Fantasy Football Daily - Los Angeles Chargers with Fernando Ramirez | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

Justin Herbert has the deserved hype. But now, he's gotta win a playoff game. Fernando Ramirez (@RealFRamirez) of @sportingtrib joins Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) to talk Herbert, new OC Kellen Moore, and if rookie WR Quentin Johnston can provide the Chargers the big-play threat they lacked last season. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hi everyone. I'm your host, Joe Dolan, and welcome to the 2023 franchise focus podcast series here at FantasyPoint.com and the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. We've entered the third week of recording these podcasts, and I've already made my way around the first three divisions in the AFC. We're going to be moving to the AFC West this week, talking Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers. I hope everybody's enjoyed the podcast thus far. I've had a lot of fun recording them.

I'm learning something new each and every time I record, and really the only difficult thing about them is scheduling them, because I'm doing 32 of them, but so many of my guests have been gracious. All of them have been just providing the best information. And I hope you continue to subscribe, rate and review to the show, and enjoy the podcast. We're going to wrap up the AFC with the AFC West this week. I hope you enjoy. Without further ado, here's my next guest. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast.

I'm excited for today's guest. Last year I had his co-host of the Compass on the Beat podcast, Gilberto Mancano. He's big time now. He's covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated. He's covering it nationally. So I had to go back to the source, though. And I'm bringing on Fernando Ramirez. He's the Chargers reporter for the Sporting Tribune.

You can follow him on Twitter at Real F. Ramirez. Fernando, welcome to the show. I know we were just kind of like taking little jabs, a playful jabs at Guilberto off air. But it was a good podcast with him last year, and I'm excited to welcome you to the show. Yeah, no, thank you. Joe for having me on. Yeah, no, I'm telling you, like, you guys, this is the second podcast that I've jumped on that they're like, oh, he's big time now. I'm like, yeah, I can't even get the dude on the horn. And we have a podcast together, as you mentioned. And it's hard for me to get him on the horn. So I know what you mean when you say he's big time. But yeah, it's all in good fun. I'll play full. Gilbert knows that I jump on different podcasts. And if they mention his name, I take a little jabs at him. So, we have to get down to business, though. We got to talk chargers. And you're still covering the team and you're still.

to the team. And this is from a fantasy perspective, always, at least, I mean, for as long as I've been playing fantasy, they've been great for fantasy because of Philip Rivers and then, of course, transitioning right to Justin Herbert. Well, you forgot that one game with Tyrod Taylor. I can't let you forget that one game. Or is Tyrod, man. I know. I feel so bad for. Even last year with the Giants, I think, or two years, I can't remember when it was he came in, he got hurt right away. Like, just bad luck. Yeah, for a good player too. But, um, We got to start big picture here with the Chargers because obviously the replacing of Joe Lombardi with Kellan Moore is the big offseason storyline for the Chargers. I had gotten to take in a little play on Broadway, Joe Namath.

I had gotten to take into calling Joe Lombardi sideways Joe because that's kind of where the offense went. You know the key stats. I'm not going to tell you what Charger fans called them on Twitter. Okay, all right. We have a clean rating on the podcast on Apple podcast. We got to keep the swearing to a minimum. But you know all the stats. Dak Prescott in every year under Kellynne Moore in Dallas had a higher average depth of target than the highest average depth of target season that Justin Herbert's had in the NFL.

Do you expect that to change for Justin Herbert in 2023? I really do think it will. and the crazy part is that you mentioned that like it like on a Sunday it was a regular Sunday they announced oh the Cowboys are maybe splitting up with Kellyn Moore and then by the evening oh charges are expected to sign Kellyn Moore it was quick Brandon Sayley said I was not going to let this guy go last year in training camp he knew he he he and they had a joint practice with the Cowboys and him and Kellan Moore kept in contact that would tech each other stuff like that so it just came together and now he's coaching Justin Herbert and you talk to Keenan Allen,

you talk to Mike Williams, you talk to Justin Herbert and even Kellynne Moore himself, and you could tell it's all going to go down the field. And Keenan Allen said, yeah, we're going to probably go down the field more. And Keenan Allen's more of a slant out route. Like he's more of that kind of stuff. And last year he was going deep a little bit more than usual. I think this year it's going to be even more. I think they're going to try and exploit what Justin Herbert can do.

