Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
domics, your GM who currently is not on the team
right now, but don't you worry about it, Kale,
here to bring you episode 15 of the Stack and
Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering
all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
talked about, right? Now in this series, we're
covering a few different topics and they include
what went wrong, what do they need, stack or
shed, their draft picks, one move I would do,
and their cap space, right? Now in this episode,
we're talking about the Chargers, so bolt up,
it's gonna get crazy. All right, let's get into
it. So what went wrong in the Chargers season?
And I will eventually say it was inconsistent
offensive line play. Going into last season,
I believe the Chargers were the second or third
best team in their division. And I also believe
they were competitive enough to go on a playoff
run. Despite having high confidence in the Chargers,
I never would have expected their offensive line
to be decimated with injuries. Now I understand
the offensive linemen deal with injuries a little
bit more than other positions. And a lot of times
those nagging injuries carries on throughout
the entire season. And then there's some instances
where they have some serious injuries and they
just try to deal with it the best way that they
can deal with it until they can either get to
a bye week or just to the end of the season.
But unfortunately, that didn't happen, and so
the Chargers had to band -aid this offense as
best as possible. From bringing in people off
the street, from bringing in veterans who haven't
played in almost two years, to trading for Trevor
Penning, they went every single rock to find
healthy offensive linemen just to keep this thing
together. According to PFF, right guard was pressured
at 23 .9%, left tackle was pressured at 22%,
right tackle was pressured at 18 .8%, center
was pressured at 14 .1%, and then left guard
was pressured at 11%. Now these numbers make
sense because Makai Becton was on and off the
field the entire season. And we also saw that
once Joel Alt started to get banged up, this
offensive line really started to decline significantly.
According to NFL Pro, Justin Herbert was pressured
on 268 of his 619 dropbacks, which is a 43 .3
% pressure rate. That is the highest pressure
rate in the league. The Chargers used 18 offensive
line combinations this past season. The most
and tied for the third most by any team in a
single season in the next -gen stats era. Since
2024, when Joel Ault and Rashawn Slater is on
the field, Justin Herbert is pressured on 33
.9 % of his dropbacks. But when Joel Ault and
Rashawn Slater are off the field, Justin Herbert
is pressured on 44 .3 % of his dropbacks. At
some point, the Chargers are going to have to
figure out a way to keep Justin Herbert from
getting sacked and pressured so much. Because
when we look at how many times he was sacked
this year, 54 times. When we look at how many
times he was sacked in 2020, 44, 41 times. We
looked at how many times he was sacked in 2023,
29 times. And then he was sacked 38 times in
2022. He also faced 109 quick pressures, the
most quick pressures in the league. Now, quick
pressures are defined as pressures that occurred
under 2 .5 seconds. Now, with that being said,
what do the Chargers need? And that is to bolster
this offensive line. And so far, the Chargers
have done that by signing Tyler Beatis to a three
-year, $30 million deal. Cole Strange to a two
-year $13 million deal, and Trey Pipkins to a
two -year $10 million deal. Now, just because
they made these three signings does not mean
that they shouldn't take an offensive lineman
at some point in the draft or maybe after the
draft in that second and third wave of free agency.
Because you still have people such as Taylor
Decker, Jawan Taylor, Jonah Williams, Joel Betonio,
Jack Conklin, Cam Robinson, Makai Beckham if
you want to bring him back, Kevin Zeiler, James
Daniels, Graham Glasgow, Ethan Pokich, Alex Kappa,
Calvin Beecham, Trevor Penning if you want to
bring him back, Greg Van Rotten, Brady Christensen,
Cordell Volson, DJ Humphries, Liam Eichenberg,
Will Hernandez. I could continue to go on. These
are some really good plug -and -play offensive
linemen that you can bring in without having
to break the bank. Now with that being said,
the question we all need to ask ourselves is
stack or shed? And I will eventually say stack.
And the reason why I say that is because everybody
has a season where the worst things that you
could possibly imagine happen. Your star players
get hurt. Your offense or defense struggles.
