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I find Hatbaugh’s remark about QJ and how he may have been viewed previously interesting. I think an injection of support/confidence will do him a world of good.
No….I’m not writing him off.
@buck-melanoma yes, I posted about this very topic in the other thread. He’s absolutely trying to instill confidence into QJ. It almost seems like this has been a purposeful focus during this offseason. In day 1 of Training Camp yesterday he was one of the standouts according to Popper. But that same thing happened last training camp as well. We’ll see how it progresses. I’m rooting for him.
@lfg_boltz what a change that would be, to instill confidence in players and encourage them to succeed vs confining them to your doghouse.
@buck-melanoma Or singing happy birthday to your favorite players and ignoring the birthdays of the players who don’t crawl up your ass.
Such an oddball….but now he’s our oddball and seems to be motivating the players. That’s what matters, motivating them to success, to become champions.
I was admittedly reluctant about the Harbaugh hire. It would seem I was wrong. There’s no W-L record yet but the players and staff apparently love him. So yeah, color me on board too. Go Chargers!!
@buck-melanoma he does a lot of good things to motivate them to wanna succeed. I love how he leads by example. I saw a video of Harbaugh yesterday doing some of the drills with the players. He’s also wearing cleats. I work in the Financial Services industry, & when I see senior management showing us (not just telling us) how it’s done, it makes me want to push harder to perform better. It’s a beautiful thing.
@lfg_boltz I agree.
l was initially too focused on the sideline antics that I had witnessed….embarrassing, IMO, for a grown man. I still hope to not witness those on the Chargers’ sidelines. Winning, however, can assuage a lot of embarrassment. So again….I’m all in. 🙂
@buck-melanoma you were probably the only one I remember who wasn’t crazy about the hire initially. He definitely has some quirks to his personality. I’m sure we’ll see some of those situations pop up here & there on the field. And there have been reports out there that say he wears people down over time. I hope we don’t see that side of him a few years down the road. I would imagine he’s learned from his experiences in SF & Michigan. And he knows he’s got a good chance to build something very special with the Chargers.
Center Connor Williams just visited Seahawks and rumored to be negotiating with them. Bummer.
“Some people have forgotten the player I could be,” Bosa said. “And I’ve always enjoyed proving people wrong, whoever that is. Obviously, that’s not the main driver, but I have felt a bit more motivation this offseason to really get back and make a big impact.”
After making four Pro Bowls in his first six seasons, hamstring, toe and groin injuries have kept Bosa sidelined the past two years, but he said Friday that his body feels great.
“I’m pretty confident in myself that my best years are still ahead of me,” he said. “I think I still have a few more years with my physical prime left.” — Kris Rhim
@spanos-must-go I hope he’s right….but he’s gotta prove it to me. Talk is cheap.
If this is any indication, I think fears that Roman and an emphasis on the run game causing the offense to not fully utilize Herbert’s arm are unfounded. Of course, time will tell. But I really don’t think Harbaugh came here to have Herbert be a “game manager”.
The use of McFadden as a “jumbo tight end” and fullback just shows how competent, skillful, and innovative Roman is with a run game. I agree, this offense will be a balanced, playing complementary offense. As much as Herbert and the passing game need a strong run game, the run game is only as good as a good, solid passing game. I only worry about pass concepts and design to maximize Herbert ability. We’ve seen what Herbert can do; it’s the run game that we haven’t seen one yet to complement his game.
I just watched last night’s Harbaugh presser thinking I’d get some sort of an update on Slater’s status. And I didn’t get squat…lol. Popper tried to press him on it & he gave the same response for him & 2 other players: “he’s working through something.” Harbaugh is now officially in full “coach speak” mode for the next several months. Looking back during his time w/ the Niners he didn’t give any concrete injury updates either. And I absolutely love that he doesn’t tell us anything. As much as I wanted an update on Slater I’m glad he’s not giving us any info. Keep that competitive advantage & don’t give the opponent an inch.
@lfg_boltz I don’t disagree and I’m not saying you were part of this crowd, but remember how so many would lose their minds when past coaches wouldn’t provide every detail they felt they were “owed”? I wonder if those same folks are now giving Harbaugh a pass.
Most importantly, let’s hope this is precautionary and nothing serious or lingering.
@lfg_boltz I can’t agree more with you. In this sport, if you don’t have any kind of injury whether small or big, you haven’t stepped on the training/playing field yet. It’s common to feel something like a minor muscle strain on your foot, calf, leg, or shoulder which could heal in the day or so. I would be very annoyed as a coach or player to be pestered about injury. I like Popper but I didn’t like it when he started going after Jim for information on players that didn’t finish practice.
I thought Jim was so smart to come back with a written statement to politely and cleverly shut everyone up from the annoying pestering with injury related questions.