What does he do? he has a howitzer for a right arm. We all know that. We saw that play where he had a guy draped on his back and he threw a 50, a 60-yard bomb to Jalen Geyton. The Chargers now have speed. They have weapons. I think the Chargers have probably one of the best receiving cores in the NFL.

And they have Mike Williams who, his nickname is 80-20, but I think when he goes down the field, he's more 90-10 now. Like the dude just makes every single grab going down the field. So I really do think that the Charger are going to go more. down the field with Kellan Moore. You saw the jabs that that big old Mike McCarthy took at him. Oh, he needs to run the ball a little bit more. Well, not when you got a guy like Justin Herbert and some of these other guys. Like, you're going to be able to go down the field. So yeah, I totally expect Justin Herbert's

stats to go up. Like Matthew McConaughey said, you got to pump those suckers up. You got to raise those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers. So I do expect them to increase. So how do you think Quentin Johnston, the Chargers' first round pick, compliments or even supplements this receiving core? So I kind of got carried away on a recent podcast. I jumped on and I said, I think he's going to be a thousand-yard receiver. And they're like, whoa. And I'm like, this kid, man, they keep on talking about him. They keep on boasting about him.

Derwin James, I asked him at the Chargers Golf Tournament. I'm like, hey, what do you think about or give me a rookie that I stood out to you? He goes, Quinn Johnson. And I'm like, what? He's like, he's him. Like, he's that guy. And I'm like, oh, wow. And you see him at practice.

Mike Williams wasn't really out there for OTAs. Josh Palmer wasn't either. So it was Quentin Johnson and Keenan Allen basically going one, like being the two receivers. And you could tell Quinn, I know they're in shorts and helmets and t-shirts, but he made an impact. He was making some catches. He made some good contested catches. Again, they're not getting tackled. But if you look at this receiving court, it's Keenan Allen and Mike.

Williams. How are you going to be able to cover now Quentin Johnson, Josh Palmer? Like, it's going to be tough to cover all these guys. And I really do think that Quentin Johnson is going to get open. I think he's going to be the guy that people are going to forget about and he's going to make big plays. I really, I was watching his film the other day. He's a basketball player, man. He, like, so he did a, he did a curl route. And he did kind of a basketball move where he fake right or he fake left and then went right, turned around. And he had 40 yards down the. field until the dream shake. Exactly. So, and then his speed, you saw that Michigan game where he catches that ball. He does kind of like a hesitation step and then takes off and the cornerback

couldn't catch him. I mean, I really do think that he's going to be bringing an explosive element to the Chargers offense. And like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a thousand yard receiver this year and made a couple of touchdown grabs. I just think the kid is going to add a lot to this, to this receiving court. And it's like, it's one of those things where you're going to forget about somebody, and I think he's going to be the guy that gets forgotten about, and he's going to come open, and he's going to make him big impact plays. Do you expect his skill set to be more, like, the AJ Brown, like the big plays by catching it in the short to intermediate area, or do you expect he's going to be used more on go routes, posts, stuff like that down the field?

I really think from what I have kind of gathered, I think he's going to be a little bit of everything. I think they're going to try and use him in different ways to get him open. I think he can do a lot of that stuff. I mean, and like I said, and Keenan and Mike both said it that as soon as he comes off the field, he goes straight to them and tries and learns. A little bit of his knocks where his hands, that stuff can be, like that stuff can be fixed. Maybe some of his routes where, hey, you're route running. You're learning from Keenan Allen.

You're going to learn something when it comes to route running. So, but I really do think that they're going to try and do that stuff or the intermediate stuff and then him take off. and try and get back the cornerback, maybe also dig route, some stuff like that. I really do think that they're going to try and do a lot of different things with him. And that's the thing, he can kind of do a lot of different things to get himself open.

So I really do think that the Charger are going to try and do their best to try and get him open and exploit that speed. I mean, that's what everybody's been saying. The Charger lacking speed. Well, now you brought him in and you brought in his teammate Darius Davis, who the Charger saying he's just a return guy. I don't believe it. I think he's going to, he's going to make a little.

some impact on this offense one way or another. Yeah, the Chargers lacking speed was the theme. You've actually hit on it a couple of times in the podcast. And not to say that this was a fantasy guy, but how big, and not to totally, not to totally defend Joe Lombardi here, but how big was the injury to Jalen Giten

early in the season in restricting this offense? Yeah, no, well, when you lose a guy like Jalen Gighton, and the thing is that he's kind of, I don't want to say he's a one-trick pony, but basically his speed, he would exploit a lot of the defenses, and defense would kind of have to look at him, and that's what it would get sometimes the other knee stuff open. So, yeah, no, it definitely hurt, but that's the problem. That's the problem when you only have one guy that can do something like that. You need more guys that have speed because Josh Palmer, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams are all very similar. They're more of those big receivers that can go down the field and do different things, but really, like, you don't have that, that burner that, that, that,

