NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Chargers Camp with Mike McDaniel and Cameron Dicker

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue are live from Chargers training camp where they are joined by Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to talk about working with Justin Herbert, creating offensive advantages for his team, Jim Harbaugh, and building the Chargers. Also, Gregg and Jourdan give you their takeaways from Chargers practice and are joined by Cameron Dicker to talk about the early success in his career and being a "vibes guy" in the Chargers locker room. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've got your favorite football hipsters, favorite coach with us to start the show. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with one of those football hipsters, Jordan Rod Rieg, and yes, Mike McDaniel, the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers opening up the show with us. Are you aware of that your football hipster popularity? Um, yes. I, um, I think being yourself allows you vulnerable or a vulnerability to have both people that, uh, cheer for you and, and other people that hate you.

So, you know, you kind of, I kind of entered in, um, when I decided to be myself, I kind of know what's the stakes are. So I appreciate that this is part of the population that isn't, um, uh, hating on me. for now. Another way to say football hipster would just be like people that love ball. Like Jordan Roderick, who you know. You're the people who love football's favorite football coach. That's how I would have probably introduced you. Yeah, that's what.

Well, that's a better introduction. Greg chose a different one. I don't want to like build you up too much. Yeah. Which is cool. I think, you know, you don't want to just start off just building you up. But we'll be doing that. That's a real.

Both were great elite compliments. I very much appreciate it. We're happy to have you here, Mike. You've been here now a minute, Southern California. You know, you had to interview for this job. And I'm thinking watching, you know, Herbert throw some dimes out there today about what it was like for you as a coach looking at all those plays, which you have talked about before you took the job

and watching what Justin Herbert did last year. And what stood out the most to you, that you could potentially take advantage of. as this coach. Oh, I thought, you know, it was just a such an incredible opportunity, one that I'd never had professionally where, wait, I can, you know, just the opportunity to, to coach these guys, in particular, him, you know, is something that, you know, I really appreciate having, you know, there's not many talents like that in all sports, you know, whether it's quarterback position or regardless and you know I'm just glad that I've been

chopping wood you know for 20 years in this league before I had the opportunity to do that so I wouldn't have regrets so it's it's a I mean I was it was a weird situation because you're on the heels of you know I only know one way to attack a job so my expectation is that you know I do a good enough job to keep it and then when you, you, you'd think that you'd be pretty down when you, when you lose a job. But, you know, right in front of me was this opportunity to, um, really do something that, you know, uh, you, you're very blessed to even get the opportunity in your entire career. So, uh, yeah, it was, um, you know, I think I said this before, but I, I feel, I felt fortunate

that I was prepared for the opportunity. opportunity, you know, because it's a, this is, it's something that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I, if I wasn't ready for the moment. So it's, it's been awesome. I'm glad you alluded to, to some of like how you approach the job and how you approach, I think football in general, just covering you for, for a couple years, Mike. Like, I always appreciated where you find ideas and how you think about doing new things within, you know, really understanding who your players are and trying to do new interesting things with them. And you're sort of like, you don't, you don't really care where the net is cast. You just want to find cool stuff to do. When you're watching

these clips and you're going, I saw the quote where you went over every single one of Justin's plays and the concepts and all of that. Was there anything that really sparked or anything he does specifically that sparked an inspiration for you or got you thinking about how you wanted. want to design things or really kind of got that juice flowing for you. Well, you know, I think with the breadth of the example, you know, I did not want to just take a leap of faith and base stuff on assumptions. So watching it, you know, watched all of his passes from his whole career. And I found, you know, plenty of examples where he was playing, he was distributing the ball with conviction early in the down. And then I saw.

So there was things, you know, that, you know, in the years past, that have been a staple of the offense that I could see that he could do. And then, you know, there was just, he has a spatial awareness, a feel. You know, I was really taken aback with all the things that he could do, extending plays and making plays. And then just, you know, there's some crazy, crazy. I watched all of his passes. So you got about 15, you know, 15 throws, 60, 70 yards down the field that, you know, you're not sure is possible until you see the clip.

