Albert Breer On The Chargers' Slow Start, Joey Porter Jr.'s Trade Market and Drake Maye's Struggles

All right.

Welcome in.

It's the Brew Report for Wednesday, 3321.

All right.

Welcome in to the Brew Report for Wednesday, September 30th.

Week three is now in the books.

We are a little over 24 hours away from the kickoff of week four.

That, of course, would be the Steelers and the Browns on Thursday night.

And right here, right now, as we always do, we're gonna answer your questions.

With this edition of the video mailbag.

Our first question comes from Charlie, that's at CM Sinclair.

Charlie asks, if the Chargers continue to bottom out, what are the chances the organization moves on from Jim Harbaugh?

It's year 3.

This was supposed to be the year offensive line continues to be mismanaged.

I would point out a couple of things first, Charlie.

Number 1, Jim Harbaugh is on a big money 5-year contract.

He's got 2 years left on his contract after this one.

and he made the playoffs his 1st 2 years.

So I do think that he has some capital with ownership here and some capital in the locker room.

And, you know, I think this is something that you want to see through regardless.

Now, what do you allow for him to do just as far as hiring and firing guys at the end of the year if this doesn't go well?

That's another question.

I think it's fair to ask the question now.

Um, whether or not the match is there with Mike McDaniel.

I, I think both guys are really good coaches.

Jim Harbaugh, obviously a really good head coach.

Mike McDaniels proven as a designer and play caller of offense.

But, you know, there's sometimes these things don't match up, and I think after 3 weeks, it's fair to ask that question.

And you are right to drill down on the offensive line issue.

And you are right to drill down on the Foundation of the team, the identity of the team, what we expected the team to be.

And the reason I think a lot of us looked at the Jim Harbaugh, Mike McDaniel marriage, and we'll get to Chris O'Leary in a second, but the reason we started, the reason we all looked at that marriage.

And, and, and, and, and thought it might work, is because both guys have the foundation of who they are, what they are, what their best teams have been in the run game.

And so, they're both big believers in playing football that way and playing from behind your offensive line.

Um, but there were questions about personality, and there were questions about scheme, and they, the, the, the, the scheme that, that Mike McDaniel comes from, and then Mike McDaniels built over the years is very different than the Jim Harbaugh scheme.

Jim Harbaugh scheme, the way that they run the ball, downhill power run game.

It's not to say that Mike McDaniel doesn't have elements of that and what he does offensively.

But the basis for Mike McDaniel's run game has always been a little bit more finesse, a little bit more on athletic linemen , a little bit more on movement and athleticism.

And so the marriage of those two is always the most interesting part of this, and I don't think after 3 weeks, we should give up on that marriage working, but I think it's fair right now based on the results so far to question that.

The other thing is, are they getting the most out of their players?

And they have invested so much in the offensive line.

And so it's the interior of the O-line.

You lose Tyler Biati, that means Jake Slaughter's got to start at center as a rookie.

He's struggling.

Cole Strange, they bring him in, um, from Miami.

He comes with Mike McDaniel, he's not playing great.

And then even the two tackles, all and Slater, that's supposed to be where your, your, your, your, your foundation of your, your identity, the foundation of your team.

That's where all of that is supposed to be.

And we haven't seen that so far.

So, where do you go from here if you're the Chargers?

And again, I think it's gonna have to be continuing to work all of that and continuing to try to find the middle ground and, and, and, and what Jim Harbaugh has always built and what Mike McDaniel wants the offense to be.

And The sands of the hourglass haven't run out yet, but we are getting there now because of the way the schedule looks, and they go to Seattle this week.

They're playing at Seattle.

It's a very difficult matchup, and Mike McDonald's team is coming off of a, a, a loss.

The defense did not play well, so they'll be looking to kind of get themselves back on track.

And remember, Mike McDonald's defense is very accustomed to Mike McDaniel's scheme, having played against the Rams and the Niners twice a year.

And then you think about the, the, the, the ties between Mike McDonald and Jim Harbaugh.

