After finishing dead last in the AFC West last season at 5-12, the Chargers are looking a lot different in 2024. Along with the shakeup of players on both sides of the ball, Los Angeles also has a new coaching staff in town.
The Chargers decided to fire Brandon Staley after a couple of subpar years in Los Angeles and hired Jim Harbaugh, fresh off of a National Championship at Michigan. After a 5-12 season last year, and blowing a 27-0 lead in the playoffs the year before, Los Angeles felt it was right to move on from Staley.
LA moved on from a lot of notable faces within the organization this offseason. Along with cutting Mike Williams, Keenan Allen was also traded to Chicago. Justin Herbert's top two targets both gone, and to add to that, Austin Ekeler departed for Washington as well. The top three weapons on the Chargers offense in recent history are now all gone.
They were able to get some running back help in free agency after signing two former Ravens: Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins. Dobbins and Edwards will become the two-headed monster in the backfield this season. The concern with Dobbins is his health. In his brief career, he has played in only 24 games while missing 43 games due to injury.
After being much lower on the depth chart last season, Joshua Palmer will now takeover as Justin Herbert's WR1. Along with Palmer, the Chargers drafted Ladd McConkey, and signed DJ Clark to bolster the receiver room.
Along with selecting McConkey in the draft, the Chargers had one of my favorite first round selections in Joe Alt. Alt will come in as the starting right tackle standing at 6'8 and weighing over 320 pounds. He showed in his time at Notre Dame that he can be an absolute beast. Justin Herbert should have nothing to worry about with Alt blocking his right side and Rashawn Slater blocking his left side.
LA's defense was abysmal last season and finished ranked 28th in the NFL. Their lowlight of the season in 2023 was getting 63 points put up on them against the Raiders on Thursday Night Football. The Chargers decided it was time to move on from some big names on defense.
They cut Eric Kendricks and also watched key players such as Dean Marlowe, Kenneth Murray, Michael Davis, and others all depart in free agency. They did sign Denzyl Perryman and Poona Ford to add to a defense that still consists of Khalil Mack and Derwin James.
Coming from Michigan, Jim Harbaugh lead the nation's #1 ranked defense. It doesn't always translate well from college to the pros, but there is hope for improvement with Harbaugh coming into town.
The Chargers certainly have a large hole to climb out of after finishing last in their division in 2023. Will this new look team lead by Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert instantly click in year 1 or will there be some noticeable growing pains along the way?
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