2024 Chargers Draft Superthread - Prospect Discussion - Draft Has Started

[Boltnut]

Trying to emulate anyone else will inevitably lead to a second or third rate imposter.
In no way is Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman ready to play their best Andy Reid impersonation.
They were never brought here to do that. If they were, then the Chargers just wasted 10's of millions of dollars on a coaching staff.

Let these guys build it to their vision... even if the rest of the NFL sees it differently.
The narrative that the NFL is a passing league is purely invented. Defense still wins championships.
The #1,2,and 3 defenses were 3 of the 4 last teams standing.
And while the Lions were the 3rd ranked scoring offense... you have to ask yourself how Jared Goff went from trade-bait add-on to the 2nd most passing yards in 2023...

Football is a team sport. So build yourself a team. Ignore the sparkly, shiny things along the way. Focus, boys, focus.

[charger1_sj]

Partly true. Partly false. It has to do with the way Saban used his defense.
He doesn't switch CB's. He leaves Kool-Aid on the right side... playing man on whoever shows up... #1 WR, #2 WR, or #3 WR.
That lets Saban play zone on the left side. It also allows him to slide a safety over to the left... knowing that Kool-Aide will be fine on his own.
Sliding that safety left makes that zone hard to beat and condenses throwing lanes. Alabama did that against LSU. They did that against Georgia. They did that against Michigan. None of those 3 coaches went Kool-Aid's way. Often, they put their #3 WR v Kool-Aid and tested the condensed left side zone.

Nabers had some success v Terrion. But most of Nabers' big plays came in the slot v a safety.
Go watch several of Alabama's 2023 full games. You'll see what I'm talking about. Alabama played pattern match in the secondary.
Kool-Aid is mostly in man coverage. Terrion mostly in zone. The one time you'll see Kool-Aid get beat (v Thomas) he sells to the outside... Thomas gets his hips turned and breaks inside. But further analysis also finds that the OLB drops into the vacant area, tips the pass to an open Thomas... and Terrion gets the tipped pass for an interception.

Scouts are overlooking Kool-Aid's playmaking ability and his superior inside/outside technique because he wasn't tested much in 2023. But the tape shows his speed, quickness, and technique. His reported 40-yard dash was 4.47. But some scouts had him as 4.43... on a broken pinky toe. Remember all of the 4.5+ talk about a month ago...? Throw that in the trashbin where it belongs.

LSU used Nabors in the slot effectively. Doesn't mean they stayed away from Kool-Aid. It means they did what was working to the tune of 170 yards.
Both Kook-Aid and Arnold are 1st round CBs I'm not diminishing their talent. But you put Kool-Aid or Arnold one on one in the slot against Nabers and
they also get burned. On the outside it's a different story. They effectively can take away the outside using the sidelines, and they are quick enough to
react toward the football on inside moves. To beat those guys on the outside you would need MH2 which a different animal. In other words give Nabers
space and you're going to get burned sooner or later. Like to see how he does when and if they play press against him in the NFL which has very
physical DBs. That's where the bigger MH2 also has an advantage.

[Eurobolt]

If we will take any receiver in 1st (not a Harbaugh, Hortiz, Roman way) I guess it will be Odunze as he is praised fornhis blocking ability (Larry F, Cooper K coming to mind as top WR and good blockers).

[Formula 21]

Did I ever tell you about the time I ran a 4.22 40? Ahh, those were the days.

[Boltnut]

Sooooooo much truth. 👍

In today’s NFL you gotta have that explosive downfield playmaker. We have nobody on the roster right now who is that. Really really really hard to pass on the chance to draft such a beast @ 5 this draft.

Welcome to the Naberhood! 😎

If you pause the video @ 0:01 and squint real hard... you can see a guy in khakis that will argue your point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DBNFnREn5w

[Formula 21]

I have watched the likes of
John Hadl, Dan Fouts, and Philip Rivers
put up marvelous stats.

The only QB who got us near a Lombardi
was Stan Humphries.

My prediction is that Justin Herbert will reinvent himself,
and emerge using some of his vast untapped talent.

Errr, Bobby Ross. A coach who demanded players do their job.

[Boltjolt]

Bowers said he wanted to go to a small town... he never mentioned snow.
Ann Arbor has a population of 120,000.
Athens has a population of 130,000.
Los Angeles has a population of... well, more than 130,000.

I was very careful to mention regular season receptions... Loveland had 38.
I nearly forgot about the eliteness of Jake Butt. That only shows Harbaugh can get production out of an old tomato can.

