Despite Jim Harbaugh’s Preschool Gesture, Chargers a ‘100% Buy In’ to Head Coach’s Culture, Reveals NFL Insider

Brandon Staley’s Los Angeles Chargers disappointed the Bolts’ fans after finishing 5-12 in the last season. Last year’s embarrassing 63-21 loss against the Las Vegas Raiders was a nail in the coffin of Staley’s coaching career. In a race to find a replacement, the Chargers decided to hire the CFP National Championship winner and Super Bowl contender Jim Harbaugh as their new head honcho.

Under this new coaching leadership, the LA team is witnessing a new dawn. While it remains to be seen whether Harbaugh can capitalize on these hopes through a Super Bowl entry or not, the cultural transformation that the Justin Herbert-led team is slated to undergo remains salient. NFL Insider Daniel Jeremiah had a scoop about the coach’s approach as he unfolded some details on The Rich Eisen Show.

The Charges trust aligns with Jim Harbaugh’s vision

Immediate results are the need of the hour, and everybody is expecting Harbaugh to be crafty and effective. Reportedly, he went the extra mile to unite the Los Angeles team. The last two months were not about learning new offensive and defensive schemes. Rather, it was about the Bolts veterans “buying in” to Harbaugh’s vision, which is the first step to building any great team.

Just like the Chargers veterans, Daniel Jeremiah is also convinced that Harbaugh will start the season with a bang. “I would say 100% buy-in,” said the NFL Insider and explained, “It wasn’t about learning a new offense or defense. It wasn’t about integrating rookies and free agents. To me it was about whether all the veterans in the core that they still have on this team, if they bought into the vision and the plan of Jim Harbaugh.”

The answer appears to be positive, every Charger seems to be excited about the upcoming season with the new HC’s vision as a guiding light for them. “They trust in him, they believe in him and there’s total buy in,” added the reporter. Thus, till now, Harbaugh has been like a kindergarten teacher and is even handing out stars to his players for completing their training. Harbaugh’s antics reminded Eisen and Jeremiah of their preschool days, full of reinforcement and positive backing.

One of the players even posted the training certificate signed by Harbaugh on social media and it was amusing for the hosts.“It was that one posted I believe on Instagram. I don’t know it was Dervin or somebody showed their certificate that said congratulations. Like you get something if you finished preschool signed by the teacher, it was signed by Jim Harbaugh on the certificate. Is that not incredible?” said Jeremiah to Eisen.

Receiving cute certificates is cool, but the Chargers have some real offensive problems that haven’t been addressed yet. Justin Herbert is back, but he doesn’t have a reliable man to throw the ball to. That’s something that the team might have to deal with as the upcoming looms dark and grey, full of competitive energy.

Despite the positive reinforcements, strong hurdles line up for the Chargers

Problem number one is the lack of credible wide receivers. Problem number two is the absence of experienced running backs. The Chargers have Joshua Palmer, Quentin Johnston, and Ladd McConkey as their leading receivers. McConkey was the 34 overall pick in this year’s draft, while Palmer and Johnston haven’t even completed their rookie deals. Both Chargers ’ receivers failed to gather more than 600 yards individually as they weren’t utilized as much in the last season. But to their defense, they were playing as Keenan Allen and Mike Williams’ backup. Expanding on this, NFL Insider decided to back Josh Palmer for his contribution last year.

“I think it’s going to be a collection of guys. So, I do think Josh Palmer when he’s out there on the field and when they’ve missed…you know, Keenan and Mike Williams who have been unbelievable players, but they’ve [Chargers] missed some time over the years. Josh did a really good job of stepping in there and playing well and really established himself as a third guy,” said Jeremiah about the receiver core, and had a lot of expectations from rookie Ladd McConkey.

However, there is one absence in the Chargers that they can’t really substitute: Austin Ekeler. The veteran running back decided to part ways with the Chargers and is now a mentor to Jayden Daniels at Washington. He spoke to Kay Adams and told her exactly why he left the Bolts.

“They wanted a guy to hand the ball off to 300 times a year and look, I haven’t had that capacity to do that. That’s not my game. That’s not how Austin Ekeler is going to be the best on the field. So, there was a misalignment there which, no harm, no foul,” admitted the RB on Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams. 

To combat this monumental loss, the Chargers got not one, but two running backs from the Baltimore Ravens, Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. Both RBs are class acts in their own right. Harbaugh relies on a rush-heavy offense, and it became pretty evident during his time at Michigan, and most importantly, during his tenure as a Head Coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Nonetheless, it is circumstantial how things will eventually pan out for Harbaugh and team and if his motivation will provide Chargers with that edge.