AFC Notes: Chargers, Raiders, Steelers

Chargers

Retired QB Drew Brees said Chargers QB Justin Herbert is the most impressive young quarterback he’s seen recently.

“I don’t think I’ve seen an athlete quite like him. We played them last year, and I was impressed. Then I saw him at mini-camp in OTAs and was amazed at how big and strong he is. His forearms and hands look like he has been digging fence-post holes his entire life. He is good, smart and has those leadership qualities. You talk about building an offense around a guy, he can be a 15-year franchise guy,” Brees told NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico.

Raiders

On “The NFL Rhodes Show” podcast with Lindsey Rhodes, Raiders GM Mike Mayock explained why he moved on from OL Rodney Hudson and Gabe Jackson.

“At a certain point, the skill set is going to decline,” Mayock said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s inevitable, especially with offensive linemen. This is why there are certain teams around the league that I think are so good, because they’re consistent and when they move on from players they typically do it a year early rather than a year late.”

Mayock added as to why he traded OT Trent Brown to the Patriots.

“When healthy and available, he’s a dominant right tackle,” Mayock said. “But he was not healthy and available to us very often in two years and he was making $14 million.”

Mayock mentioned the team’s defense needs to play better for them to make the playoffs.

“We have to get so much better. I know it, Jon knows it. We all know it. We’ve got to finish games. I’m excited to see whether or not we can generate a pass rush because we have not been disruptive on defense, we don’t take the ball away. We don’t hurry the quarterback. We have a lot of things we have to get better at and we’re very realistic about that. More than anything, I want to see if we can be disruptive on defense and that’s going to be one of our goals.”