Good morning.
Steve Hartman and Mike Costa of Xtra 1360 Fox Sports Radio interviewed former San Diego Chargers center Nick Hardwick on Thursday (you can hear the interview here).
Hardwick discussed how Chargers first-round pick Joey Bosa could fit into San Diego defensive coordinator John Pagano’s scheme, comparing him to another pass-rusher the longtime Chargers center played with while with the franchise -- Shawne Merriman.
“I saw a picture on Instagram on Shawne Merriman’s page, and it was Merriman, John Pagano and Joey Bosa,” Hardwick said. “And right then it struck me that Joey Bosa is Shawne Merriman. And I’m not saying they’re going to play the same position, and I’m not sure how they’re going to use Joey.
“But Merriman also was a 5-technique in college. He was a 4-3 defensive end. And when he got drafted here, everybody said what are we going to do with him? He didn’t make a ton of plays in college, but he was physically a freak show.”
Here’s the photo Hardwick referenced.
My take: Hardwick went on to say that Bosa has a champion pedigree and will be a stud football player for the next 10 years. The Chargers would love to get the type of production out of Bosa that Merriman provided, which included 39.5 sacks in his first three seasons in San Diego.
In this ESPN Insider piece, Football Outsiders identifies the top need for every NFL team after this year’s draft. For the Chargers, that’s inside linebacker.
My take: The Chargers had perhaps the worst run defense in the NFL last season. They signed Brandon Mebane and drafted Bosa up front, so that should help. Putting Denzel Perryman in the starting lineup at inside linebacker also improved the tackling at the second level.
Greg Bedard of Sports Illustrated re-graded the 2013 draft for every NFL team. Surprisingly, Bedard gave the Chargers an A-plus for the team’s draft that year, which included D.J. Fluker, Manti Te'o, Keenan Allen, Steve Williams, Tourek Williams and Brad Sorensen.
My take: Everyone but Sorensen remains on the roster, and Allen was probably the steal of the 2013 draft. The rest are solid contributors, but an A-plus is pretty strong, considering the Chargers finished 4-12 last year. Perfect drafts should lead to more wins on the field.
Ricky Henne of Chargers.com talks with Pagano about how this year’s draft has impacted his defense.
My take: Pagano seems pretty excited about the addition of Bosa, and expects free-agent additions Mebane and Dwight Lowery to improve communication on defense.
