Jim Harbaugh

The Los Angeles Chargers have reportedly landed former San Francisco 49ers All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman to be the team's new linebackers coach, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported Friday that the Chargers were targeting Bowman for the position.

The deal reunites Bowman with his former coach, Jim Harbaugh, who led the 49ers from 2011 to 2014 and was hired by the Chargers in January.

Bowman, who retired in 2017, has spent the last three seasons as a defensive analyst at Maryland. The job with the Chargers would be his first NFL coaching job.

In his eight-year NFL career, Bowman racked up 798 tackles, 14 sacks and five interceptions. He was given First-team All-Pro honors four times and was selected to the Pro Bowl three times. He was also given the Butkus Award, which honors the top linebacker at the high school, college and pro levels, in 2013.

Harbaugh and Bowman found plenty of success together. They reached the NFC Championship the first three years Harbaugh was coach, advancing to the Super Bowl in 2012 where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens.

Harbaugh is coming off an undefeated season with Michigan that ended with a national championship, and he's looking to find similar success at the professional level. Bringing Bowman on to his staff could aid him in his quest.

Former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman is reportedly heading to the Los Angeles Chargers.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Roman is expected to join Jim Harbaugh's coaching staff in a "prominent spot." As of Sunday, "the two sides are working out details."

Roman is a longtime NFL assistant who has worked for the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills in various roles dating back to 1995. While he was most recently in Baltimore, he was also with Harbaugh in San Francisco during the head coach's first stint on the NFL sidelines.

Harbaugh was the head coach of the 49ers for four seasons from 2011 through 2014, which were also the four years Roman was the OC.

It was a successful partnership, as the 49ers went to three straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl during that span. While they never won a Lombardi Trophy, they were among the most consistent teams in the league with Alex Smith and then Colin Kaepernick under center.

Since then, Roman was the OC of the Bills for two years before joining the Ravens in 2017. He was promoted to OC in Baltimore in 2019 and served in that role for four seasons under Harbaugh's brother, John.

Roman worked with quarterback Lamar Jackson when he was with the Ravens, and his ability to get the best out of Justin Herbert will likely determine the Chargers' ceiling in 2024 and beyond.

Los Angeles is coming off a disappointing 5-12 campaign, which is why it fired head coach Brandon Staley. This is a transformative offseason that most notably included the hiring of Harbaugh and will likely see personnel change on the roster as well.

Roman is the next domino as the Chargers fill out their staff in the early portion of that offseason.

As Jim Harbaugh prepares for his second head coaching job in the NFL, his former franchise appears to be supporting him from afar.

Harbaugh is set to make his return from the collegiate ranks to the NFL after being hired as the next coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in January. This ended a very successful tenure at Michigan where he led the program to three College Football Playoff appearances and a National Championship in the 2023 season.

As the chapter with the Chargers begins, it makes sense to look back at Harbaugh's previous NFL stint, where he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014. That tenure was very successful as well, as he compiled a 44-19-1 record and guided the franchise to three NFC Championship appearances and a Super Bowl appearance in 2012.

Despite the success, his time with the 49ers ended on an awkward note as the two sides "mutually parted ways" and it was widely reported that the decision was made due to "non-football reasons" and more to do with his conflicts with the front office.

However, it appears that time heals all wounds with this situation, as 49ers CEO Jed York said during an appearance on The TK Show podcast that he believes that Harbaugh will be a great fit with the Chargers.

"I congratulated them when they [Michigan] won the championship game," York said. " We've texted back and forth. I think Jim is a helluva coach. I think it's a great spot for him. I'm excited for the Chargers. I think they will be very, very successful."

York continued by saying that the Chargers have a very solid roster and that Harbaugh could be the missing piece to get that team to reach its potential.

"I think it is a team that had talent, that didn't achieve what they hoped to," York added. "I don't want to speak too much about somebody else's team, but it's certainly a talented team. I think he has the chance to do really, really well with the Chargers."

The Chargers went 5-12 in 2023 and missed the postseason for the fourth time in the past five seasons. This comes despite having an elite quarterback in Justin Herbert and more talented players like Keenan Allen, Rashawn Slater, Joey Bosa and Derwin James.

Los Angeles hopes Harbaugh can help this team reach new heights and contend in a tough AFC West division. As for York and the 49ers, a matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII next Sunday is fast approaching.

New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh made a bold prediction regarding where J.J. McCarthy, his former quarterback at Michigan, will land in the 2024 NFL draft.

Speaking Friday during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, the former Wolverines head coach said he believes McCarthy will be the first quarterback taken in this year's draft, topping the likes of USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye and LSU's Jayden Daniels.

"Don't be surprised if and when he's the number one quarterback off the board," Harbaugh said. "That's my prediction right now.

