The Chargers wrapped up their two-day minicamp on Wednesday to cap a productive spring under first-year head coach Brandon Staley.
Here are a few takeaways from this past week, as the team has begun to take shape.
Justin Herbert impressing
Herbert is entering Year 2, eager to build off of his sensational rookie campaign. Even though he will have a new play-caller in Joe Lombardi, the 23-year old impressed those around him with how quickly he’s picking up and taking control of the offense.
“He’s doing a good job of getting the offense down,” tight end Jared Cook said of Herbert. “I’ve seen some quarterbacks his age in this offense that just don’t get it. What I see from him is that the corrections that he’s making aren’t big ones, but the little ones that he makes, he picks up on them fast.
He changes it. It’s not a repetitive correction thing, which is what you see out of a lot of young guys, no matter what position, in the league. There are those mistakes that you have to get rid of and I don’t see any of that from him. He’s been on it, man.”
All-Pro center Corey Linsley said, “He’s picking it up really, really fast.”
Defense receives rave reviews
In addition to the new offense, the Chargers will also playing in a new defensive system, which will be led by the defensive mind of Staley.
After spending the last few seasons in Gus Bradley’s scheme, players are excited to be playing under Staley, who is going to maximize their skillsets more so than their previous defensive coordinator.
Players like linebacker Drue Tranquill, cornerback Chris Harris Jr. and edge defender Joey Bosa are big fans of the fact that they will be put in the best positions to succeed, no matter what the opposing offenses are throwing at them.
The plan is to be multiple and have defenses in place that can match up against any scheme.
Staley creating a culture
Despite being the third-youngest head coach in the NFL, Staley has presented himself like he’s been coaching in the league for well over 10 years.
Not only is Staley one of the best in the NFL at coaching the defensive side of the ball, but he’s up there in terms of building buy-in with the team, as has taken the necessary steps to build trust with his players.
Players had nothing but great things to say about Staley, including star running back Austin Ekeler, who said that his first conversation with him wasn’t even about football.
“He called me and just wanted to talk about just life,” Ekeler said, “and I thought that was really special, just because getting to know someone and getting to see their values really helps me connect and helps everyone really connect as far as wanting to play for this person and actually care about what they’re saying.”
To Staley, the foundation for the team will start with “relationships” and the second will be “competition.”
“I think that the more you know one another, the more you can accomplish,” Staley said. “When there’s a foundation and a relationship, you know exactly how one another operates.
If you operate under the premise that we’re all different — like, I can’t coach Austin the same way that I coach [CB] Chris [Harris Jr.], because they’re different people.
The only way that I would know that is if I really dive into them. It takes a lot of time and investment to do that, but that’s why they call it an investment. You invest in someone for a return later on.”