Future Outlook

[Chargers]

What are we looking at in terms of our future following 2019? Taking a look down our roster and

QB : Rivers is 38 and looking more like he may have hit a decline. Since late last season, Rivers hasn't looked as sharp as he normal does.

RB: Gordon is a goner and Jackson and Ekeler should fill in. 

WR: Allen is a sure thing and a must resign. MikeWill looks to be talented but injury prone. Benjiman will be cut following 2019 hopefully. Team needs to bring in more talent at WR.

TE: Henry is injury prone at this point in his career. Team has no suitable back up. This needs addressing in the off-season.

OL: Okung's injury makes his future murky and unlikely. Pouncey might not have much left but hopefully he can finish out his contract. Otherwise this group is major weakness and every starter could use replacing as well as improved depth.

S: Jenkins looks like back-up and James a All-Pro. No depth with only 1 capable FS on the team. Major upgrading needed.

LB: Brown and Perryman need to be replaced. Brown is a liability and Perryaman to often injured. Tranquil and White need more playing time.

CB: Hayward is a stud but getting older. Davis is good but inconsistent and King is great but is limited. Team needs more talent here.

DL: Ingram is going to be a huge cap waster if he is going to continue to be average. Bosa's looming contract dispute is going to need to be addressed. It looks like we have wasted resigning Membane because this interior DL still looks bad. 

Special Teams: Badgley is becoming injury prone and we could use a another kicker.

 

 

[BoltsFan937]

Telesco got a lot of credit for building what was supposed to be a playoff caliber roster.  It was obvious this team was razor thin on depth and not able to withstand the injuries. Did nothing to address the backup TE spot even though Henry is obviously injury prone.  Let Tyrell walk and Benjamin stay even though Mike W is injury prone.  The oline has been atrocious for years and the one guy we couldn’t lose (Okung) absolutely couldn’t get hurt - and did.  I could go on but the question is about the future so....

-  Team needs to decide what young core to build around.  My suggestion is Bosa, Tillery, Derwin, Nasir, Casey, Desmond, Tranquil, Kyzir, Justin Jones on defense. Let Melvin, Perryman, Mebane move on.On offense I’d keep Keenan, Mike W, Ekeler. Let Gordon walk, can’t sign Hunter to any long term contract, and I think it’s time to move on from Rivers.  

- Upcoming draft, look for QB of the future in the first.  If not, start investing in the offensive line - heavily.  Could use another corner and a pass rusher opposite Joey. 

TT has had what, 6-7 years? Teams like Oakland, Chicago, Buffalo, have already turned the corner in less time.  We need to make some moves.  This whole “sign some low end free agents and draft isn’t working”.  Acquire more draft picks at least to fill out the roster

[BoltsFan937]

I also want to point out the mistakes made in the draft.  ALL the wasted third round picks - Mager, Tuerk, Chris Watt, Feeny Ronan extent.  Also the 2017 draft was exceptionally brutal. At 7 with a chance to draft Mahomes, Watson, McCaffrey and some others, we went with Mike Williams. Can you imagine how different the feel would be in this organization with Mahomes?  Not to mention the help in growing a fan base. Look, I love Rivers, I think he’s had an outstanding career, but it’s run it’s course.  This team desperately needs an exciting young playmaking QB to build around.  

[Leoric]

Pretty much hit everything on the head with the exception of replacing Rivers. It just isn’t that easy. We’ve been spoiled the last ten years having a quarterback like Rivers that has allowed us to ignore the position in the draft. To have that luxury and not a single championship to show for it is the mark of Spanos. I was a fan post Fouts and saw what the team trotted out with world beaters like Mark Vlasic, Billy Joe Tolliver, Jim McMahon was even brought in here at one point. It’s hard finding a franchise guy like Rivers and the hard decision needs to be made on whether or not we go for a championship next season by drafting every lineman we can or whether we say thank you to Rivers and start what will be a massive rebuild.
 