This is gonna be a challenging, challenging, challenging game for the Chargers.

And whether or not they can make it out of it, we'll see.

Chris O'Leary too on the defensive side of the ball, obviously, he'll be one to watch.

That's another Jim Harbaugh hire.

I think it was a smart hire.

I think we have to give that one time because this is his first time as an NFL play caller on the defensive side.

I thought the defense actually did OK um against Buffalo, wasn't great against the run.

Um, but I, I, I think you give him time.

But again, coming out of this year, if things go the way that they've gone over the, the 1st 3 weeks, for the next 15 weeks, then what are we talking about?

You know, could there be jobs on the line?

Yes.

I just, I, I, I, I think Harbaugh's earned.

The, the sort of leeway and the sort of capital in that organization where I don't think they would fire him after year 3.

2nd question, this is from DLFP that's at DLFP tweets.

It looks like you're a Lions fan, and that's why this question makes a lot of sense.

Uh, what's the latest you're hearing on Joey Porter Jr.

The Lions do have a need at, at, uh, at, at corner.

Do you think the Steelers move him before the deadline, and if they do, where do you see him landing?

Um, it's a good question.

So I'd say the, the, the, the, the, the contract dispute obviously has carried over into the season.

And what does that mean for the Steelers going forward?

Well, I think what they have to assess, Mike McCarthy, Patrick Graham is coordinator, Omar Khan, the general manager.

is what version of Joey Porter Junior they're going to get the rest of the year.

Obviously, it's been a very funky start.

And when you are listing a guy on the injury report as not injury-related or conditioning issue on top of the back issue, that's sort of a passive-aggressive way of saying, we don't think the guy's really hurt.

So, If that's where they are, and that's where the relationship is, and the contract negotiation is in a place, especially after the market was set by guys like Christian Gonzalez and Devin Witherspoon, where they can't work something out, um, is this gonna linger?

And this is gonna be a year-long thing.

And at that point, the Steelers have to consider, all right, like , well, if this is the player that we're getting.

Is it worth having this in our locker room over the course of the year?

Are we gonna get enough on the field to justify dealing with all of this?

And so then you think about trading him.

And if you're thinking about trading him, The baseline, I think becomes probably a 3rd-round pick at and, and, and, and, and maybe more than that, but I think the baseline is a 3rd-round pick because you're looking at what you might be able to get in a comp pick if you just let him go in free agency.

There's also, of course, the, the matter of precedent setting with other players and you acquiesce to a player who's in a situation like this.

And then it's finding a team that's willing to give up picks and give them the new contract.

Cause if you're gonna give up a 2nd or a 3rd round pick, you don't want to do it for a rental.

And I think he's a very good corner.

Is he a great corner?

Is he on the level of a Gonzalez or Witherspoon?

I don't think so.

Um, but that's a position that gets paid.

So, who's gonna be in the mix?

I would, you know, put Detroit at the top of that list as one of the teams that you would look at and say, yes, they could be in the market for a corner.

The Dallas Cowboys are another one.

We know Jerry's already come out and said, we're gonna be active and we are gonna be looking under every rock for Um, anybody that can help us compete for a championship right now.

So I would put the Dallas Cowboys in that, in that category.

The Packers would be an interesting one too.

I think there's a little bit of a need at corner there.

Would the Packers do it after trading draft capital away last year for Micah Parsons?

I'm a little less sure of that.

Um, but you could reunite Porter with his old Penn State teammate coming back off the ACL.

Um, so those are some of the teams that I'm looking at, but I, I would say if a corner of Joey Porter's caliber comes available, um, in October, and at the beginning of November before that trade deadline, the, uh, the, the, the market would certainly be active .

And finally, question number 3, this is from TCBY 24/7, that's at TCBY 24/7 364.

I don't know why you didn't say 365.

Um, he asked internally how concerned, uh , with Drake May's struggles is the Patriots organization.

And I think it's important in this case to, to take a good look at like why he's struggled and why he is where he is and, and, and, and, and where the root of the problem is.

And so I want to take you back to last year.

