The Chargers Sign Safety Tony Jefferson After Minicamp Tryout and He Will Make the 53-Man Roster

the Chargers made news over the weekend signing safety Tony Jefferson officially to their 90 man roster and now the question becomes can he actually make the team you are locked on Chargers your daily podcast on the Los Angeles Chargers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up and welcome into the lockon Chargers podcast I'm your host Daniel w joined as always by my co-host David DRM and we've been covering the Chargers together now for nine Seasons but this is our seventh year as the hostes of the lockdown Chargers podcast bringing you your team every day thank you to the every dayers out there for always making us your first listen and to make sure that you never miss the show go subscribe or follow for free on the lockon Chargers YouTube channel and listen wherever you get your podcast from David what do we got today well Daniel Chargers signed Tony Jefferson after an impressive mini camp tryy out we'll see what he uh brings to the table but I'm going to tell you right now that Tony Jefferson is going to make the Chargers 53 man roster we also got to hear from Derwin James and Coach Harbaugh Derwin James calling Coach Harbaugh the most powerful leader he's ever seen and then of course Jim Harbaugh throwing it right back around saying hey just be like Derwin James whatever you do just be like Derwin and then of course we hear all of those sentiments echoed by Justin Herbert don't let this time away distract you from the work that we've done in this offseason so far yeah I thought it was important and I thought it was cool that Justin Herbert went out of his way to kind of call on his team to get something done during this time off just because they're away from the team doesn't mean the work stops but today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that's $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com lockon to get started David we knew that the Chargers were trying Tony Jefferson out and it was a cool story and an interesting story and a story where it's hard to know what to expect from the guy that they're getting because you're talking about a player in Tony Jefferson that retired already from the NFL didn't play at all in 2023 played sparingly in 2022 and now was trying to make a comeback in the NFL something that's really really hard to do after taking a year off and now he signed to at least the 90 man roster but that doesn't mean anything it's not a guarantee that it'll be on the opening 53 man roster but when you're looking at this roster David I can understand how you come to the take of this guy's going to make the team like it's it's a hard thing to do but when you look at it it's not very far-fetched to think about no it's not and and the the reason why I feel so strongly that Tony Jefferson is going to make this team is you look at the depth behind Derwin James and alohi Gilman and that gives me the answer right there it's a secondy year undrafted free agent and AJ Finley who played sparingly and I think his play was up and down for for the most part and then it's JT Woods the former third round pick who has really not been able to get on the field at all and it's for one kind of obvious reason the guy cannot tackle and the second reason I feel so comfortable with it saying that is that Tony Jefferson understands this defense he's played in this Baltimore style of Defense so he knows what's going on that really puts him in a leg up situation because he knows where to be and he knows when to make the plays in this defense and he had some of his best years playing in Baltimore and in his time in Baltimore he spent time with Jesse Minter who's now the Chargers new defensive coordinator so there's obviously history there in 2023 he spent the year as a scout for Chargers general manager Joe hortiz and at first I was kind of like is this you know him doing his boy a favor right just like hey I'll get you a try out I know you're trying to make a comeback I know you very well so obviously they're very familiar with the player that they're getting play Under John harau well for many years had some of his best seasons in Baltimore but at the same time like I said it's very hard to do and and it's not a guarantee by any stretch that he's going to make the 53 man roster but like the two positions you could probably make the easiest argument for it our interior defensive line and safety because you will need a competent player behind alohi Gilman and Derwin James both guys who have struggled with injuries in the past before so to have that it's not a given that he's not going to make the team as much as many players put into his situation would be so I'm super interested to see what he looks like in training camp and Derwin James was one of the biggest advocates for him to actually get signed to the roster because he talked with the media last Thursday and we'll get into some of his other comments too but one of the things he was asked is do you think that the Chargers basically should sign Tony Jefferson now that you've seen him out on the field with you in the tryy out setting and what he said is yeah for sure and the other interesting thing he said was it allows me to move around reading between the lines David it kind of seems like he's saying with JT woods and AJ Finley I I might not necessarily have as much freedom to move around because guess what if Derwin James moves into the slot that's great if they want to play him at Edge rusher that's great yeah you still need two dudes back there right so it's like you I I think it's very telling that he's saying that and also kind of gives more Credence to the fact