Will Jim Harbaugh boost the Chargers right away? | Zero Blitz
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and NFL writer Charles McDonals discuss the impact of the Harbaugh hire in Los Angeles and explain why the franchise may not see a boost for a season or two.
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Video Transcript
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JASON FITZ: When you watch Andy Reid work, when you watch Patrick Mahomes work, it's art. Like, so I love-- like, I watch it and I say, I've got so much respect for it. Even though I don't-- will never love the Chiefs, those people are incredible. So now, the Chargers have to ask themselves, did they get their own dynamic tag team?
Did they get their own duo? Did they get their great ability to take down Reids and Mahomes by hiring Jim Harbaugh, who now gets Justin Herbert? In your mind, when you see Herbert and Harbaugh together, what's it say?
CHARLES MCDONALD: I think it's a great marriage because-- simply just coming from the standpoint-- I know this is, like, the most simplistic way to boil down Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers. But, like, he's never failed at any stop.
JASON FITZ: It makes me think about the one knock on Harbaugh, and it's a knock I don't care about. Like, when people talk about, oh, he wears down an organization. If I'm the Chargers, I don't give a damn about any of that. Like, if I'm only going to have him for five years but it makes these five years incredible, I will take that all day.
CHARLES MCDONALD: The only thing I would say about this marriage is probably temper expectations for year one, because, like you said before, they're about $44 million over projected cap space for next year. And they have some free agents that they got to take care of. So you're either going to have to, like, restructure or, I would imagine with the new regime coming in, to start cutting guys that were a part of the old thing.
So you might be looking at an offense where it's just like Herbert, Harbaugh, and some pieces. But even then, that might be enough to at least get them to the playoffs. But I think you're probably looking at, like, 2025 for this thing to really start kicking off for them.