Chris Rome
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- Chris Rome is a reporter for NFL Nation on ESPN. Chris covers the Los Angeles Chargers, including coach Jim Harbaugh’s franchise-changing first season. In his free time, Chris pursues his NBA dreams in the Los Angeles men’s leagues.
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LOS ANGELES — For six seasons, Justin Herbert has positioned himself as one of the league’s best quarterbacks, but he has never achieved a playoff victory.
Instead, Herbert’s three playoff appearances included one of the worst losses in NFL history (the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Jaguars 27-0 in the 2022 wild card round) and one of the worst performances of his career (a four-interception loss to the Texans in 2024).
The losses came for a variety of reasons, but much of their postseason struggles, especially as of late, have come from an offense that is shrinking when it matters most. The Chargers fired former offensive coordinator Greg Roman after the loss to Houston. Under Roman’s leadership, they scored ten points in two playoff games, with the defense playing well enough in both games to win.
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Out went Roman, and in his place came Mike McDaniel, the quirky former Dolphins coach who developed some of the most explosive and unique offenses in NFL history. As for McDaniel, the Chargers are hoping he can help this offense thrive in the postseason.
This process began in earnest with McDaniel challenging Herbert in a way he had not experienced in his professional career, starting with Herbert’s footwork and preemptive throws. McDaniel wants Herbert to get the ball out faster and rely less on his strong arm. So he asked Herbert to change his shotgun stance with his non-throwing leg forward. Herbert used to place his right foot forward when firing a shotgun. Under McDaniel’s guidance, he moved into a stance with his left foot slightly forward.
It’s a shift McDaniel has coached elsewhere in the NFL, and he hopes it will take Herbert to the next level.
“I think the biggest thing is that I wasn’t trying to fix anything like, ‘Well, it’s broken,’” McDaniel said. “You look at a very, very talented player … and try to take him to the next level.”
Herbert has experience playing in a different stance. In college, Oregon maintained a balanced position. And Herbert somewhat downplayed the new position last week: “I don’t think it’s too much of a difference.”
Most quarterbacks operate with their foot forward on the same side as their throwing arm, but McDaniel began exploring the benefits of a different stance in 2007. He was then an assistant to quarterback coach Kyle Shanahan for the Texans, who is now the head coach of the 49ers. McDaniel said he did a lot of research studying the positions, and at that point, the only quarterbacks who deviated from the hand-dominant, foot-first position were Tom Brady and Brett Favre.
Switching gives quarterbacks a “millisecond competitive advantage,” as McDaniel puts it, allowing them to execute run play variations and quickly complete passes when receivers are in space, McDaniel emphasizes.
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Justin Herbert changes position
“You throw the ball five yards, how can we get 12? Well, our timing based on our footwork and when we can throw plays a big role in overall maximizing that five-yard route,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel most recently coached this transition with former Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who had failed to live up to his fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft when McDaniel arrived.
In its first season, the offense ranked sixth in total yards, the first time Miami ranked in the top 10 in that category since 1995. The Dolphins led the NFL in total offense in 2023 as Tagovailoa finished with a league-leading 4,624 yards passing and earned the only Pro Bowl selection of his career.
McDaniel was also part of the team that changed former Falcons cornerback Matt Ryan’s footwork in this way. Ryan was named a first-team All-Pro, won the only MVP of his career and led the Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance.
The Chargers believe the changes could unlock a new level for Herbert, helping him “own the position,” McDaniel said.
“He took it on board and had no doubt that it would happen, which was great,” Harbaugh said. “… We’re in a great position now where Justin and Mike are really on the same page.”
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To help that shift, McDaniel limited Herbert’s throws. Once a week, Herbert uses a green water ball to focus on his footwork and throwing. The hope is also that fewer throws will keep Herbert’s arm fresh later in the season.
“I’ve thrown a lot of footballs, and it’s May and June, and I didn’t think there was a need to throw that many right now,” Herbert said. “And I’ll do everything I can to prepare my footwork, get my offense and throws down, they’ll be there. We have enough time in camp.”
When Herbert did throw during minicamp, the results were uneven. Herbert and his receivers were often simply out of sync, which is an expected part of implementing a new offense, but something that will need to improve during training camp.
“You want to put the ball in a position where the receivers can run with it and get the ball out early, and the timing and rhythm allows them to do that,” Herbert said. “I think we have guys who are explosive and can make opponents miss. So I think the better I can do that, the more successful we will be.”