like you're saying that he's going to make this team absolutely I think when you you get somebody like durren James to say something like that and to give you that level of endorsement I think it's got to real feel really good but also uh Derwin James is not going to sugarcoat things right like he he wants a teammate back there that he knows that he can trust that he's going to be where he's supposed to be that he's going to be able to make plays and obviously he's was able Tony Jefferson was able to show Derwin James that he is going to be capable of doing that in the short few days that they were able to play on the same field together in mini camp so obviously we'll have to see what training camp uh brings to the table that's when the pads come on that's when the real football starts getting played and that's when all of these questions uh I think will be providing the answers at in those moments in time well I'm not going to sugarcoat it either this is a dude who wasn't playing his best football at his time of retiring playing with the Giants got cut from the Ravens so he has a lot of ground to make up and you're hoping to see even a better version of him than you saw in 2022 which is the last time he got into an official NFL football game I mean it's similar you know Alex lewood not have retired but he didn't play it all last year either so it's like there there's a lot there as far as the Chargers really leaving no stone unturned I think at worst the worst case scenario though is you have a dude who knows what this scheme is who's familiar with some of the the things that they're trying to get done from his time in Baltimore at the very worst you're getting someone who should be able to help some of these defensive backs in the Chargers defensive backfield get up to date get up to speed with this new scheme under Jesse Minter so I think it's there's no downside to this I just think will he play special teams like is he going to do the things you have to do to be able to make an end of a roster spot right and how high up can in that dep CH can you go there's another signing that happened yeah I mean legitimate questions for sure and I think there's legitimate questions about the Chargers also another guy they tried out praise alad a sprinter a Nigerian Scottish Sprinter part of the international Pathways program that they've also signed to their roster now and this is a true Wild Card David a dude who really has no experience playing American football in his lifetime other than than playing for Club football at Ohio State whatever that means I mean to me it sounds like inter mural almost like I don't know how much you're going to get from that but another kind of just like Joe hortiz being Joe hortiz let's sign this Sprinter and see what can happen hey man I mean this guy the one thing that we know that he brings to the table is world class speed literally I mean this is a guy that got put on the map because he can run extremely fast and yeah he's he's got good size too you know he's 6'2 2 20 lbs in that range so he has the kind of size that you're looking for but like man there's so much you have to learn at the wide receiver position you have to learn how to catch the ball you got to learn how to run routes you got to learn how to you know set up release packages you you got to understand leverages you need to understand what the defense is trying to take away from you there's and and to have like to start at this point in your career I mean it's just such a like incredibly difficult thing to do uh but with the international pathway program I mean he's not going to count against the 90 man roster and and if he's able to get to the practice squad um there there's some decisions that have to be made at that point in time but he has a huge uphill battle to climb to even get to that point Daniel I think it's going to be really tough really really tough and especially now because receivers come into the league so welldeveloped already for the most part because they're doing seven on S in passing leagues and stuff from such an early age that they're getting so many of those nuances down at such a young age which is kind of where Quinton Johnson was her because he played running back so so much growing up TR ended up being a receiver and kind of still working his way through that but he was the Scotland athlete of the year in 2019 legitimate athlete and to give you kind of an example of the speed he ran 100 meter dash because they don't really do 40 yard dashes for anything other than football he ran a 10.27 in the 100 meter Tyreek Hill's best official time in the 100 meter is 10.19 so not very far off and like Tyreek Hill obviously 4-2 guy you're talking about a legitimate 4-3 guy and that's just showing Hey Joe hortiz literally the anti-t Tom Tesco I we're talking about barely getting Jaylen gon on the roster now you're talking about Darius Davis obviously Tasco drafted but it's not just him it's DJ ch right another guy with four3 speed now you're bringing in Praise alad like they're adding a bunch of speed during this off season and now you have also lad makoni who's a 4-3 guy so you got to love that but I got to talk about what Derwin James is saying about the leadership of Jim Harbaugh how it's unlike anything he's ever seen ever seen but also Jim har about turning around being like hey basically if you want to know if you're doing something right look at number three and he's going to tell you that and much more on today's lockdown Chargers podcast first I need to tell you guys about FanDuel because summertime means baseball the NBA finals in more and you can bet it all on FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet it's one of the