And I don't want to say Tyree Kill, but you know, that burner that can just go down the field and make those big catches. Excuse me. And that's what was kind of lacking from the offense. So, yeah, when Jalen got one down, it completely changed this Chargers offense. So the Chargers on paper, great receiving court. But of course, availability is a big part of that. Mike Williams has had multiple injuries and I think most severe to his neck and his back. And Keenan Allen had the serious hamstring injury.

How concerned are the chargers with their potential injury issues headed into 2023? I think they're not worried about it. I mean, it was just a freak thing with Keenan last year. It was the first game of the season. You know, it's funny at that point, at the point where Keenan went out, him and Devonte Adams were actually basically on pace together to get over 100 yards in that game. I think both had four catches for like 60 or 70 yards. And they were kind of going toe to toe.

And I was like, oh, wow, this is going to be an interesting battle watching. because people, when you talk about two of the best route runners in the NFL, it's Keenan and Devante, and Keenan just out, and then three weeks later, he tries to go full blast, he reagravates it, and then he has to sit out a couple more games. But I think that, I think the Charger, like they just thought it was a freak accident, just not a freak accident, but it was just one of those injuries, outlier injuries, because Keenan's been relatively healthy ever since he came back from that torn ACL a couple of years ago. So he's been available.

So I just think they think it's a one-off. And then with Mike, last year it was also just one of those freak things where he got hurt. But I don't think they're thinking much of it. I think they think new season, let's go out. Because Mike's thing, I mean, that hit that he took with that back injury, I mean, that was pretty bad in Denver. But he says he's fine. He's recovered.

He's ready to go. And he can't wait to get back on the field. so I don't think they're worried about anything lingering from last season. Austin Echler, it feels like they kind of made him a little bit whole with the additional money in his contract. But one of the things that was, first and foremost, let's talk about Echler. Yeah. Running back targets were not a huge, huge part of what Callen Moore does,

which was part of the reason he's so good for fantasy. Austin Echler is his receiving. Do you expect that Kellan Moore will adjust a little bit more to Austin Echler? or could Echler lose some targets simply because of the increased vertical nature of this offense? I think Echler might lose some touches just because of the addition. I'll say more of the addition of Quentin, Johnston, Darius, Davis, and then Jalen Guyton coming back. I think he may lose some targets.

But when it comes to adjusting, I think Kellen Moore will adjust. Because he said, we want to also keep some stuff that Justin does well. What's one of the things that he does well? Checking down to Austin Echler and Austin Echler doing his thing. One thing that I think that might return is Austin Eckler splitting out at receiver. That was one of the things that I thought the charges did really well back when Melvin Gordon was on the team. And Austin Eckler was more of a secondary player. They would put in Eckler, they would split him out at receiver,

and then he would just take advantage of the linebacker, go past the lineback. Because, you know, the linebackers kind of cover five to ten yards and then kind of ease up a little bit. What Austin would take advantage of that and go 90 yards. That's where we got the famous Philip Rivers yelling and Janik and Gokw. way's ear going, ah, let's go. Like, that's where we got that video. So, uh, but I really do think that, uh, the charge are going to try in and do that. But the thing with Austin, I just think there's going to be a lot of Moussafeed on offense. And that could help him kind of get more, uh, get more touches in that kind of way. You know what I mean? And then the offensive line is

improved. So I think he's even going to, his numbers might even go up a little bit because everybody's going to be so focused on the other receivers that that could help Austin. actually come alive. So I thought it was odd in the post Melvin Gordon era, the Chargers, three straight years tried to find this complimentary back, this grinder to Austin. The Thunder to Eckler's lightning, essentially. Josh Kelly, Larry Roundtree, Isaiah Spiller, do you think they found that guy yet? I mean, I would say Spiller probably had a really disappointing rookie season from the Chargers perspective. Well, the Chargers really didn't give him a chance last year. It was one of those things where they brought in Sunny Michelle. Sunny Michelle just didn't

really have the impact that I think they thought he was going to have. Now he's back with the Rams. But I really do think that Isaiah Spiller is the one guy that I think has a chance to do something just because he's the unknown. Maybe he could be a Tony Pollard where he kind of turns it on. He becomes that secondary back. But I just, I'm with you. I mean, Josh Kelly, every single time Josh Kelly gets going and injury happens. So that last year at one point, he was, he was actually running the ball really well. And then he got hurt and he was out for almost the rest of the season. He came back the last four or five games, but it just wasn't the same energy that you got from him. But I really do think that Isaiah Spiller probably has the best chance, just because there's an unknown with him.