So, you know, I think for me, it was the feeling has just been both excitement and focus because, you know, I think, I, I think. think the like I said before you don't get these opportunities and I and you know I think it got me uh immediately watching all the film got me super motivated to make sure uh that I worked with Jim and and the T's were crossed and the eyes were dotted on the staff. Um because of I figured okay well if I can get all the right position coaches, uh, to to really buy in and push and teach. and create relationships with these guys. It will be an opportunity to, you know, I love football. I love creating competitive advantages for players.

And you know, it's something that, you know, I, looking at the, you know, professional athletes, this is a game about them. And they work their whole lives to get a finite window. And you have, you know, you're blessed with this opportunity and pack them. And I wanted to make sure that, you know, I was in the best space to do that. And I think it started with the staff, obviously, with Jim Joe and John Spanos all being supportive. And, you know, it's, I think we put together an unbelievable offensive staff, which is really allowed. I mean, there's been, I would say, probably five things a day over the last five.

practices that, you know, we've been able to try that I've never done before, you know. And, you know, I think it the, the, it really opens your eyes to a lot of different schematic things and just different opportunities that makes, I mean, I'm living the dream right now. Can I ask you about that too? When you come out here, you look at this roster. Every, every time I'm out here, I see, first of all, the size of. of all of the players, even your skills are like some of the, Omar and Hampton is like one of the most giant humans ever. And you know, but you also have speed.

And I'm looking at the personnel options you have. You could play with a fullback. You could play with multiple tight ends. You could do all these different kinds of things. And you have speed and you have the quarterback. And I'm wondering, like, where do you go when you start to build with these players? What options do you see in terms of you, you mention it yourself. You like to create advantages,

whether it's personnel or concept with these players, but also their ability and exploit space. So where does your mind go? And can you kind of take us through how you think about putting these guys in those positions? Well, I think the most important thing, you know, the thing that I don't think about is I don't think about inventing stuff. If you stay true to your core of what is your job, and for me, as I see it, to create advantageous situation. for all these players, then you're kind of solution-oriented reverse engineering issues. And what in this time of year, what's real cool is we,

you know, I'm just trying to facilitate all different personnel groups and be able to, you know, like we are very confident in ultimately being able to play in whatever personnel group is, you know, You know, you're not dictated by, we can be dictated by the personnel of the defense and what guys do we want to exploit. What guys do we want to stay away from? What things, you know, that sometimes base defense is way different than nickel for when you're playing an opponent or vice versa. So I think for me, I'm not trying to, I'm just trying to, with the coaching staff, make sure that. that we are at the top of our game from a technique and fundamental standpoint across the board,

whether we're doing 10 personnel or 13, you know? And just to give ourselves some options as we, you know, go into the regular season, because that's what I see from this group. And what's been so cool is you have a lot of solution or you have a lot of solutions on the roster. And it's going to be a lot more difficult for, I could be as varied as I've ever been in personnel's, which makes you harder to practice and prepare for as an opponent. And hopefully it creates more of those advantageous situations for all the guys. Do you have a hand in that team building?

Because, you know, you look on the offensive line, there's a guy Cole Strange that comes along with you from Miami. And then you just look, just watching practice today. Obviously, a lot of variety. but you know, Charlie Kohler is in the mix, of course. Injoku is in the mix. It's just, it's a big team out there. And I'm thinking, like, is this, do you have a big hand in that vision of what happened? Well, you know, fortunately, the powers that be, both Jim and Joe, allow my voice to be heard.