best things they have going all year that's 200 bucks that you can use to bet on everything from the finals MVP to who's going to hit one out of the park I love all of those things but you know right now I'm locked in on my ice cats Tuesday night a chance to bring it home at home the Stanley Cup Championship and they just got waxed on Saturday night for lack of a better term but I like them in a come back my favorite bets for that the Panthers minus one and a half I think it's a very tight game I think they get an empty net at the end you can get that at plus 198 or Matthew could chuck the dude at plus 200 to get his first goal of the series as an anytime goal score and all you have to do is visit fanduel.com lockon and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America's number one sports book David let's continue on to some stuff coming out of last week's practice because let's be honest we're not going to see a lot for a very long time so we still plan on getting into our buy or sell show on Wednesday we hope to get some fan mail stuff on Friday because it's been a little bit since we've gotten a the in the other great locked on Chargers every day or on the show to you participate but I want to talk about what happened last week the end of chargers mandatory mini camp especially getting to hear from Derwin James getting to hear from Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert and Derwin James had some powerful words about Jim Harbaugh you can tell he's bought in you can tell he's locked in and and like to me these guys match each other on kind of a football soul mate kind of level they just seem like the same type of dude and from the very beginning this is the dude that Jim Harbaugh has talked about like it's always been Justin Herbert and Derwin James but he was asked about his relationship with harau he said it's growing every day every day I just trying to be the example set the standard be here every day be present and not just be here working hard pushing the guys in the relationship has been amazing every day he's been pushing us he's the most powerful leader I've ever seen and David I think when you're hearing something like that it really resonates for a guy in Derwin James that's not much of a sugar coater not at all I mean I to hear that come out of his mouth was was a little astonishing to me I mean honestly like I I know Jim Harbaugh is a great leader of men but Derwin James seems to be that type of guy who has been empowered by great leaders because that's who he is he is a phenomenal leader himself he is a guy that is that vocal leader he is that guy in the field that leads by example he is that guy that's getting in his teammates face and trying trying to you know get them up to his level and bring them up to his level so to hear him say that about Jim Harbaugh I think honestly just makes me feel really happy too because of all of the the coaches that the Chargers have tried out the last several years uh I don't know if you had anybody saying anything close to that about those head coaches as Derwin James just said about Jim Harbaugh yeah and I mean Derwin James went out of his way and he's a consument professional he said hey the coaches we had last year were good and and we didn't execute right and he he basically went out there and defended you know his coaches for a big portion of his career but the thing is he said is but it's different like this is different and he said I would say when Jim har walks in the room he lights up the room everybody is full attention no matter what you're doing or what you've been doing it gets your attention it means something to him and you can just tell like I said on a football level these guys just get each other and I just think that Brandon Staley's words were great one of the best press conference maybe the best press press conference I've ever seen by a brand new head coach and a first time coaching we bought in but at a certain point it starts not to ring true anymore whereas Jim Harbaugh like Jim Harbaugh is going to be Jim Harbaugh eight days out of the week like that just he doesn't have any other choice that's just who the dude is and I just thought you know this is the latest person telling us this about Jim Harbaugh and I think the other big thing here is just like him talking about Jim Harbaugh getting out on the field and doing it right and just the amazement that he has that Jim Harbaugh's out here pulling three or four plates around three or four plates yeah like at his age which you know Jim Harbaugh probably take some offense to but oh sure he does oh yeah for sure about 60 years old and he's pulling you know according to you know other places these are 100 PB plates and hundreds 300 plus that he's dragging that's that's impressive okay that is impressive and because they're football soulmates of course Jim Harbaugh had very similar things to say about Derwin James and it was just really funny how he did it because he's gone out of his way to praise him before but he says one of the things that hit him during this mini campus okay guys do whatever Derwin James is doing he went on to say the way he goes from meeting to meeting the way he communicates and also everything he does just that's how simple this is it hit me I've been here a day and a half on the job watching practice and it's like coach can I wear a sweatshirt with a hoodie is Derwin just look at number three look at number three and do everything that he is doing and it's going to be very good for you and I just thought that was awesome David and like such a true thing and to me the big message here is just like leadership is great from the top and everyone has said there's been no mixing up the