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Chargers name Joe Hortiz, the Ravens director of player personnel, as general manager

brian wacker, baltimore sun
·4 min read

The Ravens’ offseason was barely 24 hours old when the first domino fell.

The Chargers hired Baltimore’s director of player personnel Joe Hortiz to be their next general manager, Los Angeles announced Tuesday afternoon. The two sides had been in negotiations and came to an agreement late Monday night.

The news came a day after players cleaned out their lockers at the team’s Owings Mills facility following the Ravens’ 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC championship game.

The Chargers, who finished fourth in the AFC West after going 5-12, fired their previous general manager, Tom Telesco, along with coach Brandon Staley late in the regular season.

“Joe is one of the most respected player evaluators and personnel minds in the league whose contributions to the Ravens front office over the past two decades cannot be overstated,” Chargers president of football operations John Spanos said in a statement. “When you consider his football IQ, eye for talent, ability to think both short and long term as it pertains to roster construction, organization, thoroughness and ability to be creative within the confines of our collective bargaining agreement, it’s hard not to be excited about the future.

“Factor in his experience working with two of the best in the business in [executive vice president] Ozzie Newsome and [general manager] Eric DeCosta and the consistency of performance that their teams have achieved, Joe is without a doubt the right person to help coach Harbaugh and his staff build a team that will make Chargers fans proud.”

In joining Los Angeles there is also a level of familiarity after the Chargers hired Ravens coach John Harbaugh’s brother Jim to be their coach, wooing him from the University of Michigan, where he won a national championship this season.

Hortiz, 48, has been with the Ravens since 1998 and in his current position since 2019. He was also long overdue for a general manager job.

Given the success of many of the Ravens’ draft picks and free agent signings, Hortiz has for years been a hot job candidate after helping oversee college and pro scouting and serving as DeCosta’s top personnel evaluator. Hortiz began his career with the Ravens as a scout and rose through the organization first under Newsome, the team’s former general manager and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then DeCosta.

During his tenure in Baltimore, the Ravens won two Super Bowls, during the 2000 and 2012 seasons, and have won seven AFC North titles since 2003. In his time as director of player personnel, Baltimore made the playoffs four times in five seasons and compiled a record of 56-27.

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This year, the Ravens finished with the NFL’s best record at 13-4 and were the top seed in the AFC.

“When you’ve had the privilege of working with one organization your entire career, something that’s exceedingly rare in our business, the opportunity and fit has to pretty much be perfect to consider a change,” Hortiz said in a statement. “This is that opportunity — the Chargers’ brand, the uniforms, foundational building blocks already on the roster, a new training facility, SoFi Stadium and a clear commitment from the Spanos family to dedicating every resource possible towards bringing a Lombardi trophy home to our fans; it’s all there. Then of course, having known the Harbaugh family for all these years and the chance to continue that special relationship in this new role, I truly could not be more fortunate.”

Hortiz inherits a Chargers roster already stocked with talent, including quarterback Justin Herbert, safety Derwin James and receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Still, his work will be cut out for him with Los Angeles having missed the playoffs eight of the past 10 years and four of the past five.

The Chargers also finished 28th in total defense this season, something Hortiz should be able to help remedy given his success in Baltimore, where the Ravens became the first team in NFL history to lead the league in sacks, takeaways and points allowed per game this season.

The Ravens have plenty of in-house possibilities to potentially replace Hortiz, including director of college scouting David Blackburn and assistant director of player personnel Mark Azevedo, among others.

The Ravens and Chargers will play next season in Los Angeles. Baltimore defeated Los Angeles, 20-10, at SoFi Stadium this past season.