@buck-melanoma I was encouraged by Alt did yesterday against some of the best Edge rushers in the league (Bosa & Mack). He’s just gonna get better & better w/ more reps.
On a more sour note, QJ continues to drop easy passes right into his hands. Safe to say he’s gonna be a bust? Or am I jumping to conclusions? Probably the latter, but I hate seeing it. From what I’ve been reading, I know he’s been putting in the work. But looks like this might be one of TT’s many horrible draft choices.
@buck-melanoma I think this is a big year for QJ. If he struggles but works his ass off & has a positive attitude, then I can see the Chargers keeping him in year 3. If he sucks, drops passes, doesn’t out-work Palmer (who he thought he leap-frogged last year just by showing up), then I think he’s gone, which would make him one of the worst picks of the Telesco era.
@kevdiego I can see it playing out this way. I just believe rookies deserve 3 yrs barring something aggregious. Not every player who has an overall productive career transitions to the NFL well. I must admit, however, that some of QJ’s more alarming traits should have been fixed before reaching this level.
Just wondering….I use 3 yrs as the evaluation period. Would y’all say more or less for a 1st round pick, or does that change your calculus at all?
@buck-melanoma I think the “3-year rookie rule” is fine as a guideline, especially for players you invested a high draft pick in.
I think the nuance for making a decision on a struggling player is their behavior/attitude. Jerry Tillery should never have been drafted and never should have stayed on the team as long as he did. It was obvious (at least to me) that the dude was an ass-hat and needed to go. I didn’t need three years to make that determination. I would have cut his ass after year 2.
Kenneth Murray struggled, but seemed like a good dude with a good attitude. I never questioned his attitude or effort. With him, it was either scheme or his play didn’t translate in the NFL. While I didn’t like the pick and HATED giving up multiple picks to move up to draft Murray, I thought Murray the player deserved 3 (or in his case, 4) years to develop. I’m interested to see how Kenneth performs this year. I’m actually rooting for him to develop into a good NFL player (which would be yet another black eye on Staley).
@kevdiego yes, attitude & work ethic play a huge role in whether I stick with a player or not. Maturity matters, both in the player’s commitment and how he transitions to not only next level competition but also being a wealthy athlete.
@kevdiego You think he could be gone after year 2 on a fully guaranteed contract? I seriously doubt that.
@tau837 no, I don’t believe so. With the right attitude he’ll remain a Charger being on that rookie deal. However, they could make him inactive on game day if someone else steps up & QJ’s performance is unreliable.
Unfortunately we’re stuck with keeping him on the roster & will have to chalk it off as arguably the worst pick TT has made in his Chargers tenure.
@tau837 Fully guaranteed but at a reasonably low cost, yeah? Good front offices wouldn’t let <$10m of dead cap stop them from making a move that could improve the football team.
Maybe QJ will keep his spot for other reasons: (a) He plays well this year, (b) He doesn’t play well but shows development, (c) He doesn’t play well, doesn’t show development, but the coaching staff still thinks there’s potential to tap into.
But I don’t think the fully guaranteed deal aspect of it will carry much weight (if any). Nor should it.
@alisterlloyd Yeah, I didn’t fully complete my thought. He won’t be good enough to be the last WR on the depth chart given the fully guaranteed contract? That seems hard to believe IMO. But we can’t know that until at least early 2025.
@tau837 According to Sportrac, QJ has an $8.4M dead cap in 2025. To be on the 2025 Chargers team, I think Johnston is going to have to earn his roster spot.
If Quentin works hard, shows improvement and has a positive attitude, then I think he’s on the 2025 roster. If he cops a Jerry Tillery attitude, I don’t see this leadership team keeping him around.
@lfg_boltz Safe to say that Alt never in his college career faced someone like Joey Bosa or Khalil Mack. What he is about to face in training camp and the season ahead is a huge jump up in pass rushers. Not to say that he hasn’t faced good pass rushers in college, but the pros are completely different and the strength, experience, skill, set-ups are at a full notch higher. My hope is that he gets better and better to a point where he wins these battles so much that we simply don’t hear the pass rushers names called at all. First up he is going to get Maxx Crosby and that is no picnic for sure.
In regard to QJ I am very concerned at this point that he will not live up to his draft status. Telesco may have missed badly on this pick with two receivers taken behind QJ and many more in the 2nd-5th rounds (Zay Jones, Jordan Addison, Tank Dell, Rashee Rice, Puka Nacua, Jayden Reed, Josh Downs, Jonathan Mingo, Demario Douglas, Trey Palmer, Marvin Mims, et al). Catching the ball and route running are his two weaknesses. Kind of a big deal to have those as weaknesses. YAC was the big deal that Telesco talked about, but you have to get open first and then execute the catch. I am very concerned about this and hopefully McConkey, Rice, Johnson all develop.