Now, I will say that one of the reasons this place was so attractive to me personally was because of, you know, most specifically, the last couple draft classes, you know, the players they were drafting or the players that on the other side of the country, I was targeting. And, you know, and so I knew there was a lot of like-minded, you know, really evaluation. And then, you know, I don't, I'm not the general manager or head coach. So I'm very fortunate that they want to hear me. And we're all fortunate because we were very consistent with in and there was a lot of agreement in this off season when it came to the free agency and draft. And so I think that, you know, it's one of the reasons I feel very fortunate to be here.

And one of the reasons this team has a great chance to be successful is because you have everyone moving in the same direction, which is one thing that I knew. was a non-negotiable for me in my next opportunity. So it, yes and no. I mean, they don't have to ask and they don't have to listen. And, you know, I think it wasn't like I was staying on a soapbox preaching. It was, you know, I'll have conviction with my opinion and they happen to share it. So it's been a tremendous offseason that way.

I had this theory last year. there was a lot of injuries and obviously seems knock on wood of course seems like things are going really really well in camp so far in terms of health um here i thought that the charges were because of that roster building and because of some of the things they were willing to try offensively and defensively a really great combination of where football is going right now and where it was like 30 years ago too at the same time yeah all in one place can you speak to that a little bit and what you think this team is that's so representative where where football is right now Well, I think you have, you know, on all three phases, you have systems that, you know, are coordinated in a evolution, always evolving fashion.

There's a lot of unique players on this roster in all three phases that have skill sets that allow you to do things that are different. You know, the first thing that comes to mind is you have a player like Derwin James, you know, and there's a, he's able to play three to four different positions in different personnel groups in all situations. They can play light. They can play big on defense. You know, I think Coach Fickin has been as good as they get in the return game. And he has a lot of, a lot of juice there to be. multiple and do some creative things.

And then, you know, we're not pigeonholed into, we have a lot of really good players that, you know, my job is to make sure that they're maximized and that they're all involved. And, you know, that's my, my type of problem solving party, you know, like, that's, that's, sounds like a good time. Yeah, it is a good time. You know, I think, you know, the, you're not a football team, a football offseason, a football season, a football season. is not, you're not searching for all roses and no problems. It's actually the opposite.

You want a situation where people can thrive by flourishing together in times of turmoil. And I think that, you know, this team is really hungry. And it's, you know, I'm not sure if the team's more hungry than I am or vice versa, but it was a great fit in that way because there was a lot of like ambition moving forward. So I think

you know, this group of people has a great chance to be their very best version of themselves in December and January by stacking days, you know, just by the nature of the leaders on the, the best players on this team are elite human beings

that are the that are the benchmark for how you want your star players to act so I think that gives us an opportunity to continue to chop wood and be our best football team when we need to be. And all that variety and multiplicity it gives you a chance to just mess with all the fantasy football players

a little more. Love that. With all the people out there. Yeah, no, I feel like I feel like I said something about fantasy in my press conference simply because I've learned over the years

that if there's an off-season question about running backs, it's always the same thing. But realistically, like, no one has to worry if a player's playing really well, I'm not going to take them out.

It's a good idea. That's bad business. That's why he's the football hipsters favorite coach. Appreciate you. Mike McDaniel and my favorite football hipster, Jordan. Thank you. You guys are top tier. And that's why I'm in the seat talking to you guys

because you guys really care about what you guys do. And I appreciate that. Appreciate that, Mike. We appreciate you. Again, appreciate Mike McDaniel joining us. That made me so happy. Checking that off the bucket list. Just one of those guys I wanted to interview.

And I love that he is comfortable city and awkwardness. That's my happy. place too. Yeah, I felt it. And making other people awkward. I mean, even when we first said hi to him, I shook his hand. I'm like, hi, Greg Rosenthal. I don't think we've ever really met. Maybe we said hello once. And he was like, of course you are an educated reporter of facts. And I was like, okay, I'll take that. I'll take that. So of course, now Greg's asked us all to just call him this now. I'm putting that on the business card, educated reporter of facts. So we're going to have Cameron Dicker coming up after the break.

