NFL offseason power rankings: No. 9 Los Angeles Chargers are coming on fast with Jim Harbaugh

There wasn’t much debate about the Los Angeles Chargers’ hire of Jim Harbaugh last year. It was a great hire of a coach who had won everywhere he had been. He was coming off an undefeated, national championship season at Michigan. The Chargers got themselves a star at head coach.

The question wasn’t about the long term. It was whether, after nine years in college and some personnel losses as the Chargers got their salary cap in order, if Harbaugh could succeed in year one.

Then Harbaugh reminded everyone that he’s one of the best football coaches in the world.

The Chargers went 11-6. They improved across the board. Justin Herbert transformed as a quarterback, improving his efficiency and becoming the star everyone thought he had been already. The Chargers’ season ended with a weird, flat wild-card loss against the Houston Texans, but don’t focus on that. The term “changing the culture” is overused in the sports world, but there’s no better way to describe what Harbaugh has already done in L.A.

“To have a guy like that leading the team, you know, it shows up,” Justin Herbert said last season, via the team’s site. “You turn on the tape, and everyone wants to play for him, wants to fight for him. And I think guys are playing energetic. They’re excited to be out there, and they’re having fun.”

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Harbaugh is eccentric. He’s the coach in pants and long sleeves doing the same drills as his players during training camp, randomly getting excited during his introductory news conference about going to Home Depot and getting a Shop-Vac for the weight room, or repeating one of his oft-used motivational phrases. But there is no question that he can coach. Last season wasn’t supposed to be the year the Chargers arrived as a top 10 team, but they did. And it should only improve going forward.

“It wasn’t the ultimate success, but there was success,” Harbaugh said after the season, according to the team’s site. “There was success from this season and we want to build on it.

“Build, build, build. Better, better, better.”

For nine straight years the Chiefs have won the AFC West and they’ve rarely been tested. There have been a few charges by the Chargers for the crown but the Chiefs have always held them off. The story has usually been the same, and it’s that a talented roster falls short of expectations. The Chargers are unlikely to underachieve anymore now that Harbaugh is in charge.

The talent is still there too. Herbert had a fantastic season and is just 27. First-round pick Omarion Hampton and free-agent addition Najee Harris improve the running back position. Receiver Ladd McConkey was fantastic as a rookie, and 2025 second-round pick Tre Harris, who ended his holdout Thursday, could be a good complement to him. The offensive line added guard Mekhi Becton to go with two talented tackles. The defense convinced Khalil Mack to return instead of retire, and has other stars like linebacker Daiyan Henley and safety Derwin James Jr.

Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh helped lead the Chargers to the playoffs in their first season together. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

(Harry How via Getty Images)

The Chiefs went 15-2, took the AFC title and shouldn’t be worried too much about the Chargers this season. They have beat L.A. seven straight times (though a 19-17 win last December came on a doinked-in field goal as time expired). The Chargers haven’t won the AFC West since 2009. They shouldn’t feel like they’re ready to knock off the Chiefs finta yet.

But the Chargers are coming. And Harbaugh’s focus won’t waver.

“One thing I can promise you is that the sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll be attacking it with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” he said after last year’s playoff loss.

Offseason grade

The Chargers’ biggest signing, in terms of money and weight, was massive guard Mekhi Becton coming off a great season with the Eagles. He signed for $20 million over two seasons. There’s some concern about Becton regressing outside of the Eagles’ great situation, but L.A. needed to improve their interior offensive line. The next two most significant signings were former Steelers, with cornerback Donte Jackson and running back Najee Harris coming over. Joey Bosa is the biggest name that’s gone, but constant injuries made him tough to depend on. Cornerback Kristian Fulton, receiver Joshua Palmer and defensive tackle Poona Ford also signed healthy deals elsewhere. The draft class brought on first-round running back Omarion Hampton, who would have gotten a lot more hype in a class that didn’t include Ashton Jeanty, and second-round receiver Tre Harris. The offseason haul wasn’t a big one, but Hampton perfectly fits what Jim Harbaugh wants to do and if Harris has anywhere close to the impact that 2024 second-round receiver Ladd McConkey had, the offense is going to grow.

Grade: B

Quarterback report

Justin Herbert was never a bad quarterback, but his splashy plays and counting stats — not to mention that the Chargers don’t exactly get a ton of critical attention nationally, or even their own market — obscured that there were plenty of mistakes, especially in crunch time. Herbert was a different player last season. His attempts per game dropped dramatically to 29.6 (Herbert’s previous career low was 35.1) and he did way more with those attempts. Herbert set career bests in yards per attempt (7.7) and smashed his best mark in interception rate, leading the NFL at 0.6%. His passer rating was 101.7, the first time in his career he finished a season over 100. A four-interception game in a bad playoff loss to the Texans was a tough way to end the season, but the improvement Herbert made over the course of the season was undeniable.

There can be some question over whether the Chargers have enough targets aside from Ladd McConkey to make Herbert’s life easier, but another year with Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman will help.

“I think we’ve made great strides this offseason. I would say that we’ve gotten a lot better,” Herbert said, via the team’s site. “We’re continuing to put in this offense and master and do everything we can to fully understand it.

“I think from that standpoint, we’re further ahead than where we were last year.”