 

We don’t have any core players to build around. Allen and James are top tier young guys at luxury positions. A young QB will need an offensive line they can run the ball and a defense they can stop the run. We have... zero in either of those categories. Compounding the issue is our “whimper for Los Angeles.” This team isn’t going to win new fans and I see very little to think anything changes that. We don’t have a coach that can win with ingenuity or lead this team through force of will. Lynn is just the latest in a long line of yes men happy to have a job. He makes less excuses then Norv or Mike did but he doesn’t have the true passion of a Schottenheimer, Coughlin or Belichick. Without fans we aren’t selling out the Rams stadium, roll local blackouts, which will snowball into even less fans. 
 

 

To be perfectly frank, I think this team is circling the drain and the only thing that keeps the Chargers from bankruptcy is the shared NFL revenue. Spanos is an inept weasel that should be forced to sell this team to someone that won’t use nepotism to place their sons in decision making positions damning this franchise to an eternity of mediocrity. 
 

[Xenos]

On 10/6/2019 at 8:08 PM, BoltsFan937 said:

Telesco got a lot of credit for building what was supposed to be a playoff caliber roster.  It was obvious this team was razor thin on depth and not able to withstand the injuries. Did nothing to address the backup TE spot even though Henry is obviously injury prone.  Let Tyrell walk and Benjamin stay even though Mike W is injury prone.  The oline has been atrocious for years and the one guy we couldn’t lose (Okung) absolutely couldn’t get hurt - and did.  I could go on but the question is about the future so....

-  Team needs to decide what young core to build around.  My suggestion is Bosa, Tillery, Derwin, Nasir, Casey, Desmond, Tranquil, Kyzir, Justin Jones on defense. Let Melvin, Perryman, Mebane move on.On offense I’d keep Keenan, Mike W, Ekeler. Let Gordon walk, can’t sign Hunter to any long term contract, and I think it’s time to move on from Rivers.  

- Upcoming draft, look for QB of the future in the first.  If not, start investing in the offensive line - heavily.  Could use another corner and a pass rusher opposite Joey. 

TT has had what, 6-7 years? Teams like Oakland, Chicago, Buffalo, have already turned the corner in less time.  We need to make some moves.  This whole “sign some low end free agents and draft isn’t working”.  Acquire more draft picks at least to fill out the roster

Not a lot of teams have the depth to withstand this amount of injuries. And despite all the injuries so far, we still could has easily won the three games that we lost. There's only so much you can do on a 53 men roster.

Also confused about the last part with Oakland, Chicago, and Buffalo. Not sure those three teams count as turning the corner in less time.

[BoltsFan937]

On 10/7/2019 at 6:17 PM, Boltstrikes said:

Pretty much hit everything on the head with the exception of replacing Rivers. It just isn’t that easy. We’ve been spoiled the last ten years having a quarterback like Rivers that has allowed us to ignore the position in the draft. To have that luxury and not a single championship to show for it is the mark of Spanos. I was a fan post Fouts and saw what the team trotted out with world beaters like Mark Vlasic, Billy Joe Tolliver, Jim McMahon was even brought in here at one point. It’s hard finding a franchise guy like Rivers and the hard decision needs to be made on whether or not we go for a championship next season by drafting every lineman we can or whether we say thank you to Rivers and start what will be a massive rebuild.
 

 

We don’t have any core players to build around. Allen and James are top tier young guys at luxury positions. A young QB will need an offensive line they can run the ball and a defense they can stop the run. We have... zero in either of those categories. Compounding the issue is our “whimper for Los Angeles.” This team isn’t going to win new fans and I see very little to think anything changes that. We don’t have a coach that can win with ingenuity or lead this team through force of will. Lynn is just the latest in a long line of yes men happy to have a job. He makes less excuses then Norv or Mike did but he doesn’t have the true passion of a Schottenheimer, Coughlin or Belichick. Without fans we aren’t selling out the Rams stadium, roll local blackouts, which will snowball into even less fans. 
 

