PHOENIX — Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh addressed the media Tuesday morning at the NFL’s annual league meeting, and there was a lot to cover in the 30-minute session.
Harbaugh’s last news conference was more than two months ago. He and general manager Joe Hortiz spoke at the team facility in January days after the Chargers’ playoff loss to the New England Patriots. Since then, the Chargers have hired two new coordinators, Mike McDaniel on offense and Chris O’Leary on defense. They made several external signings in free agency, including center Tyler Biadasz. They re-signed key pieces, including edge rusher Khalil Mack and defensive lineman Teair Tart.
We got to it all as Harbaugh reflected on what has been an eventful offseason so far for the Chargers.
Here is everything important Harbaugh said, what it means and why it matters.
1. As the Chargers emerge from the initial wave of free agency and turn their focus to the draft, there is clearly more work to be done in the roster build. Harbaugh and Hortiz should be looking to make additions at both left guard and edge rusher. In an ideal world, the Chargers will find those players early in the draft.
When asked if he would like to add another starting-caliber guard before the start of training camp in July, Harbaugh said, “Yeah, sure. Competitors welcome. You know how we feel about that. So there’s more to come.”
Harbaugh had a similar comment when discussing the need at edge rusher.
“There will be more competitors welcomed into the edge room,” Harbaugh said.
The Chargers have made progress in remaking the interior of their offensive line for McDaniel’s scheme. They are banking on tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt both returning to full strength after season-ending injuries in 2025. In between those two star players, the Chargers brought in Biadasz at center and Cole Strange at guard. Harbaugh said Strange is expected to start at right guard.
If the Chargers had to play a game tomorrow, Trevor Penning would be the likely starter at left guard. The Chargers traded for Penning at the deadline last season. He played snaps at tackle and right guard down the stretch of 2025. Before the trade, Penning was starting at left guard for the New Orleans Saints. He showed more promise at guard than he did at tackle. The Chargers also signed guard Kayode Awosika, who started four games at left guard for the Detroit Lions last season.
Though they have left guard options currently on the roster, the Chargers must add competition at this spot, and their best shot will come in the first three rounds of the draft.
At edge rusher, the Chargers lost Odafe Oweh in free agency to the Washington Commanders. The Chargers re-signed Khalil Mack, a move Harbaugh called “just huge.” Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu are a formidable duo. But the Chargers learned last year that having three quality edge rushers is a necessity in this defensive system. It is why they traded for Oweh in October. O’Leary will be running the same scheme as Jesse Minter did.
The Chargers need to find that third edge rusher, and they will have opportunities in the draft, including as high as No. 22 in the first round.
2. The transformational offseason move for the Chargers was hiring McDaniel to replace former offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
McDaniel has now been in his role for two months. Harbaugh said working with McDaniel has been “awesome with a capital A.” And that was just the first superlative Harbaugh used.
Harbaugh said he has “been doing a lot of listening, a lot of learning, a lot of leaning into how (McDaniel) sees football.” He called McDaniel “really brilliant.” He said McDaniel and quarterback Justin Herbert will form a “perfect combination.” He said McDaniel has brought a “newer, fresher” perspective that created a “paradigm shift in ways that I’ve thought about football.”
McDaniel is going to provide the Chargers with a schematic advantage. Based on Harbaugh’s comments, the Chargers believe McDaniel will be a driving factor in their offensive improvement. They did not make a big splash in free agency. They did make a big splash in the coaching cycle.
“They made the analogy about making a better candle,” Harbaugh said. “If you’re gonna make a better candle, make a lightbulb. That analogy makes sense to me when I think of the many meetings that we’ve had, and Mike talking about offensive football.”
3. The largest improvement must come in how the Chargers pass protect for Herbert, who was hit more than any quarterback in the league last season.
McDaniel’s scheme, according to Harbaugh, will positively impact this phase. Harbaugh said that impact will come primarily in two ways.
First, Herbert will have fewer true dropbacks within McDaniel’s scheme. Harbaugh framed this as “less dropback protection.” There will be more play-action dropbacks and more screens, which can keep rushers off balance.
In 2023, former Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played 17 games for McDaniel. That season, according to TruMedia, Tagovailoa had 336 true dropbacks — meaning dropbacks with no play action or screen. That came out to under 20 true dropbacks per game. In 2025, Herbert had 418 such dropbacks in 16 games. That came out for over 26 true dropbacks per game. In theory, Herbert and the Chargers offensive line will be in true dropback protection about seven fewer times per game in this new system.
Second, Harbaugh said the way the run game and pass game are “tied together” through play action will impact the protection. In Harbaugh’s view, McDaniel’s various play-action and misdirection concepts create a second of hesitation from rushers as they try to read run versus pass.
“How valuable is a second?” Harbaugh said. “Very valuable, very valuable.”
He added: “The way that run and pass and play action are coordinated, very effective.”
Herbert cannot be hit like he was last season. The McDaniel hiring was the most tangible step toward making that a reality.
Several Chargers players, including Herbert, have been at The Bolt this month working out and meeting with position coaches and coordinators. The job of implementing the new offensive scheme is already well underway.
The Chargers expect Mike McDaniel’s offense to provide better protection for QB Justin Herbert. (David Butler II / Imagn Images)
4. Slater is another player who has been in the facility working out, as he continues to rehab the torn patellar tendon that ended his 2025 season in training camp.
Harbaugh said he recently saw Slater running at full speed when he looked out his office window.
“That warmed my heart,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh added on Slater: “Some of the goals he set when he first got injured to where he wanted to be right now, I mean, he’s above those.”
Slater and right tackle Joe Alt are both rehabbing season-ending injuries. Alt first suffered his ankle injury in Week 4. He returned in Week 8 and played a full game against the Minnesota Vikings. In Week 9, he injured the same ankle again and missed the rest of the year.
How the tackles return from these injuries will be a hinge point in this Chargers season. Specifically with Slater, patellar injuries are challenging to predict. But Harbaugh’s comments are a very positive sign.
If everything goes according to plan, the Chargers will have elite tackles on both sides, and they will have a dramatic improvement in the middle of the line in Biadasz.
“He thinks like a coach,” Harbaugh said of Biadasz. “He plays like a really good player.”
Strange started for McDaniel in Miami last season, and he was hand-picked by this new offensive staff.
Harbaugh said he got a good look at Strange while McDaniel was teaching the new offense with Dolphins film from last season.
“You could see Cole Strange was really good at all the things that they were going to be implementing,” Harbaugh said.
The Chargers prioritized scheme fit when assessing the guard options in free agency. Many of the available guards did not fit McDaniel’s system. They were interested in others who did fit the system, like former Green Bay Packer Elgton Jenkins. But signing free agents is a two-way street.
5. The Chargers made a swap on the interior of their defensive line. They let Da’Shawn Hand walk in free agency. They replaced him with nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who was cut by the Arizona Cardinals earlier this month.
Harbaugh said Tomlinson is a “good run-stopper” and a “big, physical presence up the middle” who will help the Chargers “run wall.”
Hand was a good run defender in 2025, but Tomlinson is a much heavier player. Hand is listed as 302 pounds. Tomlinson is listed at 335 pounds. The Chargers need a stout body next to Teair Tart, whom they re-signed in January. Tomlinson certainly fits that mold. Defensive line coach Mike Elston has also repeatedly elevated veteran additions during his time with the Chargers.
When asked about the Tomlinson-Hand swap, Harbaugh said, “Da’Shawn is a really good player, too. They’re both really good. So I think time tells, but going off past performance, yeah, I think he’s going to be as effective.”