Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep,15 Chargers edition

Transcript

Stack or Shed Ep,15 Chargers edition · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
• 0:01
  domics, your GM who currently is not on the team
• 0:03
  right now, but don't you worry about it, Kale,
• 0:04
  here to bring you episode 15 of the Stack and
• 0:07
  Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering
• 0:09
  all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
• 0:11
  talked about, right? Now in this series, we're
• 0:14
  covering a few different topics and they include
• 0:16
  what went wrong, what do they need, stack or
• 0:19
  shed, their draft picks, one move I would do,
• 0:23
  and their cap space, right? Now in this episode,
• 0:25
  we're talking about the Chargers, so bolt up,
• 0:27
  it's gonna get crazy. All right, let's get into
• 0:37
  it. So what went wrong in the Chargers season?
• 0:39
  And I will eventually say it was inconsistent
• 0:40
  offensive line play. Going into last season,
• 0:43
  I believe the Chargers were the second or third
• 0:45
  best team in their division. And I also believe
• 0:47
  they were competitive enough to go on a playoff
• 0:49
  run. Despite having high confidence in the Chargers,
• 0:52
  I never would have expected their offensive line
• 0:54
  to be decimated with injuries. Now I understand
• 0:56
  the offensive linemen deal with injuries a little
• 0:59
  bit more than other positions. And a lot of times
• 1:02
  those nagging injuries carries on throughout
• 1:04
  the entire season. And then there's some instances
• 1:06
  where they have some serious injuries and they
• 1:08
  just try to deal with it the best way that they
• 1:10
  can deal with it until they can either get to
• 1:12
  a bye week or just to the end of the season.
• 1:15
  But unfortunately, that didn't happen, and so
• 1:16
  the Chargers had to band -aid this offense as
• 1:19
  best as possible. From bringing in people off
• 1:21
  the street, from bringing in veterans who haven't
• 1:24
  played in almost two years, to trading for Trevor
• 1:27
  Penning, they went every single rock to find
• 1:30
  healthy offensive linemen just to keep this thing
• 1:33
  together. According to PFF, right guard was pressured
• 1:37
  at 23 .9%, left tackle was pressured at 22%,
• 1:42
  right tackle was pressured at 18 .8%, center
• 1:46
  was pressured at 14 .1%, and then left guard
• 1:49
  was pressured at 11%. Now these numbers make
• 1:52
  sense because Makai Becton was on and off the
• 1:55
  field the entire season. And we also saw that
• 1:58
  once Joel Alt started to get banged up, this
• 2:00
  offensive line really started to decline significantly.
• 2:04
  According to NFL Pro, Justin Herbert was pressured
• 2:07
  on 268 of his 619 dropbacks, which is a 43 .3
• 2:13
  % pressure rate. That is the highest pressure
• 2:15
  rate in the league. The Chargers used 18 offensive
• 2:19
  line combinations this past season. The most
• 2:21
  and tied for the third most by any team in a
• 2:25
  single season in the next -gen stats era. Since
• 2:28
  2024, when Joel Ault and Rashawn Slater is on
• 2:32
  the field, Justin Herbert is pressured on 33
• 2:35
  .9 % of his dropbacks. But when Joel Ault and
• 2:38
  Rashawn Slater are off the field, Justin Herbert
• 2:40
  is pressured on 44 .3 % of his dropbacks. At
• 2:44
  some point, the Chargers are going to have to
• 2:46
  figure out a way to keep Justin Herbert from
• 2:48
  getting sacked and pressured so much. Because
• 2:50
  when we look at how many times he was sacked
• 2:52
  this year, 54 times. When we look at how many
• 2:55
  times he was sacked in 2020, 44, 41 times. We
• 2:59
  looked at how many times he was sacked in 2023,
• 3:02
  29 times. And then he was sacked 38 times in
• 3:05
  2022. He also faced 109 quick pressures, the
• 3:09
  most quick pressures in the league. Now, quick
• 3:12
  pressures are defined as pressures that occurred
• 3:14
  under 2 .5 seconds. Now, with that being said,
• 3:17
  what do the Chargers need? And that is to bolster
• 3:19
  this offensive line. And so far, the Chargers
• 3:21
  have done that by signing Tyler Beatis to a three
• 3:24
  -year, $30 million deal. Cole Strange to a two
• 3:27
  -year $13 million deal, and Trey Pipkins to a
• 3:30
  two -year $10 million deal. Now, just because
• 3:33
  they made these three signings does not mean
• 3:35
  that they shouldn't take an offensive lineman
• 3:36
  at some point in the draft or maybe after the
• 3:39
  draft in that second and third wave of free agency.
