Los Angeles Chargers

Sorry, fantasy football players—it's going to be a bit tough projecting Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins on a weekly basis, with the Los Angeles Chargers likely to utilize both running backs this season in a true timeshare.

"We don't overthink that," offensive coordinator Greg Roman told reporters on Thursday. "They're both going to play. Whoever has got the hot hand, as I always tell them, has got the hot hand. So, we're going to go with the hot hand. They know that, and they get that. It's really nothing scientific."

The two were paired together on the Baltimore Ravens between the 2020-23 seasons, and when Dobbins was healthy he often earned starting honors. The problem was that he was rarely healthy—he's only played 24 games in his NFL career, and 15 of them came in his rookie season, when he rushed for 805 yards and nine scores.

Edwards was far more reliable in the availability department, but less so in the productivity department. Even last year—when he set career highs in rushing yards (810) and rushing scores (13)—he still finished 25th at the running back position in PPR leagues.

The saving grace for both players is that a Jim Harbaugh offense is going to run the ball, and a lot. But it may be tough to predict which weeks will be fruitful for either Dobbins or Edwards. Given the former's injury history, Edwards remains the safer bet for your fantasy team.

Jim Harbaugh might be in the NFL now, but the Los Angeles Chargers head coach won't pass up an opportunity to take a shot at the NCAA.

"They've been keeping money away from players for decades," he said to ESPN's Kris Rhim. They just got hit with a $2.7 billion lawsuit. They have no credibility. That's the truth."

In August, the NCAA handed Harbaugh a four-year show-cause penalty after he was found to have "violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations."

NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions said Harbaugh met with a prospective recruit and the recruit's father at a diner in February 2021 and did the same with another recruiting target that March. At the time, coaches were prohibited to meet with recruits due to a dead period amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NCAA also said Harbaugh denied having met with the student-athletes despite the presence of overwhelming evidence supporting the claim.

The organization subsequently issued a notice of allegations to Michigan in connection to the sign-stealing scandal that saw Harbaugh suspended by the Big Ten for three games.

Harbaugh remained defiant when addressing the NCAA's findings. He told reporters he was taught to "never lie," "never cheat" and "never steal" along with being accountable when he does wrong. To that end, he said, "I do not apologize," while maintaining his innocence.

For now, the 60-year-old looks like a clear victor in his long-running battle with the NCAA. He left Michigan on a high after guiding the Wolverines to a national championship in the 2023 season, and his departure means he's no longer subject to the NCAA's rules and discipline.

Even the show-cause penalty is unlikely to affect Harbaugh. His Chargers contract reportedly runs for five years at $16 million annually. It's doubtful he'll be looking for a job within the next four years, and if he does get fired by Los Angeles before then, he can simply wait out the remainder of his show-cause order.

Based on Harbaugh's comments to Rhim, he might become an even louder critic of the NCAA thanks to his new distance from college football.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh pushed back on the idea his demeanor can be off-putting to those around him as he embarks on his NFL comeback.

"The narrative that I'm hard to get along with or whatever other narrative out there is, that's just people's narrative," he said to ESPN's Kris Rhim. "Nobody's ever doubted where my heart is every single time: what's in the best interest of the team that I am on."

Harbaugh guided the San Francisco 49ers to an NFC title in his second season in 2012. By the 2015 offseason, he was out of a job. His dismissal came amid prolonged discord with general manager Trent Baalke and what sounded like a strained relationship with the locker room.

"I think he just pushed guys too far," said former Niners offensive tackle Alex Boone in a 2015 interview with HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much. You know, 'We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this.' And you'd be like, 'This guy might be clinically insane. He's crazy.'"

Joe Staley, another former 49ers tackle, offered a similar perspective when speaking to Mojobreak Media in June 2023 (via Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports Bay Area).

"Obviously, his personality rubs people [the wrong way], he's hard to get along with consistently," Staley said. If you're a Harbaugh guy, you're in his camp and if you're not, you're very against him."

He added the drama between Harbaugh and Baalke was "building" for two years prior to coming to a head in 2014.

"Just looking back on that era of 49ers football, I had never had so many conversations with ownership, with general management, with head coaches about stuff that did not apply to football. It was just like, 'Why am I talking about this? Keep it about football.' That was the situation we were in."

Moving down to the college ranks meant Harbaugh could turn the roster over every few years, thus ensuring things were less likely to reach a breaking point with his players. But his Michigan tenure wasn't without controversy or clashes with the school's administration, the latter of which mirrored his time in the Bay Area.

For now, Harbaugh and the Chargers are in their honeymoon period and history indicates he'll make Los Angeles a winning team before too long.

However, the way things ended at his last two stops raise concerns about the staying power of the partnership.

For Harbaugh, taking the Chargers job is an opportunity to show he has evolved as a coach and that his old reputation no longer applies.

