Tag: Jim Harbaugh

Tennessee linebacker Cedric Gray (33) and Los Angeles offensive tackle Joe Alt (76) battle during their game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025.

Chargers OT Joe Alt to undergo season-ending surgery

Posted on | by Field Level Media

It has been a rough year to line up at left tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers.

After losing two-time Pro Bowl starter Rashawn Slater to a season-ending patellar tendon tear in August, his replacement, Joe Alt, is set to undergo right ankle surgery that will put an end to his 2025 campaign, the team announced Monday.

“Feel bad for Joe,” Los Angeles coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I know it’s going to be OK. It’s not going to be life-altering. Feel bad for him.”

Alt suffered the injury in the first half of the Chargers’ 27-20 win at Tennessee on Sunday when he got tangled up with Titans defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day. Los Angeles announced it as an ankle injury at the time.

The fifth overall draft selection by the Chargers in 2024, Alt earned All-Rookie Team honors as a right tackle in his first season. He shifted to the blind side of quarterback Justin Herbert to replace Slater to start the season.

Alt initially suffered a high right ankle sprain in Week 4 in a game vs. the New York Giants. He exited that contest in the first quarter and the Chargers lost to the Giants, 21-18.

The Notre Dame product missed the next three contests and returned in Week 8, when Herbert threw for three scores in a 37-10 rout of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Chargers’ offense has suffered a spate of injuries this fall. In addition to losing two outstanding tackles, guard Mekhi Becton (knee) missed the game at Tennessee, reserve tackle Bobby Hart left the contest with a knee injury and running backs Najee Harris (Achilles) and Omarion Hampton (ankle) are out long-term.

“I think like anything in sports, it’s adversity,” said Harbaugh. “You just do the best you can and you get better. Never give up. Those three key elements. Maybe a lesser team, lesser man wouldn’t find a way to do that, but that’s what we do.”

Los Angeles (6-3) hosts Pittsburgh (5-3) on Sunday night.

–Field Level Media

Aug 10, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the game against the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Jim Harbaugh won’t talk about Michigan sign-stealing penalties

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Jim Harbaugh met with reporters late Saturday and refused to discuss the punishment received by his former program, Michigan.

“Like I said to you last year, not engaging,” the Los Angeles Chargers coach said after his team’s final-seconds loss to the Rams in a preseason game in Inglewood, Calif. “I’m done engaging.”

Harbaugh led the Wolverines to an undefeated season and the College Football Playoff championship in 2023, but the program was plagued by accusations of stealing signs from opposing teams between 2021-23 under the guidance of recruiting analyst Connor Stalions.

In releasing its findings publicly on Friday, the NCAA said that “over the course of three seasons, the Michigan football program committed violations involving an off-campus, in-person scouting scheme, impermissible recruiting inducements and communications, head coach responsibility rules, individuals’ failures to cooperate and Michigan’s failure to monitor.”

The NCAA’s punishments included a fine based on Big Ten revenues, and that could add up to a fine of $20 million to $30 million, in addition to other financial penalties. The NCAA also issued a 10-year show cause order for Harbaugh, 61, which would impede his chances of coaching in college again if he wanted to.

The Chargers hired Harbaugh as their head coach following the Wolverines’ title game.

Michigan said it is appealing the NCAA ruling.

–Field Level Media

Jul 24, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore speaks to the media during the Big Ten NCAA college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Michigan receives hefty fine in sign-stealing scheme; coach suspension extended

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Michigan will lose its share of postseason football revenue for the next two seasons as part of the punishment the NCAA handed down on Friday following its investigation into the school’s advance scouting scheme that ran in the 2021-23 seasons.

The amount of the fine is expected to be considerable, with ESPN reporting the number could be more than $20 million and as much as $25 million given past Big Ten revenues. The exact amount depends, in part, on the postseason success of the conference’s member schools.

In addition, the Wolverines program was placed on four years’ probation and will see a 25 percent reduction in football official visits in the upcoming season. Michigan also will pay a fine of $50,000, plus 10 percent of the budget for the football program, as well as a fine equivalent to 10 percent of the cost of the scholarships for Michigan football players in the 2025-26 academic year.

Michigan was not banned, however, from appearing in postseason games. It also will not be forced to vacate wins, including from its national championship undefeated 2023 season.

The Division I Committee on Infractions panel also suspended head coach Sherrone Moore one game, to be added to Michigan’s self-imposed two-game ban to be served in 2025. Moore will serve the additional game punishment in the 2026 season opener.

Moore, however, is not prohibited from engaging in coaching or other activities during the two-year show-cause period.

Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, received a 10-year show-cause penalty and then-Wolverines staffer Connor Stalions was handed an eight-year show-cause penalty.

A show-cause penalty acts as a barrier to college coaching in the future. It likely will have no impact on the career of Harbaugh, 61, who signed a reported five-year, $80 million contract with the Chargers when he was hired Jan. 24, 2024.

Harbaugh’s penalty will begin on Aug. 7, 2028, at the conclusion of his four-year show-cause order from a previous case.

Moore was the offensive coordinator in 2023 and reportedly deleted a thread of more than 50 text messages with Stalions, which the NCAA said demonstrated a failure to cooperate with the investigation.

The scandal unfolded following Michigan’s run to the 2023 College Football Playoff title.

During that season, Stalions was accused of operating a sign-stealing scheme by having friends and family attend the games of future opponents and videotape sideline signals.

The NCAA cited Michigan for 11 violations in an August 2024 notice of allegations, including six Level I (the most serious) violations. The school and the NCAA had been working on a final resolution of the matter.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions held a hearing on the case in June.