message what you're hearing from the top what you hear from Jim Harbaugh you hear from Jesse Mentor you hear from Greg Roman all the way through but the other part of it is too is it's on the players as well to lead and Coach themselves so to have Derwin James be that guy for this team I think is so huge because you're getting the half from the coaching staff part of it but to have someone like Derwin James to fully implement it and to fully on his side get the players to fall in line I think is excellent hey it's great that the messag isn't getting mixed and the the coaches are doing their jobs right they're they're getting the the information they're disseminating it down but Derwin James is the leader on the football field which is where the games are played right uh it's not played on the sideline you got to play it on the field and so you have to have those examples those leaders on the field that Galvanize the players and that's what Derwin James is he has been that since he was a rookie since he came in as a rookie you know it's not yeah some some guys have to earn respect and I think Derwin James earned that respect so quickly that he was a leader in his rookie season he has been nothing but that since and he is that to this day so having a guy like Jim Harbaugh co-signing on Derwin James I think think just strengthens that image of Derwin James on this team um and on the field and the thing is too is it's like he doesn't want guys coming up to him and asking him all these different questions right it's like hey if you have a question of what you should be doing ask yourself if Derwin James is doing that and if Derwin James isn't doing it you probably shouldn't be doing it right and that's just it's as simple as that and I'm glad you brought up the point about him being a a leader his rookie year because I remember him getting up his rookie year after the podium and saying I'm a leader of this team and then Melvin Ingram the other most vocal leader in he said okay rookie like I'll let you know when you're a leader and then he had to kind of go back on that just because Derwin James was that dude from day one so to have that guy on the field to be in partnership with Jim Harbaugh is awesome and I think this next Jim Harbaugh quote tells you exactly why it's already starting to work and the culture is already starting to set in and he said this when talking about ending practice early he said I when I say we're stopping early okay we're cutting 30 minutes out of this practice with the weight session I just watch them do more they do more and they want more than what they would have done if I had scheduled out basically saying like it's actually better than what I would have had them do player le 30 minutes short and then you watch it becomes a beaver dam of activity the receivers in the quarterbacks are throwing and it just hits me okay they get as much or more or better work doing it this way and David I just I don't think these things were happening before I don't think this is an accident I think we wondered how this team would turn into the team that Jim Harbaugh wants it to be and I still think there's a ways to go there but this is how you see those things and those roots start to really plant and really dig in and this culture start to build from the bottom up it it comes from the work right it comes from getting on the field and absolutely doing it that's what it's going to have to be right you you can't get the type of results that the Chargers want that Jim harball expects the expectations are Skyhigh to meet those expectations you have to put the work in and you got to do it when nobody's watching or nobody's telling you what to do or how to do it that is where and how the Chargers are going to get where they want to go which is racking up a bunch of wins getting to the playoffs and go earning that first Lombardi trophy that they have not been able to uh capture their entire history of their football team so Jim Harbaugh is trying to instill that from the very beginning and it seems like the players are taking to that like fish to water and the thing is is like I I played football through a junior college level right so I never want to compare anything I did to this but like I'll tell you one thing man like you get done with conditioning right and they say hey we're going to cut it short you know we're out of here I'm gone like you know and it takes a special kind of person and drive to to make it to that level obviously but to have you know the coaching staff doing what they're doing and you know trying to use their time most efficiently and saying hey you guys have done so so well that I'm going to give you a little bit of time off and we don't want you to push yourself too hard and for the guys to just be like not just Pat themselves on the back and be like hey we did it like this is our celebration and be like no we're going to go spend an extra 30 minutes we're going to go spend an extra 45 minutes I think is awesome and it goes to what we're saying about hey at a certain point there has to be a mending of the coach's leadership and the players leadership and he's saying hey you know don't get me in trouble with the NFL right I I know how long I'm allowed to practice but like these guys are doing it on their own this is play or L they're going out and doing it at the same time though this is an important stretch coming up because the Chargers mini camp was the last thing we're going to see for at least a month before they hit training camp and what I absolutely loved was Justin Herbert getting up in front of this team at at the last practice showing how much his leadership has grown and saying look I know it's your time off I