The Chargers General Manager tackled a number of topics over his session, including expressing how fired up he was to have new Offensive Coordinator Mike McDaniel a part of the process this year.
“There’s excitement about what we’re going to do, and he’s so excited about it. His excitement rubs off on you right away,” Hortiz said. “Really looking forward to it, we’ve discussed some players in free agency. He’ll get more involved in the draft process now once we go through the Combine.
“I’m really looking forward to it. He’s been an evaluator his whole life and he loves this part of the process,” Hortiz added.
The Main Thing
The New League Year is a handful of weeks away, meaning the topic of impending free agents was a big one.
The Chargers have a total of 26 players slated to hit free agency on March 11, including some big names like Khalil Mack and Odafe Oweh.
Hortiz was asked about the pair of edge rushers on Tuesday.
“They know we want them back,” Hortiz said. “I think when players go into free agency once the season ends, it takes a little bit of time but we’ll keep chipping away at it and see if we can get something done with them.”
“I have no problem having a bunch of great edge rushers,” Hortiz later added.
Hortiz also touched on Zion Johnson, who is also slated to hit the open market for the first time in his career.
“We’ll meet with his agent this week. We’ve talked to him already and we’ll continue the dialogue,” Hortiz said.
He later added: “We’ll see what happens with Zion, where the market goes, if he gets to the market. We’ll stay engaged with him through the process.”
Hortiz and the front office have shown a willingness to get deals with potential free agents done before the date comes, like this year with Teair Tart, so it will be something to watch for in the coming weeks.