The Los Angeles Chargers and kicker Cameron Dicker have agreed on a contract extension, per ESPN's Adam Schefter:

"ESPN sources: Chargers reached agreement today with Cameron Dicker 'The Kicker' on a four-year, $22.004 million extension that includes $12.5 million guaranteed, making him one of the top five highest-paid kickers in the NFL, just ahead of Evan McPherson and Graham Gano. The deal ties Dicker to the Chargers through the 2028 season."

The 24-year-old Dicker, who is entering his third NFL season, made 31-of-33 field goals last season. He hit all 35 of his extra points as well.

Dicker signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2022 but was let go in August of that year. The Baltimore Ravens then picked him up on Aug. 26 but waived him two days later.

Dicker then landed with the Philadelphia Eagles and made his NFL debut on October 9, 2022, in place of injured regular Jake Elliott. Dicker went 2-for-2 on field goals, including the game-winning 23-yarder with 1:45 left in a 20-17 victory.

The Eagles released Dicker that month after Elliott returned, but he landed with the Chargers in November to kick for an injured Dustin Hopkins. He made 19-of-20 field goals and all 22 of his extra points.

Dicker got the Chargers' kicker job in 2023 after Los Angeles traded Hopkins to the Cleveland Browns. He excelled in 2023, making all of his field goal attempts under 50 yards. Now he's earned a well-deserved contract extension for the Chargers, who will begin year one of head coach Jim Harbaugh's era on Sunday, Sept. 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Los Angeles Chargers have acquired quarterback Taylor Heinicke from the Atlanta Falcons, Dianna Russini and Josh Kendall reported on Wednesday for The Athletic.

The Falcons received a conditional sixth-round pick in return, per Russini.

Heinicke was previously listed third on the Falcons' depth chart behind veteran starter Kirk Cousins and 2024 first-rounder Michael Penix Jr.

He will now be expected to compete with Easton Stick to back up Justin Herbert in Los Angeles.

Heinicke is set to earn a base salary of $1.21 million in 2024. The Falcons will save that much toward the cap, while taking on his $3.32 million signing bonus as dead money, per Over the Cap.

The trade is particularly notable given Herbert's injury history, including the season-ending finger injury that caused him to miss the final month of the 2023 season.

The Chargers announced on Aug. 1 that Herbert had been diagnosed with a right foot plantar fascia injury which would necessitate wearing a walking boot for two weeks.

The team said at the time that Herbert was expected to be ready to take on the Las Vegas Raiders when Week 1 action kicked off on Sept. 8.

Although Herbert made no preseason appearances for the Chargers, he returned to team practice last week.

Former Charger Dan Fouts said on Saturday that Herbert says his foot "has healed completely and is no longer an issue" (h/t Fernando Ramirez of the Sporting Tribune.)

Herbert may be on track to play in Week 1, but if he is forced to miss any time in 2024 the Chargers may want an experienced backup who could take his place.

In that case Heinicke, who has 38 NFL appearances and 29 starts under his belt, would be a better fit than Stick, who has made six appearances and four starts for the Chargers in the 2020 and 2023 seasons.

Stick did not help his case by completing just 45.5 percent of his passes and throwing three interceptions in three preseason appearances for the Chargers.

It is not yet clear if Stick will remain on the Chargers' 53-man roster. Head coach Jim Harbaugh gave a noncommittal answer on Tuesday as to whether he was "satisfied" with Stick's progress this offseason.

As Justin Herbert prepares to play under his fourth head coach, the hope is that this one can help him and the Los Angeles Chargers find more success in the win column.

The Chargers signal-caller was rated in a tie for fifth with Matthew Stafford in The Athletic's annual quarterback ratings. When making the ranking, a defensive coach noted that new head coach Jim Harbaugh's presence could make Herbert "elevate."

"Harbaugh will challenge the competitive level, and Herbert will respond to that," another defensive coach said, per Mike Sando of The Athletic. "The culture is what is going to help Herbert elevate. Then we will be able to see some things in moments where, OK, can this guy really do that? Because I've played him before when he did not do it in those situations, and we were not that good."

Herbert is entering his fifth season in the NFL and has been named to one Pro Bowl. He was having a strong 2023, throwing for 3,134 yards with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 13 games. He would suffer a season-ending injury in Week 14.

However, the Chargers were just 5-8 when he was on the field and would finish the season 5-12. Herbert has only led the Chargers to the postseason one time and that ended in a Wild Card loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Harbaugh has not coached in the NFL since the 2014 season, but his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers was very successful. He led the franchise to a 44-19-1 overall record and one Super Bowl appearance in 2012. He would then become the head coach at Michigan and led the team to three College Football Playoff appearances and a national championship in 2023.

