What Jim Harbaugh’s return to the NFL means for the Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers agreed to phrases with Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday to be the franchise’s subsequent head coach. Harbaugh joins the Chargers weeks after main Michigan to its first nationwide title in 26 years. Harbaugh, 60, returns to the NFL a decade after he spent 4 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers (2011-2014), who he led to a Tremendous Bowl look.

Taking a better look, Chargers reporter Kris Rhim solutions 4 large questions concerning the Harbaugh hiring, together with what comes subsequent. Nationwide reporter Dan Graziano dishes on what he is listening to concerning the rent, draft analyst Jordan Reid spins it ahead to the draft and entrance workplace analyst Mike Tannenbaum grades the rent.

Why did the Chargers select Harbaugh?

Rhim: In proprietor Dean Spanos’ solely public feedback since firing coach Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco, he mentioned that the Chargers had been “clearly not the place we count on to be … and we’d like new imaginative and prescient. Doing nothing within the title of continuity was not a danger I used to be keen to take.”

Spanos making an in-season firing — the second in staff historical past — exhibits the urgency that the 73-year-old has to win and his perception within the Chargers probabilities to take action. Harbaugh was one of many prime choices of this cycle, with a historical past of turning middling groups into contenders, and he is aware of the group, enjoying quarterback for the Chargers for 2 seasons (1999-2000).

What made Harbaugh profitable with the 49ers, and can that carry over to LA?

Rhim: When Harbaugh joined the 49ers, they had been a staff that had fallen from the league’s elite, lacking the playoffs for eight straight seasons. In Harbaugh’s first staff assembly, he informed gamers he would “burn the grass” to “do away with the snakes,” former 49ers tight finish Delanie Walker informed the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast.

“We had been horrible as a result of we simply partied each evening and did what we wished,” Walker mentioned. “All people began to vary round with Jim.”

The adjustments shortly confirmed on the sector. The 49ers went from 6-10 within the season earlier than Harbaugh to 13-3 and an NFC Championship Recreation look. Harbaugh’s strategy may very well be efficient with a Chargers staff that staff sources described as disconnected and missing accountability for 3 seasons beneath Staley.

What’s Harbaugh’s first precedence as head coach?

Rhim: Determining whom he will likely be teaching. Exterior of Justin Herbert and a choose few different gamers, this Chargers roster might look vastly totally different, as they head into the offseason $27.5 million over the wage cap, in accordance with ESPN’s roster administration system. The largest choices Harbaugh should make is surrounding exterior linebackers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa and receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, who all have cap hits upward of $30 million subsequent season. Williams and Allen each expressed that they want to stay with the Chargers, with Allen saying he would contemplate retiring if not.

Allen set the Chargers single-season report for receptions in simply 13 video games this season with 108, and had 1,243 yards, the second most in his profession. Mack had a career-high 17 sacks, second finest within the NFL.

Why did the Chargers rent a brand new coach earlier than bringing on a brand new GM?

Rhim: Harbaugh’s tenure with the 49ers was plagued by studies of his stress and fractured relationship with administration. Months after the 49ers introduced that they’d mutually parted methods with Harbaugh on the evening of the 49ers’ ultimate sport, Harbaugh informed the San Jose Mercury Information that he was “informed I would not be the coach anymore” and that he “did not go away the 49ers. I felt just like the 49er hierarchy left me.”

The Chargers might need to contain Harbaugh within the course of of choosing a normal supervisor that he’ll get together with to keep away from any conflicts. The Chargers have already begun interviewing candidates for GM, together with a number of with Harbaugh ties, comparable to Indianapolis Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds who labored for the Raiders when Harbaugh was the staff’s QB coach in 2003.

play

Stephen A.: Chargers made the sensible transfer to rent Harbaugh

Stephen A. Smith explains why he sees Jim Harbaugh as the precise rent to be the pinnacle coach of the Chargers.

Who’s a GM that the Chargers would possibly goal, and will work successfully with Harbaugh?

Graziano: New York Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown was in Los Angeles on Wednesday for a second interview for the GM job, and Harbaugh was nonetheless there. So it is attainable — doubtless, even — that Harbaugh was concerned within the interview. If that is the case, clearly a part of the explanation can be to get a way of how the 2 get alongside and the way their visions for the way forward for the franchise align. Brown has a great likelihood to get the job.

One other candidate to observe is Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds, who has been linked with Harbaugh in hypothesis for months now. The 2 labored collectively initially of their NFL careers with the Oakland Raiders. Baltimore Ravens assistant GM Joe Hortiz is one other title to bear in mind. He’s nicely considered across the league, has had a number of GM interviews in recent times and has labored intently with Jim’s brother, John Harbaugh, the pinnacle coach of the Ravens.

What are you listening to across the league on the rent?

Graziano: There’s clearly a robust likelihood that Harbaugh’s son Jay follows him from Michigan and turns into the Chargers’ particular groups coordinator, and there is a strong likelihood that Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter finally ends up being the Chargers’ defensive coordinator. The Chargers should undergo a full interview course of for these positions, however these seem to be the 2 most definitely Michigan assistants to leap with the pinnacle coach when all is claimed and finished.

In any other case, I feel most individuals count on this to be a home-run rent for quarterback Justin Herbert, combining Harbaugh’s monitor report with quarterbacks and the immense expertise of Herbert. The Chargers have numerous powerful wage cap and roster choices to make, however they’re set at quarterback, which makes numerous different choices really feel a lot simpler.

What can the Chargers do in Spherical 1 to assist Justin Herbert in Harbaugh’s offense?

Reid: Surrounding Herbert with extra assistance on offense is the highest goal of the offseason, as most of the Chargers’ key playmakers are growing older and/or have shortly develop into costly. That features Allen and Williams, who each missed in depth time with accidents in 2023. Plus, the early returns on Quentin Johnston, final 12 months’s first-round choose, have not been nice (38 catches, 431 yards, two TDs).

Harbaugh and this new regime is likely to be searching for some upgrades there, and I might keep watch over Washington’s Rome Odunze or LSU’s Malik Nabers at No. 5. Los Angeles might additionally go along with Georgia tight finish Brock Bowers and even Notre Dame offensive deal with Joe Alt to shore up different components of the offense for Herbert. And do not be shocked if Harbaugh drafts from the Michigan pool; Wolverines receiver Roman Wilson might come off the board late on Day 2 or early on Day 3, and he would assist this Chargers offense.

How would you grade this rent?

Tannenbaum: A-. This is a perfect match for either side. Going again to his time as a Raiders assistant in 2002-03, each quarterback coached by Harbaugh has gotten higher, so this could solely assist Herbert’s ascension to celebrity QB standing. The Chargers have huge cap points, and there may very well be rising pains; this would possibly not occur in a single day. Nevertheless it’s a really sturdy rent for a corporation that should get again on monitor.