Jan 30, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Riley Guilmino poses with a New Orleans Saints No. 1 jersey at the NFL Draft exhibit at the Super Bowl XLVII Experience at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Are you ready for primetime and the 2013 NFL draft?  Well are you?  You may think you are ready, but the draft is a marathon, not a sprint.  I compiled a checklist for myself and realized that this may be helpful for others.   Remember, when shopping, cooking, inviting and charging you have three days of fun to fill with good stuff.  Do not plan anything but draft viewing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  If you have not already taken the time off, start coughing in front of your boss as soon as you are done reading this!  First round begins Thursday at 5 p.m, Chargers time, followed by the second and third rounds on Friday at 3:30 p.m.  Rounds 4-7 will be held Saturday, April 27 at 9:00 a.m.

NFL Network – Do not be looking for the draft anywhere else.  If you do not have it, call your cable company now!

Drinks – Make sure you have enough on hand for three to four hours of draft viewing over three days.  You do not want to be running out to BevMo in between rounds and miss something.  Also, make sure you get breakfast drinks for Saturday, mimosas or bloody mary’s are part of the experience.

Food – Think snackfest.  Stock up on hummus, pita, chips, veggies, cheeses, crackers, olives, fruits and other things that do not require cooking.  If you are making guacamole, make sure you get at least 20 avocados.  Only thing worse than running out of guacamole is when your team drafts Ryan Leaf!  If you want something hot, think crockpot.  Nacho cheese or chili?  Yes!

Extra Power – Make sure you have power cords for laptops, iPads and phones plugged in and ready for action.

Have fun and enjoy the draft.  #IBelieve

ChargerGirl Cindi

Will Phillip Rivers Remain a San Diego Charger if QB Geno Smith is available when San Diego picks with the #11 overall pick?

Aprils Fools turned out to be no fooling around today, with three new quarterbacks going to three new NFL teams. Now that Buffalo signed Kevin Kolb, Arizona about ready to trade for Carson Palmer, and Oakland trading for Matt Flynn, some quarterback hungry teams aren’t that hungry any longer. These three transactions can very much alter this month’s NFL Draft, especially for the San Diego Chargers and their current draft needs.

San Diego cut ties with left tackle Jared Gaither last week opening a glaring hole at left tackle (which is their most important draft need). The top three offensive tackles (Luke Joeckel, Eric Fisher & Lane Johnson) could be taken before San Diego picks at number eleven. San Diego can elect drafting other needs in the first round (like outside linebacker, nose tackle, guard or even receiver ) but if Philadelphia, Arizona or Buffalo elect to pass on top rated quarterback Geno Smith, San Diego might be forced to draft a new quarterback.

Geno Smith has been projected the #1 overall draft pick, as well as the highest rated quarterback in the 2013 draft. Smith was first projected to go #1 to Kansas City, but the Chiefs traded for new starter Alex Smith. The Cardinals, Raiders and Bills all have had links to quarterback Geno Smith within the top ten picks, but all have NEW quarterbacks as of TODAY. Those same teams that all pick before San Diego could all draft the big three left tackles, and are now more likely to be gone by San Diego’s #11 pick.

New Chargers GM Tom Telesco has already said that San Diego will draft the best player available, regardless of position. If Geno Smith is available at #11, Telesco may have to draft him. But that would seem alright, right? New GM’s on new teams want to draft their guys. Plus San Diego has a new head coach, and head coaches are the same way as GM’s, they all want their choice in players. Phillip Rivers was old GM AJ Smith’s guy. The last two years, Rivers has had too many turnovers and very inconsistent play, but most of that blame has been swept towards the porous offensive line. Therefore Rivers is still tradable and may be at his final peak as tradable commodity.

Rivers could get traded immediately (probably demand two 1st round draft picks). One team that has been willing to trade high draft picks for veteran players (and has the salary cap room to take on Rivers contract) is Tampa Bay (not to mention all the Bucs & Darrelle Revis trade rumors). Bucs head coach, Greg Schiano, has no “ties” with their current quarterback, as Josh Freeman was he drafted by the previous coaching staff. No loyalty there. And who has better chemistry with Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson than Phillip Rivers? (other than Antonio Gates)

Or Geno Smith could be tutored by Rivers for a season (and watch & learn from the bench). This may be additional motivation for Rivers to perform better (kind of like what happened with Drew Brees with Rivers on the bench). But without a new 1st round left tackle, Rivers will probably perform badly as he need the protection he can get.

Or Rivers could be traded midseason, kind of like the Bengals and Carson Palmer. WHO KNOWS…

Of course, I’m only guessing if left tackles Joeckel, Fisher or L.Johnson are NOT available when San Diego picks the draft. And usually good quarterbacks like (Geno Smith and Matt Barkley) get drafted quickly. Quarterbacks always go ahead from their projections as this is a quarterback driven league.

…but what if Geno Smith is available for the NEW San Diego Chargers to draft?

Story by James Fedewa (nationalfanatic.wordpress.com)

July 26, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates (85) during training camp at Charger Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

In the longest off-season ever we are grasping for any San Diego Chargers news.  Even word of off-season workouts are deemed exciting.  So here’s what’s coming up:

Phase 1 – Starts on Monday with a two week program limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only.

Phase 2 – Follows after phase one and is three weeks of on-field workouts that may include individual and team instruction and drills.  No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.

Phase 3 – The final phase before mini camps.  This is the last four weeks of the program.  Teams can conduct up to 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”.  Drills are now allowed, but no live contact is permitted.  The Chargers OTA’s will occur from May 13-15, May 20-22 and June 3-6.

Voluntary Mini Camp – After their nine weeks of training, the Chargers will host a voluntary mini camp (this is only allowed for teams with a new coaching staff) from April 16-18.

Mandatory Mini Camp  – It’s time to see what the Chargers have put together, June 11-13.

Rookie Development Program – The last piece.  Dates are TBA, but we know there will be a seven week program and there may be another post draft camp a couple weeks after the draft.  Be on the lookout for the dates.

This is the start of football happenings at Chargers Park.  Giddieup!

ChargerGirl Cindi