know you need to relax but if you don't do what you're supposed to do we're going to waste all the hard effort that we just put put in put into this offseason program and that's why I'm telling them they need to go work and not let it go to waste and I absolutely love that so we're going to get into do that and why Jim Harbaugh said it's really not time for vacation in more on today's lockdown Chargers podcast Dave let's get for more as we wrap up this Chargers Min mandatory mini camp and the press conferences we got out of it including maybe the longest Justin Herbert press conference I think we've ever seen from him which I think isn't saying much but I think shows some growth in the leadership and just a maybe a more happy a happier maybe a looser Justin Herbert seeing at the podium these days to say the least right but calling on his team right like Jim harbon pushing him to get up in front of this team as a leader and send them the last message that they're going to hear over a month plus I thought was really really awesome but also make sure you guys are checking out lockon sports today first ever National 24/7 Sports streaming Channel which you can find on YouTube and subscribe there or on the Amazon Fire free TV channels app but that is something you're just not getting anywhere else 247 you're getting coverage of every sport but you're also getting the expertise that only the locked on guys that know their team every single day can bring you so make sure you guys subscribing to locked on sports today the first ever National 247 sport streaming Channel daveid this is a different Justin Herbert and I think there's been kind of glimpses in times that we felt like Justin Herbert was loosening up a little bit and it's not as if we've kind of crucified him for his lack of leadership and we know that he's kind of a leader by example type of thing but we've seen Jim Harbaugh these you know words to the wise after practice guys getting up and giving a message to their team and Justin herberts really really sat with me when talking about what these guys should be doing over this next month plus and this was the message I wanted to share that with them and talk about this next month being the most important month where we're away from the facility we're on our own not to give up what we've already put in and to make sure that we're doing everything we can so that when fall Camp comes around we're ready to go because if we want this team to be the team that we want it to be it starts now and it starts when we're on our own and having that high level of loyalty and dedication and integrity to be able to carry through that's the longest answer to a press conference question I've ever heard from Justin Herbert and that shortened quite a bit and that was shortened quite a bit I was paraphrasing there right and he said he praised them for what they've already put in as well but David like to see him and kind of the full circle of him growing going into this season right now right his fifth season in the NFL it was awesome to see and I thought a very important message I agree and honestly what what comes to mind is I think it was a victory speech after one of these games and Coach Staley is saying all right guys don't come back till Wednesday and and and don't work out at all and Justin Herbert's like wait you should be working out and he then reiterates no you shouldn't and so it just goes to show you like this has been inside Justin Herbert like the whole time like the work ethics been there like and now I think jerem Harbaugh is just pushing him to vocalize that and put that out for everybody to to hear not only you know just see it right and see him working on a daily basis and and putting all the extra time in coming in early staying late now it's him vocalizing it now it's saying hey guys guys like you've seen me do the work but now I'm telling you I need you to be accountable to what we've done and not go piss it all the way while you're off you have to take this seriously because we have serious goals we have serious aspirations that we want to achieve and it's going to take the the time that you're away that you're not in front of anybody where no one's holding you accountable for you to hold yourself accountable so when we get back to training camp we can keep going and we can pick up pick up where we left off yeah I think it's a very important you know message to be sent to this team because he did say hey it is time to get away from football a little bit right it is time to kind of relax but also don't let it all go to waste like there is a balance that has to be had and it was really funny because somebody asked Jim Harbaugh like hey is this the time where you push your players to go on vacation and have family time and do all this stuff and he this was his answer it's definitely the time to do the right amount of things there's some guys that need some fat MK to come off of their body that's going to help them the recommendation is going to be to do that that's going to help you that will help you so whatever the right amount is will be able to assis in that so that was very telling because it's like hey should they go on vacation it's like maybe some should but some are a little fat right now you know like literally that's what he's saying it's not to be rude to any players but like that's the the from the horse's mouth he's saying some of these guys are a little fat and have to come back in better shape and so I think that is important we know with Ben Herbert right there's no secrets everybody knows what everybody's doing so I I think that I think is another part that should be able to drive them a little bit in this next kind of break that