*** Official Chargers 2021 Thread - Yes, We Have No Left Tackles ***

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

13 hours ago, themeistersinger said:

The #Chargers are hiring #Rams DC Brandon Staley as their new head coach, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. An impressive young candidate, he gets a prime job in LA.

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1351000820381265922

Interested to see how he translates his 3-4 approach to the Chargers. Will be different for Bosa and Murray for sure. Should be a great fit for James. Will be interesting to see the decisions on CBs Hayward and Davis and S Jenkins now. I would think (hope) this ensures Perryman is gone.

I hope Popper and BFTB publish some detailed writeups on this at some point in the offseason.

[menobrown 4,238]

Staley seems like a strong hire in general but I'm still surprised they went on defensive side of the ball. Why?  Because if Herbert continues to play well the offense likely does as well and that would only likely hasten the departure of his new OC to being a HC. So if this a scenario like this played out Herbert could possibly be looking at this third OC entering year 3 or 4. This is one of the main reasons teams like to align young franchise QB's with a coach on the offensive side because if you have success on offensive it increases the odds it will cost your the OC.

On the flip side I think the Chargers have potentially set themselves up to be one of those teams who maximize  the rookie contract of their QB and use the extra cap space to build a monster around him. Let Staley get this defense playing up to their talent, get Herbert some OL help and this is a very dangerous team.

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

45 minutes ago, menobrown said:

Staley seems like a strong hire in general but I'm still surprised they went on defensive side of the ball. Why?  Because if Herbert continues to play well the offense likely does as well and that would only likely hasten the departure of his new OC to being a HC. So if this a scenario like this played out Herbert could possibly be looking at this third OC entering year 3 or 4. This is one of the main reasons teams like to align young franchise QB's with a coach on the offensive side because if you have success on offensive it increases the odds it will cost your the OC.

On the flip side I think the Chargers have potentially set themselves up to be one of those teams who maximize  the rookie contract of their QB and use the extra cap space to build a monster around him. Let Staley get this defense playing up to their talent, get Herbert some OL help and this is a very dangerous team.

Building a monster from this roster will definitely be a challenge.

• They have the worst OL situation in the league right now. It will be multi-year project to stabilize it.
• One of their two elite defensive talents, Bosa, is better suited for 4-3 than 3-4. I expect Staley can work around that, just saying it will be different than what he had with Donald.
• The roster depth is weak at best, which is why they have had two straight losing seasons and also has contributed to the Chargers being among the worst at special teams.

I think there is good potential for the Chargers to build a contender, but I would be surprised if they get there in 2021 or even 2022. Maybe 2023. Unless Staley is a true wunderkind.

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

One big issue -- the same people who built rosters that yielded losing records in 4 of the past 6 seasons are the ones still responsible for building a contending roster:

• Director of Football Ops John Spanos
• GM Telesco

Edited January 18 by Just Win Baby

[humpback 1,174]

1 hour ago, menobrown said:

Staley seems like a strong hire in general but I'm still surprised they went on defensive side of the ball. Why?  Because if Herbert continues to play well the offense likely does as well and that would only likely hasten the departure of his new OC to being a HC. So if this a scenario like this played out Herbert could possibly be looking at this third OC entering year 3 or 4. This is one of the main reasons teams like to align young franchise QB's with a coach on the offensive side because if you have success on offensive it increases the odds it will cost your the OC.

On the flip side I think the Chargers have potentially set themselves up to be one of those teams who maximize  the rookie contract of their QB and use the extra cap space to build a monster around him. Let Staley get this defense playing up to their talent, get Herbert some OL help and this is a very dangerous team.

I think this is overblown myself. Head coaches don't only focus on one side of the ball, and in a way having a defensive minded one can be a positive for the QB and offense since they bring that different perspective. The Bills had no problem going with a young defensive coach paired with Allen and that's worked out just fine, and Staley was a college QB so I'm fairly confident that putting Herbert in a position to succeed will be their #1 goal.

Agreed that this team could be dangerous in the next year or two.

[menobrown 4,238]

Just now, humpback said:

I think this is overblown myself. Head coaches don't only focus on one side of the ball, and in a way having a defensive minded one can be a positive for the QB and offense since they bring that different perspective. The Bills had no problem going with a young defensive coach paired with Allen and that's worked out just fine, and Staley was a college QB so I'm fairly confident that putting Herbert in a position to succeed will be their #1 goal.

