Chargers GM Joe Hortiz - Discussion

[jamrock]

An exert from today's article from Popper

I asked a question about Joe Hortiz coming out of the combine last month: How adaptable will the Los Angeles Chargers general manager be in his free-agency approach?

Through four days, we have a pretty firm answer.

Not very adaptable.

Hortiz has a philosophy, and he is not deviating from it. When he talks about free agency, he uses words such as “smart,” “responsible” and “clinical.” In January, he said he wanted to avoid spending “recklessly.” If there was ever an offseason for some wiggle room in the strategy, it was this year. The Chargers were among the league leaders in cap space heading into free agency. That Hortiz has remained so principled in this specific offseason is proof in his belief in his process, his way of doing things.

I can see both sides. On one hand, it is challenging to find starting players in free agency if you are not willing to spend. On the other hand, if you get a chance at the top job of running a team, you want to have a defined vision for cultivating success. You want to have a belief system and stick to it. You do not want to look back and have regrets about impulsive decisions that were not true to yourself.

I can’t tell you right now, on March 13, if it will work out or not. What I can tell you are the facts as I see them.

1. The philosophy has not yet produced success for the organization.

2. This roster has glaring holes that have not yet been addressed.

3. Most of the game-changing players in free agency are no longer available.

As of Thursday night, only four of my top 50 free agents remain on the board. The Chargers signed one of those top 50 free agents, tight end Charlie Kolar.

There is still plenty of time. The Chargers do not play a game until September, of course. And they will be adding 28 more players to the roster in some capacity, assuming they enter training camp at the roster maximum.

Popper is not having it. Salivating for that press conference where he can ask Joe Hortiz if that "11 wins is pretty good" is the bar he's trying to reach for this team

[CanadianBoltFan]

I think Popper is just calling what he sees.

Reporting and commenting on what has transpired so far

[Velo]

More from Popper. I fully agree about Pipkins, some will point out he doesnt miss many games but he does get nicked a fair bit and his play tails off noticeably when he plays hurt, especially that knee. After the lessons of last year I thought they might over compensate on the OL...not put together the bare minimum in contingency plans

The Chargers’ other moves since our last reset Tuesday were all re-signing in-house free agents. On Tuesday night, they re-signed tackle Trey Pipkins to a two-year deal. He slots in as their swing tackle. He is depth behind Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, who are both returning from severe season-ending injuries.

Pipkins is a starting-caliber right tackle when he is healthy. He has battled injuries, showing immense toughness with some of the pain he has played through. However, his play has often degraded when he is playing through injury.

Slater is returning from a torn *****lar tendon. Alt would not go into details on his injury but said in January, “Everything you could do to an ankle, I did, pretty much.” Considering the nature of these injuries, signing an injury-prone player as your primary tackle depth is risky.

I'd be happier with another backup tackle of Pipkins' level or better, given that both starting OT are coming off season-ending injuries and the nature of Slater's injury.

[CanadianBoltFan]

I'd be happier with another backup tackle of Pipkins' level or better, given that both starting OT are coming off season-ending injuries and the nature of Slater's injury.

100% Velo

I really don't want to leave things to chance, cover the bases

All is assumed fine with Slater but he is coming off ruptured *****la. And not a soul mentions Alt. As recently as January when he was asked about his ankle...Alt said "I pretty much did everything you can possibly do to an ankle"

My idea with 100 million to work with was a nice group of 9-10 linemen....never having to see the likes of Deculus or Hart on the field again. Many posters here also seem to forget they were screaming last year to get Penning off the field when he started as well.

[dmac_bolt]

More from Popper. I fully agree about Pipkins, some will point out he doesnt miss many games but he does get nicked a fair bit and his play tails off noticeably when he plays hurt, especially that knee. After the lessons of last year I thought they might over compensate on the OL...not put together the bare minimum in contingency plans

The Chargers’ other moves since our last reset Tuesday were all re-signing in-house free agents. On Tuesday night, they re-signed tackle Trey Pipkins to a two-year deal. He slots in as their swing tackle. He is depth behind Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, who are both returning from severe season-ending injuries.

Pipkins is a starting-caliber right tackle when he is healthy. He has battled injuries, showing immense toughness with some of the pain he has played through. However, his play has often degraded when he is playing through injury.