they have to be doing exactly what they're supposed to do and then Justin Herbert's over here saying like we'll find a parking lot if you want to get work in there's a parking lot there's a spot that we'll find to do it yeah I don't think uh there will be any shortage of uh colleges or high school football fields that would say no to Justin Herbert wanting to throw and work out I don't think he's gonna have any issues with that whatsoever and he's hardwired to do it man like I'm sure he loves to get up to Eugene and fish and do whatever you know Justin Herbert loves to do and cook brisket and all that stuff but like what Justin Herbert loves to do more than anything is play football like and even like Jim Harbaugh said like this is vacation like playing football is vacation like this is what you should love California you're in vacation yeah there's no other part of like that I think would correlate more to any specific player than that message than Justin Herbert because like Justin Herbert loves football and this is what he does for fun and so I just think that totally on the same wavelength there and I just think it's an important message like what you've done can be lost during this time one of the other things that you brought up to me that I thought was really really interesting as well is that it seems like you know According to Jim Harbaugh's message there is that he has an individual plan for every single player like it's not just a general message it's hey I this is what you need this is what you need this is what you need down to the you know just specific attention to detail that we've been seeing as a huge theme this entire time Jim Harbaugh has been the head coach yeah and I mean like they can't ask them to do specific stuff but it's like every player on he said on a player-by-player basis is going to get a recommendation of what they should be doing during this time off and I just wouldn't want to be the dude where he's saying hey maybe you should lose 5 to 10 pounds that comes back 5 to 10 pounds heavier after these next you know five plus weeks whatever the time ends up being you're going have to answer to Ben Herbert that's a scary individual and I think literally the stare of Ben Herber is going to be keeping these guys up and they're probably not going to get as rested as they should but what they're going to do is make sure that that ass is in shape when they come back because you're not going to want to be with Ben Herbert and like there's a ton of like unknowns on this roster there's not a ton of spots that like there's there's a lot of guys that are on the bubble going into training him so I think you know the competition that Joe hortiz and Jim harau have brought to this organization right now are going to be holding people a lot more accountable during this next chunk of time than we've seen in the past but another great thing that we heard from Justin Herbert was basically him saying David that he swung that big thing around and got Shane day back in the building you know we talked about this a little bit on the the Thunder Down Under podcast if you guys are missing out because we're three days a week right now make sure to check out the Thunder Dan under Chargers podcast make sure to check out Chargers unleash two hour and a half shows that me and David have put together that's like six shows worth of locked on that you guys can find out there with some great guys putting out some great Chargers content that is totally worth checking out so shout out to those those guys but David Justin Herbert said he wanted Shane day back in the building Shane day is back in the building and I don't think we've ever kind of seen Justin Herbert Flex those executive muscles no and and I'm really really happy to see that that happened you said when the question came up of who I thought was best for the position Shane was the number one guy and I'm really glad to be working with him again and I've said it before if you're $260 million quarterback wants a particular quarterback's coach go get him I mean it's not hard like like you already know they have an established relationship there they had some success there together as well so I'm glad that Jim Harbaugh is bringing a goach a coach along that Justin Herbert wants that he's had success with and you know it's just a good good business decision at the end of the day if Aaron Rogers can carry around the corpse of Nathaniel Hackett to New York I I think the Justin Herbert deserves Shane day in Los Angeles I mean it's the guy he had his best season production wise with in 2021 a true champion of Justin Herbert and it just seems again another kind of feather in the cap of the thought that Justin Herber is a different Justin Herber as we go into this season a looser Justin Herber and a Justin Herber that's not afraid to let his voice be heard and if that's the Herber we're talking about I'm really really excited to see it but that's going to do it for us on today's show make sure you guys are back here on Wednesday for the Chargers buyer cell getting into the biggest story lines and overreactions and you can make sure you never miss the show by subscribing or following for free on the locked on charg YouTube channel and listening wherever you get your podcast from as well as finding us on all of our social media you can find us on Twitter at lockon LC where we'll put a post out to get your buy or cells on the show you can also call to the voicemail line to get your buy or sell on at 323 524797206 that this culture of Jim Harbaugh will be very present in the year of ourlore 2024 so make sure you guys are back here on Wednesday for the Chargers by or cell but until then take it easy and go bolts