Chargers GM Joe Hortiz Talks 2024 NFL Draft, Trade Value | JK Dobbins Signs | NO FAIR TRADE INTEREST

Intro [Music] welcome to another edition of chargers Unleashed Jak hner and Dan wienstein here with you from the LA football network this is your first time tuning to the show make sure to hit that like And subscribe button on YouTube you can also follow us on Facebook Twitter Instagram Spotify and apple podcast Dan wienstein we are now 7 days away from the NFL draft one week remaining the drama the buzz is power able as it relates to the Los Angeles Chargers and what they going to do at five and of course if that wasn't good enough Joe hortiz today decided to take the stand for his final press conference before the NFL draft and if you've been paying attention obviously if you've been excited since Jim Harbaugh became the Chargers head coach and been excited since Joe hortiz took the general manager position there were a lot of nuggets that Joe hortiz decided to drop today as it relates to how they're coming into this draft how they're perceiving it as it relates to trades BPA a lot of different things that should open your eyes raise your open some eyes raise some eyebrows and definitely Elevate some excitement um so we're gonna dive into all of that before we do Dan wallenstein returns from vacation from the Land of the Rising Sun he was kind enough to join us in a completely different time zone for our live show last week but Dan wienstein how does it feel to have your boots back on the ground in California feels good uh RNR was exciting around Tokyo okanawa I was gone for a little over a week um so much fun perspective is a heck of a thing it was gorgeous there by the way uh the time change definitely messes with you if you add on top of that the flights and layovers and everything that comes with travel but the experience there was incredible such a clean City everyone's so polite so kind so put together and the food holy smokes uh a couple times I woke up the next morning with a deeper voice because of things had the night prior but that's what happens on vacation that's what's exciting and now we come back Joe hortiz lays hammers JK Dobbin signs charges are just one bare naked lady away from the NFL draft commencing come on Jake you knew it was coming I always keep forgetting that you've dropped that little nugget for the past four years that we've been doing this show and I was not ready for that today yes and I'm here for all of it because the Chargers are one week away from adding some players one maybe two depending on how they trade if they trade lots of things happening today for the press conference though uh and some eyes open wide with topics and comments from a one Joe hortiz but Jake before we get to that uh I'm so glad to be home so glad to be doing this again with you back on the same time zone makes things so much easier before we get to all the fun stuff let's talk about our friends the quickest way to get into all of the Sports Action that's out there is going over to Underdog fantasy in their pick them game just pick between two and five players of your favorite or least favorite players that you can make a lineup out of and went up to 20 times your money just go on over to Underdog fantasy and use the promo code Unleashed to get up to $500 off your initial first deposit that's again Underdog fantasy let them know that Chargers unleash sent you so Mr Jake Hefner a one Joe hortiz comes to the podium today and this is like minutes after we hear JK Dobbins news that the Chargers sign shocker another Baltimore Raven Legend JK Dobbins to add to their running back room Jake what did you make of JK dobins I mean the the pipeline from Baltimore to Los Angeles has been plentiful uh as a can be since since the offseason started uh obviously with Joe Ortiz with Greg Roman with Gus Edwards Bradley Boseman now you add JK Dobbins to this mix um I love this I love this lowkey signing Dan and we were even talking about it during the live show you know with so with so little time before the draft we didn't think that there was you know we didn't think that there was going to end up being a signing I was actually a little bit surprised when I saw that they that they ended up bringing him in and signing him to a one-year deal um I don't think that this changes and he even mentioned this during his press conference to Joe Ortiz I don't think that this changes their strategy whatsoever but I think it definitely solidifies that you probably are going to Target a running back on day three with the other priorities that you have on your roster that are gonna be higher of course uh but JK Dobbins let's not forget this is a former second round pick still only 25 years of age and when he came in he had a great rookie season under Greg Roman run ran for 805 yards had nine touchdowns that year and unfortunately has just been plagued by injuries over the past two he tore his ACL then now coming in off the Achilles injuries that he suffered in week one of last year but Dan this is a great pairing because I still believe that that Greg Roman is going to have a running back by committee type of approach and now to have it with two guys that he is very familiar with in Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins and however Isaiah Spiller and Elijah doson are going to work themselves into this mix it'll be very interesting to see but I think now when you look at the skill sets between Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins again this is great news for the Chargers because we've talked about so much as it relates to the running back class for this NFL draft that it's it's basically a pick your flavor there is no consensus number one running back that everybody sees to say okay yeah that's the guy everybody's all over the board