Agreed that this team could be dangerous in the next year or two.

You mentioned the Bills and Daboll is the only OC that Josh Allen has ever had and look at the growth he took and he probably got lucky to not lose Daboll. I'm not saying in any way that Staley is a negative for Herbert, I am saying that if you continue to make him undergo OC changes it could be.

[humpback 1,174]

56 minutes ago, menobrown said:

You mentioned the Bills and Daboll is the only OC that Josh Allen has ever had and look at the growth he took and he probably got lucky to not lose Daboll. I'm not saying in any way that Staley is a negative for Herbert, I am saying that if you continue to make him undergo OC changes it could be.

But he isn't any more likely to undergo OC changes than if they had hired an offensive HC. Sure, he may lose his OC if their offense does great, but that comes with the territory. If that were to happen they'd likely either promote from within or bring in another good OC candidate. I guess I just don't see your point.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

As HC, maybe he'll let his DC decide the schemes - or maybe he'll be flexible enough to build the scheme around the talent rather than forcing a scheme on players it doesn't fit?

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Ian Rappaport said Staley was their first choice all along.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Chargers will interview Colts DB coach John Gannon for the defensive coordinator job.

They've requested an interview with Saints QB coach Joe Lombardi for the offensive coordinator job, I guess the Seahawks have as well.

Anyone know anything about those guys?

[Gr00vus 11,993]

High level coordinators rumored to be signed:

DC: Reynoldo Hill

OC: Joe Lombardi

STC: Derius Swinton II

That would be a relatively inexperienced staff, with Hill being a 1st time top level coordinator. Couple that with a 1st time HC - bold moves. I believe Staley has previously worked with Swinton and Hill, and Lombardi was OC when Staley played QB at Mercyhurst. Lombardi was OC for the Lions a while back, didn't turn out so great, as they finished 19 and 20 in offense his 2 years there (getting fired during that 2nd season), and he ran a pretty conservative offense even with Stafford. Hopefully he's learned a lot being with the Saints since then.

Edited January 25 by Gr00vus

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

4 hours ago, Gr00vus said:

High level coordinators rumored to be signed:

DC: Reynoldo Hill

OC: Joe Lombardi

STC: Derius Swinton II

That would be a relatively inexperienced staff, with Hill being a 1st time top level coordinator. Couple that with a 1st time HC - bold moves. I believe Staley has previously worked with Swinton and Hill, and Lombardi was OC when Staley played QB at Mercyhurst. Lombardi was OC for the Lions a while back, didn't turn out so great, as they finished 19 and 20 in offense his 2 years there (getting fired during that 2nd season), and he ran a pretty conservative offense even with Stafford. Hopefully he's learned a lot being with the Saints since then.

Very interested to see the full staff once known. This definitely seems like an "all in" move on a high risk, high reward staff. It could pay off big or flame out spectacularly.

I want to be impressed and optimistic. The thing that gives me biggest cause for concern is that Dean Spanos, John Spanos, and Telesco were the decisionmakers here, as they were with Lynn and McCoy.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Kenneth Murray had mystery shoulder surgery yesterday. Couldn't find details on exactly what/why. Surprise!

[RushHour 802]

On 1/18/2021 at 4:26 PM, Maurile Tremblay said:

I think the Chargers would have preferred Daboll or Brady, but they didn't want to have to wait until after the Bills or Buccaneers exited the playoffs. The new coach will have to assemble a whole staff, and waiting another week or more would make it that much harder. Still, Brady would have been my preferred choice, assuming he wants to go into coaching.

I’ve never understood this. What’s a week or two or three or whatever if you’re talking about the best possible candidate? I understand FA and the draft come around quickly and ideally you want to have the coaching structure in place if possible, but it just seems needlessly rushed. 

[Gr00vus 11,993]

As the reports of the Chargers filling out their coaching staff come in I'm struck by the thought that the Spanoses must be thrilled. Without knowing the exact details I imagine this whole staff probably costs like a third of what Jon Gruden gets by himself. Cheap bastards.

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

Just posted this: 2021 Chargers Roster Thoughts

TL;DR - the Chargers offseason needs to be focused on OL, OL, OL, since it appears everything else can fairly easily fall into place.