Slater is returning from a torn *****lar tendon. Alt would not go into details on his injury but said in January, “Everything you could do to an ankle, I did, pretty much.” Considering the nature of these injuries, signing an injury-prone player as your primary tackle depth is risky.

Kolar, Mitchell, AND Ingold were three huge, underappreciated additions to address gaps in the 2025 offense. Matlock was a constant whiff trying to block, especially in space. Fisk and Diss are just bad TEs. We had no shifty 3rd down RB.

Add in BadAss addressed the biggest IOL need. Strange is an upgrade over Becton, we just await seeing how much of an upgrade but Becton was fucking horrible all season long. We got Penning as a wildcard, he has some Rd1 type athleticism and played fairly well in the one game Gro let him play OG - frankly he embarrassed Gro with that play and Gro was a dick about it in his presser the next week. Pipkins is a solid swing RT and Joe already showed he can switch over to the left and excel.

Would like to see Teller signed if that can work out, and then we longer HAVE to even think about Rd1 for IOL. Could go bigtime weapon or bigtime defensive starter instead. Its not as bad as folks think after 5 days of FA.

[CanadianBoltFan]

Kolar, Mitchell, AND Ingold were three huge, underappreciated additions to address gaps in the 2025 offense. Matlock was a constant whiff trying to block, especially in space. Fisk and Diss are just bad TEs. We had no shifty 3rd down RB.

Add in BadAss addressed the biggest IOL need. Strange is an upgrade over Becton, we just await seeing how much of an upgrade but Becton was fucking horrible all season long. We got Penning as a wildcard, he has some Rd1 type athleticism and played fairly well in the one game Gro let him play OG - frankly he embarrassed Gro with that play and Gro was a dick about it in his presser the next week. Pipkins is a solid swing RT and Joe already showed he can switch over to the left and excel.

Would like to see Teller signed if that can work out, and then we longer HAVE to even think about Rd1 for IOL. Could go bigtime weapon or bigtime defensive starter instead. Its not as bad as folks think after 5 days of FA.

I have eyes Dmac. I can see what they have done.

Improving FB and replacing Dissly with the 6th best blocking TE does not negate the need for decent guards

Like Popper I am just calling what I see at this point. It is underwhelming. That may change, and then like Popper, I will comment on that...and if warranted commend them like I did on the Biadasz, Ingold and Kolar signings.

It is only 5 days but 90% of reasonable quality OL are gone, off the board.

As for Pipkins, its ok, he is a solid swing tackle...when he is not playing hurt..."excels" would be a bit strong

I am ready to see what happens between now and the season...just thought it was relevent to share what our best beat writer has observed

[sonorajim]

Kolar, Mitchell, AND Ingold were three huge, underappreciated additions to address gaps in the 2025 offense. Matlock was a constant whiff trying to block, especially in space. Fisk and Diss are just bad TEs. We had no shifty 3rd down RB.

Add in BadAss addressed the biggest IOL need. Strange is an upgrade over Becton, we just await seeing how much of an upgrade but Becton was fucking horrible all season long. We got Penning as a wildcard, he has some Rd1 type athleticism and played fairly well in the one game Gro let him play OG - frankly he embarrassed Gro with that play and Gro was a dick about it in his presser the next week. Pipkins is a solid swing RT and Joe already showed he can switch over to the left and excel.

Would like to see Teller signed if that can work out, and then we longer HAVE to even think about Rd1 for IOL. Could go bigtime weapon or bigtime defensive starter instead. Its not as bad as folks think after 5 days of FA.

Personally, I've wanted a real live dominant OG to pair with Hamilton since we got him.Joe took a failed shot with Becton.
Ioane or Fano would be a major weapon. Failing that, there are a lot of O & D players that make sense.

[dmac_bolt]

I have eyes Dmac. I can see what they have done.

Improving FB and replacing Dissly with the 6th best blocking TE does not negate the need for decent guards

Like Popper I am just calling what I see at this point. It is underwhelming. That may change, and then like Popper, I will comment on that...and if warranted commend them like I did on the Biadasz, Ingold and Kolar signings.

It is only 5 days but 90% of reasonable quality OL are gone, off the board.