But we've watched all of practice. The interview took place here in El Segundo at the Chargers facility. And then we did the interviews. And I just thought we'd take some takeaways from practice today. Anything that you saw that stood out to you. Yeah, it's Charlie Cole our season. Yeah. Honestly.

I mean, the tight end, you know, he was, I think, again, if you really love football, if you're paying attention to where football is going right now or at least will go in the next year or so, he was a very, very popular free agent signing. And it's clear that Mike McDaniel wants to use him all over the formation. And he gets open and Justin Herbert dots it on him. He was the star of the day. Yeah, it was fun. He had one that he just dropped.

right over the top of his shoulders as he was getting a little bit of separation was covered fine by the DB, obviously a mismatch. But Justin Herbert just dropped it downfield over both of his hands and he caught it. It was the easiest thing it looked like the two had ever done. It was incredible. I referenced with Mike McDaniel about the comment he made about sharing the carries at running back. But I'm more thinking about like how are they going to share this at tight end in terms of how much each guy plays and how are they used. I would personally be surprised to your point, like if Colar isn't the most important one. Yeah.

Because the way he moves at his size, I think there's a feeling that Baltimore let one get away that they never really took advantage. He has like 400, 500 career passing yards. And you see the way he's moving today. And then you put him on the field, depending on how big you want to be with Injoku, who was out here today. And then, Aronda Gadsden, who had a great rookie season. And, you know, it's not going to be as good of a blocker. But he had an incredible catch. like the best throw and catch of the day was on a one-on-one drill from Herbert to Gadsden.

And like he moves incredibly. We already know that. And so Colar to me is going to be kind of the most important move piece that it's all built around. And he's in motion all the time. Like this is going to be a big Jordan football dork tight ends. I know. I was starting to feel a little tingly, honestly, because it's so cool to watch the emotions too. And I like watching Mike McDaniel coach this offense.

And Chris O'Leary has been running, I think. a lot of very, it looks like Jesse Minter's defense. You know, they're rushing some of that NASCAR package look with the extra rusher and they're doing a lot of stand-up linemen on the outsides and the, you know, Derwin James is everywhere as we would expect. But when I'm watching the offense and I'm watching Mike McDaniel coach, he likes to stand in the back of the defense and make sure that the timing of the motions are correct. And that was something I had eyes on today. That was so fascinating to me because this is going to, this offense is going to get people. people with timing too and with some of the things that maybe break a defense's rules of where

they think they're going to align at a certain time in the in the pre-snap motion and then obviously the gaps all change too if it's a tight end or a running back going in motion like that which they are and it's it's so fun to watch and something that mike said that really stuck out to me was every personnel is available to him I mean this team also has full backs let's not forget this team has trying to find a spot for Scott Matlock on the team I don't know for sure he's become a little bit of an extra player. He's a tight end. He's an offensive lineman. He's a fullback. But yes, they have Alec Ingold. They have Alec Ingold who Mike brought with him from Miami. And then they have all these

tight ends. And then they've got receivers who are dudes. Like they're really, really positive, positive group and improved a lot last year in my opinion. And what I love that he said was it's anything from 10 to 13. And then, you know, he's obviously thinking about 21, 22 as well, where it's like anything, they can do anything they want. And I hope they get a chance to because health is always going to be the biggest thing. Yeah. If we had all the time in the world for them, I was like, going to be like, do you know the offensive line curse of the Chargers? Like, are you aware that you're going to be looked on as the Savior? So far, so good. This camp, they're trying to figure out their left

guard. It's really funny every year because Chargers fans are so obsessed with the offensive line. It's always like an interior line battle that they care about. Like, oh, we don't care about the wide receivers of the tight ends interior line battle, which, by the way, Awaska, I believe, is the one listed as a starter. He gave up two sacks today. It was not a good day for him. Well, I was talking to somebody on the side about this. And Jake Slaughter, Coyote Owaska, and Trey Pipkins are all still competing.

