Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Los Angeles Chargers (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is obviously looking forward to NFL Combine week.
Harbaugh is about to begin his second season as Chargers head coach, fresh off of a surprising 11-6 campaign that saw Los Angeles clinch a playoff berth. While the Chargers are a playoff team, they have many positions where they can upgrade with the No. 22 pick in the draft, including wide receiver and the offensive and defensive lines.
However, Harbaugh isn't giving any indication where he's leaning with his first-round pick or the draft itself, simply saying they're looking at all positions with the exception of quarterback.
“Really all the positions,” said Harbaugh in a one-on-one interview with RG on behalf of INVIVYD when asked what position he's targeting in the draft.
“The mindset, the philosophy is, just build, build, build, get better. That's the goal, that's the mindset. You just go about it and attack it.”
The Chargers entered the offseason with 30 free agents, including nine-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Khalil Mack. Harbaugh expresses the desire to bring back his 2024 team, a roster that he “loves.” But he's well aware that's not possible in today's age of free agency and turnover.
Los Angeles ranked No. 1 in the league on defense in 2024, relying on a stout defensive unit, a commitment to the run game and turnover-free football to win games. They might have to emerge as a more explosive offense in order to take that next step into being an elite team that can make a deep playoff run.
Four Michigan Wolverines products — all of whom played under Harbaugh when they won the National Championship in 2023 — are projected first-round draft picks: defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, tight end Colston Loveland and cornerback Will Johnson.
While Harbaugh definitely has a bit of an affinity for his Michigan guys having played and coached there — he drafted two Wolverines last year — he said he welcomes “competitors” from everywhere, not just his alma mater.
“Competitors are welcome at the Los Angeles Chargers, and they come from anywhere, they can come from any team, any state, any country. Competitors welcomed here. Super excited, I mean those are beloved sons you're talking about, the Michigan guys, 'cause I've coached them.”
The Wolverines have never had more than three players selected in the first round of an NFL draft. They would set a school record if all four of their top-ranked prospects are selected in the first round this time around.
Harbaugh reminds people of the importance of making sure you get every draft pick right, considering you only pick every 32 selections. Los Angeles has seven overall draft picks in the 2025 NFL Draft (before compensatory picks are announced).
“Then on the other side of that coin, you get one pick every 32 picks,” said Harbaugh. “The odds are we're going to be playing against you at some point. That one pick every 32, you want it to be right. You want it to be the best it can possibly be.”
The Ohio Michigan Rivalry
While Harbaugh is obviously concentrated on improving the Chargers, he always shows love to his alma mater. While Michigan went through a difficult season in their first year without him, they ended things on a strong note, defeating their top rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes, for the fourth straight time — they haven't done that since the early 90's — and winning their bowl game over No. 11 Alabama in an upset.
Despite the setback, the Buckeyes ended up winning the national championship with college football's new playoff format of 12 teams.
“The Buckeyes won that national championship, congratulations to them,” said Harbaugh of his college rival. “On the other side of the coin, it doesn't diminish the Michigan-Ohio State game. That game always has been, and always will be, like the Super Bowl. It's pretty much that big for those that have played in it, coached in it, or follow it. It doesn't diminish that game, either.”
“Congratulations to both teams, one the national champion, the other being the winner of that game,” Harbaugh continued to say.
Harbaugh also served as a head coach for San Diego (2004 through 2006) and Stanford (2007 through 2010) during his college days before taking the Michigan job in 2015. He says he's in favor of this current 12-team playoff system, saying championships should be decided on the field rather than through the old voting process prior to the playoff era.
“It's a playoff era, and I'm completely for that,” said Harbaugh. “I think it's a much better way to do it than the way that it used to be done back when I was in college football and not too long ago, You play your season, you play your ball game and then the coaches would vote for a national champion and then the other side, the media would vote for their national champion.”
It’s an outcome that many, including Harbaugh have found to add value and agency to the athletes that love to compete against eachother.
“It's a much better way to do it, to actually decide those things on the field, pretty much like every other sport, like every other college sport, men's and women's, amateur and professional, there's a playoff system,” Harbaugh continued to say.
DJ Siddiqi
