FanPost

AJ Smith talks to Darren Smith

San Diego Chargers GM AJ Smith agreed to a mid season bye week interview with XX Sports' Darren Smith today. After the expected dithering and cliche dump on the Charger's rough start and special teams woes, Darren really pressed AJ on the Shawne Merriman, Marcus McNeill, and Vincent Jackson holdouts. Darren seemed a bit unprepared for the interview off the bat (AJ must have called in on short notice), but rallied nicely to ask some pretty good conversation starters. It's 28 minutes long and very much worth the time. Highlights after the jump!

  • AJ thinks special teams cost them 3 wins this season.
  • The team is still adjusting personnel for improved punt coverage. He seemed to indicate that kickoff coverage changes are complete and showing results.
  • AJ was relentlessly upbeat about the direction of both the team record and the special teams personnel changes. He sees that the Chargers have 4 (wins) while the Chiefs and the Raiders are ahead of them with 5 (wins). This makes the Chiefs and the Raiders better than the Chargers. He quoted the old Bill Parcells "you are what your record says you are" line. He repeatedly used the number of wins instead of quoting any team's record.
  • Getting into the bye on a two win streak is uplifting, and the fact that Oakland beat the Chiefs has tightened up the division.
  • AJ said that if there were a decision to fire Steve Crosby, that it would be made by Norv. He seemed to indicate that the coaching staff is up to Norv while AJ handles players, but both give each other input and recommendations on the moves they make. AJ has never discussed the possibility of firing Crosby with Norv.
  • AJ Put the blame for the special teams woes squarely on the shoulders of the players. "I don't think it's the coaching part of it. When we break it down, we've had some mental errors. If they continue to happen, then of course you get new players. "
  • The team drafts players expecting them to be on a 4 or 5 year contract and doesn't necessarily need them to start immediately.
  • Darren asked several times if the holdout situations were handled in the best interest of the Chargers organization or if it was an AJ Smith ego vs players/agents situation (he actually used the phrase pissing match). AJ was adamant that everything he did was in the best interest of the team (how else could he possibly answer that question? "Yeah I hurt the team to stroke a personal vendetta!"). AJ was a little bit annoyed when Darren came back to the same exact question a second time, and concluded that Darren obviously doesn't believe him. It was a pretty funny moment.
  • Many players besides the high profile holdouts understood that the team couldn't make long term offers or extensions because of labor uncertainty and happily are playing either under a tender or existing contract to the best of their abilities for this year.
  • AJ made the point that the only way that the holdouts would have been in camp on day 1 was if they had been given whatever they wanted. That's not the way it works. AJ says (in the case of VJ and MM) the players told him if they didn't get what they were asking for then they would not be playing for the Chargers. He took them at their word that this meant there was no room for negotiation or a middle ground in terms of multi year contract demands. This is very crucial for understanding AJ's approach to these non-negotiations. He did not take the player demands as opening salvos of negotiation, but statements of absolute fact.
  • The end had a cute part where AJ pretended to interview Darren. Darren made the points that VJ had to prove his ability to stay out of trouble and that Merriman had to prove he could perform on the field, but that MM should have been treated better/differently. AJ said he could understand that line of thinking, but that all three decided to come to work on their own volition.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.