And, you know, in 2025.

Drake May was coming off of a tough rookie year.

His coach had been fired.

They're bringing in Mike Vrabel.

They're bringing in Josh McDaniels, who's one of the best designers of offense of this generation.

And, uh, not only are they bringing Josh McDaniels in, but now Josh McDaniels gets to work with a quarterback who physically is unlike anybody he's ever worked with.

I'm not saying Drake May is Tom Brady by any stretch of the imagination, but he's a different type of quarterback that McDaniels has traditionally worked with.

And so, what that was, what that created for the Patriots was a situation where you're able to creatively look at ways to deploy Drake May that other teams aren't gonna see coming.

And so, the schedule wasn't all that difficult last year or difficult at all last year by NFL standards.

Um, the numbers tell you that.

So they're going against that schedule with that advantage and I mean, the one thing that I, I think you can look at is how many times last year did Drake May's back foot hit the ground and he's able to just rip it because the play is running exactly the way that it was drawn up.

And, you know, over the course of time, the NFL is gonna catch up to you.

The NFL is gonna catch up to the things you're doing.

And those sorts of advantages that you have do not last forever.

They have an expiration date.

And I think now looking at the big picture of it, you could make the argument that the expiration date came in the playoffs.

In the first round, they faced the Chargers with Jesse Minor as the defensive coordinator, one of the best defensive play callers in all of football.

In the 2nd round if he face the Houston Texans, we know what the Texans were last year, with Damio Ryan's, with Matt Burke calling it, and with, I mean, the most talented, uh, group of players on that side of the ball in the league.

The Denver Broncos were also a top 5 defense.

Vance Joseph, very experienced coordinator, very creative coordinator, a lot of exotic stuff there.

And then, of course, we know what they were faced with, with McDonald in the Super Bowl and the Seahawks defense.

And then you go to this year, again, McDonald made Adden Durda in the opener.

Then you get Patrick Graham and the Steelers in week 2.

And in week 3, Anthony Campanelli, who I think is a really good defensive coach as well, and the Jaguars.

So, you're now getting teams that are going to look at what you had over the course of a 17-game regular season last year.

They're gonna be able to assess it.

They're gonna look at what you did well.

They're gonna look at the big plays that you were able to create, and you were able to create big plays at a historic rate, and they're gonna force you to play a different way.

They're not gonna let you win the way, win in the way that's most comfortable to you.

And so, this is part of the natural learning curve now, because of all those circumstances, that unique circumstance that Drake May was in.

That the schedule created, that getting what McDaniels created, and that the, again, the, the, the, the steep incline in competition created when they, they went to the playoffs, we saw a totally different story.

And so I think this is part of the natural growth and the Patriots are, are, are, are confident that that growth is gonna come.

The question now becomes how how fast that growth happens.

And are they able to do it in-season this year, or is this something where Drake's gonna be struggling with it over the course of the year, and then you get a full offseason to assess and improve and all of that.

That part I don't know, but they are very confident that he'll be able to work his way through this.

And, you know, the, the, the speed at which that happens remains to be seen.

I, I, I would not be concerned that Drake May isn't going to wind up being one of the best quarterbacks in the league over the next 10 years.

I think that's happening.

What I would be a little worried about is the immediate future and what this means for the immediate future, because they are, defenses are forcing the Patriots to play a different game, and I think that's where a lot of the struggles are, and that's where you see Drake May playing a little slower, double clutching the ball.

Um, doubting what he's seeing to some degree.

I, I, I, I think he's gonna get through it, but, you know, you can see, again, that doubt in the way that he's guiding the ball a little bit, the way he's less sure, and the way he's not playing as fast as he was a year ago.

And again, So much of this is about the natural growth of the quarterback and Drake's made it the right stuff and I think he'll get there.

Appreciate you guys coming out as always.

You can leave more questions or any comments down below here on the YouTube page.

You can also get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert Aubrey on Facebook, at Albert_Breen on Instagram.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

We got one more Breer report coming for you, for you this week.

We will see you with that on Friday morning.