That job has not been decided yet. But over the last several practices, they have been competing all at that left guard spot is the only spot in this offensive line where there still is a big question in an open competition. Yeah. And there's, this is a roster. and we'll wrap up with our takes in a little bit, but they find guys, and that's why I wanted to ask Cameron Dicker coming up

about the way this coaching staff develops players, except on the offensive line, I would say, and they have a new offensive line coach. Which Barry. You could just hear him everywhere, just F-bomb after F-bomb. This was one of the loudest coaching practices I've ever been to in terms of, like, coaches are just yelling the whole time.

and like even more. And then one of the choir, like it was a chill crowd here today. It's a hot day. It's a nice crowd, a very chill, chill crowd. But one thing I wanted to make sure I mention, which has been the story for this camp, was Hakeem Messador stepping in as their third ed dresser maybe will wind up starting for them in terms of the amount of snaps that he plays alongside Tully, Tully, Tulli, Pallotu, and Kaleo in that, look, he's a 26-year-old rookie.

and I talked to Matt Money Smith, our friends. And it's just unfair. Like, he beat Joe Alt a couple times in the last practice. And you just don't see that, including out of Mac until he blow to? And that I think for the people that have been around here, each and every day, the number one story is like, oh, wow, we got a dude in Messador. So, yeah, you watch Adafioi leave. I think there's some feeling they might have gotten an upgrade there.

And so that is a really good trio on the front end. for them to then mix the coverages on the back end. I had to number check Messador a few times because I kept forgetting that that was a rookie out there. He's a beast. He's a freaking dude, man. Well, the other funny thing, I mean, we talk about this a lot coming out of Chargers camps with the size of this team. When we're talking about just being physically imposing, we were standing over watching running back drills. And you were reminding yourself, you know, what number everybody is.

And you're like, Omar and Hampton. And then it was like, oh, we don't even need to remind ourselves. what number, O'Mary in Hampton is. He's the biggest freaking guy out here. He really is. And his speed, there was one kind of swing pass during the team drills where he was coming straight at me on the other side. And his speed is just, it's different. So to Mike McDaniel's point of like, if he's playing well, I'm not going to take him off the field, there'll be enough room, I think, for everyone in this backfield. Keaton Mitchell is probably the two right now. I think that's kind of been how camp is, evolved and Kamani Vidal behind them, but they're all, they're all going to play. And yeah, I thought Herbo, you know, he always looks good in camp. I mean, he is not going to look bad.

But I do like his footwork and that's something I kept an eye on. He is, he was really good light on his feet. Their offensive line did not like look great today, especially on the interior. So he was having to move and open up his pocket. And I just love the way he looks in place. The handoffs are tighter, too. I was texting you about this. I noticed this. because I got to be here I come visit this camp every once in a while and I just notice the handoffs are way tighter in terms

of like they're happening instantly and the fake in them is very, very good whether it's a fake motion handoff or a play action they are a lot, they're happening, the act of it is happening a lot quicker which is a Mike McDaniel thing and it's also the timing of them seems very

very predicated and specific and that's happening a lot cleaner and tighter to me as well which is good. Anything that gets a deal defense to hesitate is good for these guys. McDaniel's saying that they're trying things that he's never tried before is fascinating. And I saw a couple of them. I mean, you can't reveal what it was, but it's just the run game is going to be creative. It always is when it comes to Mike McDaniel.

Okay. We've talked a lot about the Chargers. We've previewed the AFC West. We are going to throw it to the break here. On the other side of the break, we are going to have a great conversation with right now, The best kicker in the AFC. I can't put him over Brandon Aubrey, but the best kicker in the AFC after the break.

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Search video podcasts and tap watch. All right. We are here, of course, still in El Segundo. And we're with a man who inspired a Chargers fan just about 15 feet away from us to yell out best kicker in the league. And look, there are numbers that support that. The all-time leading percentage in terms of field goal kicker in NFL history right now. Cameron Dicker, welcome to the show.

