Earlier than the Chargers put diamonds in any Tremendous Bowl rings, Jim Harbaugh is searching for diamonds on the apply area.
“Rare gems, they don’t just hop out of the ground and into your pocket,” the Chargers coach stated because the group started rookie minicamp Friday. “You gotta dig.”
The Chargers are trying to find their hidden gems via a singular rookie minicamp. Harbaugh is taking away most 11-on-11 intervals through the three-day tryout interval. He’ll as an alternative rely totally on particular person drills to judge which rookies could be finest suited to a group hoping to finish a six-year playoff win drought. The teaching employees will educate two drills that immediately apply to the Chargers’ scheme on offense or protection and particular groups and three drills by place, then consider every prospect in comparison with his counterparts.
The system, which Harbaugh admitted he has by no means tried earlier than, is meant to supply a good manner for rookies to compete whereas additionally letting the employees see every participant’s pure expertise.
It’s the coach’s manner of “mining for gold,” he stated.
“Picture a 90-minute meeting to go over offense and defense, and then go out on the field. Then we’re judging who learned the system better,” Harbaugh stated. “But we’re not seeing the capabilities, what they have talent wise.”
The Chargers already know what they’ve with their 9 draft picks, together with seven who signed rookie contracts Friday. Even earlier than formally signing their offers, first-round decide Omarion Hampton and second-rounder Tre’ Harris nonetheless participated in Friday’s three-hour session. The three-day work weekend is primarily a present for the group’s 18 undrafted free brokers and 23 tryout gamers.
Harbaugh stated he would maintain a detailed eye on undrafted free agent operating again Raheim Sanders, whose 4.46-second 40-yard sprint on the NFL scouting mix equaled Hampton’s regardless of the 230-pound Sanders being 10 kilos heavier. Kansas receiver Luke Grimm and tight finish Stevo Klotz additionally stood out to Harbaugh on tape.
Whereas unheralded gamers combat for alternatives, even the drafted gamers understand the significance of creating an excellent first impression.
“A lot of the D-line guys, we were competing against each other,” stated defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell, the Chargers’ third-round draft decide. “Not everybody gets a job at the end of the day. Nobody has secured a job, even me. That’s how I look at it.”
Caldwell, a 6-foot-1, 340-pound defensive deal with out of Oregon, labored individually with defensive position coach Mike Elston and assistant defensive position coach Will Tukuafu whereas nearly all of the rookies had been engaged on particular groups drills. Close by, outdoors linebacker Kyle Kennard honed his pass-rushing method with defensive assistant Dylan Roney.
The transition to the NFL has already delivered a number of surreal moments for Kennard. The Southeastern Convention defensive participant of the 12 months heard his title known as as a fourth-round decide, then quickly obtained a textual content from Chargers star edge rusher Khalil Mack.
Mack, who Kennard praised as “one of the greatest to do it,” congratulated the one hundred and twenty fifth decide on his choice however suggested Kennard to not have fun for too lengthy. The rookie listened.
“Khalil Mack told me not to celebrate, I’m going to stay in the house and go to sleep,” stated Kennard, who met Mack briefly within the locker room Friday and shared a welcoming embrace.
The rookies who go the three-day minicamp will be part of veterans throughout subsequent week’s organized group actions. Throughout the first portion of the voluntary exercises, the Chargers experimented on the offensive line with Zion Johnson at middle. Harbaugh stated the group has alternated between final 12 months’s configuration that had Johnson at left guard subsequent to middle Bradley Bozeman and reversing the 2 offensive linemen to place Johnson at middle for the primary time in his NFL profession. Bozeman hasn’t performed guard in an NFL recreation since 2020.
Regardless of Johnson’s inexperience on the place, his method is impeccable, Harbaugh gushed. The snaps are popping off his hand, and the 25-year-old is among the group’s most athletic and clever offensive linemen.
The change comes at a essential time throughout Johnson’s profession. The Chargers didn’t decide up the 2021 first-round decide’s fifth-year choice, leaving him to probably show himself at a model new place.
“He’s going to be starting at one of those two positions,” Harbaugh stated. “It just adds versatility. … We’ll get our best five eventually, but I know he’s going to be one of them.”