on who they believe the number one guy is but as it relates to guys that you can pick up in late day early day four if you're looking at the ray davises the uh the Isaiah davises the Isaiah uh Isaac H gez gendo thank you don't know why I was fumbling that name uh but this gives the Chargers just a lot more room to find a very diverse skill set that's going to end up matching what they want out of this running back uh stable and I think it's a great thing for them in in terms of how they can solidify it yeah I mean on face right JK Dobbins RB Committee you added the running back to the committee right Gus Edwards I think is a bcow JK dobins probably rb2 definitely rb2 at this point you got Isaiah Spiller there as well not sure what that's going to be and let's not get it twisted one healthy JK Dobbins is a Bonafide baller like six yards per carry average his rookie year 5.7 the year after that total in his career 5.8 yards per carry the guy got nine touchdowns you mentioned it he had that 72 y that he had in 2020 the issue is and again this is kind of shades of the last however many years is the asterisk when healthy JK Dobbins is awesome but that asterisk has bit this Chargers team in the asterisk for how many years now so like I I love it right like I'm not necessarily sure if it moves I don't think it mov needle at all with what they do in the draft what they should do in the draft I mean yes it's a lowkey Buy Low maybe you get a bunch of production out of it maybe this is the year that Jakey doin can stay healthy Joe hortiz said today that a lot of the stuff happened previously with injuries was just luck but it's hard to put my stock in JK dos being the savior because again the asterisk and so that what makes this a little more tempering my expectations a bit I don't love it I don't hate it I don't think it's a bad signing at all I'm pretty sure it's very low risk and they're probably going to be adding to that room regardless especially given how this team is going to be operating and how the Rost are going to be constructed and heavy on the running game tight end offensive line if JK Dobbins can stay healthy again if JK Dobbins can stay healthy the dude's good the dude's probably pushing for rb1 we'll see we'll see I hope you saw videos on social media a couple months ago that he's looking pretty darn good you know Ben Herbert effect with him hope that's real get him on this team with this staff and this you know New Beginning for this era like cool I I love it I I just like I said before I don't think it moves needle for me one way or the other no no I think the strategy Remains the Same I think even before this signing I I would believe that they would have been targeting a running back on day three regardless to round out that group um to me I just think that this solidifies it and like you mentioned it's low risk possibly High reward if that Health holds up and it's still only for one year so you really don't know what the future is going to hold in that regard but you need to back up your bets in this scenario so definitely would still expect the Chargers to Target a running back on day three and address some of their other bigger needs that they have on day is one and two yeah and I last thing I'll put on there go back to college he absolutely torched Jim Harbaugh when he was at Ohio State and so I think that Grudge may have been held checks have been cashed since you know interesting that you bring that up because now you know you start looking at this roster a little bit because you have JK Dobbins as you mentioned it's like oh okay so Harbaugh picks a guy who you know went up against him and you know very did very well I ironically enough two years ago when TCU was on their way to a national championship game Quinton Johnston had a really good game against Michigan in the playoffs against them and now there's some guy who rece dud over there in Ohio state that Jim Harbaugh and Jesse Minter love to talk about when it comes to defending said receiver so we'll see so let's uh perfect No Fair Trade segue Joe Ortiz Jake today was in his bag and was doing full posture which I expect nothing less but if we're being honest we haven't seen much of this from Chargers land in the past decade or so uh peppered with questions related to the NFL draft what selections he might want to take what trade value looks like uh what positions are maybe deep or not this year the progression on college football in general and uh you know how he sees this personally for him as his first year as GM I think the biggest headline here is when asked about trading out of five and what that will take and he says you know you hear a lot about teams you know trading and it kind of becomes a wash of you know who won the deal who lost the deal it's a wash and Joe Ortiz just says no that's not it this year and I am not looking for a fair trade Mike drop and everyone was kind of like chest oh and he says he anticipates this Chargers team having the number one pick because the first four are going to be quarterbacks and he's going to see the value as such while he anticipates him having the first overall pick non-quarterback he has contingency plans if only three go or if only two go but he ain't looking for fair trade he is looking for a hall he is looking for a team who's going to give up the farm and the crops in order for him to get off of this pick he's not looking for fair he's looking for fleece so as a charge as covering this team you're like look you're either going to get a Bonafide Blue Chip because the other part that he said countless times today was we are going to pick the best player available he said that he's on board with that he said that Jim Harbaugh is on board with that said that's what he did for 20 years back in Baltimore gave exact specific