I appreciate you. Crazy. Thank you. Thank you. I know. Is that something earlier in your career? You're like, oh, I must don't want to hear that because it's got to be hard to stay at 94%. That's outrageous. I mean, it's nice right now. But at the end of the day, like you said, I'm hoping to kick a lot more. So many more years to come.

Hopefully a couple hundred more field goals to come. And so it's like, it's great. But, yeah, we'll see where it's at the end of the career. That's great. We saw you in your hat fielding punts a little bit. Oh, yeah. I'm not, you caught most of them. we won't talk about maybe the hands a little bit.

They were pretty good. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know. I'd say compared to average people, I'm up there as one of the better. But it just, I always am curious about, I feel like kickers and specialists in general can be like ultimate vibes people and, and kind of keep the vibes locked in when for a team. I always feel like you always want to talk to them. You know, when they're at their locker, when you guys are making up games to play

on the sideline during, you know, workouts or whatever. and what is it like for you being out here? Being a leader on this team, now you've been here for a few years and to kind of be that vibes guy out here in the beach hat running around. Yeah, it's awesome. First, I thought you were about to say ultimate athletes. That was my second thing. And I couldn't believe that you just said just vibes guys.

But so ultimate athletes and vibes guys, I think that I take it as an opportunity to kind of have fun with these guys, remind people that we're here to enjoy our time. I mean, I've been cut from three different teams. I've experienced what it's like being the undrafted guy in the room. And so making sure those guys can get to enjoy their days because you're only here for as many days as you can be, right? And so enjoy every opportunity you have on this field

and just hanging out, learning from some of the best and the best in the business. And it's just, yeah, that's kind of the role I've tried to take with this team. People don't realize this, but like Chargers Rams is a thing. And since you brought up, you know, that you've been cut a few times, your first spot was the Rams as an undrafted rookie. And you were with them through much of their summer into training camp. Do you ever think, like, as they're just rolling through new kickers week after week and like, it's been a big problem for them that's like, oh, you made a mistake there, Rams.

I mainly think not my problem. It was awesome being there. I knew I was going there and wasn't going to be playing that year more than likely. I was told they'd keep me around as a guy for the season, and then they weren't going to be able to pay their guys that were there, and everybody knew that. And so I was like, great, I'll fill in as either a kicker or a punter, wherever they see me grow more.

And then at this point, I don't really care. I don't really pay attention to them. Because, yeah, Rams Chargers, I don't know if it's a thing as much among the fans, maybe a little bit, but I feel like with the organizations, but the Chargers, you know, have won up the Rams there on kickers and on facilities. I love this. This facility is sick.

I completely agree with you. They beat them there. You had such an interesting start to your career. I think about, like, how do you have the confidence to go out there? And then I think about how your career started. I don't know if any player in NFL history has started a career with game-winning kicks. I believe in your first two games, four different franchises, first Eagles where you're filling in for Jake Elliott and then here,

like, do you feel like that supercharged everything? Like, if I can do that in my first two games ever, like, that is what's helped get me to the point I'm at now? It was pretty wild. I'd say just because, like, my first two games, two different conferences, two game winners, two different special teams player in the weeks in the conference. I was like, I don't think that's ever been done. I don't know if it'll ever be done again because it's just such a unique thing.

And I think for specialists in the life we live, you have to be ready for the opportunity when God opens that door for you. And so for me, preparing, being ready to just go out there, do what I do and have fun, smile doing it was the number one thing for me. and so I was just put in positions where I had the opportunity to go execute. That's a nice way to put it, and I respect that. But also, fans know how good you are. I mean, you're like a cult hero here.

