Wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal had his first media availability on Tuesday since being hired on Jim Harbaugh’s staff. He first pointed out the attention to detail that the new Chargers’ head coach brings to the table.
What I have noticed is that he’s super detailed on certain things. He could be listening to an install meeting and maybe the QBs drop is just off a little bit. He’ll stop the whole thing and say, ‘No, this is how you do it.’ He’d get up and demonstrate it. Or, he’ll make a point on a shallow-cross. We’re a yard away from the hash. Our landmark is the hash. We’ll stop the meeting. We won’t be pressed for time. He’ll walk up there and say, ‘Okay, Sanjay, where do you want him to stop?’ We’ll actually stop, go into the minutiae, detail it and then move on. Very unique that way where, sometimes in football, you’re so pressed for time — we have to get this meeting done in this time. We’ll just stop it and make sure it’s right and that everyone understands.
Lal went on to discuss his new wide receiver room. He noted that he’s throwing a lot at them from a technique standpoint each day that they’re doing well with. He also agreed with a reporter’s assertion that this was “most likely” the youngest group he’s coached in the NFL.
He described rookie Ladd McConkey as very sudden out of his breaks with his route running.
He understands the game. He’s a detailed, precise person. When you teach him a new route, he’s going to master it. If you have to hit it at 13 yards, I’m trusting that he will hit it at 13 yards. The more players like that you have on your team, it just makes your offense more crisp.
With DJ Chark, Lal noted his veteran presence and “vertical threat” nature on offense. Interestingly, Lal also mentioned his punt return ability.
Perhaps most noteworthy regarding the individual receivers were his comments on Josh Palmer. Lal said that they’ve only had him “sporadically” as he recovers from his 2023 knee injury. On the positive side, though, the Lal claimed Tuesday was Palmer’s biggest reps workload at practice so far.
The comments that may get the most attention were his thoughts on Quentin Johnston.
Very impressive. He’s got a lot of juice. He almost bounds when he runs. Working on his body positioning is one of the biggest things that we’ve done. He’s really improved some of his stop-type of routes, like keeping his shoulders over his feet longer and not looking early. That’s a big jump he’s made so far.
Lal was also asked about Johnston’s 2023 campaign and whether it was worth it to look to the past in improving the young receiver’s future.
I’ve studied everything. One, I studied him for the draft. I was in Seattle and we drafted [Seahawks WR] Jaxon [Smith-Njigba]. We had the first receiver off the board. I watched that whole group very closely. I don’t look back in the sense that, I don’t know how he was coached, good or bad. Why is he doing this? Why did he miss this? Why did he make that? I don’t know the context. To take a player back to that, especially if it’s a negative, I don’t see any purpose going forward. I see that this can be improved. I know the drills to improve it. I’m going to implement those. I don’t need the context. That’s what I mean about no going back.
We’ll move forward because you don’t need to watch it to know it wasn’t right if it wasn’t right. This is the way we do it. This is the correct way to do it in all of the situations, whether it be a release, top of route, a catch, the junction point between him and the defender on a go-ball. Here’s the way to do it. Here’s empirical evidence, I’ll show you [Seahawks WR] DK [Metcalf] doing it. I’ll show you [former Colts WR] T.Y. [Hilton] doing it. Here’s how to do it. Let’s work to perfect that and move forward. We don’t need to say, ‘Oh, look what you did before.’ It doesn’t matter. Let’s do it this way.
At the end of his presser, Lal briefly noted that he has “open dialogue” with Justin Herbert regarding film, open practices, and new route concepts.