Since when does anybody only use college regular season stats? First I've heard anyone do that lol. 99% of college teams don't make the 4 team playoffs.

And it's college. Tim Tebow was was a stud in college. So was Stick.
Harbaugh has never had a TE like Bowers....nor a QB like Herbert and why he is so excited to come here. I'm sure he would be excited to have a TE like Bowers in the NFL to pair with his QB ....and he can have some input for once.
I'm sure we will get a good WR at some point as well. Round 3 or 4 at the latest.

[Duck of Death]

Yeah, I'm well-aware of the Harbaugh/Baalke rift and Kelce's pre-draft problems. I haven't heard anything specific about the MCDonald/Kelce decision. I do remember Harbaugh being miffed about the character/off field issues of his 49er squad. So I doubt Harbaugh was banging the table for Kelce.

In the end... I was addressing the "Harbaugh needs an elite TE" narrative. If anything, Hargaugh under-utilizes the TE's he has. Statistics bare this out. Professional scouts/GM's don't get them all right. Ravens picked Hurst in the 1st and Andrews in the 3rd (in the same draft). Hortiz seems determined to give Hurst another chance. IMO, we're not desperate for a TE in the 1st round anymore. I suspect a mid/late round pick to develop. Are they as talented as Bowers...? Nope. But are there Likely/Ferguson/Shultz type players in the 4th round...? I think so.

In the end, you have to ask yourself, "How do we run the ball better and protect the franchise QB better"...? If you feel that a WR or TE does that better than the best run blocking RT in college football (Fuaga)... then so be it. If you believe that a WR or TE @#5 is better than Fuaga @#11 and an elite LB @#23... then so be it.

I happen to believe that a RT, LB, DT, and CB are the way to go this draft. There is a golden opportunity to get starting quality players this draft @those positions. But you have to give up that WR/TE dream, trade-back into a spot that appears to be tailor-made with the recent Minnesota moves...

Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely onboard the Fuaga hype train. LOVED what he showed at the Senior Bowl too. But I also wouldn’t be upset with Bowers, Nabers, MHJ either. Just pointing out that SF’s draft selections back then were not likely made with Harbaugh’s full blessings. Hence the clash. In any case I just wish we could read his mind in regards to what he thinks about the current roster - who he feels he could work with, and where he feels the need to upgrade. Does he think he could turn Pip into a viable starter? I have my doubts, but you never know. None of the OL blocked well in the run game under the previous regime last year. Not even Slater, and we know he’s legit.

[dmac_bolt]

Kool-Aide doesn't stay away from anybody. He just puts you in his side pocket and keeps you for safe keeping.
He'll be wide right every play (@Alabama anyways)... he's easy to find.

Malachi Moore was actually better last year. Not the direction scouts want to see you heading come draft day.
Nabers... Nabors... Neighbors... nobody will care once he's on another team. Nobody will care once we're running the ball down the throat of the Chiefs... and hitting Patty upside his inflated head every down.

I was kidding because I find the original argument irrelevant, Koolaid just stayed on one side all the time. Opposing coaches design plays to attack their weaker parts, yeah - is that news at 11 type stuff there? Stop the presses? I mean, really, duh.

That doesnt mean anything about WRs - they aren’t calling plays, Nabers did a lot of his work out of the slot. He’s good in there, very very good. Elite. He had 89 REC for ~1600 yards, with 14 TDs - are you really saying he’s not good, that any ol shit receiver could have done the same? you can discount Malachi all you want but he’s NFL quality and will be drafted next month and play on Sundays. Lets not talk about him like he’s a JuCo scrub. And Nabers absolutely torched the shit out of him. Nabers torched a lot of college DBs and he’ll torch plenty of NFL DBs too.

Again - I don’t really get this stuff about he didn’t go head to head for 40 plays against Koolaid - so what? He played the formations and positions his coach called.

[Charge!]

Trying to emulate anyone else will inevitably lead to a second or third rate imposter.
In no way is Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman ready to play their best Andy Reid impersonation.
They were never brought here to do that. If they were, then the Chargers just wasted 10's of millions of dollars on a coaching staff.

Let these guys build it to their vision... even if the rest of the NFL sees it differently.
The narrative that the NFL is a passing league is purely invented. Defense still wins championships.
The #1,2,and 3 defenses were 3 of the 4 last teams standing.
And while the Lions were the 3rd ranked scoring offense... you have to ask yourself how Jared Goff went from trade-bait add-on to the 2nd most passing yards in 2023...