Like, really, you people, you have, like, a following. Like, and it's so cool to me to watch because you're also just really you. You're just authentically you. I've been a fan of yours since the Edna Mode Halloween costume. Thank you. That was a really, really good one. It was a really, really good one. It was, yeah, it was so iconic.

and obviously iconic character in our history. But I feel like too, I mean, you're just yourself and how have you felt the fans embrace you? And like the organization, you got a lot of people. We just had one in this chair, Mike, who they're also very authentically themselves all the time. I think a really cool thing with the organization. I think starting with Jim Harbaugh,

you have a guy who is himself. People see him in his interviews, think his clips are hilarious what he says, but are like, is he always that way? And it's like, yes, he is. This dude is like an amazing human being, super weird guy, but like the most loving weird guy ever, right? I always say he's like your best friend's weird dad who's like loves you so much, but you're just like, he can say whatever.

And you're just like, whoa, where's this come from? Um, but I think having people like that allows you to be yourself and feel more comfortable doing things in the building. And then with the fans, everybody's been awesome. I try to have fun, keep it light through social media through whatever it is. And so it's, it's fun to see people embrace that and enjoy it with me. Do you have, I mean, are you already planning the Halloween costume? Every year you kind of bring the heat with that. I'm going to be honest. It happens like week of.

Yeah. I'm like week of. I order four costumes. I'm like, what am I going to be living on the edge there? One that I haven't done yet that I really want to do is the new boot goofing. Oh my God. And I have the outfit.

I don't have the boots. So I need white boots. If somebody has white boots for me, that'd be great. If you're listening, yeah. Send Cameron Dicker some new boot goof and white boots. Those would be sick. Genuine ostrich leather. The Spirit Halloween in my neighborhood

open last week. I was like a little early here, bro. Like I'm not ready to turn that page, but they're open. It's all happening. People prep the pros like you. You mentioned Harbaugh being himself, and I was thinking because you've had perspective

of the different coaching staff. So you've been here since the beginning now of Jim Harba. And I feel like one of his secret weapons is he's really good at building a coaching staff and developing a coaching staff and choosing the right people. And I've seen it with older coaches. He's been around for a while.

That's where they lose their fastball. It's not finding the right coaching staff because they stop learning. Can you tell me from a player's perspective and you're involved obviously in special teams and seeing all the different coaches, like what his staffs, what makes it unique of like the staffs that he brings?

Yeah, I think the hard thing with that is when you're playing good football, you're going to lose a lot of your support coaches because they're going to go get elevated roles at other teams that you can't really, turned down in those positions. But what's really cool is he finds guys that bring something unique each and every day. I mean, we have an O-line coach who just yells.

Like everybody knows who's yelling that the whole time. It doesn't even seem like he's speaking. But everybody has their own energy and really just gets after it with the players. And so being able to know what type of players you have in the rooms and then what coach is going to fit with them. And it's really cool how he's been able to build that. I like that as a mentality here. I agree with Greg.

I think that sometimes when you're evolving and the game is changing so often, I mean, you guys just went through a massive change with special teams with some of the new rules and things like that. The game itself systemically is just it collides against itself and then things change, right? And some of these coaches here, I would argue this is a perfect incubator for like what the league is what's happening right now and what's going to be happening years from now. Now, I know when it sounds very galaxy brain for the guy who does his job and does it very, very well. But I think you have, and specialists in general, have this bird's eye view of the ecosystem overall and what it is. So what kind of a learning and teaching environment is it? Man.

I know, I just threw a lot of galaxy brain at you there. It was a lot. I think we do a really good job as a team of educating everybody on what's going on. throughout unique times in the game. So every day we have a teach the game segment where it's like 15 minutes a day where we're in a team meeting room and like I'm learning things.

I don't care about what's going on at this point in the game, but I'm sitting there learning like, okay, if he throws it like, I can't touch us on the sideline. Like I know my rules. And so they do a really good job teaching guys, keeping guys engaged with that and making it a fun atmosphere

for all of us to be in here. I think again, like you brought up the building earlier. I think having a really nice facility. where guys want to be is a really huge thing. And then obviously we live in probably the greatest place in NFL team is. Yeah.

