Chargers promise physical brand of football in 2024 season

LOS ANGELES -- Many NFL coaches begin news conferences with an opening statement.

John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, often follows this tradition -- which usually features gratuitous commentary, excitement for a game or practice, or recapping something that happened previously.

But John's brother, Jim, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, began his press conference on the team's first day of the offseason program Tuesday by telling reporters he wasn't an "opening statement guy."

Then he gave one.

"Most people think January 1 [is] the start of the new year. Those that espouse to Christianity, Catholicism, correlate it with the birth of Christ, but us in football?" Harbaugh said, seemingly pausing for emphasis. "Today, April 2: Start of the new year."

Harbaugh was somewhat right. It was the first day of his tenure as the Chargers head coach in earnest, as players headed to the facility for the team's first voluntary offseason workouts. Harbaugh had the first meetings with the offense and defensive, officially beginning a new era for the Chargers, which he hopes will be defined by his team's physicality.

"That's the mantra of this place; we're going to be physical," tight end Hayden Hurst said, "we're going to come at you. When you see us pop up on the schedule, it's going to be a long Sunday."

Hurst is part of a wave of Chargers additions this offseason that replace a mass exodus of mainstays, including receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, and running back Austin Ekeler.

Some of the Chargers' moves, such as the departures of Williams and Allen, were because of salary cap constraints, but the Chargers are also hoping to implement one of the league's best rushing offenses, something the team has been missing for over a decade.

L.A. signed Hurst and former Seattle Seahawks tight end Will Dissly, who both excel at run blocking, and former Ravens running back Gus Edwards. Edwards and Hurst both played under new offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who held the same role in Baltimore. Hurst said Tuesday that playing with Roman and Harbaugh excites him because "it's my brand of football."

He said that he felt most comfortable playing with Baltimore and even in Cincinnati, where he played in 2022, because they allowed him to play free, fast and physical. Hurst said from the first meetings on Tuesday he got the sense that the Chargers will be the same.

"We want to out-physical teams. We want teams to fear us. We want teams to end up giving up in the fourth quarter, where we're just hitting our stride," Hurst said. "I think that's where you get the most productive football, when you're just out-physicaling people."

The Chargers' ability to "out-physical" teams starts in the weight room, with executive director of player performance Ben Herbert. Harbaugh and Herbert worked together for Harbaugh's final six seasons at Michigan.

Herbert approached his press conference with the intensity of a drill sergeant. He gave a lengthy answer over 30 minutes as he described the importance of strengthening players' necks, ankle mobility and other intricacies of muscle building that avoid injury and make players "harder to break."

Herbert had all players fill out a "key performance indicator sheet" that asked them questions about their lean muscle mass and mobility on different muscles.

"Consistency, attention to detail, emotional stability, bigger, faster, stronger, and more mobile and flexible," Herbert said. "That's how you can describe our program."

The Chargers were plagued by injuries last season, including season-ending injuries to top players including quarterback Justin Herbert (broken right index finger), Allen (heel contusion), Williams (torn ACL), edge rusher Joey Bosa (foot sprain) and center Corey Linsley (non-emergent heart issue), among others. Michigan only had two players suffer season-ending injuries last year, and Ben Herbert is hoping to replicate that with the Chargers.

"I'm not really into luck," Herbert said. "I like to control the things that I can control, which is why we emphasize the things that we emphasize in training because, over time, it has proven that our guys, especially the guys that are playing the most football, are available to do that."

Whatever Herbert does to keep the Chargers players healthy won't matter if the team doesn't have the talent. Currently the Chargers are laden with holes at multiple positions.

They hold the No. 5 pick, and nine total picks, in the NFL draft later this month, where they can patch those craters quickly. For weeks, however, Harbaugh and Hortiz have lauded the quarterback talent in the draft and said they would not be opposed to trading back if a quarterback-needy team offers the right package.

On Tuesday, Harbaugh declined to comment on whether the Chargers have been talking to other teams about trading their first-round pick. Instead, Harbaugh said it would be a "phenomenal question for Joe [Hortiz]."

Hortiz will hold a news conference in the days leading up to the draft.