instances where they had positions AR on the roster and went ahead and drafted him anyways because they were BPA I.E Kyle Hamilton if they're drafting best play available Jim Harbaugh's on board with that and the only way they're going to trade out of that is if they're going to get a hall an unfair trade on their end what does that tell you you try not to be over presumptive with things like this uhuh and even you know you look at previous Chargers regime just in in if we were talking about a press conference at this point in time right before the draft there would just be like no info being given one way or the other in terms of what was going to be done and nor am I saying that Joe Ortiz is doing the exact same thing here but with the Chargers selecting fifth overall and like he said kind of calling his shot for what he believes is going to happen in terms of four quarterbacks going in the first four picks and basically saying the Chargers in that scenario really have the first pick of the draft and you like that up with BPA that road leads only to one specific player in mind now or two or two or two I was just gonna say that because the board that majority of honestly there's probably three there's if we're being realistic there's probably three players that can be there at five the let's let's be reminded the board that everybody has in their head is not identical to what the Chargers have in their draft room just keep that in mind whatever your big board is it's definitely different than what the Chargers have so most likely most likely it's different but Dan I had an earto ear grin listening to this just from the standpoint of yes to the BPA because I think that's that's how the Chargers should definitely uh attack this especially when we're talking where they're selecting in the first round at fifth overall but also Joe hortiz talking about being open to trades and had also mentioned that he had gotten already has already gotten some calls with people that were interested in trading up to five already to me it shows me that yes he's being open but he's also going to be aggressive with it as well I mean I think especially with five is like look how bad do you want this and for all the potential trade scenarios that we've seen you know most likely with Minnesota going up from you know 11 to five and what that would cost a lot of people have said it' be 1123 and a third round pick next year I don't think that you hear Joe hortiz talking I don't think that that would be enough for him because of it possibly being a quarterback tax that another team would have to to pay so of course you're gonna say okay hey who's got the best offer who wants to come up and get it or how much are you going to give me to possibly move off of the best wide receiver in this class so I love the approach that he is he is going with uh he's being open and also being aggressive at the same time in terms of either taking deals or you know push him to the side but Joe hortiz flexed to his muscles today in that regard um in terms of his draft strategy yeah he ain't messing around he understands the value of this pick number five overall also understands the type of player that he or some other team could draft at that pick whether that is the fourth quarterback or whether that is arguably the best player in the entire draft of either Marvin Harrison Jr is probably the big one but some people have Malik neighbors you could say romad dun is up there too all three of those guys premium people are talking Joe Al is the best tackle that's been there in the last decade I'd argue best left tackle but that's for a different conversation talk about the hall that may or may not be worth it Jake question for you though I saw something on X today apparently Tony Pauline NFL Insider says that Shawn pton is ready to give up a Kings ransom for a top quarterback prospect he says any package to move up will include at least one future first round draft pick Patrick Cain and the 12th selection in this year's draft so Jake I ask you is that enough there's next year's first Patrick C let's just that let's say that's the reality Denver calls are you saying yes honestly no and this is why this is why I'm saying it because first of all I can't see a situation I know in division trades are rare but in this particular situation if we were talking about a quarterback that you would essentially be giving your division rival and then from the bronos standpoint to say oh yeah by the way we're also going to send our best defensive back to our divisional rival I just can't see that scenario playing out so if I don't I don't knock this rumor but if this ends up playing out with the Broncos it's I don't see the Chargers as being a realistic trade partner in this circumstance because the Chargers would not want to give their interdivisional rival a chance to get a quarterback nor would the Broncos want to give up one of their best defensive players to their division rival yeah that that's probably more of a likely scenario to go to like four than it is to five uh or or to three even um and I also just can't see Jim Harbaugh enabling a trade of that quarterback right in their division being JJ McCarthy yeah um this is the first time Joe hortiz is calling the shots as general manager and he was kind of asked about the pressure of it this year and he kind of said essentially and I'm paraphrasing here the team has put in so much preparation and hard work and has every scenario kind of like laid out ready to go to where he doesn't necessarily think there going to be pressure more so than just kind of like the excitement and anxiety behind it being the first time right realistically like this isn't the same this isn't new for him he's done this for so long and I think that's why Chargers fans are so excited