It's really hard to visit. You know, it's like it's like just the breeze, the ocean being there. I can smell like a taco truck in the distance. It's just really a tough scene. It's a really hard life out here. Not as much like weed smell at the old San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium.

That was like aggressive there. But still, but still some. You've now been in the, division a while. What is your like least favorite stadium to visit? Or just like which are the fan bases that you

go to get after you guys the most like the most back and forth? I don't think there's been anything like too crazy with fan bases. I mean it's kind of fun to listen to people. The Chief's locker room is like the worst away locker room we go into. I'll say that. They designed it that way on purpose. Yeah. Like it's fine. It's whatever. But you have your own little stool.

it's the chief's little logo on it. One day I kind of want to take a stool that would be kind of funny to have. But I don't know if it'll fit in my bag. So I'm trying to figure that out. Just sort of spitballing here. Maybe you just wear it as your Halloween costume this year. Maybe you are the little chief stool.

That could be an interesting one. Yeah. Not many people would get it. Not many people would get it. I don't think. Yeah. Maybe, you know, don't ask me for my tips. You're the artist here.

You're the artist. I'm just a fan. We'll see. We've heard you had, or at least had, I don't know if it still exists, like a swim club in the facility. We did have a charger swim team. It's been about a year and a half since swim team met together. What happened? You know.

Was there drama? Guys just go different ways, fights break out. You know, like swimming's an intense sport. And so what you see guys together on the football field, but when it comes to the pool, people get really serious. And people couldn't handle that I was at number one. Ah, well, we did here you were a team USA. You had you were all decked out in the gear, right? Do you think that hurt some feelings anywhere or?

That they didn't have the same gear? Yeah, that they weren't like. Maybe that's the thing. Maybe I need to get us matching stuff and then people would enjoy it. But mine would say number one. And then I put everybody else and all their stuff. I could see how your attitude, yeah, at some point might rub them the wrong way. I'm the greatest swimmer in this building.

I mean, so you're trying to like build up, you know, kickers or athletes too. When you came here, having never played football, and by here, I mean the United States, I don't think a lot of people know that you grew up in Shanghai, right? Until you were about 11 years old, had you ever had any interest, knowledge of football or anything? Or it was just like throw them out there and you just could do it right away. I watched one football game. Who was it? It was the Cardinals Steelers in the Super Bowl, like 2008, 2009, whatever it was.

We were on a ski trip. She grew up in Arizona. We were in a ski trip somewhere, didn't even finish the game. I think I turned it on right before halftime, watched a halftime show, and then I think I went back to do whatever I was doing. But I played one year of football in China, was an O-Lineman. I was like, the sports sucks. This isn't for me.

O-Line wasn't for me. But they had a little American football going in China. We were the first year of the Shanghai Dragons. That's a pretty sick team. That's a sick name. Yeah, pretty sweet. But it was literally maybe 30 guys, and we were both. both teams, two Shanghai Dragon teams, we'd all practice together and then play against each other on the weekends.

So pretty interesting. That is an incredible journey to the point where you're at now, where you got all these stickers on your jersey. I didn't know the NFL is doing that now. It has an all-pro sticker, a block of granite sticker. I don't even know what that means. It's just Jim. It's not going to feel. NFL record.

I bet you I know which one was Harbaugh. Walter Payton Man of the Year. We know you like to do a lot of work in the community. Very, very cool. That one's the coolest one on here. Yeah. For sure. Well, he's got a cape.

I mean, no capes, but he does have a cape on. So. Yeah, he put a cape on and delivered for us. Thank you, Cameron Dicker for joining us. Thank you, of course, to Mike McDaniel for joining us earlier in the show. We will be back in the feed next, myself and Nick Shook with our power ranking show. We will see you then. This is an I-Heart podcast.

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