Jim Harbaugh's Chargers earn perfect description after heavyweight offseason

It would be an understatement to say the Los Angeles Chargers have a reputation and identity under head coach Jim Harbaugh. 

Those Chargers want to play good defense and, perhaps more importantly, run the football in a big way. Rostering an elite quarterback like Justin Herbert is nice, of course, but pounding the rock is the Harbaugh way. 

It’s only fitting, then, that ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently summed up the Chargers like so: “Most likely to try to run over and through their opponents.”

Barnwell expanded on this, too, pointing out some of the heavyweight additions for Harbaugh’s roster: 

“It's no surprise, then, that the recipe for Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz in free agency was clear: Bigger is better. They were focused on adding players who have the size to physically overwhelm the guy across from them -- both on and off the line of scrimmage. That includes 363-pound guard Mekhi Becton, who was the sixth-largest player in the league last season by listed weight, and new defensive line additions Da'Shawn Hand and Naquan Jones, both of whom weigh more than 300 pounds. Their third-round pick was 340-pound nose tackle Jamaree Caldwell, who will rotate in behind 304-pound veteran Teair Tart.”

That’s to say nothing about the running back room, of course. The Chargers upgraded a few of the skill positions like tight end and wide receiver, sure. 

But in free agency, Harbaugh and Co. signed a sledgehammer of a running back with Najee Harris and then used their first-round pick on Omarion Hampton, who can do the same thing and quite a bit more. 

So yes, summing up the Chargers as a steam engine on tracks barreling toward opponents is a good way to think about the 2025 rendition led by Harbaugh.