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Cactus Jack wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:They have had OL injuries as well. Their starting LT is out.

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Salyer at LT

Salyer played all five positions on the Georgia offensive line over his four college seasons. He carved out a role at left tackle in his junior and senior seasons. But coming into the draft, he projected more as a guard. He has a more compact frame at 6-foot-3, and his movement skills were better served on the interior at the next level.

The Chargers drafted Salyer to play guard. He played on the inside for all but one practice in training camp — and that was at right tackle in an unpadded practice. It was clear the Chargers wanted him to transition to guard. And that was not necessarily a foreign position to him. Take the national championship game victory over Alabama last season. Salyer started that game at left tackle, but he shifted to right guard in the second quarter because Georgia was struggling to handle the physicality of Alabama’s front.

“It’s just been my normal every single day at Georgia,” Salyer said this week of playing multiple positions.

The Chargers knew all along, though, that Salyer has considerable experience at left tackle in the SEC, with proven performance against NFL talent. The possibility of moving Salyer to tackle in an emergency remained on the table. And this certainly qualifies as an emergency for the Chargers.

I watched all of Salyer’s snaps at left tackle in the College Football Playoff — the whole game against Michigan in the semifinal, and that quarter-plus against Alabama. He was outstanding against Michigan’s two elite edge rushers, Aidan Hutchinson (the No. 2 pick to the Lions) and David Ojabo (an early first-round talent who fell to the second round to the Ravens after tearing his Achilles at his pro day).

These games were nine months ago, and some improvement should be expected from Salyer, even though he has not gotten many practice reps at tackle since joining the Chargers. Salyer said he has spent time after practice and on his off days cross training at tackle. Worth keeping in mind while we assess this film.

Looking at these games, a few specifics jumped out.

Salyer is very strong and stout at the point of attack. We saw that in training camp during his reps at guard. He has really good awareness, which allows him to recover when he gives up ground, gets beat on the edge or has to pass off a stunt. He is not the smoothest mover — one of the reasons he was projected more as a guard — and that showed up at times against Ojabo, a fast and hyper-athletic rusher. Salyer’s movement also leads him to be a little awkward in space. The Chargers will have to adjust in that area, because Slater is tremendous in space and has the athleticism, movement and body control to be a weapon in the screen game and on pulls in run blocking.

We will start with the highlight rep from the Michigan game against Hutchinson because I think it showcases the ceiling of what Salyer can be at tackle.

(After each sentence in the next paragraph there was a diagram)

Salyer was matched up one-on-one with Hutchinson, who was standing up opposite the left tackle. At the snap, Hutchinson cut to the outside. As Hutchinson planted his outside foot, he tried to cut back to the inside across Salyer’s face. Salyer did not bite on the outside fake. He stayed balanced. And that allowed him to drive into Hutchinson as the pass rusher made his move inside. Salyer pushed him backward. And he pancaked him. This play was interesting because earlier in the game, Hutchinson beat Salyer on an inside move from a similar position.

So some evidence of in-game adjustments from Salyer. And he won the vast majority of his one-on-one matchups with Hutchinson. He forced him wide on one. On another, early in the game, he showed his stout base by standing up Hutchinson on a bull rush.

HMFFL wrote:The experts don't seem to be giving Miami much of a chance to win. I like Miami to win tonight or at least cover the spread +4.

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Cactus Jack wrote:Man...Herbert would be so deadly in this Miami offense.

azcatz11 wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:Man...Herbert would be so deadly in this Miami offense.

Yeah that would be ridiculous. Tua still looks really good even though he threw that pick. Im a Tua fan

Cactus Jack wrote:

azcatz11 wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:Man...Herbert would be so deadly in this Miami offense.

Yeah that would be ridiculous. Tua still looks really good even though he threw that pick. Im a Tua fan

Both Hill & Waddle catching passes from Herbie. That's next level ****.

Tua is a good QB. But he just doesn't have the arm. Miami has to be kicking themselves.

azcatz11 wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:

azcatz11 wrote:
Yeah that would be ridiculous. Tua still looks really good even though he threw that pick. Im a Tua fan

Both Hill & Waddle catching passes from Herbie. That's next level ****.

Tua is a good QB. But he just doesn't have the arm. Miami has to be kicking themselves.

Could you imagine going back 2 years and saying Herbert and Hurts would be better than Tua?

Cactus Jack wrote:

azcatz11 wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:Both Hill & Waddle catching passes from Herbie. That's next level ****.

Tua is a good QB. But he just doesn't have the arm. Miami has to be kicking themselves.

Could you imagine going back 2 years and saying Herbert and Hurts would be better than Tua?

Well with Herbert it was somewhat debatable. Hurts has exceeded expectations. I was never a huge fan of Tua. I thought he would be a league average starter but would also deal with injuries.

azcatz11 wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:

azcatz11 wrote:
Could you imagine going back 2 years and saying Herbert and Hurts would be better than Tua?

Well with Herbert it was somewhat debatable. Hurts has exceeded expectations. I was never a huge fan of Tua. I thought he would be a league average starter but would also deal with injuries.

I’m sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with you Jack. Herbert was a clear second fiddle to Tua and Hurts was seen as a wide receiver. The odds were 100,000 - 1 for both to be better than Tua (they are imo)