Five reasons im optimistic about the Chargers.

[Beerman]

If DROY is determined by Twitter hits, then Te'o is the odds on favorite.


I wish I was being sarcastic, but ESPN has way too much input in these awards.

He'll be a front runner just from starting week 1. Ideally he plays well and makes a ton of tackles and picks to justify the hype.

[Formula 21]

He'll be a front runner just from starting week 1. Ideally he plays well and makes a ton of tackles and picks to justify the hype.

especially if no sackmaster came out of this year's draft.

[Millionaire Wussy]

i like your five reasons, Teats. Even if all of them are o-line related. I do think the depth is better by a long shot. And we need that over a full season. I hope that means we can run the ball with some degree of competency now. I want to be a run first offense....at least until defenses learn to respect our running game a little. Then take the reins off of Rivers when he doesn't have so much pressure to carry this team.

[TTK]

TT did exactly what he said he was going to do. Draft his team and use Free Agency as a way to fill out the roster. Great start draft wise imo. Im probably more high on Tourek Williams than most. I think he can at least outproduce Ingrams rookie year which wasn't anything special. Hes probably JJs replacement down the road as hes a great run defender. Hes got a nose for the RB and can sift through the trash to get him. First 3 picks were solid picks and Steve Williams was one of the best pure cover CBs in the draft. His size held his draft stock down. Hes a perfect nickel/slot type CB. I think he will be perfect for guys like Welker and McCluster.

Didn't expect a bunch of long term free agent contracts given out to big name players. Why do that now when your still building the core of the team. 1-2 year contracts dont hurt the plan going forward. I also think Freeney continues to build off his late season push in the 34. I expect teams to hold onto the ball a lot longer than what Indy was seeing last year. Freeney will have his chances to produce and i think we will be surprised by his production. Freeneys numbers wont hurt Butler contract talks with Meachems cap situation being so much better next year.

This draft wasn't loaded with instant starters...its just the way it is...most drafts are not. TT drafted guys that should be great long term. Most of our picks were hugely productive college players with a ton of experience. I dont have a problem giving Fluker a year or 2 to see if the coaching can help him become a great RT in this league. If he ends up at OG than oh well....we have a stud OG then. Its not like most are expecting us to win the Superbowl this year. You try of course to be the best you can but in the end we are evaluating players. Even Rivers.

Id say TT actually did more this off-season than i expected. Everyone wants to focus on the personnel or lack there of for our potential struggles this year...while i think we overachieve based not on talent but the schemes. I think the offense we run will help us win games and be competitive. We lack a pass rush yes...but have potential dominance from the DE positions...and 2 really good ILBs. I think our Run D will be great personally. I think the pass rush will be helped by the inside push capabilities of our DL.

I'm infinitely more excited about this draft class than the ones led by Buster Davis and Larry English. That's for sure.

[Den60]

Well, hell...that's an improvement right there. "Bottom third" could be as high as 21st best; which is a heck of a lot better than 32nd (last). Will we be a good OL? No. Will we be improved? It would be damn near impossible NOT to see improvement. And a 21st ranking would be quite a jump, don't you think?

As for TT's off-season, I think it's hysterical that most of us were saying - ad nausem - that we had too many holes to fill, and too few draft picks to fill them, all in one off-season, only to be hyper-critical when that turned out to be true. It was just what we expected, no? I sure did.

The addition of Barnes (instead of Freeney); the addition of Vasquez (instead of Fluker); the addition of Jarvis Jones, or whoever (instead of Te'o) would not have changed the landscape of this team all that much (if at all). I would love to give you the opportunity to be 'Hindsight GM' and go back and redo our off-season, given or needs and the way the draft and FA played out. You can throw the injury to your boy, Ingram, into the mix. What would a GM Den60 team look like today, right now? You can even disregard cap space (since none of us know what that is, anyway).