that's why Jim Harbaugh selected the guy this he I I'm I'm I have like no concern really of the Trust In Joe hortiz and staff and so just to kind of hear him acknowledge like you know the anxiety and excitement the buildup getting into the draft is something but the actual pressure to succeed there's pressure every year like that that's CU comes with the territory it's more about just doing your job being prepared for it and sounds like he and staff are I want to back that up because he also had talked about you know the in terms of player selection that it would be a collaborative process but then he also said I'm going to be the one that's going to make the selection it's him yeah do you still have better confidence in that and the only reason that I say this is because from what we know from the previous regime and how that operated was a little bit misguided in terms of player selection what it was narrowed down to in this circumstance with Joe Ortiz Jim Harbaugh collaboration this seems to be a much more well-oiled machine in terms of their decision making Alignment yeah I mean this sounds I mean I'm pretty sure every organization has a quote unquote collaborative approach like I think everyone has that um I think it's an aligned approach that is the more important part everyone is aligned towards the same vision towards the same type of players understands what the coaching staff is wanting understands where and when and how to get those guys that's the part of the collaboration that I find more important and so the fact that they brought in half the staff from Michigan they're all aligned half the staff from staff and players from Baltimore they're aligned Harbaugh's brother was with him for 20 years like yeah that's why I think a lot of people are so excited and so bullish about this now new and improved organization is because the alignment but also like the Synergy of Brain Trust like that's a big deal so I don't think that should be understated I don't think that that goes unnoticed by most or it shouldn't anyways um but what probably is not common for Chargers fans to hear and to see if we're being honest is a general manager who is so insistent on best player available and to me that is what's probably most comforting is knowing that for the most part I'm sure there are some exceptions here but this staff every round whether it's 5 37 seventh round whatever they're going to select the best player because rosters change quickly and you can never have enough Talent OR enough Talent at the same position because you and I talked about before Jake like let's say they don't go receiver now or they do go receiver now and then Josh Palmer's out the door next year you're going to need another one or the same one goes down you're going to need two like that's how rosters are built to withstand injury is to have depth and right now they've got nine selections they're probably going to have more best player available allows your team to be built the right way and that's how teams hit in later rounds because they're not chasing need they're chasing Talent yeah I agree and again this is just the where the Chargers are Drafting and Depth again now you know who's holding the cards in terms of roster construction and experience and moving around the draft board something that the previous regime did not have the opportunity for fireworks and excitement is just that much more yeah uh Joe Ortiz was asked about like the depth at certain positions and like when one should be taken and he kind of notes he says that the offensive tackle position group this year is really deep say a wide receiver wide receiver position group is really deep this year but the part that was interesting to me I thought was when he was talking about receiver group he was kind of talking about because of the way football has changed and it's be some become so prolific in passing you're seeing like seven on seven drills and college these receivers are becoming so much more polished coming out into NFL that he doesn't really see any year where the receiver position isn't deep and so I know and we're sometimes guilty of this too and fans probably are too but like you get so sucked into this year and this class and these players and this year's wide receivers are so good and so deep there's always and this is what Joor said there's always going to be wide receiver Talent wide receiver Talent is deep every year does that change anything for you in terms of like well if that's the case then maybe they don't goer this year it definitely got me curious I thought that could mean okay does so from everything that he was saying as far as BPA does that mean that they're not GNA go ride receiver five or or the Chargers currently have two big holes as it relates to the wide receiver room as it currently stands right now does that mean the opportunity to double dip at wide receiver as has been played out there does that mean where he was leading in that circumstance that that's where they're going to prioritize Wide Receiver it I don't know I mean I think it could be either way um I think obviously this team needs a receiver they've acknowledged as much they know it's not done um I think this is probably also him kind of saying a lot without saying anything you know wide receiver yeah these receivers are good but they're deep every year the offensive Line's deep but he's deep every year go go back and look at some of his videos at Baltimore like he says the same thing um you know he was asked about like does he prioritize wide receiver he's like of course I prioritize wide receiver that's really important position in the game and but I also prioritize tight ends and running backs and offensive line a defensive line in the edge so like again like this is also one week ahead of the draft so he also