Football is a team sport. So build yourself a team. Ignore the sparkly, shiny things along the way. Focus, boys, focus.

disagree!..... defense does not win championships,.... has NOT for a very long time because or crazy rules changes....Chiefs beat the 2 or 3 best NFL defenses that were loaded with pro bowlers..and easily out scored them whenever it counted...... but none of them could stop Kelsey (with no WR threats) from doing whatever he needed to do to win 2 consecutive SB's...... REID is the absolute best! and he knows what positions are important in building a championship team using the current NFL rules..... if you are going to emulate or breat them, you will have to do what they do ...only BETTER!!!!

2 SB wins in a row without spending any big money on WR's..... shows everyone the path...... the great TE is a matchup nightmare like a pocket battleship.... tooo fast for the big guys to catch him and too big for the little guys to tackle him..... a great WR can be shut down by a great CB..... great TE's cannot be stopped when it really counts... and in red zone..... and greart TE's cost a fraction of spoiled ass great WR's.....

Chargers offense has had moments, but not been great since Gates or Winslow....... you still need a defense and you can build one because you are not paying extreme money for WR's.....who as Walsh said are a dime a dozen.....

[dmac_bolt]

disagree!..... defense does not win championships,.... has NOT for a very long time because or crazy rules changes....Chiefs beat the 2 or 3 best NFL defenses that were loaded with pro bowlers..and easily out scored them whenever it counted...... but none of them could stop Kelsey (with no WR threats) from doing whatever he needed to do to win 2 consecutive SB's...... REID is the absolute best! and he knows what positions are important in building a championship team using the current NFL rules..... if you are going to emulate or breat them, you will have to do what they do ...only BETTER!!!!

2 SB wins in a row without spending any big money on WR's..... shows everyone the path...... the great TE is a matchup nightmare like a pocket battleship.... tooo fast for the big guys to catch him and too big for the little guys to tackle him..... a great WR can be shut down by a great CB..... great TE's cannot be stopped when it really counts... and in red zone..... and greart TE's cost a fraction of spoiled ass great WR's.....

Chargers offense has had moments, but not been great since Gates or Winslow....... you still need a defense and you can build one because you are not paying extreme money for WR's.....who as Walsh said are a dime a dozen.....

Chiefs had the #2 defense last year, and were around #16 in scoring per game offense. They only scored, what, 16 pts in regulation in the SB. Defense won that game.

I want a new Gates/Winslow too. Not sure if Bowers will be their guy, if they trade down, or what they do. I won’t mind if it is Bowers, even if it’s not the absolute “best” pick some computer calculates, thats for sure.

[Boltnut]

I was kidding because I find the original argument irrelevant, Koolaid just stayed on one side all the time. Opposing coaches design plays to attack their weaker parts, yeah - is that news at 11 type stuff there? Stop the presses? I mean, really, duh.

That doesnt mean anything about WRs - they aren’t calling plays, Nabers did a lot of his work out of the slot. He’s good in there, very very good. Elite. He had 89 REC for ~1600 yards, with 14 TDs - are you really saying he’s not good, that any ol shit receiver could have done the same? you can discount Malachi all you want but he’s NFL quality and will be drafted next month and play on Sundays. Lets not talk about him like he’s a JuCo scrub. And Nabers absolutely torched the shit out of him. Nabers torched a lot of college DBs and he’ll torch plenty of NFL DBs too.

Again - I don’t really get this stuff about he didn’t go head to head for 40 plays against Koolaid - so what? He played the formations and positions his coach called.

Not at all. I think he goes to the Giants @#6.
Do you really believe Malik Nabers is better than MHJ...?

If we stay @#5... do you believe they won't take Joe Alt over Malik Nabers because all of the experts have Malik Nabers @#6 and Joe Alt @#7...? Because those are the kinds of statements I'm dealing with here. Do you really believe that Malik Nabers > Fuaga + Cooper...?

I also find it hard to believe that Hortiz will pick another 1st round WR when he knows we'll be in 21-personnel 50% of the time. Who are you sending to the bench...? Does QJ get any PT...?

My point about Kool-Aid... he's falling faster than a Led Zeppelin while Malik is soaring towards the sun. Yet, nobody thought to check the tape...? Well, I'm here to tell you... other coaches certainly did. So who you casting your lot with...? Harbaugh, Smart, and Kelly...? Or Click-bait sports writer guy...?