The Frinklin and Fred Show

NFL Training Camps

It’s early August, so the Chargers must be screwed up. The team is now down to Drew Brees, Cleo Lemon and Joe Germaine at QB. Number 1 pick Phillip Rivers, whom the team assumed would be starting soon, possibly at the start of the season, is the only top-5 pick holding out. Number 3 QB Doug Flutie just had arthroscopic knee surgery and is out for 2-4 weeks, probably all of the preseason. Now, the Chargers are excellent at the holdout game. Their last two premium first rounders, Quentin Jammer and LaDanian Tomlinson, both held out. Tomlinson missed all but one game of the preseason, and Jammer missed the first game of the regular season. The kicker? Both men ended up signing at their asking prices. That’s right, the Bolts are so smart they cost their picks weeks of development time and don’t save any money either. Brilliant ain’t it?

Picking Rivers was a mistake in my book anyway. Nothing against him, I think he has a good chance at becoming an effective NFL QB. He probably won’t be a great star, but a fine player nonetheless. His upside is maybe a little better then they guy he’s expected to replace, Brees. So why did the Chargers invest a top-5 pick in Rivers? Simple, Marty Schottenheimer has given up on Brees completely. Brees was terrible last year, but he is playing behind a line that is utterly and completely terrible, and with wideouts who are not much better. All you need to know about San Diego’s receivers is that they signed Kevin Dyson as an upgrade. Oh, and the odds that Marty will still be coaching here next year? Pretty slim. Makes perfect sense not to draft the best offensive tackle of the last few years and work on salvaging Brees’ career, and then spend the entire summer with the new QB at home because of a pointless holdout. I’m really thankful I’m not one of the Charger faithful. I follow them for the same reason I follow the Well-Liked Padres: they’re available. These people make the Ken Behring Era Seahawks look like savants.

Speaking of the Seahawks, we now have both TSN and SI’s Peter King forecasting Seahawk Blue Super Bowls. I don’t like that. I mean, I do like the recognition for the Well-Loved (but often justifiably ignored) Seahawks, but not this much recognition. I want people to keep talking about the Rams and Packers and Eagles, not the ‘Hawks. I don’t ever want to start as a favorite.