EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers opened rookie minicamp Friday at The Bolt, the team’s facility. It was an eventful day both on the field and at the lectern.
All eight of the Chargers’ 2026 draft picks participated in their first NFL practice, including edge rusher Akheem Mesidor and offensive lineman Jake Slaughter. The offense wore white jerseys. The defense wore blue jerseys. The Chargers spent most of the practice on positional work.
In total, 47 players participated in Friday’s minicamp practice — eight draft picks, 17 undrafted free agent signings, 20 tryout players and two under-contract veterans. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who spent last season on the Chargers’ practice squad, participated. So did long snapper Peter Bowden, who signed a futures contract in January. Undrafted free agent tackle Isaiah World, who had ACL surgery in February, was not on the field.
At the lectern, all three Chargers coordinators answered questions — special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel and defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary.
For McDaniel, it was his first time speaking with local media since his introductory news conference in January. There was a lot of cover.
Let’s dive into what McDaniel said and what it means for the 2026 season.
The ‘vision’ for Herbert
As McDaniel himself said Friday, “It’s been a long time since I last stood at this podium.” More than three months, to be a little more specific. And in that span, he has been working with coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz to construct a new Chargers offense, both in terms of scheme and personnel.
Chargers players returned to the facility in April for Phase 1, a two-week period during which on-field activities are pretty limited. For instance, only strength and conditioning coaches are allowed on the field with players during Phase 1. All coaches are allowed on the field for Phase 2, which began for the Chargers on Monday.
“As it stands, I think the players have digested the core pocket of the playbook and how it needs to look,” McDaniel said. “We do have a Chargers offense that’s unique and only Chargers, and I’m pretty excited about it. It’s been some of the most fun months of my career in that process, and I think the players are gravitating to it.”
Of course, that group of players includes quarterback Justin Herbert. McDaniel said he and Herbert have been meeting for about three weeks since the start of Phase 1. This week, they got on the field together, and McDaniel said he has been very impressed with how fast Herbert has learned new coaching points.
McDaniel said there were certain elements he thought would take three to four weeks, or even all spring, for Herbert to master. Herbert, according to McDaniel, has mastered those elements “in the span of three days to four days.”
McDaniel said he has been particularly intrigued by how bold Herbert can be when trying new things. McDaniel acknowledged that “elite performers” are sometimes averse to change. He said he has not experienced that mentality with Herbert.
“He’s dropped the burden of any sort of something that could hold him back,” McDaniel said. “He’s really let go, been all in, tried new things. From a performer such as himself, it’s been very impressive that he’s worked through it and been able to find the beginning level of something that he can master very, very fast.”
When asked for an example of a new thing he has asked of Herbert, McDaniel referenced footwork on short-area throws. This was one of the more interesting segments of the news conference.
McDaniel said the first task he performed as Chargers offensive coordinator was watching “every pass play that (Herbert’s) ever had in the National Football League.” Studying Herbert’s play eventually led McDaniel to a statistical finding based on time to throw, or the amount of time between when the ball is snapped and when a quarterback releases a pass or gets sacked.
McDaniel said Herbert has enjoyed “a ton of success” on both outer bounds of the time-to-throw spectrum. Herbert is very accurate when he releases the ball in less than 2.4 seconds. He is very explosive when his time to throw is extra long. Those are the plays in which Herbert is extending and creating off-script.
The numbers substantiate McDaniel’s claims. When Herbert had a time to throw under 2.4 seconds in 2025, he completed 77.4 percent of his passes, according to TruMedia. That was the seventh-highest completion percentage among 33 qualified quarterbacks on such throws. When Herbert had a time to throw of 3.5 seconds or more, he threw nine touchdowns. That led the league. He also completed 22 passes of more than 15 yards, tied for the fourth-most among qualified quarterbacks on such throws.
McDaniel believes there is untapped potential on Herbert’s quick-game throws. The numbers back this up, too. Despite his high completion percentage, Herbert only averaged 6.4 yards per attempt when his time to throw was under 2.4 seconds, according to TruMedia. That ranked 22nd among qualified quarterbacks on such throws. So seventh in completion percentage, and 22nd in yards per attempt. The potential exists in that discrepancy.