 

To be perfectly frank, I think this team is circling the drain and the only thing that keeps the Chargers from bankruptcy is the shared NFL revenue. Spanos is an inept weasel that should be forced to sell this team to someone that won’t use nepotism to place their sons in decision making positions damning this franchise to an eternity of mediocrity. 
 

I’ll see your Mark Vlasic and Billy Joe Tolliver and raise you a Craig Whelihan and John Friesz.  Been a fan since ‘82, I’m a Chargers fan because of Dan Fouts and Air Coryell.  I was 9 years old then, my favorite teams were the Chargers, Ohio State, Lakers, and the Reds - they still are.  You’re absolutely right about Spanos, I live in Ohio and Cincinnati has their very own Spanos, his name is Mike Brown.  I think I can list at least 10 teams (including ours) where the bottom line (revenue) is the driving force of the organization, not winning.  It’s hard to sit back and watch the futility year in and year out, I hold out for that one magical year like Tampa Bay in ‘02 or the Saints in ‘09. 

For his sake, I sincerely hope Rivers moves on next year and catches on with a possible contender (Tennessee, Tampa Bay, come to mind).  It’s criminal that we haven’t given him more talent to play with. We should have been building a stud offensive line for years, it should have been priority number one.  We have an immobile QB with a line that can’t block, and there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll go corner back in the first round next year.  

Disappointing season for sure, fairly certain we’re one of the only teams that could lose at home to a 3rd string quarterback.  But I’ve seen worse in my 34 years.  

[BoltsFan937]

On 10/9/2019 at 3:36 PM, Xenos said:

Not a lot of teams have the depth to withstand this amount of injuries. And despite all the injuries so far, we still could has easily won the three games that we lost. There's only so much you can do on a 53 men roster.

Also confused about the last part with Oakland, Chicago, and Buffalo. Not sure those three teams count as turning the corner in less time.

You’re right about the injuries,  not much you can do when you have so many starters out.  I still think our depth could be better, but it probably still wouldn’t be enough to overcome all the injuries we’ve had.  Also, don’t feel as if Telesco has done anything to improve the team in light of these injuries, we had a fairly favorable early schedule if we could navigate it to 5-3 we would have given ourselves a shot

My point with Oakland, Buffalo and Chicago was more where those teams were two to three years ago and where they are now. I think all of those teams are on a more positive trajectory than we are.  Oakland particularly had improved immensely from last year.  If you thought last night was bad, wait until that monster offensive and Josh Jacobs comes to town

[Xenos]

1 hour ago, BoltsFan937 said:

You’re right about the injuries,  not much you can do when you have so many starters out.  I still think our depth could be better, but it probably still wouldn’t be enough to overcome all the injuries we’ve had.  Also, don’t feel as if Telesco has done anything to improve the team in light of these injuries, we had a fairly favorable early schedule if we could navigate it to 5-3 we would have given ourselves a shot

My point with Oakland, Buffalo and Chicago was more where those teams were two to three years ago and where they are now. I think all of those teams are on a more positive trajectory than we are.  Oakland particularly had improved immensely from last year.  If you thought last night was bad, wait until that monster offensive and Josh Jacobs comes to town

I think my point with those three teams is that it's too early to tell. Chicago was one and done last year, and while both the Bills and Raiders look immensely improved so did we last year under Lynn and 2014 initially under McCoy.

Edited October 14, 2019 by Xenos

[Leoric]

Anyone else think Lynn has lost the locker room? Coming out flat the last two weeks like we have is inexcusable. 

[The-Beast]

If the locker room is connected to that stadium filled with opposing fans. He can't lose it because it doesn't belong to the Chargers in the first place.

[Leoric]

2 hours ago, The-Beast said:

If the locker room is connected to that stadium filled with opposing fans. He can't lose it because it doesn't belong to the Chargers in the first place.