As for Pipkins, its ok, he is a solid swing tackle...when he is not playing hurt..."excels" would be a bit strong

I am ready to see what happens between now and the season...just thought it was relevent to share what our best beat writer has observed

I wouldn't ever ask you to stop. you're aces in my book - say it as you see it. The main point of my last reply was that you left out Ingold, really. OL parts were just add-ons ... I would have preferred another upper segment OG too.

Popper is a bit over-critical in his characterization imo. we can disagree.

[CanadianBoltFan]

I wouldn't ever ask you to stop. you're aces in my book - say it as you see it. The main point of my last reply was that you left out Ingold, really. OL parts were just add-ons ... I would have preferred another upper segment OG too.

Popper is a bit over-critical in his characterization imo. we can disagree.

I disagree a little about Popper. He is never afraid to write very positive things about the Chargers when warranted....about Hortiz and Harbaugh as well. He was really positive about Biadasz, thought it was a very smart move in all ways. He thought Kolar is a great signing and important piece. But he is a journalist not a cheerleader. He is going to call what he sees,

The Athletic must like Popper's work because they are now giving him national assignments and articles.

I do recognize the upgrade in Ingold, I was stoked about that signing. Kolar too. I recognize both will help the run game and protection. But when we are talking about a solid offensive line with depth to deal with the inevitable injuries, when we are talking about solid guard play...I am hearing a little too much on this board about the FB and TE being the answer to the offensive line. While having a good blocking TE and FB will no doubt help the offense, they do not play guard. These are 2 different things.

Maybe Teller signs today and they draft IOL in first 3 rounds and the narrative changes. My bet is Teller to the Giants though

[electricgold]

Personally, I've wanted a real live dominant OG to pair with Hamilton since we got him.Joe took a failed shot with Becton.
Ioane or Fano would be a major weapon. Failing that, there are a lot of O & D players that make sense.

If we don't get Loane or Fano, Freeling, Caleb Lomu, Pregnon, or maybe Proctor... the next targets should be Bisontis or Rutledge, maybe Brian Parker or Slaughter. I would be perfectly fine if we drafted Rutledge in the 2nd round, which would allow us to draft a top DE or DT or CB in the first.

I don't see any other Olineman from the above that really fit our system. It all depends on how our scouts have rated these Olineman. I'm pretty sure if we drafted someone like Proctor Hortiz would argue he has all the athletic ability in the world to be our starting OG. We'll see.

[Heatmiser]

I like that Popper doesn't just tow the party line. Chargers have paid staff reporters for that. And it is nice that he sees the game as a fan and asks questions a fan would like answers to. Just when he tries to act like he knows more about football than whoever is at the podium, it annoys me. But he doesn't do that so much

[beachcomber]

An excerpt from today's article from Popper

I can’t tell you right now, on March 13, if it will work out or not. What I can tell you are the facts as I see them.

1. The philosophy has not yet produced success for the organization. his philosophy has produced nothing but success.... we had no business winning 11 games after the injuries we suffered thru, and as it was a testament to JH2 that we did get to the playoffs, as think that even Big Jim was surprised @some of the wins we managed to eek out.

2. This roster has glaring holes that have not yet been addressed. did you not look @Wu's Oline chart that he shared.... most every Oline had salmon colored players in their lineup, and so.... not sure what his definition of glaring is, and.... every team has glaring holes, and as mentioned the other day, looking over the Broncos roster, personally find it rather unremarkable in its makeup, and so.... kudos to Sean Payton.

3. Most of the game-changing players in free agency are no longer available. what is overlooked/omitted in that statement, is that Joe & Co. have to hold onto the game changing players they already have on the roster.... if you and others insist on a top heavy roster, we have already seen how that panned out w/team Tommy John.

As of Thursday night, only four of my top 50 free agents remain on the board. The Chargers signed one of those top 50 free agents, tight end Charlie Kolar. how many of Popper's top 50 were inadvisable over the hill, injury prone, heavy financial gambits that only GMs w/their jobs on the line would rationally consider, ie Beluga and the like.

There is still plenty of time. The Chargers do not play a game until September, of course. And they will be adding 28 more players to the roster in some capacity, assuming they enter training camp at the roster maximum.

there is still plenty of time for you to share of your magic elixir roster build as 'tis one thing to pound the table in a petulant pitter patter, and wholly another to show a calculated strategem w/names and a completely filled out roster, and preferably without UDFAs filling out our depth chart, ie who's your upgrade for J Pat....