• 3:42
  Because you still have people such as Taylor
• 3:44
  Decker, Jawan Taylor, Jonah Williams, Joel Betonio,
• 3:47
  Jack Conklin, Cam Robinson, Makai Beckham if
• 3:50
  you want to bring him back, Kevin Zeiler, James
• 3:52
  Daniels, Graham Glasgow, Ethan Pokich, Alex Kappa,
• 3:56
  Calvin Beecham, Trevor Penning if you want to
• 3:58
  bring him back, Greg Van Rotten, Brady Christensen,
• 4:01
  Cordell Volson, DJ Humphries, Liam Eichenberg,
• 4:04
  Will Hernandez. I could continue to go on. These
• 4:07
  are some really good plug -and -play offensive
• 4:10
  linemen that you can bring in without having
• 4:12
  to break the bank. Now with that being said,
• 4:14
  the question we all need to ask ourselves is
• 4:16
  stack or shed? And I will eventually say stack.
• 4:18
  And the reason why I say that is because everybody
• 4:20
  has a season where the worst things that you
• 4:23
  could possibly imagine happen. Your star players
• 4:25
  get hurt. Your offense or defense struggles.
• 4:28
  Everybody just looks bad. It happens, but they
• 4:32
  can bounce back from it. Now, I'm expecting all
• 4:34
  the players they lost last year to come back
• 4:36
  healthy and ready to play, especially with them
• 4:39
  hiring a new offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel.
• 4:42
  And speaking of Mike McDaniel, I also believe
• 4:44
  that he's going to unlock something in this offense.
• 4:46
  Now, I'm not saying that Justin Herbert is going
• 4:49
  to be an MVP next year. I'm not saying that Ladd
• 4:51
  McConkie is going to be an offense player of
• 4:53
  the year. But I do believe that he's going to
• 4:55
  take this offense to another level. Looking at
• 4:58
  their draft picks, they have their first, second,
• 4:59
  third, fourth, and sixth. Now, I understand that's
• 5:02
  not a lot, but I believe they can make it work.
• 5:04
  And since we're in draft season, let's talk about
• 5:06
  the Rich Hill Draft Trade Value Chart. Originally
• 5:09
  created by Jimmy Johnson, It is a chart that
• 5:12
  shows the trade value of each and every draft
• 5:15
  pick. Now in recent years, teams have transitioned
• 5:17
  from using the Jimmy Johnson model to the Rich
• 5:19
  Hill model as it is more accurate on the trade
• 5:22
  value of each and every draft pick. Using the
• 5:24
  Rich Hill model, which I will post the link of
• 5:26
  the Jimmy Johnson model as well as the Rich Hill
• 5:29
  model in the description of this episode, the
• 5:31
  Chargers value for all of their draft picks is
• 5:33
  very low. The 22nd pick in the first round has
• 5:36
  a trade value of 780 points. The 55th pick in
• 5:40
  the second round has a trade value of 350 points
• 5:43
  the 86th pick in the third round has a trade
• 5:45
  value of 160 points the 123rd pick in the fourth
• 5:49
  round has a trade value of 49 points and the
• 5:52
  204th pick in the sixth round has a trade value
• 5:55
  of 9 .4 points with the chargers only having
• 5:58
  three picks in the top 100 i wonder how are they
• 6:01
  going to attack the draft because as i've said
• 6:03
  before in previous episodes in this series i
• 6:05
  believe there's going to be a lot of teams that
• 6:07
  are going to trade down or possibly trade out
• 6:10
  of the first round altogether due to the first
• 6:12
  round lacking blue chip talent and positions
• 6:14
  that were traditionally valued lower in the first
• 6:16
  round have now been inflated and are now being
• 6:19
  valued higher in this draft class. So it begs
• 6:22
  the question, what are the Chargers going to
• 6:24
  do in the first round? Because if they wanted
• 6:26
  to, they can go from the 22nd to maybe the 18th
• 6:29
  pick and not have to give up a lot of draft compensation.
• 6:31
  Now, if they wanted to go a little bit higher,
• 6:34
  you may have to give up a little bit more, but
• 6:36
  even then, I think you can talk yourself into.
• 6:39
  doing it depending on the player and position
• 6:41
  that you're trying to target. Now, the one move
• 6:43
  that I would do is draft a defensive lineman.
• 6:45
  Now, originally, I was leaning towards an offensive
• 6:48
  lineman, but after the signings of Tyler Biadich,
• 6:51
  Trey Pipkins, and Cole Strange, I feel like that's
• 6:53
  good enough for now. I feel like at best, if
• 6:56
  you wanted to address the offensive line, you
• 6:58
  could do it in day two and day three of the draft.
• 7:01
  But I think you're in a good position where you
• 7:02
  don't have to reach for someone like a Caleb
• 7:04
  Banks or Lee Hunter or Peter Woods if you want
• 7:07
  to take that route. Because I think pairing them
• 7:09
  with Dalvin Thomason would be a great combination.
• 7:12
  Because we saw how productive this defensive
• 7:14
  line was last year. I think you need to continue
• 7:16
  on with that model. Looking at their cap space,
• 7:19
  they have $49 .9 million. Now, I don't expect
• 7:21
  the Chargers to make any moves anytime soon because
• 7:23
  they're preparing for the draft, but I do expect
• 7:26
  for them to be players in that second and third
• 7:28
  wave of free agency. Now, the question is this.
