2022 Official Chargers Season Discussion

[equivocation]

Joseph was done at the end of last year. SJD and Johnson had two of the top 6 run stop rates last year. Both Mack and Jackson are improvements in run defense as Nwosu and Harris were both liabilities. 3/4 are better scheme fits and Harris was just done.

Popper missing it on this one.

[Xenos]

If Telesco has spent what? $30 million cap hit, $36 AAV an $100 million total (estimate going from memory) and a 2nd round and 6th round pick an hasn't significantly upgraded the defensive line already then he should be fired.

I’m not understanding the confusion here about what Popper wrote. Just because you throw a lot of money at something doesn’t mean that it has been fixed. Look at our OL last year. We were better in 2021 compared to 2020, but we still had a weakness on the right side that was one of the reasons we missed the playoffs. There’s still a lot of work to be done in FA and the draft to address the defensive problems from last year. That’s his point.

[Formula 21]

Joseph was done at the end of last year. SJD and Johnson had two of the top 6 run stop rates last year. Both Mack and Jackson are improvements in run defense as Nwosu and Harris were both liabilities. 3/4 are better scheme fits and Harris was just done.

Popper missing it on this one.

I found it interesting that the Bolts didn’t fire their DL coach at the end of the year. Apparently, the team must have felt that the coaching was what they wanted but the response from the players wasn’t.

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Dear Admin:

Thread titles are no longer yelling. Are my pharmaceuticals wearing off?!?

Asking for a friend!

[Bolt-O]

Lol.

[wu-dai clan]

To understand what is truly going on here, it is most useful to try and analyze the big picture.

We are transitioning, personnel wise, from gusD to StaleyD.

Also StaleyD is evolving to counteract offenses adjusting and attacking earlier StaleyD concepts.

Finally some Charger defenders may come back on short, cheap contracts--their choice.

Mostly, it must be considered that StaleyD now calls for Man coverage.

In Man, pass defenders have their backs to QBs, makingthe D susceptible to getting gashed by running QBs.

Therefore, StaleyD run defense now favors flexible Two-Gappers, EDGE players strong vs pass and run, LBs/DBs who can cover and tackle.

[powderblueboy]

Not hard to improve on Pip and Storm, even for a rookie...and even if TT feels RT is an immediate need, and he is feeling the heat, its hard for a tiger to change its stripes...he has always been emphatic that he drafts for now AND the future...dont think that changes, even with HIS future in question. I could easily see his strategy being to get a rookie like Penning, with Storm and Pip as backup plans if he is shaky out the gate.

I will concede this...if they go with Penning vs finding a vet upgrade there, they do need to find good guard play to insert next to him...whether they think that will be aboushi, or they have other ideas, I dont know....but Penning, in the long run, would be an outstanding addition to this oline.

Storm can only play one position: RT.

He would be a backup to the backup at RT? Or maybe Storm is the backup RT and Pip is the backup LT.
Not many teams pursue this option.

Maybe he's just an insurance plan right now should hell freeze over.

[chargeroo]

Right now, if we can't add anything to our offense, it's still the #5 ranked offense. The question is - how much have these changes to the defense helped. I view the defense as improved quite a bit. Certainly, the pass defense will be much better. Considering how good our offense is, teams won't be able to devote themselves to running the ball for very long.

What I'm thinking is, this team is already better than last year's team and we still have all those draft picks to go and probably a FA or two as backups to our DL. I think Bolt fans are in for a fun ride and we'll be led by a QB from Oregon, and remember this that someone said when we drafted Herbert; (Oregon never produces good QB's).

[Formula 21]

Storm can only play one position: RT.

He would be a backup to the backup at RT? Or maybe Storm is the backup RT and Pip is the backup LT.
Not many teams pursue this option.

Maybe he's just an insurance plan right now should hell freeze over.

Most teams don't keep a backup RT. If you're not a swing tackle or a starter, generally you wont get a job.

[eaterfan]

I’m not understanding the confusion here about what Popper wrote. Just because you throw a lot of money at something doesn’t mean that it has been fixed. Look at our OL last year. We were better in 2021 compared to 2020, but we still had a weakness on the right side that was one of the reasons we missed the playoffs. There’s still a lot of work to be done in FA and the draft to address the defensive problems from last year. That’s his point.

I think that's where the confusion comes in...Last year the OL saw significant improvement. They signed 3 FA to cover 4 spots and used a 1st round pick on the other open spot. Additionally the returning starter who was "average" coming back. The line was vastly improved. It was good enough for us to make the playoffs. The DL brought in 3 players (2 FAs and 1 trade) for 3 open spots and the returning player is already a probowl/all pro level player. The unit is good enough to win.

