The Chargers Add Even More Speed At WR.

Chargers signed Praise Olatoke the Chargers just added major speed to their wide receiver room and now just look at how different this group is from a year ago I mean basically we had two 30-year-old wide receivers that were pretty slow like four fiveish 40s now we have a bunch of young very high potential wide receivers that are very fast as well Joe hortiz has really changed this unit first we got lad makoni in the second round really athletic wide receiver from Georgia then we drafted Cornelius Johnson and Brennan rice very high potential wide receivers even if they're not blazing fast and then we signed DJ CH the big bodied wide receiver in free agency for three speed and now we are officially signing praise oke from the NFL International Players program he was given a try out at mini camp let me give you guys the full breakdown on praise so praise was born Praise Olatoke Record Breaker in Track in logos Nigeria and then he moved to Scotland at the age of five he grew up playing tons of sports like soccer obviously it's Europe track and rugby you should remember that for later on he played rugby okay he was such a gifted athlete that he was recruited by Trinity Western University which is in Canada to run track for them under an athletic scholarship and while he was there he broke school records for the 60 M Dash and the 300 M Dash so that means that as a track athlete he does long distance and not so longdistance really well so he's not just a longdistance Runner which means to me that he can translate that speed to the field he ran a 682 in the 60m dash and then broke his own record to run it at 6.75 seconds and while he was at Trinity Western he won the Scottish under 20 athlete of the Year award in 2019 and then he also competed in the Great Britain European Athletics under 20 200 meter dash this guy's just a pure freaking Runner athlete and just for reference here the 60 M Dash is about like 65 yard so in 2021 he decided to transfer to Ohio State because he was interested in Transferred to Ohio State possibly playing football now he had been interested in playing football since he was 15 but being in Scotland you know his high school didn't have a team so he played rugby and then at Trinity West in Canada you know they obviously didn't have a team either so he only ran track on that scholarship but he spent two years on the Ohio state track team and then tore his Achilles in 2022 which is the same year that he actually ended up being on the all big 10 honors track team and then he decided instead of trying out for the Ohio State football team with Ryan day you know the big time Ohio State team he wanted to just join the club football team which is like a football league that is basically run by the students and and they were founded in 2010 now who was going to tell me that this was going on because I had no idea that this was a thing until until I was researching this guy but there are 16 teams that play in this league and it's basically like um college football's version of like the G league in the NBA or like how MLB has the leagues below you know that's what it is for college football basically except it's run by students and you know Ohio state has won two titles in the league in 13 years so they're a pretty good team they're tied for the most titles now before his first game action Praise Olatoke Highlights he only had about nine or 10 practices under his belt to learn the the entire game of football which is extremely complex as we all know but his first game he went out onto the field and he struggled man he had a lot of penalties he just didn't have a good grasp of how to play yet but then he said my whole life I feel I've gotten a little favor things eventually swing my way and they absolutely did because in just his second game after struggling so much in that first one he was able to catch a screen pass and take it all the way for a 65 yd touchdown he looks pretty good while doing it from that point on he was able to have seven catches for 231 yards and four touchdowns while also being used as a kick returner and since he was so new to the game he was primarily used in like screen passes just running go routes with outside levage and trying to beat guys you know purely with speed I saw one route where he ran like a 5 yard hook towards the middle of the field and he definitely looked a little raw doing that because his he put his hands up way too early and then he was just kind of standing there waiting for the ball but uh you know he's got natural athleticism for sure with the ball in his hands and since he was also used as a kick returner that tells me that that team the coaches they felt confident enough in his ball skills in order to catch a kickoff and then you know handle it this guy is obviously very fast but he moves extremely well also he's got some agility to his game and surprisingly for Rugby Experience helps him a sprinter he was able to take contact pretty nicely from from what I saw and listen what I saw is very very limited obviously because what he has shown on the field is extremely limited as well he's just not put up a lot of snaps but the reason that he is able to take on contact better than some of these other former track stars that we see converting to football it's because of his rugby experience he said himself that the hits in football they were just not as bad as rugby and he was hit a few times but nothing as bad as what he experienced in rugby and it's probably NFL International Player Program Benefits because he's got some more protection in football but he can take a hit he's a track star and the best part about all of this is that yeah the charge signed him but he's not going to count towards that 90 man roster limit because he is part of the NFL's International Players program now the Chargers have two players on that list with CJ AO from last year and praise ol from this year so don't expect really either of these guys to make the final 53 man roster for this season they're probably going to be on the practice squad and they're not going to be taking up a spot on the practice squad either so it's just kind of like free guys that we can develop here they're just both really raw when it comes to the fundamentals of playing their positions but you my gosh dud they have the size and athleticism that teams really covet that's that's the whole interest here it's like a gold mine of what you want as a coach and also it is interesting that CJ AO in his very first game he sacked STS and Bennett and the Rams preseason game last year so they both got off to some pretty good starts in their initial football action you know although it took praise two games because the first game he did struggle but you know like he said things go his way ultimately and he also said he works extremely hard and he is willing to do what the others want and put in more hours in order to be successful and make it in the NFL that sounds like a hard B guy to me now let's get into the numbers here because I know I've said he's got some great size and athleticism but here's the numbers he is Size and Speed 6'2 200 lb roughly 200 lb and he ran a 436 40 yard dash at his pro day which was just this past March like two three months ago he earned himself an invite to the Eagles rookie mini camp after that pro day but he didn't you know get signed by them and then the Chargers they invited both him and Tony Jefferson for tryouts for their mini camp this past week both of those guys were able to earn themselves a spot on this team with the huge emphasis on the small details of playing football and the technique and like building the foundation of playing smart football that the Chargers are creating here I think praise oke has walked into a situation where you know he's got all the tools to be successful and we'll see if his time with the Chargers will also swing his way just like he says his whole life you know everything swings his way eventually he's got a lot of work to do but he said he is hungrier than ever and he has already learned so much just from being a part of the International Players program so just imagine how much that he's going to learn under this coaching staff with Jim Harbaugh guys like Sanjay law Mark tresman Greg Roman I already know what some of you guys are thinking he's not Praise Olatoke's Role in this offense going to beat out Quinton Johnson okay Quinton Johnson is going to stay on this team but I do think though that if he develops really well and like a year or two he could Forge himself a spot on this team he turns 24 on June 23rd which is next Sunday so happy preemptive birthday to him but DJ CH is the same body type and athlete that Praises DJ Char is 1 in taller and he ran a 40 yard dash in 01 seconds faster so they're very very similar but if praise can become that big bodied deep threat wide receiver that can attack the ball at its highest point similar to What DJ chart gives you but he's going to be uh 28 years old praise is much younger than him and also praise can give you a little bit after the catch just from what we saw during his very limited play in the um Club football league so if he can carve out a role I think that's the role that he's going to really be trying to go for that's what the coaches are going to try and get out of him and DJ CH he's not going to be on this team long term as of right now because he's only on that one-year contract I'm not saying that praise signing to the Chargers is you know a big warning sign that DJ Char is not going to be on the team for sure after this uh year he could still be resigned if he plays well but I'm just saying that is like that is the Prototype of what praise oke could be in the NFL and if you want to find out more about Tony Jefferson who the Chargers also signed in mini camp you Tony Jefferson Signed to Chargers can click this video right here