Vision of QJ’s drop yesterday: https://twitter.com/RyanEvansESPN/status/1818063998794785206
Supposedly he’s stood out positively in other ways, but missing out on big completions like this will just drive you mad as a fan. Doesn’t get much more straightforward than that.
At least he managed to stack the corner…
This is the first time I’m seeing the drop with this camera angle. And my response is OMG. This is WR 101. Sure, we can give him 3 years to see whether he pans out or not. But this is another level bad. The drop didn’t look to me like a skill-lacking issue. It’s a simple concentration drop. Maybe worse than the drop in GB. I’m sorry, but I don’t think he’s gonna work out. Fortunately with the new regime I believe that the best performing WRs will be on the field. And the others will not.
@lfg_boltz I’ve been reasonably critical of QJ. I’ll keep an open mind throughout the season that this staff will find a few different ways to use him to effect. But in 2021, we drafted Josh Palmer with Pick 77 (in Rnd 3), and I don’t think it would be unfair already to predict that Palmer’s performance across his rookie deal will exceed QJ’s.
For me, a concentration drop is where the receiver diverts his eyes before he’s secured the ball, either because he fears a big hit, or he’s started preparing to make a football move before it has been secured.
This drop from QJ is closer to what I like to call an ‘I wasn’t born with great hand-eye coordination and kinda suck at catching objects‘ drop. It’s a bit wordy, but gets the key points across, I think.
@alisterlloyd he gets paid millions of dollars to run a handful of routes and catch the football. He does neither! Hard to believe that a scout/scouts/GM didn’t “catch” that!! I’m not confident that this can or will get fixed. Quentin, I’d like for you to meet Jerry.
@alisterlloyd I SOOOO much wanted to see QJ get his head straight, put finis to the ridiculous drops, and have the whole thing turn out like a Hallmark movie where everything works out and it’s all smiles at the end.
Watching this clip, it’s hard to see how that’s going to happen. This really looks……bad. Yeesh. Still hoping, though. Do the Chargers have a shrink on staff?
and have the whole thing turn out like a Hallmark movie where everything works out and it’s all smiles at the end.
Brother, this is the Chargers… 😆
@alisterlloyd Unfortunately, it’s how I view it as well. Once it’s registered in your head you can’t catch, you’ll never be confident and comfortable enough for your brain to communicate that to your hands. If he can’t be trusted to be on the field, it will be very difficult for him to overcome it. But he’ll have the rest of training camp and 3 preseason games to work on his confidence. Would it be enough for him for Harbaugh and Roman to trust him in real game situations? I don’t know, but I think he will see the same look many times before regular season starts.
@tui1hit We’ve received some mixed messages about QJ through OTAs/Training Camp because, on the one hand, Harbaugh and other position coaches have gone out of their way to praise him. Harbaugh said this after Day 1:
“I just think he got a bad rap,” Harbaugh said of Johnston’s rookie season. “I look at some of the clips coming out of training camp last year. Whatever it was, it just seemed like in somebody’s mind he was a disappointment. He hasn’t been that at all in my eyes.”
Yet Popper’s reporting has been pretty clear that the preferred grouping in 11 personnel has been Palmer – Ladd – Chark more than any other combo. QJ has still been a feature of training camp reports with statements that he’d made catches and moved the chains. But then there has been the occasional “bad” drop.
Ultimately, none of it matters when it’s not in a game. And QJ has plenty of time between now and Wk 1 regular season to get his head (and hands right). I’m rooting for him. But, as I’ve said many times now, I’ll believe he can live up to where he was drafted when I see it. Because I didn’t like him very much as a WR1 prospect coming out.
I’m, too, rooting hard for QJ, but how well Chark has looked already, it would be difficult for QJ to take any snaps away from him at X or Z. Unless, Chark is hurt and or Ladd that QJ gets to line up at the slot. But I still think Harbaugh and Roman will be patient with him and for him to have a role in the offense. It’s the mental part of the game that I worry about that it could hurt him in the long run, which could be too premature for such worries, but I believe he’s got the best coaches to fix his issues.
I expect more balls thrown his way before the regular season arrives. Will it be enough to fix him? I’m not so sure, but I’m hopeful.
No doubt. I’ve also been very critical of what we’ve seen so far from QJ. But am I rooting for him to succeed? Hell yeah. I hope he can throw the negativity back in my face & make me eat crow. I look forward to watching him very closely in the 3 preseason games as I expect him to get a ton of looks.
On a lighter note, DJ Chark has been better than advertised so far. But honestly, I don’t expect any of the 5 top WRs on the depth chart to really separate themselves as the season continues to move forward (maybe Palmer). They simply need to be reliable for Herbert, & not drop passes that they’re expected to make. Something QJ doesn’t seem capable of (so far).
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