{"id":953323,"date":"2026-07-23T12:57:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/953323\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:57:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:57:50","slug":"chargers-training-camp-justin-herbert-set-to-reach-his-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/953323\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers training camp: Justin Herbert set to reach his potential?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year after racking up more miles than any team in the NFL, the Chargers<\/a> are homebodies.<\/p>\n

For the first time in their 10 seasons in Los Angeles, they will open with back-to-back games on their home field \u2014 against Arizona and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, one of their away games will be at SoFi Stadium<\/a>, against the host Rams on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n

Who knows if less time in an airplane will make a difference, but a franchise that hasn\u2019t won a postseason game since the 2018 season will look for anything to change that trajectory.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Jim Harbaugh<\/a> got his team to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons, and he has a history of turning around franchises in college football and the pros.<\/p>\n

And, as they\u2019ll show in training camp, the 2026 Chargers<\/a> have made some significant changes.<\/p>\n

Here are five things to watch in training camp:<\/p>\n

Justin time \"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel speaks at a news conference on June 17.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the seventh season for Justin Herbert<\/a>, and the star quarterback is on his fifth offensive coordinator. Will former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel<\/a> be the play-designing architect to push him over the top and get him that elusive first playoff victory?<\/p>\n

Already, McDaniel has done some tinkering and fine-tuning, tweaking Herbert\u2019s footwork out of the shotgun formation to allow him to get the ball out of his hands a fraction of a second earlier. That should allow his receivers more time to turn up the field and bump up their yards-after-catch numbers.<\/p>\n

The ball is coming out even before the receivers have turned their heads for it, and McDaniel has warned them the ball could hit them in the face if they\u2019re not ready. It\u2019s a way to neutralize the pass rush, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re getting the ball out quickly, there\u2019s really nothing they can do about it,\u201d Herbert said of defenders. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to find a way to slow them down, and I think that\u2019s just [McDaniel\u2019s] way of taking them out of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert has absorbed a lot of hits over the years, and he has leaned heavily on his arm strength too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn years past, you rely on your arm strength to put the ball exactly where you need to,\u201d he said, \u201cinstead of trusting it and just throwing it to a spot and letting them go and get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next man up \"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers defensive coordintor Chris O\u2019Leary speaks at a news conference on June 17.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Jesse Minter<\/a> did such a solid job as defensive coordinator of the Chargers that he was hired as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. So in steps his protege, Chris O\u2019Leary<\/a>, who coached under him at Georgia State and Notre Dame before spending the 2024 season coaching Chargers safeties. Then it was off to Western Michigan for O\u2019Leary last season, where he was defensive coordinator \u2014 a year of experience in that job before returning to replace the departing Minter for the Chargers.<\/p>\n

If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it. That\u2019s expected to be the philosophy of O\u2019Leary, who tutored his Western Michigan players by showing them tapes of the Chargers.<\/p>\n

That said, he\u2019s probably not going to follow Minter to the letter. He likely will have the same coverage schemes and rely just as much on All-Pro safety Derwin James<\/a>, but his defenses might blitz more than Minter\u2019s (the Chargers were near the bottom of the league in that category in 2026) and will look to turn first-round pick Akheem Mesidor<\/a> into a pass-rushing star.<\/p>\n

Odafe Oweh<\/a>, acquired during the 2025 season in a trade with Baltimore, will play for the Washington Commanders this season. Mesidor, a linebacker who played collegiately at West Virginia and Miami, was selected 22nd overall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all on the line \"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers offensive tackle Joe Alt participates in a drill at minicamp in June.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Chargers have huge draft capital invested in their offensive line \u2014 including spending first-round picks on bookend tackles Rashawn Slater<\/a> and Joe Alt<\/a> \u2014 and that was supposed to be a strength of the team last season. That went off the rails early, however, with the team losing Slater to a season-ending injury in training camp and Alt soon after the season started.<\/p>\n

The line wound up being a disaster with a reshuffled cast virtually every week. One of the few fixtures was center Bradley Bozeman, who Pro Football Focus rated 40th out of 40 players who qualified at that position. He retired after the season.<\/p>\n

The Chargers have a new center in Tyler Biadasz<\/a>, who was released by the Commanders in a cost-cutting move, and Alt (ankle) and Slater (knee) are cleared and ready to go. If this unit can stay healthy, it will look a lot different \u2014 and a lot better \u2014 than the 2025 version.<\/p>\n

Beginning of the ends \"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers tight end David Njoku speaks during a news conference on May 19.<\/p>\n

(William Liang \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In the not-too-distant past, the Chargers had one of the NFL\u2019s premier tight ends in Antonio Gates<\/a>, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer. Since, the team has had more downs than ups at the position, although it saw some flashes last season from rookie Oronde Gadsden II<\/a>, a talented pass catcher.<\/p>\n

The Chargers got another infusion of promising tight ends in the offseason, acquiring free agents David Njoku<\/a> and Charlie Kolar<\/a>, both of whom thrived elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Njoku was a gifted receiver and blocker in Cleveland, catching 81 balls and scoring six touchdowns in 2023. His numbers dropped off last season, though, as the Browns cycled through five different quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Kolar was more blocker than receiver in his four years with the Ravens, and he did that very well. When he did see passes thrown his way, he did a good job of reeling those in.<\/p>\n

Oh my, Omarion \"El <\/p>\n

Chargers running back Omarion Hampton speaks at a news conference during minicamp on June 17.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The rookie grade for running back Omarion Hampton<\/a>? Incomplete. The 2025 first-round pick from North Carolina got off to a good start, including a 128-yard rushing performance at the New York Giants in Week 4, before sustaining a fractured ankle the following week that sidelined him for two months.<\/p>\n

In his sophomore season, he should be running behind a far better line and playing for an offensive coordinator with a history of coaching running backs to breakout seasons. Look what De\u2019Von Achane<\/a> did under McDaniel in Miami, where he ran for 1,350 yards and caught 67 passes last season.<\/p>\n

If Hampton can come close to that, he\u2019ll be a popular fantasy pickup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year after racking up more miles than any team in the NFL, the Chargers are homebodies. For…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[6827,241,42271,7,10097,1159,1014,262,2444,2443,9454,4836,6,125895,410,2636,189,185,2758,1549,1320],"class_list":["post-953323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-ball","tag-chargers","tag-chargers-training-camp","tag-football","tag-jesse-minter","tag-justin-herbert","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-lot","tag-mike-mcdaniel","tag-nfl","tag-oleary-last-season","tag-pro-football-focus","tag-receiver","tag-season","tag-team","tag-way","tag-week","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116969413990435270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}