Everybody just looks bad. It happens, but they
can bounce back from it. Now, I'm expecting all
the players they lost last year to come back
healthy and ready to play, especially with them
hiring a new offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel.
And speaking of Mike McDaniel, I also believe
that he's going to unlock something in this offense.
Now, I'm not saying that Justin Herbert is going
to be an MVP next year. I'm not saying that Ladd
McConkie is going to be an offense player of
the year. But I do believe that he's going to
take this offense to another level. Looking at
their draft picks, they have their first, second,
third, fourth, and sixth. Now, I understand that's
not a lot, but I believe they can make it work.
And since we're in draft season, let's talk about
the Rich Hill Draft Trade Value Chart. Originally
created by Jimmy Johnson, It is a chart that
shows the trade value of each and every draft
pick. Now in recent years, teams have transitioned
from using the Jimmy Johnson model to the Rich
Hill model as it is more accurate on the trade
value of each and every draft pick. Using the
Rich Hill model, which I will post the link of
the Jimmy Johnson model as well as the Rich Hill
model in the description of this episode, the
Chargers value for all of their draft picks is
very low. The 22nd pick in the first round has
a trade value of 780 points. The 55th pick in
the second round has a trade value of 350 points
the 86th pick in the third round has a trade
value of 160 points the 123rd pick in the fourth
round has a trade value of 49 points and the
204th pick in the sixth round has a trade value
of 9 .4 points with the chargers only having
three picks in the top 100 i wonder how are they
going to attack the draft because as i've said
before in previous episodes in this series i
believe there's going to be a lot of teams that
are going to trade down or possibly trade out
of the first round altogether due to the first
round lacking blue chip talent and positions
that were traditionally valued lower in the first
round have now been inflated and are now being
valued higher in this draft class. So it begs
the question, what are the Chargers going to
do in the first round? Because if they wanted
to, they can go from the 22nd to maybe the 18th
pick and not have to give up a lot of draft compensation.
Now, if they wanted to go a little bit higher,
you may have to give up a little bit more, but
even then, I think you can talk yourself into.
doing it depending on the player and position
that you're trying to target. Now, the one move
that I would do is draft a defensive lineman.
Now, originally, I was leaning towards an offensive
lineman, but after the signings of Tyler Biadich,
Trey Pipkins, and Cole Strange, I feel like that's
good enough for now. I feel like at best, if
you wanted to address the offensive line, you
could do it in day two and day three of the draft.
But I think you're in a good position where you
don't have to reach for someone like a Caleb
Banks or Lee Hunter or Peter Woods if you want
to take that route. Because I think pairing them
with Dalvin Thomason would be a great combination.
Because we saw how productive this defensive
line was last year. I think you need to continue
on with that model. Looking at their cap space,
they have $49 .9 million. Now, I don't expect
the Chargers to make any moves anytime soon because
they're preparing for the draft, but I do expect
for them to be players in that second and third
wave of free agency. Now, the question is this.
Are they going to go after veteran offensive
linemen? Are they going to go after veteran defensive
linemen? Because their market values are somewhat
reasonable. Joel Betonio's market value, according
to Spoltrak, is only $12 .9 million. That's reasonable
because Joel Betonio is one of the better guards
in the league. Jawan Taylor's market value is
only $14 .9 million. That's reasonable. Kevin
Zeitler's market value is only $9 .2 million.
James Daniels' market value is only $6 .7 million.
Graham Glasgow's market value is only $5 .8 million.
That's not bad. Those are reasonable numbers
for productive veteran offensive linemen. Looking
at some of the veteran defensive linemen that
are still free agents, their market value is
even more reasonable. David Onyemata's market
value is only $8 .5 million. DJ Reader's market
value is only $8 .5 million. only 3 .8 million.
Calais Campbell's market value is 10 .9 million.
Mario Edwards' market value is only 2 .2 million.
Daquan Jones' market value is only 1 .7. Larry
Ogunjobi's market value is only 5 million. Those
are reasonable numbers. You have more than enough
cap space to go after multiple offensive and
defensive linemen if you want to take that route.
So let's see what the Chargers do. But I'm going
to end this episode here. If you guys like what
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Later, guys.