Jim Harbaugh's arrival in Los Angeles to coach the Chargers is a compliment to the Chargers organization, providing one of the top head coaching candidates on the market to lead the team for years to come. connected.
Chargers fans have been patiently waiting for negotiations to intensify, and Harbaugh's intentions to return to the NFL are clear. Ultimately, he's ready to take over the team he once played for and turn it around after going 5-12 in 2023.
Harbaugh will be consulted about hiring a new general manager in Los Angeles to see who he will work with to build the roster, but he also needs to get his staff together. There is no doubt that the offense, with Justin Herbert at quarterback, has the potential to be an explosive group under Coach Harbaugh.
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Jim Harbaugh has been named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. (Nick Antaya/Getty Images)
But what about the defense, which completely underperformed last season despite having all the star players? Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb thinks getting this hire right will have a big impact on Harbaugh in the 2024 season and beyond.
“I think this is great news for Justin Herbert and his offense,” McNabb said on Outkick. “The Five Spot with Donovan McNab” “But the more important question is, who's going to be the defensive coordinator?”
“When you look at the names of the starting defensive players on that roster, I mean; [Joey] Bosa, Khalil Mack, Derwin James, and the list of talented players goes on. But who's going to be the defensive coordinator that gets them back to a top-10, maybe top-5 defense so that this offense can continue to be explosive?”
This is a valid question, and one that will be on the minds of Chargers fans, especially considering the cap hell the team is currently in. The players McNabb mentioned, Mack, Bosa and James, are all players mentioned as potential cuts. Lowering the cap to about $45 million above the threshold.
Given the payroll the Chargers have on their books, they could have been a much better team, especially defensively. They were 28th in the league in yards allowed per game (362.9 yards), with most of those points coming in the passing game, and finished 30th in the league (249.8 yards per game).
(Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
When an offense is producing but giving up 23.4 points per game like the Chargers do, that's usually not a formula for success.
But Harbaugh knows what it takes to win in the NFL, and he certainly knows that the right coordinator will go a long way in building a playoff team, let alone one that can make the Super Bowl.
That said, McNabb is among the majority who feel Harbaugh is a good fit for the Chargers.
“So, if you look at this decision in its entirety, I think it's a great decision,” he explained. “We have a guy who has had success in the NFL with the 49ers. He's molding young quarterbacks in the same way that Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick have.”
jim harbaugh (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
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“Now we have Justin Herbert. He's very talented at throwing the football and has the athleticism to be able to get out of the pocket and create a wide receiving corps. That's very talented. ”
