Kyle and Ryan are back with a brand new episode of The PowderKeg Podcast, part of StormCloud — and this time, we’re running it like a fantasy draft.
Instead of players, we’re drafting takes. From the Chargers’ final 53-man roster to offseason evaluations and preseason surprises, we battled back and forth to build the best board of bold predictions and strong opinions.
Now we’re throwing it to you, Bolt Fam: which draft board is better?
Did Kyle stack the stronger takes, or did Ryan come away with the win?
👉 Watch the full episode here:
👉 Drop your vote in the comments below or hit us up on social media with your pick.
The season is almost here — and if this draft is any indication, it’s going to be one wild ride.
Bolt up. Set it off. Welcome to The PowderKeg Podcast.
Great Podcast. Great to have football coming! A few comments:
LMAO at calling this a bold prediction about a UDFA.
It was meant as a joke. Lots of people were acting like the dude was the second coming of Ekeler. I liked Rocket fine. Would have liked the dude on the practice squad. Nothing I saw in the pre-season screamed Austin Ekeler. Let’s see how he does in Cleveland (where he may actually get some snaps on a very bad team). I do not think Rocket being on or off the team changes the 2025 win total for the LAC.
I have never seen anyone compare him to Ekeler. If they compared them because both were UDFA RBs who did/could make the final roster, that isn’t unreasonable. Obviously, stylistically there is no comparison.
Outside of QB, there are very few players on a NFL roster who are worth a win on their own. Of course a UDFA RB who would have been RB3 or RB4 at best wouldn’t change the win total.
But if you want to use that to judge Sanders’ release, you could say the same thing about 30+ players on the Chargers roster right now.
Herbert alone is worth multiple wins. Slater might have been worth a win (one). Alt might be. McConkey might be. I doubt any player on the current defense is worth a full win. James would be closest.
It’s the nature of the game. 46-48 players are active on gameday. Credit for a win/loss must be divided among them (and arguably the coaches) based on their roles and performance.
PFF tracks a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric. For the 10 seasons 2011-2020, the highest non-QB was Antonio Brown (7.137). The highest defender was Richard Sherman (5.297).
But, obviously, that doesn’t change the fact that you need every player on the 53 man roster and practice squad to be as good as they can possibly be.
Had the Chargers kept a 4th RB, I believe it would have been Sanders. But they didn’t, and that makes sense given that Harris is appparently much closer to ready than we thought. He would be on the practice squad and likely elevated for week 1 had he not been claimed.
The point with Rocket is the level of fan angst with the Browns claiming him is, in my opinion, unwarranted. I was fine with him as RB4. I do agree with your points that he out-played Vidal in the pre-season. I thought the most reasonable approach was to put Najee on IR and keep Rocket. Let’s see how Harris looks this week vs. the Chiefs vs. playing time Rocket gets for the Browns.
Thanks for the takes, Kev!
I agree with you… assuming Najee really is healthy enough to contribute. I’ve just been very hesitant to buy into him being able to do that, or to be the back he’s capable of being. The whole situation with him hiding his eyes from the media and press, along with the awful interview he gave earlier in the week, only fuels the skepticism. But yes, talent-wise, the healthy versions of these backs are far more talented than what we had last year.
I agree with everything else (though I think we may see the rookie contribute sooner than expected…I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re forced into more passing situations with Slater out…). That said, I do have one caveat regarding your comment on free agents: I would hope Joe would move mountains to try and sign Linderbaum if he became available.
Linderbaum is in a really interesting position. The franchise tag for offensive linemen will be around $28M next year, while the current highest APY for a center is Creed Humphrey at $18M. That’s a huge spread, which gives Linderbaum all the leverage in the world to test free agency.
The Ravens also have a lot of UFAs hitting the market next year: Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Daniel Faalele, David Ojabo, and Odafe Oweh, to name a few… and only $35M in projected cap space.
The biggest question is: if the Ravens don’t extend Linderbaum, does it show they don’t value the position enough to pay $20M/APY? And if so, would Hortiz zig where they zag?
I don’t know the answer to that, but I do think there’s a real possibility Linderbaum makes it to the open market. And if he does, I really hope Hortiz responds by pushing all of his chips in.