In theory, the scheme should make those two rates more equitable. In four years playing for McDaniel from 2022 to ’25, Tua Tagovailoa averaged 7.8 yards per attempt when his time to throw was under 2.4 seconds, according to TruMedia. That ranked second among qualified QBs on such throws. We are talking about an increase of 1.4 yards per attempt.
In order to get there, Herbert must take on some of these new coaching points. Just a few that McDaniel mentioned: throwing with a quicker rhythm, adjusting his eyes, trusting his feet to lead him through the progression, and dropping back more quickly to allow access to two routes at the same time.
“All those nuanced things through our pass game is what we’re diving into as we speak,” McDaniel said.
And according to McDaniel, the early returns have been outstanding.
“We’re looking to master and be elite at everything that we do, and being able to own the position in a new way,” McDaniel said. “For him to own the position in a way he never has and ultimately for it to be obvious to everyone around he’s playing the best football of his career, and that’s kind of how we’ve approached it. That’s been our vision and expectations.”
High expectations for WR room
Within the passing offense, the Chargers are also expecting significant development from their receivers. Ladd McConkey, Tre’ Harris, KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Derius Davis all return. The Chargers added fourth-round pick Brenen Thompson, whose speed was on display while running routes during Friday’s practice.
McDaniel is setting the bar high for this group.
“It’s a reasonable expectation to exceed whatever their career highs are across the board in that room,” McDaniel said. “I think there’s a lot of untapped potential just in a lot of their skill sets across the board.”
McConkey set his career highs — 1,149 receiving yards and seven touchdowns — in his rookie season in 2024. McDaniel said he thought McConkey was a “perfect fit” in the scheme when the receiver was coming out of Georgia in the 2024 draft.
Ladd McConkey is viewed as a perfect fit in Mike McDaniel’s offense. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
“The multitude of ways you can get him the ball and how he takes low-risk throws and completions and turns them into long gains and his ability to separate versus man coverage, all that,” McDaniel said.
Quentin Johnston set his career high in receiving last year with 753 yards. He caught eight touchdowns, his career high in a season, in 2024 and 2025.
“He’s a guy that has some traits in his game that are similar to some very powerful, explosive, productive receivers that I’ve had in the past,” McDaniel said of Johnston. “Namely, like Julio and Andre.”
That would be Hall of Famer Andre Johnson, whom McDaniel coached in Houston. And that would be future Hall of Famer Julio Jones, whom McDaniel coached in Atlanta.
“It’s easy for me to challenge them,” McDaniel said, “and they’ve risen to the challenge of having the expectation that the Chargers receiving corps and that room is thought of differently in a year than it is this year.”
Insight on OL turnover
The Chargers have 16 offensive linemen on their roster. Rather remarkably, nine of those players were not on the roster in 2025, including three free-agent signings and four draft picks. The turnover in this group is evidence of the Chargers’ shift from a gap scheme under Greg Roman to a zone scheme under McDaniel.
We’ve discussed this shift quite a bit through free agency and the draft — specifically, the different body types the Chargers were seeking and will be seeking at guard. They signed Cole Strange in free agency to play right guard. Left guard will be a competition, but if all goes according to plan, Slaughter will be starting there.
McDaniel was asked to explain what skill set he wants in his guards.
“We want to play a certain style of ball that is convicted, that dictates the terms, so there is a level of quickness,” he said. “We’re looking for guys that can block people in space, where a lot of the big plays and the things that change games and scoring opportunities, where those occur.”
Interestingly, McDaniel acknowledged offenses have an “inherent disadvantage in all known-pass situations.” In other words, downs and distances in which the defense knows the offense must pass. So third-and-long, fourth-and-long, etc.
The follow-up: How does he balance the need for quickness with the need for solid protection in known-passing situations?
“What we’ve found is that there’s a bucket of good enough that you can mold into high standards, and then there’s a line, a threshold, where regardless of what they do in the run game, it’s not going to matter because we’d have to sub them out in known-passing situations,” McDaniel said.
It is a fascinating give and take. What is clear is that McDaniel has a defined vision of what that threshold is and how to make it functional within his scheme.