That's a serious request. If you have the time, go back and look at the draft. When it's our turn, make your pick. What would your draft have looked like? Also consider free agency. And be sure to leave enough money to re-sign Butler. When Ingram went down, what would GM Den60 have done? Interesting exercise, if you ask me. Then you can sit back while the rest of us tear YOUR off-season a new a$$hole.

Bottom third can mean 32 just as easily as 21. But I have pointed out many times that Rivers needs more than just not the worst o-line in the league to be effective.

I have said the moves I would have made and I said many times that I still considered OLB to be our biggest need going into the draft (which at that time was for a "bookend" to Ingram). I have also said I would have brought back one of our OLBs (most likely Barnes) for depth. I really do keep things pretty simple. I would never have signed Freeney for the money we are giving him.

[Den60]

Why didnt Den send in his resume when the job opened up?

I like airplanes and dislike dealing with unions.

[Guest]

I like airplanes and dislike dealing with unions.

I have a solution: You could root for the Jets!

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Insuferableknowitall.com logo:

[QSmokey]

Bottom third can mean 32 just as easily as 21. But I have pointed out many times that Rivers needs more than just not the worst o-line in the league to be effective.

I have said the moves I would have made and I said many times that I still considered OLB to be our biggest need going into the draft (which at that time was for a "bookend" to Ingram). I have also said I would have brought back one of our OLBs (most likely Barnes) for depth. I really do keep things pretty simple. I would never have signed Freeney for the money we are giving him.

You said bottom third. 21st is just as likely as 32nd, if you stick to that definition. Or, you can just give us a number. 31st? 30th? Bottom third - which I agree with, by the way - is a range.

I know what you said - we ALL know what you've said - and this is all I've been able to glean from your posts (call me Den60 challenged):

1) The only information I've been able to take away from all your posts on the draft is that you would have drafted an OLB (who?) with our choice @11 and that you would probably have taken somebody like Warford in the 3rd-4th round. That's it. I don't recall seeing your name connected with any particular draft choice(s), other than "somebody like Warford". On the other hand, we know a TON about who you would NOT have drafted (i.e., just about any player TT did draft. ).

2) Free agency. It seems you would have signed Cox and Woodshed. You would also have re-signed Vasquez, Barnes, Martin for sure, and Franklin (I think). Maybe McMichael. Based on the venom toward the Freeney signing, I'm guessing you would have liked to re-sign Phillips after Ingram went down, but...he had already been signed by the Broncos, so scratch that one. Oh, and you would have signed Bulter at almost any cost, and immediately. Again, we know a lot about what you would NOT have done: Brown (redundant); Starks, Dunlap, Ohmberger Reinhart (all suck); Freeney (sucks, old, overpriced); the TE from Dallas (sucks).

So, as I see it - and this is an invitation to correct all my inaccuracies - a Den60 off-season would have looked something like this:

Free Agents
Cox
Woodshed
Vasquez
Barnes
Martin
Franklin
McMichael
Somebody to replace Ingram (but NOT Phillips, since he was already gone)
More???

Draft
1) Jarvis Jones (since he was the only OLB of any worth left on the board @11)
2) Another defensive player (Who? What position?)
3) "Somebody like Warford" (But NOT Warford; because he was already gone)
4) ???
5) ???
6) ???
7) ???

Please fill in the blanks, if you care to play along. Or not, if you don't. It would give the rest of us something to evaluate...and YOU something to defend. Right now, you've stayed, very carefully, just out of reach (perhaps on purpose), giving us only glimpses of what you might have done. There has been precious little in the way of specifics (i.e. player NAMES) to the Den60 Plan, particularly in regards to the Draft.

[oneinchpunch]

McMichael wasn't a free agent.

[QSmokey]

McMichael wasn't a free agent.

What was he, then...cut? I guess Den would have just kept him.

[Den60]

I have a solution: You could root for the Jets!

Jets and Chargers should both be pitiful to watch this year.