Chargers
Jim Harbaugh has been highly successful in his two years as the Chargers’ head coach, leading them to Wild Card berths in each season. Los Angeles G Zion Johnson said Harbaugh is highly motivational and sets high expectations for the entire locker room.
“When you have a coach like that, who is all in about doing whatever it takes to win, it really motivates everybody,” Johnson said, via Daniel Popper of The Athletic. “When I have a coach who I know is gonna sacrifice and is gonna put in the necessary sacrifices to get where we need to be, that sets the expectation for everybody in the locker room to do the same.”
Chargers S Derwin James said Harbaugh has a way with players of all backgrounds and experience.
“No matter where you come from, no matter the background, no matter the structure, no matter if you’re first year, second year or you’ve already proven it in the league, he has a way of just motivating you to go out to get more,” James said. “Not only motivating you to go get it for yourself, but for the team, and how to increase your everyday habits in order to work towards it so you can do it. Some people say they want to do it, or they may get lucky and do it one time. But I feel like Jim creates those winning habits every day.”
Chargers DC Jesse Minter thinks there’s no better motivator than Harbaugh.
“There’s nobody better than him,” Minter said. “Just the confidence that he builds into players, the belief.”
Ashton Jeanty
Raiders GM John Spytek defended the rookie season of RB Ashton Jeanty, who felt he had a good first year despite the struggles of the team.
“His success — I know there’s been a lot of narratives out there that he didn’t have the season that maybe he deserved or you would expect from the sixth overall pick,” Spytek said, via the team’s official website. “Well, that’s fine, but it’s not just Ashton. There’s 10 other people that are out there with him, and it’s our job to put a great group of guys around him to help him realize his potential.”
“I think it was good,” Jeanty added. “Obviously there’s still a lot of room for growth, but I think I did pretty good for what I had. There’s some plays I’ve run back and looked at, wished I could’ve capitalized more but that’s just a part of the game. You’re not going to make every single play out there. But I’m going to be working this offseason, building off what I’ve done this year and just trying to improve on the little things that I can.”
Raiders
The Raiders’ season was a disaster, resulting in a 3-14 record and Pete Carroll getting fired after one season. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports cites one league executive who is familiar with owner Mark Davis, minority owner Tom Brady, and Carroll, who said each of the three has “very different visions” for the organization.
“Very different visions,” the executive said. “I would imagine it’s going to be the same [Raiders] s***.”
There’s been some speculation about Brady’s involvement on the team since coming aboard. Las Vegas GM John Spytek was asked if Brady will be at the team facility more often, responding that he has a lot of discussions with Brady regarding “big decisions,” but Brady won’t be at the facility every day.
“I think people sometimes misunderstand mine and Tom’s relationship,” Spytek said. “We played together one year at Michigan and then we didn’t talk for 20 years. Then he came to [play in] Tampa [where Spytek was a personnel executive]. … We see football similar. We don’t see it the same. We have plenty of discussions and disagreements and I’m not afraid to tell him that. I think that’s kind of why he likes me. But I do believe that we see things similar and we’ve both had a lot of success seeing it that way. I talk to him a lot. He’s aware of what we’re doing. I don’t bore him with the mundane transactions or all that. But any big decision I’ve talked to him about [it]. Any vision, I’ve talked to him about [it]. He’s a great resource for me. He’s a great partner in this for me. I would be not doing a good job and be a fool if I didn’t talk to him. He’s been supportive of me. He can’t be here every day right now, but I promise you I talk to him a lot and he and I are on the same page.”
Spytek said they will not be stressing a “win-now” approach for their next coach.
“We’re looking for someone to build this the right way and not think that we’ve got to produce 10 wins or whatever next [season],” Spytek said.
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