaker 3: and both will have major opportunities to help us.
Speaker 2: All right, get you on this just a quick one.
Speaker 2: I know, defensive side of the ball, but you try
Speaker 2: to figure out who all these undrafted free agents are
Speaker 2: and going through and watching, I don't think I've ever
Speaker 2: been so excited on a highlight pack at just Stebo
Speaker 2: Clots and those full back blocks. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you had a chance to is there is
Speaker 2: there any reason to get that excited about it. I mean,
Speaker 2: I know it's not the most physical conference in the
Speaker 2: Big twelve, but man, that dude just wrecked people as
Speaker 2: a full back. It was a lot of fun to watch.
Speaker 3: I mean, those guys are hard to find, and I
Speaker 3: mean there's you know, you look at you look at
Speaker 3: a couple of the top fullbacks in the NFL, and
Speaker 3: it's it's people taking people from other positions trying to
Speaker 3: train them to do that, which which obviously we've done
Speaker 3: with Scott and he did a great job as a
Speaker 3: two way player last year, you know, kind of filling
Speaker 3: that role. But anytime you get you get some guys
Speaker 3: like that. You know, just excited to see it in
Speaker 3: training camp, you know, once the pads are on and
Speaker 3: and uh see the see the physicality of players like that.
Speaker 4: When you when you when.
Speaker 3: You build an offense like we do, it only makes
Speaker 3: the defense better because you can't be a physical defense
Speaker 3: without practicing against a physical offense. And so I think
Speaker 3: we have a great benefit practicing against what our guys do,
Speaker 3: both in the run game, in the past game justin
Speaker 3: Herbert all the weapons now that that Joe I think
Speaker 3: did a phenomenal job in the draft, just helping the
Speaker 3: roster in general. You know, it's not an offense first
Speaker 3: defense thing. It's it's how can we add great players
Speaker 3: to make the team better. Uh, team success overrides everything.
Speaker 3: So very excited about all the guys we were able
Speaker 3: to add and and look forward to getting them here
Speaker 3: next weekend with Rickie Minni Caamp.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're excited as well. Coach asked you for a
Speaker 2: lot of time, you gave it to us. Certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thanks, Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you guys, Thank you all.
Speaker 2: Right, Julia, Well, good way to kind of get the
Speaker 2: off season program started with one of our favorite coaches.
Speaker 2: Coach men are just so insightful, really, you learn something
Speaker 2: every time you sit down with him. Chargers incredibly lucky
Speaker 2: to have him here because we keep We said it
Speaker 2: last year and we're gonna say it again this year.
Speaker 2: I just I feel like, ain't gonna be long, man,
Speaker 2: Ain't gonna be long before that guy gets the head job.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. We were talking about it, like
Speaker 1: what he did with the defense last year, the pieces
Speaker 1: he had to plug in when injuries happened, and he
Speaker 1: touched on a little bit and just you know, using
Speaker 1: players at their strength their weaknesses, and that's not an
Speaker 1: easy thing to do, right A lot of coaches aren't
Speaker 1: able to do that. And that's why he's one of
Speaker 1: the best in the game right now.
Speaker 2: And I think if I could just focus on one
Speaker 2: thing he talked about for me, it's a boy be
Speaker 2: and because there was production there at Alabama, and you
Speaker 2: get excited about him coming in from that kind of
Speaker 2: program with that sort of production, and you heard coach
Speaker 2: Elston say, yeah, he's more of a developmental player, and
Speaker 2: that's exactly what it was. So to hear that he's
Speaker 2: ready to take that next step. You saw it in
Speaker 2: the SEC and man, that would be a huge get
Speaker 2: for them, along with Caldwell, along with Hand and all
Speaker 2: those guy Jones, the guys that they signed, because we
Speaker 2: know how important that middle of the line is to
Speaker 2: the All right, well, that's recap again on the draft.
Speaker 2: There's eighteen udfas when all these rookies get out here,
Speaker 2: we're going to keep breaking it down, keep moving forward. Hopefully, Julia,
Speaker 2: we see you real soon. So going to be maybe
Speaker 2: a little while as he embarks upon another phase of
Speaker 2: his professional career, but we'll always be here, ready and
Speaker 2: willing to have you back to break it all down.
Speaker 1: Appreciate your money being a pleasure.
Speaker 2: All right, everyone, enjoy it. We'll be back again next
Speaker 2: week and we'll be talking about more and more of
Speaker 2: these young players as they start to arrive in the
Speaker 2: off season program gets underway. Meanwhile, thanks for watching, Rate Review,
Speaker 2: share whatever you feel comfortable doing. It always helps us
Speaker 2: spread the word in Bolt Up