understands the assignment in terms of not showing any cards and I know Tom Tesco in the past got in trouble sometimes for not in trouble but fans didn't like the fact that like he wouldn't say anything and uh there's a reason for that like you want to protect your cards u but you also I think are now in a position with number five overall pick in this staff where you can be a little bullish and look we've heard this staff at length talk about how they feel this number five overall pick matters not just to them but any team looking to get a player at number five so yeah I mean if I'm Joe hortiz I would do the same thing if I don't get an absolute Hall I say screw it I'll stay at five pick the BPA try again at 37 or maybe you move up whatever but I'm not desperate to get off of five like it'd be nice if things add up but like no I'm not just going to do it just for the sake of doing it like if someone just says I'll give you 1120 like no no I'm not doing it any anything else from Joe hortiz today other than the fact that Joe horti and folks are living together just again it that that to me kind of gave me a little bit of uh it was a different type of vibe because I know he was saying like oh yeah you know my house is big enough Linebacker that bring everybody down here until their families get down here just like again here we go with just the collaborative type of measures like whatever it takes to try to get this done I just love this mindset Dan you had mentioned just some of the positional breakdowns he had talked about linebacker he had talked about corner he had talked about interior defensive line especially you know which hasn't been talked about enough as it relates to this Chargers team and the priority that he need to put on it talking about Corners as well he mentioned you know obviously Jer Taylor's been playing in the slot Derwin can play in the slot in certain packages back to Joe Ortiz's first press conference he said we will never stop prioritizing getting corners on this team and I have said it there's no way that this Chargers team as this roster is currently constructed right now that they could come out of day two without a cornerback I'd have to believe that either in a trade down scenario to to put yourself in the early teens or a 37 that that has to be their target the other one Dan is interesting in terms of just the I know he had mentioned linebacker and he was basically saying he didn't believe that there was any linebacker that had a first round grade which sounds which sounds about right you and I have said you know that pton pton Wilson has first round traits but you're not gonna put a first round grade on pton Wilson I no no as for this team no I no and from what we know Chargers have met with edrian Cooper have met with Junior Coulson we even talked about in the live show last week as far as could the linebacker position because of what Jesse Minter wants to run in his defense and what he needs his linebackers to do in terms of coverage that shortens that linebacker class dramatically so does that mean that the linebacker position is going to be elevated in terms of priority goes it could maybe at 37 who knows I I don't know about that but I know like a lot of times I think people had originally kind of targeted one of those fouron picks for a running back and maybe now they don't do running back with fourth round pick instead go linebacker maybe linebacker was going to be something like the fifth sixth maybe moves up because of that um this team needs a linebacker and this team at least this defense historically has predicated itself on great linebackers both in Baltimore as well as in Michigan there's a lot of links to obviously Junior Coulson like he'd be great and the guy's so versatile he would clearly fit in Jesse M's defense like a love it would make sense Chris Jenkins same thing you mentioned inter defensive line like that fit is so seamless you mentioned Corner Mike sander still according to Jordan Schultz today there's rumors that he's now inching to become a first round Corner which like dude the guy's a talented like St but first round like go get it kid like that's awesome but you see these connections to so many plays at positions that this Chargers team prioritizes and they need but that goes back to kind of larger picture we've talked about is this team has so many needs they can say that for basically every position at this point it's G to be interesting I cannot wait we're seven days away from hopefully clearing up a lot of these questions yes yeah so until then we have a jam-packed week we have special guests we have mock drafts coming we have player rankings yes five positions uh we have collaborations coming up so it's going to be a whirlwind next week wow I cannot believe one week one bare naked lady away and if you guys have not seen it yet reminder our draft Jersey giveaway is still going on uh April 25th we will be announcing the winner for that just make sure that you go over to the Chargers Twitter handle Chargers Unleashed Twitter handle sorry uh and follow the rules to qualify for that so you still have one week left to enter that giveaway so very excited to be giving that back to you guys um Dan this week's gonna be insane it's gonna be insane and I've told you for months now when you get this close the days seem longer and this whole process feels like it's going to drag out even more but really there's so much to get to before we get to April 25th I cannot wait let's go me neither me neither it's gonna be fun uh stick around we got a lot of things coming uh for Jake hefter you can find him at Jake T hefter myself at DW Sports Jake I'm so glad to be back doing with you from the mainland from our Mainland you will uh until next time we'll talk to you next on Chargers Unleashed [Music]