You don't really know much about him. You haven't really seen much. But he's the one that there was a lot of excitement about him coming out of college. And it's kind of like, well, where'd that excitement go? Where is it? But I really do think that he's going to make an impact on this team. And I think he might be that second back, especially if, if Kellen Moore can do what he did with Tony Pollard with Isaiah Spiller.

Yeah. So I think we've established you expect that Justin Herbert's numbers are going to go up in Kellen Moore's offense. But what do you think Justin Herbert, from a stylistic standpoint, from a skill set standpoint, needs to work on to really maximize his potential? Oh, that's kind of tough just because I feel like he's a hard player to critique, yeah. Yeah, and I mean, he works on everything. Like in the offseason, I really do think that dude is such a, what do I want to say, like a film junkie. Like I know he's sitting down.

He's taking notes. Like I would, I'd pay, I'd pay money to see that notebook that Justin has with all of his notes on it and how he critiques himself. But I feel like he. just does he does things really well like last year he threw i think 10 or 11 interceptions that i think half of them weren't even his fault there were like pop-ups or or bad routes by uh by the and i'm not trying to blame the receivers or the tight ends or anything i'm just saying like he just really throws a nice ball even his deep ball is just good but i guess i i guess if i had to critique one thing it's like don't be afraid to check out of stuff like not to check out of stuff but

like if you feel like you need to take advantage of the team and you want like that's the thing philip rivers tom brady like those kinds of guys like they would like if if what the oc isn't calling they would they would take in they would take command of their offense and they'd be like you know what i know what to run i'm i'm that smart i know what's going i mean Herbert won the heisman for for brilliance and in college for a reason the guy's smart you know he's smart i think maybe that's the one thing like if something's not work because at times last year i thought what joe lombardi was doing it just wasn't working and i know that there was frustration for fans saying just in check out of it, like do other stuff with it.

But I mean, other than that, there's just nothing I can critique. The guy is just, he really is a lead. And I really do think he's a top three, top four quarterback in the NFL. He's really that good. But if it was anything, it's probably that. But I'm not in the huddle. I don't know what's going on. That's just me looking from afar.

But other than that, I just really think his mechanics are good. His footwork is great. I really think it's kind of hard. Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, and Herbert are probably three of the guys that I, it'd be hard to find the critique of, of something that they do. But that'd probably be my one only thing. But other than that, I just, I can't find anything. So the Chargers, I think, are a really good example of how investing in an offensive line can really start to gel. As a matter of fact, I believe four of their

five projected starters along the offensive line were drafted within the last four seasons. I mean, that homegrown talent, if there's a weak spot on the line, though, what do you think? it is. Probably right tackle with Trey Pipkins. And that's just, and I'm not even, I mean, the dude's been a warrior. He really, when he got drafted in the third round out of Sioux Falls, I remember I was in the media room and I'm like, who is this? Like, who is Trey Pipkins? Like, nobody knew who he was. And that was really one of the guys that the charge really developed. They took their time with him. He had four offensive line coaches in four years. He did well. And then they brought him up. And he's done a great job earning his, his, his pay.

but I'd probably say him. I think what they have on the rest of the offensive line is brutal. Like the, uh, Siler, um, uh,

Corey Lindsley, uh, Johnson and, uh, and, and Roshan Slater. I really do think that that's, that's a pretty good offensive line.

And the thing is, you want to keep guys off of Justin Herbert last year. When he, after taking that hit with the ribs, he just wasn't the same quarterback for most of the season. And he still put up good numbers. But I really do think that they need a protect Justin. And obviously the one fault that I give them is they need to be able to open up,

and the guys have even said it, they need to run the ball a lot better next year. If not, they're going to struggle in that area. But if they can open up the holes and get off the Nekler going, I really do think that this offense could be a lot better than what it already is. Is Rishon Slater good to go? Yeah, yeah. Roshan told us, yeah, he said he's good to go that he could have played in that. If they were to beat Jacksonville, they would have played Kansas City. he said he would have played in that game. Okay. All right.

