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it's the free agency period so he's probably busy. I'm sure he'll be back with some inside stuff.
To me, that just says John Butler did one hell of a job before going to the great scouting combine in the sky.
Get it ? Not kiddy pool, not the pool of false rumors, not the craptastic pool.. SHARK POOL
Fixed for accuracy. Point well taken though.
Lighten up Frances
my issues with AJ has been 1- letting brees walk for Nothing ( I know they get a 3rd round comp. pick this year, but pro-bowl qb's dont grow on trees.)2 - cost themselves a possible vicotry in game 1 two seasons ago with the Gates fiasco3 - Norv Turner? geez. not the best choice IMO. The overall strength of the AFC is the reason for the Bolts lack of a superbowl appearance.
Exactly. He's got an eye for talent. But he seems to have an EGO problem. Now it's Norv Turner to the rescue!
Technically, that was 2004.Still, another good FA signing by AJ.
Added both Welker and Malcom Floyd as UDFA in 2004.With this many successes, props need to go to the scouting of these players as well as the GM.
Lemar Marshall was another Marty find, as was Ifeanyi Ohalete. He also drafted Smoot and, despite criticism drafted Rosenfels who before you laugh is still in the league and in the mix for a starting job in Houston. On the flip side, he drafted Rod Gardner.
His work in D.C. was incomplete, but looked promising.I guess I'm not exactly sure how this EGO problem hurts him.People said AJ had an ego problem because he wouldn't trade the Eli pick before the draft and the Chargers are better off.People said AJ had an ego problem in the Rivers contract negotiations and the Chargers are better off after those negotiations.People said AJ had an ego problem during the Gates contract negotiations and the Chargers are better off.People said AJ had an ego problem when he let Brees go and turns out he let one pro-bowl QB walk just so he could play the pro-bowl QB on the bench.People said AJ had an ego problem when he passed on the LT's in free-agency and planned on starting a 2nd rounder as his week #1 starting LT while having a QB that's never started a game... and it worked out pretty well.People say AJ has an ego problem because of the Marty situation, so we'll have to wait and see whether that hurts the team or not.People say AJ has an ego problem because of the Donnie Edwards contract situation, and again we'll have to see if it hurts the team or not.The common theme throughout is all AJ "ego problems" seem a lot bigger at the time then they actually turn out being in retrospect. I'm a huge Marty/Edwards fan and criticized AJ in the past but it's kind of difficult to argue with his track record.
With 3 weeks on the job, you can expect that AJ simply put in place those things that Butler had already started. And, Butler did a pretty good job in Buffalo as well.
But they would have if Butler hadn't died of cancer. Once acquired, the development of those players was out of Butler's/AJ's hands anyway. How much are you going to give him credit for?
I'll give him credit for being one of the finest talent evaluators in the game right now. He has consistently found healthy contributors, solid starters, and Pro-Bowl quality players in the top rounds of the draft, the mid and late rounds of the draft, and as free agents.We really have no idea what Butler could have done, but I know he never had a draft as good as A.J. did three years ago, and he never fielded a winning team for San Diego.
All the Chargers' wins and none of the losses.No, wait - all the Chargers' wins, none of the losses and the selection of all the hot Charger Cheerleaders.No, no, wait - all the Chargers' wins, none of the losses, the selection of all the hot Charger Cheerleaders and the invention of the chocolate chip cookie.No, wait, wait - all the Chargers' wins, none of the losses, the selection of all the hot Charger Cheerleaders, the invention of the chocolate chip cookie and the U.S. Constitution.Wait, hold on......
There is no doubt that his handling of the 2004 draft was masterful. He tooled the Giants in the Eli-Rivers deal, and that to a large degree has put the talent on the Chargers' roster into the league's elite. I think he gets a bit too much credit overall for what he inherited from Butler, and for what Marty was doing with those players on the field.
It'd be interesting to look at how many starters on last year's 14-2 team were inherited from Butler. Surely, the biggest piece, Tomlinson, was there. Also, the anchor of the defense, Jamal Williams. Any others?
Butler had been battling for his life for the previous few months, so I really don't know how personally involved he was in preparing for the draft (and free agent signings) that year. Maybe he was very involved; i just don't know. I'm willing to count Sammy Davis against AJ as a mistake, which means I'm willing to give him credit for some of the free agent signings as well.That said, the free agent signings were largely luck. Several teams pursued Antonio Gates, but none of them (including the Chargers) were willing to draft him. Gates ultimately signed with the Chargers because he liked the TE coach (whose name escapes me right now -- he held the position before Chudzinski). Not because of AJ.
There aren't very many.LaDainian Tomlinson, Jamal Williams, Lorenzo Neal, Eric Parker, Quentin Jammer, Donnie Edwards, Matt Wilhelm, Carlos Polk . . . I think that's it.
Dielman?
Going by the first post in this thread, Dielman was not inherited; he was in the same class as Gates.
Wilhelm was drafted in '03, but still... I guess that's a bigger chunk than I thought. I think it would be tough to say that A.J. inherited his success though. Compare that list above to Rivers, the entire offensive line, Antonio Gates, Castillo, Merriman, and Shawn Phillips (and special teamers Osgood, Kaeding, and the underrated Scifres).Maurile Tremblay said:
