Obvious Thoughts: Chargers Offseason Doldrums

I only have one thing to say: Only 17 more days until the 2009 NFL Draft!

Seriously, that's all I have to say.  This is a funny time of the year for me as a football fan and blogger.  Especially as a Chargers blogger.  We don't sign big free agents and AJ loves playing headgames by bringing in every NFL prospect under the sun, so entire weeks go by with no real news regarding the Chargers.  You think I'm joking?  Check out the newly redesigned Chargers.com and take a look at the most recent stories:

-Healthy Hardwick enjoying offseason

-Chargers Girls to introduce new squad Thursday

-Chambers reaches out to local youth

-April is postseason for Chargers' scouts

-Hart looks to bounce back

-Chargers preseason schedule announced

You get the idea.  There's nothing going on.  If I go looking for Chargers news somewhere besides Chargers.com all I see are articles telling me that the Chargers are bringing in some cornerbacks for workouts and that a newspaper in Seattle has a "Draft Preview" for the Chargers that I won't even bother to look at. And here we sit as Chargers fans, left to ponder the same questions over and over.  Here are our current questions:

-Will LT rebound?

-Will Sproles get more carries?

-Who will replace Igor?

-Who will replace Hart?

-Are they really starting Forney at RG?

-Are they really starting Burnett at ILB?

-How will Merriman be after surgery?

-How will McNeil be after surgery?

That's all of them.  And all of those questions are followed by "Who will we draft?"  The answer to all of them is completely up in the air right now.  AJ probably only has a preliminary draft board, if that.  I don't doubt that he's trying to get into the second round because it's the sweet spot for safeties, but I have no clue.  The first round of this draft is filled with so many "maybe" players that anybody could go anywhere.  If you think about it logically, we know absolutely nothing except that Merriman feels good and looks good.

This is clearly the doldrums of the season for us Chargers fans.  So I'm going to try my best to make it exciting with gadgets, jokes, house cleaning and PREDICTIONS! I'm going to be working in bullet points so I don't get lost.

• I will attempt to look into the future and answer all of the questions above accurately, taking into account all of the possible changes to each situation that could occur even before the beginning of the season.  Kindof, No (due to injuries), A rookie, Nobody (but Cason will get a chance in camp), No (we'll grab someone after camp cuts), No (we'll draft somebody), Great, Good (but not great).  Got it?  Now when I'm wrong about every single one of those, I will delete this post so nobody has record of it.
• The mock drafting around here was confusing and more important was seemingly done during the stone age considering the lack of technology.  Not only will it be improved before next offseason, I want to get definitive mock drafts from everyone (writers and frequent commentors) a day or two before the draft.  I think the best, most organized way of doing this would be to use the ESPN NFL Draft Machine and then taking a screenshot of it afterwards.  See the image at the bottom of this post for an example.  The person closest to the real draft wins a mystery prize (ooohh, mystery prize).  If two people tie they will fight to the death for the mystery prize, so get creative with your mock drafts!
  
• This one should've lead off, but I was uncertain whether or not to share it.  Considering our readers are just as big a part of this blog as the writers (bigger actually, we'd be so lonely without you), I figure you're entitled to hear it.  Our fearless leader, DaBolts, will soon be an ordinary fearless person and another leader will be named.  However, if we all leave him comments filled with love an admiration for every one of his posts we just might be able to convince him to give up his real-world responsibilities and dedicate his life to the Chargers blogosphere!  Or not.  Still, let the man know you appreciate this wonderful little community that he created and all the hard work he puts into it.

• I was in Las Vegas this past week.  Don't congratulate me.  I wound up down $200 after going up $140 on my first night, for those who care.  Anyways, I've never really had any desire to go to Vegas and left there feeling completely and totally unimpressed.  However, I did get to watch the Uconn/MSU game at a sportsbook with 10 insane Uconn fans (who fought with 10 insane MSU fans on the other side of the room) and that was fun.  While I was there I thought I'd take a look at the Chargers odds of winning the Super Bowl.  Any guesses?  15/1.  Better than the Titans, worse than the Steelers and tied with the Eagles.  That's about right.  Also worse than the Giants, Patriots and....wait, THE COLTS?  I saw that and turned to the nearest random stranger I could find and had the following exchange:

Me: "Didn't the Chargers beat the Colts in the playoffs in each of the past 2 years?"

Him: "I don't know, did they?"

Me: "You bet your ass they did.  And haven't the Chargers beaten the Colts 3 out of the last 4 times they've played, with their one loss being by 3 points? 

Him: "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say tha...."

Me: "Yes they did!  And didn't the Colts just lose their number 2 receiver, the one whose own decline has matched the decline of the Colts offense, and THEIR HEAD COACH that they've credited with so much of their success?"

Him: *walks away*

Me: "How does this make any sense?!?!?!"

So there you go.  I've witnessed the Peyton Manning bias.  We've beaten them with our backup QB and we've beaten them with our backup HB, but apparently if you put a healthy Chargers team versus a healthy Colts team we'd come out losers according to Vegas.  Yeah right.

• Right now I'd trade our first rounder for a second rounder and another third rounder in a heartbeat.  Then I'd package the two 3rd rounders that we could trade for another spot in the 2nd round.  Four picks in the first 3 rounds sounds better than three this year.  It also seems like most the holes we need to fill (HB, Safety, ILB, DT/DE) would be easier to fill in the second round so we didn't have to reach.  I think Maualuga is the only ILB worth a first round pick (besides Curry), I think Tyson Jackson, Peria Jerry, Ron Brace and Evander Hood should all be low 1st round and high 2nd round picks instead of in the middle of the 1st.  I think Beanie Wells might be worthy of the 16, but that hole is filled just as easily (and cheaper) with our 3rd round pick.
• Finally, I'm starting to get sick of the draft.  I think about it when I'm falling asleep and when I'm waking up.  I think about it in the shower and during work.  I want these 17 days to go by quickly so that I can look at a nearly-complete picture of the week 1 starting 22 and start dreaming about beating the Colts in the playoffs again.  Who's with me?
• As promised, a copy of a sample round 1 draft done with the ESPN NFL Draft Machine (click it to see it larger):