POLL: Which Charger Has Their Biggest Make-Or-Break Season Coming Up?

[pigskin]

I gotta say Uchenna Nwosu, 4th year in the league, 1st time starter, has to produce being opposite Bosa. He has shown flashes in the past but must now put it all together.

[dmac_bolt]

Tillery was a disappointment his rookie year; then again, he was coming off of an injury;
he was again a disappointment his 2nd year (one good game (Cincy) against a team with scrubs on the interior);
i suppose you can blame that on COVID.

However, Bradley moving him out to the edge last year (5-T?) was a bad sign: comparable to moving a failed OT inside to guard.
Most here didn't like picking him in the 1rst (outside of a good day against Stanford, he looked underwhelming at Notre Dame),
and his failure just confirms what we originally thought. Telesco looking for the next Chris Jones (without Chris Jone's power and first step).

He's done, stick a fork in him.

He has been underwhelming. He’s sure not earned a big 2nd contract. I don’t think he’s a complete bust, he’s just not a 1st rd pick. I was worried he’s too tall to be effective inside, hoped his athleticism would overcome it. CJones is 6’6”, he gets it done. All things equal, I like my interior DTs to be 6.3” or less, 310-320 immovable cement barricades, not 6’5” 300. Donald is 6’1”. NFL guards are too good, they know how to get under the pads of tall guys, stand them up, and neutralize them or dance them right out of the play. We’ll see - this is the year for sure.

I’m not a big JT pimp, I’m just pulling for him to figure it out and be a value to the roster. Its the horse we’re riding …

[Steve]

There have been plenty of tall DT who have played at a high level. Buck Buchanan, Reuben Davis, Reggie White, Bob Lilly, Alan Page, Marcus Stroud, Marty Lyons, JJ Watt, Cam Hayward, John Matusak (6'8"), Joe Phillips, Santana Dotson and Richard Seymour are all interior players who are 6'5"-ish or taller. It is in no way a comprehensive list, just players I could think of at the top of my head. There is also a mix of guys who player 2, 0, 1 and 3 techniques.

Height has nothing to do with it. If a tall guy plays with good bend and technique, he gets a huge amount of leverage over the shorter player. Tillery is a bad player because he is sloppy with his technique and not very good at reading plays. People can point to his height, but it is just them being lazy in critiquing him. Again, plenty of tall DT are out there.

[gzubeck]

There have been plenty of tall DT who have played at a high level. Buck Buchanan, Reuben Davis, Reggie White, Bob Lilly, Alan Page, Marcus Stroud, Marty Lyons, JJ Watt, Cam Hayward, John Matusak (6'8"), Joe Phillips, Santana Dotson and Richard Seymour are all interior players who are 6'5"-ish or taller. It is in no way a comprehensive list, just players I could think of at the top of my head. There is also a mix of guys who player 2, 0, 1 and 3 techniques.

Height has nothing to do with it. If a tall guy plays with good bend and technique, he gets a huge amount of leverage over the shorter player. Tillery is a bad player because he is sloppy with his technique and not very good at reading plays. People can point to his height, but it is just them being lazy in critiquing him. Again, plenty of tall DT are out there.

If Staley can't resurrect Tillery no one can! He'll be out of football in two years unless it's league minimum and he's a rotational player.

[chargeroo]

If Staley can't resurrect Tillery no one can! He'll be out of football in two years unless it's league minimum and he's a rotational player.

Wait a minute, Tillery is not that bad. You were expecting another Aaron Donald or something. I could name a ton of DT's that had long careers but weren't stars and didn't live up to their draft position but still had a long career. We've had some of them on the Chargers. I don't know that Tillery can live up your lofty expectations but he'll likely improve as he matures and he may even turn our to be above average. Big hands Johnson looked like a bad pick until midway through his second season. Next thing you know he was a pro-bowler.

Let's see what happens for him this season before we call for him to be cut.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

I gotta say Uchenna Nwosu, 4th year in the league, 1st time starter, has to produce being opposite Bosa. He has shown flashes in the past but must now put it all together.

Concur. All things considered, Nwosu has produced marginally in his career to date.

Just like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, who looked to The Wizard to give them the components they lacked-- a brain for the Scarecrow, a heart for the Tin Man and courage for the Lion, we're all looking the The Wizard of Staley to fix any player who hasn't shined so far.

Then the Wizard gets exposed as a fraud, and the characters realize they already have what they need within them. Uh oh. I don't like the looks of this. lol

[equivocation]

Are we the flying monkies?