• 7:31
  Are they going to go after veteran offensive
• 7:33
  linemen? Are they going to go after veteran defensive
• 7:35
  linemen? Because their market values are somewhat
• 7:37
  reasonable. Joel Betonio's market value, according
• 7:40
  to Spoltrak, is only $12 .9 million. That's reasonable
• 7:43
  because Joel Betonio is one of the better guards
• 7:45
  in the league. Jawan Taylor's market value is
• 7:48
  only $14 .9 million. That's reasonable. Kevin
• 7:51
  Zeitler's market value is only $9 .2 million.
• 7:53
  James Daniels' market value is only $6 .7 million.
• 7:56
  Graham Glasgow's market value is only $5 .8 million.
• 8:00
  That's not bad. Those are reasonable numbers
• 8:02
  for productive veteran offensive linemen. Looking
• 8:05
  at some of the veteran defensive linemen that
• 8:07
  are still free agents, their market value is
• 8:09
  even more reasonable. David Onyemata's market
• 8:12
  value is only $8 .5 million. DJ Reader's market
• 8:15
  value is only $8 .5 million. only 3 .8 million.
• 8:17
  Calais Campbell's market value is 10 .9 million.
• 8:20
  Mario Edwards' market value is only 2 .2 million.
• 8:23
  Daquan Jones' market value is only 1 .7. Larry
• 8:26
  Ogunjobi's market value is only 5 million. Those
• 8:29
  are reasonable numbers. You have more than enough
• 8:32
  cap space to go after multiple offensive and
• 8:34
  defensive linemen if you want to take that route.
• 8:36
  So let's see what the Chargers do. But I'm going
• 8:38
  to end this episode here. If you guys like what
• 8:40
  you're listening, please, please, please, please,
• 8:41
  please make sure you guys leave a five -star,
• 8:43
  five -star, five -star, five -star. five -star
• 8:45
  review on anywhere and everywhere that you can
• 8:47
  listen to this podcast all right we are available
• 8:48
  on apple spotify and a few other places now if
• 8:51
  you want to access those places go on google
• 8:53
  type in rss .com football junkies podcast all
• 8:57
  right it should be the first link when you click
• 8:59
  on that link it'll take you to our rss .com page
• 9:01
  where you can listen to this podcast on your
• 9:03
  online browser all right there should be a box
• 9:05
  that says listen to when you click on that box
• 9:07
  it'll take you to a plethora of different places
• 9:09
  that you can listen to this podcast all right
• 9:11
  now for my youtube people you can follow us Sarah
• 9:14
  at Football Junkies Pod. Football Junkies Pod.
• 9:17
  Make sure you guys like, share, subscribe, turn
• 9:19
  the notification bell on, leave a comment down
• 9:21
  below. Let me know your thoughts on this episode
• 9:23
  as well as other episodes. Am I right? Am I wrong?
• 9:26
  Let's talk about it, all right? We also have
• 9:28
  a link tree in our bio. Now, when you click on
• 9:30
  that link tree, it'll take you to anywhere and
• 9:32
  everywhere that we have Football Junkies content,
• 9:33
  all right? It is also available in the description
• 9:36
  of every single episode that we post, all right?
• 9:38
  Now, if you're a podcaster or content creator
• 9:40
  such as myself and you're looking for a place
• 9:42
  to distribute your content, go ahead and sign
• 9:44
  up for rss .com using our rss affiliate link.
• 9:47
  Now, when you use our rss .com affiliate link,
• 9:49
  all proceeds will go back into the podcast in
• 9:52
  the form of new equipment, new data, and anything
• 9:54
  that we can do to make this podcast better for
• 9:57
  you guys, all right? Make sure you guys click
• 9:58
  on that link. Now, you can follow us on Instagram
• 10:01
  at football underscore junkies pod. Football
• 10:03
  underscore junkies pod. Junkies pod is now what?
• 10:10
  It is together, not spaced, okay? It is together,
• 10:13
  not spaced. Football underscore junkies pod,
• 10:16
  all right? You can follow me on TikTok at football
• 10:18
  junkies pod. Football junkies pod. I got some
• 10:21
  clips. I'm going to post them. You just got to
• 10:24
  give me some time. All right. Now you can follow
• 10:25
  me on blue sky at G M kale. G as in good M as
• 10:30
  in morning kale, K A I O E. All right. G M K
• 10:34
  A I O E. You can follow me on Twitter at G M
• 10:38
  kale, G as in good M as in morning kale. K -A
• 10:43
  -I -O -E, all right? As always, I hope I gave
• 10:45
  you guys a fix that you guys need. I love you
• 10:47
  guys. I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you
• 10:49
  guys so much for listening to the best football
• 10:51
  podcast that you can listen to on a week -to
• 10:53
  -week, day -to -day basis. And as always, this
• 10:55
  is your GM Kale signing out. Peace and love.
• 10:57
  Later, guys.