Every unit on every team could use improvement (except QB for some because it's only one player) in the salary cap era. The OL has gone from fixed to unfixed. I think we're at a point where it will keep us from winning. Yeah, other units if things go wrong could be an issue, but right now the OL even if things go right (75 percentile outcome) then it's bad.

But let's just go through our units the way Popper goes through DL:

RB - If Ek goes down this unit is screwed.
WR - If Mike Williams or Keenan Allen goes down our 3rd receiver becomes Guyton and our 4th is ?
TE - If Parham goes down we have two blocking TEs
OL - We have Jaimes and Pipkins starting. If either of them go down then it's Storm Norton and after that you or I are next man up. If Lindsley or Slater go down, what then?
CB - If Jackson goes down we're basically the crappy secondary we were last year. If Davis or Asante go down we have Campbell or Hall coming in?
S - If Derwin goes down this becomes a terrible unit. If Adderly goes down then we have Webb or Gilman up. It's a disaster.
LB - Murray is a starter. At least I personally like the other pieces. But it's not sure thing either.

The confusion is that using his standard of "fixed" to justify throwing significant future resources at the position could be applied to any of the units listed and I think doubly applies to the OL. Obviously, there is a degree to which he is just explaining the front office's reasoning and I think that's mostly what is confusing to people. I guess people would like to see him say whether or not he thinks this is sound reasoning from the front office.

[Xenos]

I found it interesting that the Bolts didn’t fire their DL coach at the end of the year. Apparently, the team must have felt that the coaching was what they wanted but the response from the players wasn’t.

As others pointed out, Staley felt it was a roster issue. Not a coaching one. So shouting for a new DC or defensive coach was almost pointless since it would have been done already.

[eaterfan]

Right now, if we can't add anything to our offense, it's still the #5 ranked offense. The question is - how much have these changes to the defense helped. I view the defense as improved quite a bit. Certainly, the pass defense will be much better. Considering how good our offense is, teams won't be able to devote themselves to running the ball for very long.

What I'm thinking is, this team is already better than last year's team and we still have all those draft picks to go and probably a FA or two as backups to our DL. I think Bolt fans are in for a fun ride and we'll be led by a QB from Oregon, and remember this that someone said when we drafted Herbert; (Oregon never produces good QB's).

Is it the number 5 offense? As of right now we have downgraded at TE, RB 2, RG and possibly RT (not to mention OL depth) without upgrading anywhere. Dallas and GB probably took a step back. Oakland and Denver probably took a step forward. I also think the pass rushes we face will be better than last year and having the entire right side of the OL be bad will be too much to overcome. Some of these should be easy to overcome. RB 2, RG, and maybe TE can be found cheap in FA or in the mid rounds of the draft. RT will be really tough in the draft.

[Xenos]

I think that's where the confusion comes in...Last year the OL saw significant improvement. They signed 3 FA to cover 4 spots and used a 1st round pick on the other open spot. Additionally the returning starter who was "average" coming back. The line was vastly improved. It was good enough for us to make the playoffs. The DL brought in 3 players (2 FAs and 1 trade) for 3 open spots and the returning player is already a probowl/all pro level player. The unit is good enough to win.

Every unit on every team could use improvement (except QB for some because it's only one player) in the salary cap era. The OL has gone from fixed to unfixed. I think we're at a point where it will keep us from winning. Yeah, other units if things go wrong could be an issue, but right now the OL even if things go right (75 percentile outcome) then it's bad.

But let's just go through our units the way Popper goes through DL:

RB - If Ek goes down this unit is screwed.
WR - If Mike Williams or Keenan Allen goes down our 3rd receiver becomes Guyton and our 4th is ?
TE - If Parham goes down we have two blocking TEs
OL - We have Jaimes and Pipkins starting. If either of them go down then it's Storm Norton and after that you or I are next man up. If Lindsley or Slater go down, what then?
CB - If Jackson goes down we're basically the crappy secondary we were last year. If Davis or Asante go down we have Campbell or Hall coming in?
S - If Derwin goes down this becomes a terrible unit. If Adderly goes down then we have Webb or Gilman up. It's a disaster.
LB - Murray is a starter. At least I personally like the other pieces. But it's not sure thing either.

The confusion is that using his standard of "fixed" to justify throwing significant future resources at the position could be applied to any of the units listed and I think doubly applies to the OL. Obviously, there is a degree to which he is just explaining the front office's reasoning and I think that's mostly what is confusing to people. I guess people would like to see him say whether or not he thinks this is sound reasoning from the front office.

I think if Popper had his way, we would address as much of our weaknesses in FA and the draft as possible. As opposed to the BPA strategy sometimes used. He likes building as much depth as possible given our injury history. How realistic is it? I’m not sure but his job as a writer is to nitpick. Obviously the key is hitting on those FA and draft picks so you don’t have to continually purge your roster and remake it every year. The hope is that Staley’s influence will help mitigate that issue from arising in the future again.