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Are we the flying monkies?

oh-WEE-oh-WEE-oh-wah; oh-WEE-oh-WEE-oh-wah; oh-WEE-oh-WEE-oh-wah;

[gzubeck]

Wait a minute, Tillery is not that bad. You were expecting another Aaron Donald or something. I could name a ton of DT's that had long careers but weren't stars and didn't live up to their draft position but still had a long career. We've had some of them on the Chargers. I don't know that Tillery can live up your lofty expectations but he'll likely improve as he matures and he may even turn our to be above average. Big hands Johnson looked like a bad pick until midway through his second season. Next thing you know he was a pro-bowler.

Let's see what happens for him this season before we call for him to be cut.

Wasn't really meant to be negative but stating that Staley knows what he's doing and if he can't get the most out of Tillery then he's got problems beyond anyone's control. If you look at my other posts on Tillery I'm more optimistic than others.

opcorn:

[gzubeck]

Concur. All things considered, Nwosu has produced marginally in his career to date.

Just like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, who looked to The Wizard to give them the components they lacked-- a brain for the Scarecrow, a heart for the Tin Man and courage for the Lion, we're all looking the The Wizard of Staley to fix any player who hasn't shined so far.

Then the Wizard gets exposed as a fraud, and the characters realize they already have what they need within them. Uh oh. I don't like the looks of this. lol

I'm thinking he's more like Glendora (Staley) ...Silly! Just click your heals three times and we're off to the Superbowl!

:beer:

[powderblueboy]

Wait a minute, Tillery is not that bad. You were expecting another Aaron Donald or something. I could name a ton of DT's that had long careers but weren't stars and didn't live up to their draft position but still had a long career. We've had some of them on the Chargers. I don't know that Tillery can live up your lofty expectations but he'll likely improve as he matures and he may even turn our to be above average. Big hands Johnson looked like a bad pick until midway through his second season. Next thing you know he was a pro-bowler.

Let's see what happens for him this season before we call for him to be cut.

Tackles take some time to get familiar with more intricate blocking schemes & stronger interior lineman than in college.
They should start showing more than a pulse in their 2nd season. Tillery is a disaster against the run, and generally seems to get too few
pressures on passing downs. He commands single teams, unless the opposition wants to put him on skates and use him as a battering ram.

I don't think Tillery has the desire.....he's a smart guy who has poor technique after spending 4 years at Notre Dame. How is that possible?
Further, he lacks self awareness on the football field and commits too many pointless penalties.
All this bespeaks of a lack of concentration & interest.

He has prototypical OT features, and yet Notre Dame gave up on him quickly at OT.: its not like they were bringing in 5 star recruits at that important position.
I would guess that the Notre Dame coaching staff correctly surmised that the guy doesn't have the mental framework & discipline to take to coaching.

He plays like he is not terribly bright, which isn't the case.
His real interests are outside of football.

Staley will probably not end up cutting Tillery (I would think he is an even poorer match in Staley's defense) because he would not want to embarrass his boss.

[gzubeck]

Tackles take some time to get familiar with more intricate blocking schemes & stronger interior lineman than in college.
They should start showing more than a pulse in their 2nd season. Tillery is a disaster against the run, and generally seems to get too few
pressures on passing downs. He commands single teams, unless the opposition wants to put him on skates and use him as a battering ram.

I don't think Tillery has the desire.....he's a smart guy who has poor technique after spending 4 years at Notre Dame. How is that possible?
Further, he lacks self awareness on the football field and commits too many pointless penalties.
All this bespeaks of a lack of concentration & interest.

He has prototypical OT features, and yet Notre Dame gave up on him quickly at OT.: its not like they were bringing in 5 star recruits at that important position.
I would guess that the Notre Dame coaching staff correctly surmised that the guy doesn't have the mental framework & discipline to take to coaching.

He plays like he is not terribly bright, which isn't the case.
His real interests are outside of football.

Staley will probably not end up cutting Tillery (I would think he is an even poorer match in Staley's defense) because he would not want to embarrass his boss.

I would think that Tillery is worth at least being a rotational player and it will be interesting to see how staley uses him versus what Gus did. We're not paying him $14 million a year to do nothing. If he plays like crap this season and gets injured I could see them just cutting him outright but for now we get to see what's under the hood . Cutting him before staley gets to try using him does nothing for us and actually will cost us money this season. At least he takes up a blocker and frees someone else up to make a play.

:beer: