“The Chargers, and Telesco specifically, have attempted to build an offense through the draft, and a defense through free agency. The critical issue here, however, is that no game-breaking defensive players are ever available in free agency.
Conversely, receivers like Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, and Stefon Diggs, and Pro Bowl offensive linemen like Joe Thuney, Orlando Brown Jr., and Terron Armstead, have all become available the past 3 offseasons via trade or free agency.
If the Chargers were to have dealt the first-round pick they used on Zion Johnson (one pick above what Philadelphia traded) to the Titans for A.J. Brown, would the team not fare better? If they used money on Joe Thuney, who has been a staple of Patrick Mahomes’ league-leading offensive line for the past couple of seasons, as opposed to JC Jackson, would the offense be better? My guess is indubitably, yes. “
Telesco is just discount Steve Keim. He’s been there for a while but hasn’t accomplished much. Same thing Keim did
Isn’t the whole point of hiring a defensive HC that he’s supposed to make eye defense more than the sum of its parts. So then you can spend all your money on offense?
As opposed to, spend a ton of money on defense and suck in all phases.
While I agree with the overall premise of the article, this writer is not credible and I’m surprised a reputable publication like SI approved this. I haven’t finished the article but already found two objectively false stats:
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JC Jackson was “benched in week 8.” This is week 8 and he’s been off the team for 3 weeks. How is that possible?
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Both Charger playoff wins this decade came against rookie QBs. Lamar was a rookie, yes. But Andy Dalton (the first win) was in his third season when the Chargers upset him in the 2013 divisional round
The author makes some good points but seeing blatant mistakes like these is bizarre to me. Bottom line, Chargers org still sucks
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