PowderKeg Podcast QuickFire: Day 1 Tampering Period

Joe Hortiz has taken a smart, softspoken start to free agency

Joe Hortiz has an excellent start to his first free agency yesterday. Great process and some pretty great dumb luck intersected to open some options for how Hortiz choses to navigate the rest of free agency.

Alohi Gilman retained

In the first post-Tom Telesco offseason, we have the privilege of seeing his first Day 3 selection sign a second contract with the Chargers. That says as much about Tom as it does Joe Hortiz. If Telesco were still running the program, it would have been fitting for Alohi to have been allowed to walk in free agency, and for Tom to backfill the position with a more expensive free agent alternative or a premium draft pick, like when Drue was allowed to walk and Eric Kendricks was brought in to replace him.

Kenneth Murray signs for $7.75M APY

The surprise no one saw coming was Murray getting a very respectable two-year contract. His APY currently nets the Chargers a 5th round compensatory pick if we refrain from a contract that would cancel it out. There’s a legitimate chance that if Gerald Everett also signs a decent deal elsewhere and nets between a 5th-6th round compensatory pick, Joe Hortiz may refrain from opening enough cap space to sign additional free agents. This kind of scenario is likely why he has taken a slow approach with the cap culling, as he patiently waits to decide if he’ll have to move three of those contracts, or only two.

Austin Ekeler signs with Washington for $4.215M

It’s been a real bummer year for Austin, who would have commanded a much larger number if his contract ended a year earlier. He attempted to negotiate a trade and extension with teams last offseason, but it didn’t make sense to part with draft capital and sign a running back to a third contract while his recent production justified him asking for peak valuation. The league had this one right, and although it’s a bummer for Austin, it’s the cost of him “cashing in” earlier in his career before he really had a chance to maximize his leverage.

Those are bygones though, and although he expressed plenty of frustration last offseason, was an extremely productive player and a great value to this franchise over his seven years in the powder blue.

The Chargers sign non-CFA TE Will Dissly and CFA RB Gus Edwards

In total, Hortiz filled three big needs yesterday when he retained Alohi Gilman and made a pair of relatively inexpensive free agent signings.

Joe protected the fifth round compensatory pick Kenneth Murray is projected to net by avoiding the top tier running back market and opting for bruiser-back Gus Edwards at a relatively cheap $3.25 APY. Will Dissly won’t be the Bolts’ TE1, but he’ll likely see a heavy rotational role as a bonafide blocking tight end. Will’s contract won’t effect the compensatory formula since he was released, and the full details haven’t been released on his 3-year, $14 million deal.

Below is our first QuickFire PowderKeg Podcast update. It’s only 5 minutes, so enjoy when you have a chance!