Edited January 31 by Just Win Baby

[Gr00vus 11,993]

On 1/31/2021 at 7:57 AM, Just Win Baby said:

Just posted this: 2021 Chargers Roster Thoughts

TL;DR - the Chargers offseason needs to be focused on OL, OL, OL, since it appears everything else can fairly easily fall into place.

You mention at the end of your write up that if the cap increases it would help the Chargers out. Wouldn't the cap increase for everyone, in which case it's just inflating prices on the same pool of players? How does that help the Chargers out?

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

1 hour ago, Gr00vus said:

You mention at the end of your write up that if the cap increases it would help the Chargers out. Wouldn't the cap increase for everyone, in which case it's just inflating prices on the same pool of players? How does that help the Chargers out?

You are correct. I'm just focused on how they fill out their roster within the current constraints. $5M or $10M more to spend on the 9 roster spots up in the air based on my assumptions would make that much easier. The fact that it would make decisions easier on other teams doesn't make that untrue.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

2 minutes ago, Just Win Baby said:

You are correct. I'm just focused on how they fill out their roster within the current constraints. $5M or $10M more to spend on the 9 roster spots up in the air based on my assumptions would make that much easier. The fact that it would make decisions easier on other teams doesn't make that untrue.

I guess it will depend on how much competition there will be for the players the Chargers end up pursuing. 

On another note, how lucky the Chargers seem to have gotten "losing out" on Tua and ending up with Herbert as consolation prize. The draft is a very imprecise thing.

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

2 minutes ago, Gr00vus said:

I guess it will depend on how much competition there will be for the players the Chargers end up pursuing. 

On another note, how lucky the Chargers seem to have gotten "losing out" on Tua and ending up with Herbert as consolation prize. The draft is a very imprecise thing.

Supposedly, the Chargers wanted Herbert over Tua going into the draft. That is a bit self-serving to say after the draft, but it may be true.

Also, I wouldn't write Tua off yet. Herbert looked a lot better in 2020, but it wouldn't surprise me for Tua to become a great NFL QB.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Philip Rivers will retire as a Charger. 2nd best Charger QB of all time for me. I was skeptical of his ability to succeed in the NFL based on his throwing form - boy was I wrong. Great career.

[Jail 65]

Yeah that motion takes some getting used to.  I hope it doesn't take too long for the HOF. 

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

47 minutes ago, Jail said:

I hope it doesn't take too long for the HOF. 

I expect it will take some time.

As things stand, he will become eligible the same year as Brees. I think that means Brees goes in first ballot and Rivers waits. (Though it would be kind of cool to put them in together given they were teammates.)

Then, within fairly short order, Brady, Roethlisberger, and Rodgers will become eligible, depending on when each retires. And if Eli doesn't get in first ballot, he will also be eligible when Rivers becomes eligible. These guys could push Rivers out further.

I think he is a lock, just a matter of when.

[Jail 65]

Uhhg. The prospect of Eli making it in before Rivers makes me 🤢. I understand that Eli was clutch when it mattered most,  and I had to hate him less after how he did the Patriots and all,  but man give me Rivers all day.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Getting back to the present day QB, Herbert won a rookie of the year award. This is a fan voting award, not the official AP rookie of the year award, which gets handed out on Saturday.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Marty Schottenheimer was moved into hospice care a few days ago. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in 2014. Even if it was a relatively short run, he was one of the most successful HCs in Charger history.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

We can officially pop the pepsi zero sugar now, Herbert won the AP offensive rookie of the year. He joins Don Woods (1974) as the only other Charger to win the award. Hopefully Herbert has a more illustrious career than Woods. Leslie O'Neal (1986), Shawne Merriman (2005), and Joey Bosa (2016) are the Chargers' AP defensive rookie of the year award winners to date.

[Maurile Tremblay 22,683]

3 hours ago, Gr00vus said:

We can officially pop the pepsi zero sugar now, Herbert won the AP offensive rookie of the year. He joins Don Woods (1974) as the only other Charger to win the award.

John Jefferson had a fantastic rookie year, but had the misfortune to come out the same year as Earl Campbell, who won the award by half a vote.

[Maurile Tremblay 22,683]

On 2/3/2021 at 9:13 AM, Gr00vus said:

Philip Rivers will retire as a Charger. 2nd best Charger QB of all time for me.

I'd put Rivers ahead of Fouts. It's really hard to compare across positions to Tomlinson or Seau. Those four, in whatever order, are a full tier above anybody else for me. (I can only go back to the late 1970s -- I never saw Lance Alworth play, or anyone else from the pre-Fouts era.)

