Welcome DL Tuli Tuipulotu, USC (Round 2 #54)

[powderblueboy]

Here's Tulis's pro day work out.

His top end speed looks well below average for an edge (4.85 s ?), but he seems to have a quick first step.
However, placing Tuli next to a SC DT on drills might be misleading

First step quickness, strength, technique, good/big hands, film study monster might make him a stud ..... don't know.

[dmac_bolt]

Not following you...why the hell should I have to continue reading between your lines. You’re not the genius you think you are. please stop before you dig yourself deeper.

Seriously - it was just a question if you were scared about Tuli signing? We’re you literally scared in mid-June about his contract and are you really still in shell shock over Bosa’s protracted signing 7 years ago? Nothing genius in the question, I wondered if you were just adding colorful phrasing for effect or if you are really serious.

seriously, thats all. I thought we had worked out the whole Chargers- Tuli contract thing. No need to get insulted and snap at me. Sorry if I did insult you, didn’t mean to.

[dmac_bolt]

Here's Tulis's pro day work out.

His top end speed looks below average for edge, but he seems to have a quick first step.
However, placing Tuli next to a SC DT on drills might be misleading

First step quickness, strength, technique, good/big hands, film study monster might make him a stud ..... don't know.

He’s not a top end speed guy, its one key reason the country sack leader was not a top 10 pick, I’d agree he’s not a good pick at #8 or even #22. But by the 50s and beyond there is some element to critique every draft pick. I have seen some posts of his 40 time but i haven’t found any actual recorded 40 time. Not sure.

His positives, quick first step, relentless motor, heavy punch and strong hands, decent technique, good character and work ethic …

I think he’s a step up from Fox, i don’t know how high his ceiling is. I expect they need to draft in Rd1 for Edge next year at this point in time. a long time to go, who knows what will change.

[gzubeck]

Seriously - it was just a question if you were scared about Tuli signing? We’re you literally scared in mid-June about his contract and are you really still in shell shock over Bosa’s protracted signing 7 years ago? Nothing genius in the question, I wondered if you were just adding colorful phrasing for effect or if you are really serious.

seriously, thats all. I thought we had worked out the whole Chargers- Tuli contract thing. No need to get insulted and snap at me. Sorry if I did insult you, didn’t mean to.

Chargers have had a long history (20 years I'd say) of mucking things up contract-wise with players before, during, and after playing for the Chargers. They're learning but slowly how not to muck things up. I was simply responding to the other posters info that it was simply a small legal issue. I probably should have stated more about my rational...Tuli will probably perform serious back-up role as well as additional support on critical downs. Yes, second rounders are considered valuable in my book and sometimes you get bargains all the way into the third round (Henley). Yes, we need all the good players we can find for depth. We saw what happened last year...

[dmac_bolt]

Chargers have had a long history (20 years I'd say) of mucking things up contract-wise with players before, during, and after playing for the Chargers. They're learning but slowly how not to muck things up. I was simply responding to the other posters info that it was simply a small legal issue. I probably should have stated more about my rational...Tuli will probably perform serious back-up role as well as additional support on critical downs. Yes, second rounders are considered valuable in my book and sometimes you get bargains all the way into the third round (Henley). Yes, we need all the good players we can find for depth. We saw what happened last year...

They’ve had a few. 20 years and which players? Joey definitely yes. Gates was a stupid episode and i guess thats within 20 years barely. Who else? I think Rivers hits that windows his initial rookie deal. I think every contract problem is situational and normal, and not specific to the Chargers. We just don’t notice the contract impasses as much on other teams but every team has similar situations. Its also not always the team’s fault - witness MG3 and almost Ekeler, they completely misjudged their value.

Not sure who the “after” playing for Chargers is, who are you thinking of?

I expect Tuli will be a regular rotational sub, unless one of the 2 big cats gets injured. He’s got ability and heart, and also some measurables that are questionable. We’ll see. It will help Joey and Khalil a LOT if they can get some plays off during games. TBD on Hensley, i love the kid but it depends a lot on K9 too. LB substitutions as a regular rotation are not (as) common.

Completely agree that R2 and R3 players are needed to build the core of any team. There’s only one R1 pick.

[gzubeck]

They’ve had a few. 20 years and which players? Joey definitely yes. Gates was a stupid episode and i guess thats within 20 years barely. Who else? I think Rivers hits that windows his initial rookie deal. I think every contract problem is situational and normal, and not specific to the Chargers. We just don’t notice the contract impasses as much on other teams but every team has similar situations. Its also not always the team’s fault - witness MG3 and almost Ekeler, they completely misjudged their value.

Not sure who the “after” playing for Chargers is, who are you thinking of?