BetMGM odds breakdown

From Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes: “With a win total of 9.5 at BetMGM, the second-best odds behind the Chiefs to win a tough AFC West (+310) and a slight favorite (-145) to make the postseason, oddsmakers are expecting the other Los Angeles football team to be a contender as well. Justin Herbert is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and the Chargers finally attempted to get him a few more playmakers by drafting RB Omarion Hampton in Round 1 and WR Tre Harris in Round 2. Los Angeles (12-6 against the spread) was one of the NFL’s best teams for bettors to back last season and is favored in 13 games this campaign.”

Yahoo’s fantasy take

From Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski: “It took Ladd McConkey some time to figure out the pro game, and for the Chargers to figure out him. But things were cooking in the latter stages of the year — McConkey posted a 45-657-3 line over his final seven games in the regular season (that tracks to 109 catches and almost 1,600 yards in a full season), and then detonated for a 9-197-1 line in the playoff loss to Houston. The genie is out of the bottle. McConkey’s current Yahoo ADP is outside the Top 20 overall, a screaming buying opportunity.”

Stat to remember

The Chargers led the NFL in points allowed last season. They gave up 17.7 points per game, and that might regress some considering the Chargers didn’t have the best defense in the NFL last season, or even close. But the defense was pretty good. It was ninth in DVOA, and in the top 10 in EPA (expected points added) allowed in total defense, against the pass and against the run. Jesse Minter, who had experience as a college defensive coordinator but not in the NFL, came with Jim Harbaugh from Michigan and had a fantastic season. The Chargers did have some bad games, like giving up 506 yards to the Buccaneers in a Week 15 loss and 429 yards in an uncompetitive playoff loss to the Texans, but overall it was a solid season for the Chargers defense. There weren’t a lot of improvements made, with the big offseason additions mostly coming on offense (signing cornerback Donte Jackson but losing Kristian Fulton is either a wash or a small downgrade). The personnel on defense is still fairly good, and Minter’s strong first season as an NFL coordinator offers hope that there won’t be a dip.

Burning question

The Chargers signed Najee Harris to a one-year, $5.25 million deal in March, not knowing that a month later they’d have a shot to draft North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton with the 22nd overall pick. Doubling up with Hampton gave the Chargers sudden depth at running back, for a coach in Jim Harbaugh who likes to run the ball.

“Najee, watching him out here right now, I am blown away,” Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said, via the team’s site. “His knowledge of the game, his ability, his movement skills … it’s exciting. And then Omarion, jeez.”

Harris suffered an eye injury due to a fireworks incident, and he’s on the NFI list to start training camp, though his agent told ESPN he expects to be ready for the season. How much will he be available for August? That could open things up for Hampton to take the starting job and not look back. Hampton is an excellent prospect, a phenomenal athlete with good size and a great production profile. Hampton rushed for 3,164 yards and 30 touchdowns with a 5.9-yard media over his final two college seasons. Harris has been reliable but unspectacular in the NFL and that’s unlikely to change as he turns 27 years old. There’s no good reason for the Chargers to give much of the workload to Harris over the 22nd pick of the draft. Harris’ availability in training camp and preseason might force the issue.

Best case scenario

A great coach and a star quarterback can take a team a long way. Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert are among the NFL’s top 10 at their spots, and perhaps in the top five. Pair them with a defense that was top 10 in most advanced stats and the potential is exciting. If Omarion Hampton has the same type of impact on the offense this season that Ladd McConkey had last season, the Chargers should be better. And they were an 11-win team last season. If the defense remains near last season’s level, Herbert continues to improve and Hampton plays at a NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year level, maybe the Chiefs do need to worry about their stranglehold on the AFC West title this season.

Nightmare scenario

The Chargers do have some holes, though most were covered up by good coaching last season. Maybe some were exposed in that ugly playoff loss to the Texans. Khalil Mack has been great, but he had to be talked out of retirement and is 34 years old. A scary amount of the Chargers’ pass rush is relying on him being productive for another season. One reason receiver Ladd McConkey fell to the second round of last season’s NFL draft were size and durability concerns, and if he goes down this season then the Chargers might be perilously thin without him in the passing game. There also isn’t a soft landing spot, because the Chargers play in a division with a team currently in the middle of a dynasty and another that took a big jump last season and made the playoffs. If the Chargers slip at all, they could be buried in the AFC West and well out of the playoff race, and that would be a huge disappointment after Jim Harbaugh’s promising first season.

The crystal ball says

It’s hard to pick between the Chargers and Broncos as the team most likely to give the Chiefs a challenge in the AFC West, not just this season but going forward. Both have great coaches and are coming off huge growth seasons. I side with the Chargers due to how impressive they were last season in Jim Harbaugh’s first season back from college. I am banking that it will only continue to get better as the Chargers add players that fit what he wants to do, and he continues to adjust to the changes in the NFL since he has been gone. It’s hard to fully believe in the Chargers, because for most of the last decade or more they’ve been a tease. But this Chargers era will be different due to the coaching. I think the Chargers make it back to the playoffs and do scare the Chiefs in the division, starting with a great Week 1 matchup in Brazil (the Chiefs get a significant edge playing that game on a neutro field that shouldn’t be allowed to happen, though the Chargers also get blame for not blocking it). Ultimately I think the Chargers might be a year away from being on the Chiefs’ level in the division. But watch out in 2026.

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