[Maurile Tremblay 22,683]

My all-time Chargers team is below. I put a few guys on there who were before my time, but there's no way to leave Lance Alworth, Walt Sweeney, or Ron Mix off the list. (I'm not sure whether Earl Faison belongs ahead of Fred Dean and Lee Williams. Joey Bosa will pass them all in another few years, but if he retires today he doesn't make the list.) Listing Keith Lincoln at FB might be cheating; if we want more of a blocker, let's go with ... Lorenzo Neal? Defense has 12 guys because I couldn't choose between a 3-4 or 4-3.

It feels weird leaving Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow off the list, two of the greatest Chargers ever, but the Rivers-Gates connection wins out for me.

QB - Philip Rivers
RB - LaDainian Tomlinson
FB - Keith Lincoln
TE - Antonio Gates
WR - Lance Alworth, Charlie Joiner
C - Don Macek
G - Doug Wilkerson, Walt Sweeney
T - Russ Washington, Ron Mix

DT - Gary Johnson, Jamal Williams
DE - Leslie O'Neal, Earl Faison
ILB - Junior Seau, Woodrow Lowe
OLB - Shaun Phillips, Billy Ray Smith
CB - Gil Byrd, Quentin Jammer
S - Eric Weddle, Rodney Harrison

K - Rolf Benirschke
P - Mike Scifres

[Gr00vus 11,993]

6 hours ago, Maurile Tremblay said:

John Jefferson had a fantastic rookie year, but had the misfortune to come out the same year as Earl Campbell, who won the award by half a vote.

JJ might be my favorite bolt of all time. I was really sad when he split. He was good for some crazy grab nearly every game. I also the td top spin he did with the football, 1st guy I saw do that.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

6 hours ago, Maurile Tremblay said:

I'd put Rivers ahead of Fouts. It's really hard to compare across positions to Tomlinson or Seau. Those four, in whatever order, are a full tier above anybody else for me. (I can only go back to the late 1970s -- I never saw Lance Alworth play, or anyone else from the pre-Fouts era.)

Fouts and his chargers played a kind of offense the nfl hadn't really seen before. In a league that was plodding, they were a blast to watch. For his involvement in that, I'll always put Fouts first, at least until someone has a comparable career and wins a championship. Admittedly this is not numbers based, it's about the team that captured my attention and made me a charger fan.

Edited February 8 by Gr00vus

[Gr00vus 11,993]

I hope the Chargers' brass was watching the Super Bowl yesterday. It was a sterling example of how you can have awesome skill position players and it won't be enough to compete at the highest levels if your offensive line is junk (and also how you need coaches who can plan around that and adjust when the other team schemes to take your top weapon away).

[JetMaxx 1,112]

22 hours ago, Gr00vus said:

JJ might be my favorite bolt of all time. I was really sad when he split. He was good for some crazy grab nearly every game. I also the td top spin he did with the football, 1st guy I saw do that.

Can’t tell you how many times I saw an amazing catch of his and tried to imitate it in the back yard

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

1 hour ago, Gr00vus said:

I hope the Chargers' brass was watching the Super Bowl yesterday. It was a sterling example of how you can have awesome skill position players and it won't be enough to compete at the highest levels if your offensive line is junk (and also how you need coaches who can plan around that and adjust when the other team schemes to take your top weapon away).

If they didn't get that out of watching their own team play for the past 8+ years (8 for Telesco), I seriously doubt they had a revelation watching the Super Bowl.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

3 minutes ago, Just Win Baby said:

If they didn't get that out of watching their own team play for the past 8+ years (8 for Telesco), I seriously doubt they had a revelation watching the Super Bowl.

Sadly, you're right. But I still dare to dream.

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

21 minutes ago, Gr00vus said:

Sadly, you're right. But I still dare to dream.

I'm just here to keep you grounded. 

[Gr00vus 11,993]

On 2/5/2021 at 8:58 AM, Gr00vus said:

Marty Schottenheimer was moved into hospice care a few days ago. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in 2014. Even if it was a relatively short run, he was one of the most successful HCs in Charger history.

Marty Schottenheimer 1943-2021. 😢 Thanks for the great seasons you led the Chargers to, and all the other contributions you made over the course of your life.