So that's good news. And, you know, the other guy on this line, I think maybe is not the X factor, but the guy who really helped bring this thing together, they drafted Jamari Sawyer in the sixth round last year. And I mean, he's developed, sometimes first round offensive linemen take a, take time to develop into good starters. Salier, I mean, he had, he might have been one of the steals in the NFL draft last year. What did the Chargers coaches say about him as he progressed?

No, they really like what he's doing. Tom Telesco's raved about him. And that's the thing is that ever since Brandon Saly came in, he's really put an emphasis on that offensive line. He's reshaped it. He's revamped it. Four out of the five players on the offensive line have been brought in with him as the head coach. I remember he said Corey Lindley was a guy that he wanted after they played the Packers and the playoffs in 2020.

He's like, I want that guy on my team. And he brought him in with the charge in 2021. But yeah, no, Jamar Solier was a guy that last year, I think he only gave up like two sacks and one of them was the Miles Garrett. So, I mean, that, hey. Lettie-who's without sin, right? Exactly. So, I mean, the guy, the guy really did play hard.

He's a good, he's a good player. Now he obviously goes back to guard. And the charges are, they're really hopeful that he can help their offensive line. But at the guard position, but they're raving about him. They're saying that he's doing everything that he needs to do. and they're really excited about him. Corey Lindsay was raving about him when we spoke to him. He's like, can you imagine what he did last year?

Now let's move him over to right guard. And I bet you he's going to be even better at that position. So they're really excited about the potential of him at right guard. Yeah, so just so everybody understands the context of what Fernando is saying here, Jamarri Stollier was a sixth round rookie last year who filled in a tackle after Rashon Slater got hurt, which is next to impossible since Slater's one of the best tackles in football. I mean, really, really high quality stuff that he did. Yeah, and like I said, he only gave up two seconds.

We were surprised. Like, I thought they were going to put one of their other guys, like move Trey Pickens, a left tackle. Yeah. Or do something like that. And they go, Jamari Sawyer, you're like, oh, wow. It's got y'all choked up here. I know.

We were really surprised when they named him the starter. So, Fernando, I've been wrapping up all the franchise-focused podcast by asking my guests to maybe highlight a lower-end player on the roster, or somebody we haven't talked about yet who could contribute for fantasy. What do you think that is on the Chargers roster? I think one guy that everybody's forgetting is Gerald Ever at the tight end. He had, I think, two or three games last year where he had over 80 yards receiving. I think teams forget about him.

And I really do think that defense forget about him. He's athletic. He's kind of more of an athletic tight end. That's almost kind of like a receiver-like kind of guy. Like he's fast. He can really move. So I think he's going to be. a guy that kind of comes open because of all the weapons that the Chargers possess.

I think he's going to be a guy that really could put up some numbers, especially. I know that there's only one ball and a lot of Moussapede, but I really do think that he could be an impact player this season. They're one of the most interesting teams in the entire NFL with loaded with offensive weapons. So you're going to want to follow Fernando Ramirez. You can follow him on Twitter at Real F. Ramirez. He's the Chargers reporter for the Sporting Tribune. And you can catch him on Compass on the beat talking not just Chargers.

you're talking everything on that podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We try and do a little bit of everything. We do combat sports, WWE. Now we've gotten into soccer. So, yeah, we're doing a lot of different things on the podcast. And then we review movies also. So we do a little bit of everything on there.

We just try and have fun and kind of bring our own perspective about life, about our journeys as journalists. So, yeah, Gilbert and I try and we try and stick our spoon in different meals and see how it does. So yeah, we're really appreciative of everybody that's checked it out. And it's just something different, but we really are having a lot of fun doing it. I had a lot of fun talking to you about the Chargers.

We're going to be seeing his coverage deep into January is my estimation. Fernando Ramirez, thank you so much for joining me on the franchise focus podcast and go take down your fantasy league this year, my friend. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it. And I hope you finally win yours. Yeah. Yeah.

So Fernando is referring to the fact that I've been in the fantasy industry. for 15 years is my 15th year working in the fantasy industry. The last time I won my longest term league was in 2008, the year before I joined the fantasy industry. You're overdue. Very much so overdue. Thanks everybody for listening to this edition of the franchise focus podcast. We will start with the NFC East very shortly. It's been great talking the AFC and now it's time to kick off the NFC. Take it easy, everybody. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform.

And come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.