I'm not  even going to lie. I miss you posting on the board.

[Leoric]

On 10/9/2019 at 12:36 PM, Xenos said:

Not a lot of teams have the depth to withstand this amount of injuries. And despite all the injuries so far, we still could has easily won the three games that we lost. There's only so much you can do on a 53 men roster.

Also confused about the last part with Oakland, Chicago, and Buffalo. Not sure those three teams count as turning the corner in less time.

So the problem I have with this comparison is Oakland, Chicago and Buffalo haven't had the consistent franchise QB. One could argue that they still don't. Turner, Mccoy and Lynn all had a hall of fame caliber player for their entire tenure here and the best we can claim is a single AFC Championship game appearance. I'd argue that single appearance was still the result of the work put in by Scottenheimer/Butler. It's inexcusable what has been profitable for the Spanos family to put out as a product. This organization is run worse then the Bengals/Browns, we just got lucky and hit on Rivers. Trust this organization to hit again on a QB, and one of three things must be true: you weren't here for the Ryan Leaf saga, You haven't paid attention to the return on 1st round picks for the Chargers in the last decade, You believe Mike Williams has lived up to #7 overall.

[Xenos]

25 minutes ago, Boltstrikes said:

So the problem I have with this comparison is Oakland, Chicago and Buffalo haven't had the consistent franchise QB. One could argue that they still don't. Turner, Mccoy and Lynn all had a hall of fame caliber player for their entire tenure here and the best we can claim is a single AFC Championship game appearance. I'd argue that single appearance was still the result of the work put in by Scottenheimer/Butler. It's inexcusable what has been profitable for the Spanos family to put out as a product. This organization is run worse then the Bengals/Browns, we just got lucky and hit on Rivers. Trust this organization to hit again on a QB, and one of three things must be true: you weren't here for the Ryan Leaf saga, You haven't paid attention to the return on 1st round picks for the Chargers in the last decade, You believe Mike Williams has lived up to #7 overall.

I was here for the Leaf saga. And it was more AJ Smith than Butler or Scottenheimer that initially started the ground work. AJ unfortunately started failing at picks too. And stating that nailing a franchise QB is difficult is true for any team.

[Leoric]

43 minutes ago, Xenos said:

I was here for the Leaf saga. And it was more AJ Smith than Butler or Scottenheimer that initially started the ground work. AJ unfortunately started failing at picks too. And stating that nailing a franchise QB is difficult is true for any team.

To that I would say you are overating AJ Smith's ability to draft Philip Rivers; given a draft that had Roethlisberger, Eli and Rivers in it, and underrating the impact Butler's scouting regime did in identifying UDFA Kris Dielman, and Antonio Gates. AJ Smith added talent early on, and I'm not as big of a hater on him as some but I can't ignore that the core of this teams success came from Tomlinson/Dielman/Gates. Now this all becomes a moot argument if you're giving AJ credit for 2003. AJ/Butler are pretty even with their overall contributions and it really comes down to who you credit with 2003 in any comparison between the two.

 

AJ Smith hit big in a loaded 04 draft. Hit in 05, 06, and I will even give him 07 despite "Bust"er Davis. 08 was horrible, 09 was perhaps his biggest miss, 10 was meh, 11 we got one solid starter, 12 looked good but then went to crap but we still have Ingram on the roster so overall a win. Pretty much 50/50. not bad but not great.

[BoltsFan937]

Really wish we would have gotten to see what a John Butler regime would have looked like long term.  AJ was good at hitting on the late rounders (Michael Turner, Darren Sproles, Shaun Phillips, Shane Olivea, Malcom Floyd all come to mind).  In the early rounds it almost felt like he was trying to prove he was smarter than everyone with some of the picks (Craig Davis was a third round prospect, and English was a second round prospect and who can ever forget Jonas effing Mouton in the 2nd).