[Godsbrother 7,122]

Great man, grew up in Western PA and attended Pitt.  Technically was also a Steeler for a month or two.

He gets a lot of heat for his postseason record but he was a very good coach and his players loved him.

RIP, Marty

[Ministry of Pain 5,713]

Went 35-13 his final 3 Seasons coaching the San Diego Chargers before he was fired almost 14 years ago today. 

RIP Marty

[BoltBacker 1,532]

On 2/7/2021 at 10:06 PM, Maurile Tremblay said:

My all-time Chargers team is below.

Slight quibble, and I may be showing my age but I would probably sub in Darren Bennett for Scifres. Bennett didn't have the distance but I felt like he would have won the hangtime battle and maybe after being a charger fan for so many years I have PTSD waiting for the chargers special teams unit to let the team down and lead to a loss. Every fair catch is a bullet dodged in my book. Besides, "THAT is not a punt, THIS is a punt!"

I guess Billy Ray Smith Jr. deserves to be on the list but he was always my least favorite charger because they passed over both Bruce Matthews and Jimbo Covert to draft him. Their insistence that they won't ever invest in protecting a HOF caliber QB runs deep. I can't help but chuckle when I hear draftnicks project OL to the chargers because, "Why WOULDN'T you protect your franchise QB in Herbert!?"  Why indeed.

[Maurile Tremblay 22,683]

1 hour ago, BoltBacker said:

Slight quibble, and I may be showing my age but I would probably sub in Darren Bennett for Scifres.

Yeah, that was a toss-up for me.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Vincent Jackson dead at 38 😢. A significant part of what might have been the best Chargers team ever.

Mike Pouncey retires. I had forgotten he was on the roster the last year and a half.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Here's the rest of the coaching staff for 2021:

 

Quote

Derrick Ansley, 39 - Secondary

Chris Beatty, 47 - Wide Receivers

Mayur Chaudhari - Assistant Special Teams

Shane Day, 42 - Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Tom Donatell, 31 - Assistant Secondary

Derrick Foster, 34 - Running backs

Kevin Koger, 31 - Tight ends

Jay Rodgers, 44 - Run Game Coordinator/Outside Linebackers

Shaun Sarrett, 41 - Assistant Offensive Line

Isaac Shewmaker, N/A - Defensive Quality Control

Frank Smith, 39 - Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line

John Timu, 28 - Alex G. Spanos Coaching Fellow

Chandler Whitmer, 29 - Offensive Quality Control

Michael Wilhoite, 34 - Linebackers\

Giff Smith - Defensive LIne

Dan Shamash - Assistant Tight Ends

 

Anyone know what the Alex G. Spanos Coaching Fellow does?

 

[Jail 65]

Daniel Jeremiah mocked the Chargers taking Waddle at 13. Yeah that's exactly what they need. 

The nice thing about all those top 12 teams with QB needs seem to push value down the line.  Almost  every mock seems to have us getting one of the top 3 tackles.  Ofcourse the mocks will probably be wrong and all the big tackles will be gone.  Unfortunately I don't love any of the tackles like Wirfs last year. I still can't believe he fell so far.  He was actually my top choice for the Chargers at 6. Glad it didn't go my way. 

[Just Win Baby 2,625]

22 hours ago, Jail said:

Yeah that's exactly what they need

Could not disagree more. Is this a serious or sarcastic post?

The Chargers need OL, OL, OL. Then more OL. Then they need CB and pass rush. Then huge gap to everything else. 

[Jail 65]

4 hours ago, Just Win Baby said:

Could not disagree more. Is this a serious or sarcastic post?

The Chargers need OL, OL, OL. Then more OL. Then they need CB and pass rush. Then huge gap to everything else. 

Yeah that was definitely sarcasm.  

It does seem like a decent draft to be in the market for OL, so hopefully Telesco comes through.  I share your concerns that he won't. 

 

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Wayne Nunnely, Dline coach for some of the worst and best years, died last Friday. 😢 

Hopefully we can get a break on Ex-Charger players/coaches passing away here.

[Gr00vus 11,993]

Doug Wilkerson, a 3 time all-pro and one of the best offensive linemen in Charger history died on Monday at 73 years old.

He was a huge part of Air Coryell, keeping Fouts clean in the pocket.

[Jail 65]

Chargers got an extra 3rd round pick as expected. Yet another thing to thank Rivers for 😉

Edited March 11 by Jail