"When people get a load of J.J., and how he can throw the ball, how he spins it, his athleticism, his intelligence. Talk about 'it' factor. He's got it. The competitiveness that he has. And they get around him, and they really start digging in, and they start talking to him...That's an early prediction for the 2024 NFL Draft."

Harbaugh coached McCarthy over the last three seasons at Michigan, and the duo put together a stellar 2023 campaign capped off by a College Football Playoff national title.

McCarthy put together the best season of his collegiate career in 2023, completing 72.3 percent of his passes for 2,991 yards and 22 touchdowns against four interceptions in 15 games, in addition to rushing for 202 yards and three scores.

However, he still faces an uphill battle to be the first quarterback off the board this spring.

Williams is widely expected to be selected by the Chicago Bears with the No. 1 overall pick, and ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. has Daniels going No. 2 to the Washington Commanders and Maye No. 3 to the New England Patriots in his mock draft.

McCarthy is the fourth quarterback off the board at No. 16 to the Seattle Seahawks in Kiper's mock draft.

Bleacher Report NFL Scout Derrik Klassen wrote of McCarthy:

McCarthy fits best in a Shanahan-style system that simplifies things pre-snap and leans into throws over the middle of the field with the help of play action. He has the requisite arm talent and pocket toughness to function in that system. Even still, McCarthy will take time to develop his ability to progress from the pocket and, hopefully, add weight and strength.

A lot can change before the draft, especially with the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine serving as major checkpoints, but it's still hard to envision McCarthy leapfrogging any of the aforementioned quarterbacks.

Although he is entering the final year of his contract, Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen said Thursday that he doesn't anticipate playing elsewhere in 2024.

In an interview with NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe during the Pro Bowl Games, Allen said, "I don't see myself going anywhere," when asked about his status with the Chargers for next season:

Allen also noted that he has already spoken to new Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who told him to keep being himself and "continue to be a leader."

L.A. is currently nearly $45 million over the salary cap, per OverTheCap.com, which means the Chargers must make some significant moves to get under the cap by the start of the new league year in March.

The Chargers are likely to restructure players and make some cuts, and while they could save $23 million against the cap by releasing Allen, per Spotrac, it is difficult to envision them doing so.

Allen, 31, has been the Bolts' leading receiver for years, and he is coming off another strong season that earned him his sixth Pro Bowl selection in the past seven seasons.

Despite missing four games due to injury, Allen recorded 108 receptions for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns, marking his most productive season since at least 2017.

Allen was quarterback Justin Herbert's unquestioned go-to receiver, as fellow starting wide receiver Mike Williams was lost for the season after just three games, and rookie first-round pick Quentin Johnson struggled to acclimate to life in the NFL with 38 catches for 431 yards and two touchdowns.

Due in part to Herbert missing the final four games of the season with an injury, the Chargers went just 5-12. The Chargers fired head coach Brandon Staley late in the season and swung for the fences with his replacement by bringing in Harbaugh.

During his previous NFL head coaching stint with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh reached the NFC Championship Game three times in four years and went to the Super Bowl once as well.

This past season, Harbaugh led his alma mater, the University of Michigan, to its first national title since 1997.

Because of Harbaugh's presence, the expectation is that the Chargers will be able to turn things around quickly and be playoff contenders as soon as next season.

For that to happen, Allen figures to be a significant part of the equation, so it comes as little surprise that he doesn't expect to be anywhere other than Los Angeles in 2024.

New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh held his introductory press conference on Thursday and not only expressed a desire to win the Super Bowl title that eluded him during his last stint in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, but to claim several rings.

"It's got to be multiple championships," he told reporters. "We're going to be humble and hungry, but that's our goal."

Harbaugh, 60, went 44-19-1 in four seasons with the Niners (2011-14), leading the team to three playoff berths and one Super Bowl before returning to college with Michigan, where he won a national title this past season.

His pedigree in football is undeniable—after a long NFL career, he turned to coaching, where he's served as the head coach of San Diego (2004-06), Stanford (2008-10), the Niners and Michigan (2015-23).

The Chargers made sense on a number of fronts, though a solid roster led by Justin Herbert was likely the most attractive aspect of the job.

"The thing that's hitting me is enormous talent," Harbaugh told reporters regarding Herbert. "I'm waking up real early in the morning these days like, 'I gotta bring it.' I gotta bring my A-game. I gotta get a coaching staff hired that's worthy of coaching Justin, Derwin [James] and all the guys. I'm really thinking about my accountability and making sure that I'm ready."

But it probably helped that the team's owners, the Spanos family, also expressed an interest in allowing Harbaugh to run their ship as he saw fit after several seasons underachieving under Brandon Staley:

Harbaugh has had success at every stop, but a Super Bowl title eluded him as both a player and coach. The Chargers, meanwhile, have never won a Super Bowl as a franchise and only reached the big game once in their existence (1994).

So Harbaugh and the Chargers are united in their hunger to finally claim a ring. Well, more than one, according to the head coach.