https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/08/15/patrick-mahomes-russell-wilson-brandon-staley-mmqb

BRANDON STALEY’S OLD-SCHOOL OUTLOOK

COSTA MESA, Calif. — To most people, the way the 2022 Chargers look, at
least on paper, isn’t that different from last year’s team. The
offensive skill talent returns largely intact. Derwin James and Joey
Bosa are still around to lead the defense. And sure, Khalil Mack and
J.C. Jackson are here. But the core of who the Chargers are? To
outsiders, it’s the same.

So when I was at their camp last week, Brandon Staley challenged me to
really look at the team, in the most literal way.

What he thought I’d find was what became obvious when he pointed it out:
It’s a really, really big football team, and significantly bigger than
it was as recently as January, when Staley’s group lost a de facto
elimination game on the last night of the regular season. And that it’s
that way, after another offseason of building from Staley and longtime
Chargers GM Tom Telesco, is no accident.

“The way we play is a 180 from how they played on defense,” Staley said.
“There’s a lot of ways to play, but the way we believe in playing is
with size up front. We knew there was going to be the transition, and we
were going to do it in our second year. Kind of like how our second year
solidified our O-line a little bit, in terms of getting Zion [Johnson].
I think next year, you’re gonna be able to see the depth and the quality
be where we expect it.”

Therein lies what’s philosophical about all this for Staley.

Because for as much as last year was about Justin Herbert, and made to
be about what Staley calls fourth-down “advantage situations” (he
doesn’t like referring to them as gambles), what he was really trying to
build, and continues to try to build, is a team guided by the most
old-school tenet of NFL team construction. And that tenet holds that the
game is won and lost by the guys who line up closest to the ball.

“That’s just the way the game is,” Staley said. “Now, it’s becoming a
lot more outside in—jump shooting, three-pointers, high-wire act. But I
just know that’s not what sustains and stands the test of time.”

It’s something that, when you look really hard at the Chargers’
investments and acquisitions over the last 18 months, is 100% backed up
with how the team is being built.

It started last year with the idea to flip the offensive line upside
down, and that much was obvious in the big-ticket add of Corey Linsley
and the first-round pick spent on left tackle Rashawn Slater. This year,
the team doubled down by using another first-rounder on a lineman (Zion
Johnson) while spending to bolster the defensive front, with a trade for
Mack as the centerpiece of the effort. So yeah, they gave Mike Williams
a deal, and poached Jackson from New England, but what started in 2021
carries over to ’22.

And so long as Staley’s in charge, that line-of-scrimmage pipeline won’t
go dry for any lack of effort in trying to fill it.

“When we got here, the offensive line was the worst part of this team,”
he continued. “We signed Corey, Matt Feiler, drafted Rashawn, and so we
were halfway there, pretty much. Then this year, we were able to get
Zion, and then Jamaree Salyer from Georgia, and so we feel like we’re a
lot deeper up front, and really high quality. And then on defense, it
all happened this year.

“Joey [Bosa], obviously, coming back, but then [signing] Khalil, Austin
[Johnson], Sebastian [Joseph-Day], Foxy [Morgan Fox], draft Otito
[Ogbonnia]. That’s what we wanted to do when we got here, when me and
Tom got together.”

Of course, investing in making it work, and actually having that come to
fruition, are two different things. And so adding all that size and
experience in the trenches will, in a month, need to come to life in the
sturdier sort of look that Staley’s looking for.

But at the very least, the team here is increasingly reflecting the
vision Staley and Telesco had for it, which is a vision that’s a little
different than some people might expect.

“What it allows you to do is become a complete football team. And that’s
what I felt like was missing last year; we weren’t a complete football
team,” he said. “Offensively, we were really good, but becoming a
complete offensive football team means we can play however we need to
play, run game and pass game. And then on defense, all the different
styles of play you have to match up against, all the different
quarterbacks, to do that you have to have a front that can hold up.

“If you have to play Baltimore or [Kyle] Shanahan or the Titans, and
it’s a slugfest, you’re built to play against that. Or you’re playing
[Josh] Allen, Mahomes, Deshaun [Watson] and it’s spread out, it’s going
fast … you gotta chase these guys around; you have to be able to play
that game, too. In order to do that as a football team, it starts up
front. Then, certainly, you have to have the quarterback. Coming here,
you have a quarterback. Then, it’s O.K., get our fronts on both sides of
the ball where we need to be.”

And are the Chargers there yet?

Staley smiled and said, “I just think we’re a lot closer to becoming
that complete team.”

Which, again, taking a simple look at the team itself would tell you.