Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith knows people are saying he’s on the hot seat after San Diego failed to make the playoffs last season. But he can laugh those comments off.
“I hear it’s hot, but in my own way, I take care of the hot seat I’m in,” Smith told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I have a small fan under my desk that cools down my seat and makes it tolerable so I can work. I have a refrigerator right here, and if it gets really hot, I leave the door open for about 20 minutes. Between the two of ’em, I get by.”
Smith says the Chargers have plenty of room to improve, but he believes that having five picks in the first three rounds of the draft (their own picks plus the Jets’ second-rounder and the Seahawks’ third-rounder) means San Diego should be a better team by the end of next week.
“I always start off thinking we’re not good enough,” Smith said. “The Green Bay Packers won 10 games last year but were good enough. We weren’t even good enough to win our division. We didn’t go to the playoffs. It’s absolutely unacceptable. Now, what do we do about it?”
With the lockout going on, the only thing the Chargers can do about it is get better through the draft. And if the Chargers aren’t a better team when the lockout ends and the season starts, it’s going to be a lot harder for Smith to laugh off being on the hot seat.