If there’s a day of uncontaminated enthusiasm on the NFL calendar it’s the first day of training camp. Everyone’s healthy, everyone’s hopeful, and the Super Bowl is seemingly in reach for everyone.
A few thousand Chargers fans were at the team facility Wednesday to watch the inaugural practice, and afterward coach Jim Harbaugh and many of the players stuck around to sign autographs, pose for selfies and make small talk. It was the kind of scene unfolding all around the NFL.
“It was amazing,” said All-Pro safety Derwin James of the practice. “Kind of like the first day of school.”
Were they to receive a grade for their first two seasons under Harbaugh, the Chargers might get an incomplete. They played well enough to make the playoffs in both seasons — overcoming a dizzying array of injuries on the offensive line a year ago — yet failed to show up in the postseason, suffering lopsided losses at Houston and New England.
Harbaugh said the first day of camp feels like “Christmas morning” to him. When asked whether the entire team was full speed and ready to go, he made the analogy of an airplane gathering speed down a runway before achieving flight. There’s a deliberate ramp-up to the intensity of training camp, he said.
So now it begins again, and with a rebooted offensive line with two of the most promising bookend tackles in the game, first-round picks Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, both of whom were sidelined for most or all of last fall.
Slater suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp. Alt missed three games with a high-ankle sprain in Week 4, then suffered a more severe injury to the same ankle upon his return.
For those players in particular, each medically cleared to return, every day off crutches is a good day.
That said, Slater is determined not to dwell on what happened a year ago.
“I’ve been injured before in the NFL, and I learned a lot from that experience,” he said. “I don’t think analyzing it any deeper than what it was is really worthwhile. I attacked the rehab and moved on, didn’t really give any thought to it. Trying to set the tone for the season, show up and be the best version of myself I can be.”
A healthy offensive line isn’t the only big change for the Chargers. They have a new offensive coordinator in former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, and a new defensive coordinator in Chris O’Leary, who is replacing his mentor, Jesse Minter, new coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
McDaniel began making small adjustments to Justin Herbert’s footwork during organized team activities, and those changes have become second nature for the Chargers quarterback.
“I’ve had a few weeks as well to work on it when I was back home,” Herbert said. “I thought it was a great time to be able to master my footwork, and then to come back out and just play fast and not have to worry about it.”
Like Harbaugh, McDaniel has the kind of boundless energy that almost has him looking like a player when the team is running drills.
“He’s all hands on,” James said of McDaniel. “I feel like he’s almost out there running the route, how close he is to the receiver sometimes.”
McDaniel needles the other side of the ball too, James said, warning defenders to be ready for a deep pass before hitting them with a quick out.
“He’s playing some mind games,” James said with a smile. “It’s cool, though.”
There was a bit of buzz at camp about Herbert getting engaged to girlfriend Madison Beer, with the couple posting photos Tuesday of the proposal, complete with the quarterback dropping to a knee to pop the question.
Harbaugh called the development “awesome” and said the coaching staff didn’t know in advance. He said Herbert had mentioned earlier in the summer that a proposal was coming, but didn’t let the coaching staff know about the particulars until after it happened.
For his part, Herbert conceded that he was more nervous about proposing than he was before the first start of his NFL career. Then again, he had a lot more time to dwell on asking his girlfriend than he had to prepare for playing, as he was immediately pressed into action on the Sunday of his NFL debut.
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