He found significant success with Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick with the 49ers and future NFL players like Andrew Luck and J.J. McCarthy at the collegiate level. Herbert is one of the most talented signal-callers he has worked with, so fireworks could come for the team in 2024 and beyond.

The Chargers open the 2024 season on Sept. 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh lauded the leadership of quarterback Justin Herbert, who was among "11 or 12" players stuck in an elevator for a few hours at the team hotel in downtown Dallas on Friday.

"'Justin Herbert's a leader. He was a rock. Kept everybody calm,'" Harbaugh said, per the Associated Press. "And everybody kept their poise."

The Chargers were in town for a preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys, which ended in a 26-19 Bolts win on Saturday.

Everyone ultimately escaped after Dallas Fire-Rescue lifted all the players as well as Jeri Fouts, the wife of franchise legend and Chargers TV analyst Dan Fouts, through the ceiling panels and into another elevator.

Harbaugh saw everyone being rescued and took notice of Herbert.

"And it was hot," Harbaugh said. "As each person came off the elevator, sweating and some had the shirt off. Justin Herbert, his hair was a little wet. But his shirt was completely dry. That was another thing that blew me away."

He also spoke about the difficulty of the situation.

"You get in those situations, and it's a test of wills," Harbaugh said. "I was proud of each of the guys and the two women that were on that elevator. That's a win. You feel good about yourself. You were challenged. It was a test of will, and you pull it down, or pull it in."

Harbaugh is in his first year as the Chargers' head coach after nine seasons at Michigan. He ended his career with a 15-0 record and national championship in his final campaign with the Wolverines.

The Harbaugh era officially begins Sept. 8 when the team plays the Las Vegas Raiders.

Several Los Angeles Chargers players and members of their traveling party in Dallas where the team is preparing for a preseason game against the Cowboys had to be rescued from a stuck hotel elevator on Friday night.

The Chargers said in a statement that around 7:30 p.m. local time the Dallas Fire-Rescue squad assisted everyone safely out of the elevator through a ceiling panel and into an adjacent elevator.

Dallas Fire-Rescue told Zachary Yanes of WFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth, a total of 15 people associated with the Chargers—players and members of the team's traveling party—became trapped when the elevator became stuck in a "blind shaft" between the floors in the hotel.

The Fire-Rescue team were unsuccessful in their attempts to get the elevator working again, so the Urban Search and Rescue squad was called in.

ESPN's Kris Rhim reported Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh invited the Dallas Fire-Rescue staff to the team's meal room for dinner after everyone was rescued.

The Chargers traveled to Dallas after Thursday's practice for their preseason finale against the Cowboys. The two teams will play at AT&T Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

Los Angeles Chargers star Derwin James took a unique approach to his 2024 offseason.

James trained with the United States Coast Guard for a day thanks to USAA as part of Whistle's I Could Do That series.

The three-time Pro Bowl safety discussed the parallels between football and training with the U.S. Coast Guard.

"You may have a plan coming into it, but the plan may alter - everything can change in one play," James said. "Be in control of your mind, trust your training and trust the techniques that were taught to you."

He participated in pursuit training and flew in a helicopter as part of a search and rescue training exercise.

"In the military, everyone has a role just like football," James said. "And that's what it takes to make the mission complete. I felt like a hero today, for real!"

The 28-year-old is one of the league's top safeties, anchoring multiple defenses throughout his career. Although the Chargers owned the third-worst pass defense in the NFL last season, James still wrapped up an impressive individual campaign.

He recorded 125 tackles, five tackles for loss, seven defended passes and an interception in 16 starts. With new head coach Jim Harbaugh patrolling the sidelines, James will look to make the third postseason appearance of his career in 2024.

It's safe to say Jim Harbaugh is relieved to have his starting quarterback back on the field.

The Los Angeles Chargers head coach joked that he "heard music" when Justin Herbert returned to practice on Monday after not seeing action since July.

"I felt like music should be playing. I thought I heard music," Harbaugh said. "Voices of angels maybe. It felt great. It felt great."

Before Monday, Herbert's last practice was July 31. He injured the plantar fascia in his right foot and has worn a walking boot for two weeks, recently shedding it and getting back on the practice field.

Herbert missed the last few weeks of the regular season in 2023 after suffering a finger injury in December. Before that injury, he had started 62 consecutive games dating back to his rookie season in 2020.

In 13 games last year, Herbert had 3,134 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. In his last full season in 2022, he collected 4,739 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, leading Los Angeles to a playoff appearance where it fell just short against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round.

The Chargers are coming off a disappointing 5-12 season that saw the firing of head coach Brandon Staley. They replaced Staley with Harbaugh after he won a national championship at Michigan, and they're hoping the new head coach plus a healthy Herbert will yield positive results this season.

Los Angeles opens its season with a matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 8.