I expect Tuli will be a regular rotational sub, unless one of the 2 big cats gets injured. He’s got ability and heart, and also some measurables that are questionable. We’ll see. It will help Joey and Khalil a LOT if they can get some plays off during games. TBD on Hensley, i love the kid but it depends a lot on K9 too. LB substitutions as a regular rotation are not (as) common.

Completely agree that R2 and R3 players are needed to build the core of any team. There’s only one R1 pick.

You can add in Sproles and Vincent Jackson...list goes on....

[SuperCharged]

You can add in Sproles and Vincent Jackson...list goes on....

It's not uniquely a Chargers thing. There are messy contracts and the negotiations that come with them on every team.

[blueman]

He’s signed. He’s a nasty sack master, in college. Let’s see how that translates. Outside of the first rounders, who will likely be starters ASAP, not seeing a better guy to backup our starters. Solid pick.

[dmac_bolt]

You can add in Sproles and Vincent Jackson...list goes on....

VJax signed for more than the team wanted to spend - he got the biggest contract around by going to TB, which was a shit org at the time. SDC decided to not match top dollar in a bidding war and he chased the money - that happens to all teams from time to time. Mistake, but not a contract negotiation mistake, Team miscalculated that Sproles was on the rapid downside of RB life and didnt have much left vs the years he wanted - another personnel evaluation mistake. big mistake, just not a Contract one, they never engaged in serious contract talks with him, they decided he didn’t have 4 good years left.

maybe I’m wrong - its how i recall them. Maybe you see any time a player leaves its a contract negotiation fail - I don’t. I have seen them lose more talent due to bad talent evaluation than contract negotiations. Maybe it doesn’t matter which is which.

This year, I thought the Tuli concern was hair trigger panic and wayyyy premature to the point it was unfair. Anyone who looked at the broad picture of the league’s second round could see it was just a temporary snag across the entire group and not related to the Chargers. The dominos would all fall into place after a short pause.

(I’m not talking to you here now, G just generally to the worst impulses among any undefined imaginary TPB straw man poster)
- Yet the rock throwing came immediately: franchise sucks, Chargers can’t sign a draft pick, Spani are cheap pricks, worst contract negotiators ever, it’s a tragic horror, season is doomed, … blah blah. I have no problem with criticizing the org, i make jokes that the Spano’s are inbred incompetents all the time. Dean’s lack of spine makes me wonder how he stands vertical. But folks need to be fair too.

in this case - There was no “Charger problem”. Tuli signed in short order, all fine - yet there are residual complaints because of scars from a generation ago. So just a couple more rocks at Telesco are deserved? Telesco is not the guys from 20 years ago and I can’t think of one negotiation problem he was wrong on besides Joey. Every other one, i agreed with him and blame the player. Thats life, they are free men to make mistakes. A team can’t bend over and take it every time an employee demands something.

For TT and Spani Gen3 (10 yrs is about how long since Dean stepped into asshat ceremonial team role and concentrated on fucking up infrastructure negotiations ) - 1 error in 10 years is not a problem that needs solving, much less throwing bricks at them.

Imagine your family moves into a home. The neighbors quickly gather around and throw rocks thru your windows, spray paint shit on your garage door, burn your shrubs. You come outside and ask “WTF, why are you terrorizing us?” and the neighbors say “yeah, well the last guy that lived here was a complete asshole!”. Thats metaphorically what goes on here on the regular and why I fight my losing battle to get the world to be rationale and fair about shit.

Its all good, sorry to argue, probably time to just move on from the contract talk and debate whether he can really even be an NFL level edge rusher, given his tweener traits (i usually hate tweeners), and lack of elite measurables a at either DE or DT. I have confidence he’s a stud but zero evidence to prove I’m right on that one

[sonorajim]

Tuli was ranked @ 4-5 DE/ Edge in the '23 draft, had the #1 sack stats. We were lucky to get him where we did.

[powderblueboy]

Tuli was ranked @ 4-5 DE/ Edge in the '23 draft, had the #1 sack stats. We were lucky to get him where we did.

It's been said somewhere that Baltimore & Pittsburgh met with him.
Those guys always stumble onto stud D linemen, so that is good to know.

I'm trying to upload a gif on his sack against Notre Dame from the edge that we can discuss.
He's moved all over, so you don't consistently see him in one spot.
You are asking yourself, where the hell is he?

[dmac_bolt]

It's been said somewhere that Baltimore & Pittsburgh met with him.
Those guys always stumble onto stud D linemen, so that is good to know.

I'm trying to upload a gif on his sack against Notre Dame from the edge that we can discuss.
He's moved all over, so you don't consistently see him in one spot.
You are asking yourself, where the hell is he?

On paper, he can be seen as a tween, though he looks more DE than IDL to me at next level. But on obvious pass downs Brandon likes to bring in “undersized” but faster IDL as well for pass rush. It will be interesting to see how Staley designs the deployment of his toolbox this year.