Moore guided the Wolverines to an 8-5 record (5-4 Big Ten) last season, ending with a 19-13 win against Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31.

Harbaugh led the Chargers to an 11-6 record and a playoff berth last season. They lost 32-12 to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round.

Fourteenth-ranked Michigan opens the season at home against New Mexico on Aug. 30.

–Field Level Media

May 20, 2025; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh looks on during offseason workouts at The Bolt. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh had cardiac ablation, hip surgery

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Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said he’s in top shape after undergoing cardiac ablation and hip replacement surgery in the offseason.

“The doctors can’t find anything wrong with me. A-grade,” Harbaugh said Tuesday.

Harbaugh, 61, said in mid-October that he previously underwent ablations in 1999 and 2012. The procedure treats irregular heart rhythms.

The heart issues attracted major attention during the Chargers’ 23-16 victory against the host Denver Broncos on Oct. 13.

Just before kickoff, Harbaugh said he experienced an “atrial flutter,” also known as arrhythmia, and was examined in the medical tent on the sideline.

Then right after the game began, Harbaugh walked off the field with team trainers. Once the situation was under control, Harbaugh returned to the sideline midway through the first quarter.

This was the second time Harbaugh experienced arrhythmia during a game. The other came on Nov. 19, 2012, when he was coach of the San Francisco 49ers during a 32-7 victory over the Chicago Bears on “Monday Night Football.”

Harbaugh met with his cardiologist on Oct. 14 and was placed on medication and wore a heart monitor for the following two weeks.

The Chargers went 11-6 during Harbaugh’s first season as coach before getting routed 32-12 by the host Houston Texans in an AFC wild-card game.

–Field Level Media

Oct 13, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh to wear monitor after heart episode

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Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters Monday that he will wear a heart monitor for the next two weeks after he briefly left Sunday’s game in Denver with an irregular heartbeat.

Harbaugh will also take a blood thinner during that time after meeting with a cardiologist on Monday. He said doctors did not recommend a procedure for now and added that he will follow their orders as he continues to coach.

“I’m pretty confident on this one that I know what it is and how to deal with it,” Harbaugh said. “But as always, we’ll address the doctors and they’ll tell me what to do.”

Harbaugh missed the early minutes of Sunday’s game after experiencing atrial flutter, which is a type of arrhythmia that can cause the heart to beat up to 350 times per minute.

The first-year coach entered the Chargers’ medical tent shortly before kickoff and then went to the locker room to be treated by paramedics. He returned in the first quarter and coached the rest of Los Angeles’ 23-16 win.

Harbaugh, 60, said he experienced a similar heart issue while coaching a 2012 game for the San Francisco 49ers. That same year, he underwent an ablation, a procedure that uses heat or cold energy to eliminate tissue that causes the irregular heartbeat. He previously had an ablation in 1999, ESPN reported.

Denver’s high altitude reduces oxygen levels in the blood and puts more strain on the heart, but Harbaugh said he began feeling off even before the Chargers left for Denver.

Harbaugh said he could undergo a heart procedure in the future, but for now, he has no plans to step away from the team.

“It would take my heart stopping for me not to be out there on the sideline,” he said.

Los Angeles (3-2) visits the Arizona Cardinals (2-4) in Week 7 on “Monday Night Football.”

–Field Level Media

Aug 17, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) during the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chargers’ Justin Herbert praised for poise shown in stuck elevator

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Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh praised Justin Herbert after his star quarterback was among players and members of the team’s traveling party who were stuck in an elevator for two hours at the team hotel in Dallas on Friday.

Per Harbaugh, Herbert was among “11 or 12 of our players” on the elevator at The Westin Dallas Downtown on Friday, one day before the Chargers visited the Cowboys in the teams’ preseason finale.

“Justin Herbert, his hair was a little wet, but his shirt was completely dry,” Harbaugh said following the Chargers’ 26-19 win over the Cowboys. “That was another thing that blew me away. The guy is just a beast.

“The remarkable things that came out of it was, to a guy, young rookie players, Justin Herbert’s a leader. He was a rock. Kept everybody calm.’Jeri Fouts (wife of Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dan Fouts) told me the same thing, pulled me aside after they got out, just how great Justin was. And everybody kept their poise.”

Dallas Fire-Rescue was summoned after the elevator was stuck in a “blind shaft” between the third and 15th floors of the hotel.

“Without the Dallas fire department, could have been a lot worse,” Harbaugh said. “Could have been a lot more hours. Who knows how it would have ended.”

Herbert, 26, did not play Saturday. The Pro Bowl quarterback assuredly will be on the field on Sept. 8 when the Chargers open their season against the Las Vegas Raiders in Inglewood, Calif.

–Field Level Media

Oct 12, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Rashawn Slater (70) lines up against the Kansas City Chiefs during the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Report: Chargers to pick up fifth-year option of LT Rashawn Slater

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The Los Angeles Chargers are picking up the fifth-year option on left tackle Rashawn Slater, ESPN reported Saturday.

Slater was the No. 13 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Chargers, who used the No. 5 overall pick on Notre Dame left tackle Joe Alt in this year’s draft on Thursday.

Alt is expected to move to right tackle.

Since his hiring this offseason, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has emphasized the need to protect franchise quarterback Justin Herbert.

“First of all, the quarterback that we have, protect him, protect his environment on the field,” Harbaugh said Feb. 1 at his introductory news conference. “Protect him. Also, beef up the run game.”

Slater will play the final season of his four-year, $16.63 million rookie deal in 2024, and he is slated to earn $19 million next season. If he doesn’t sign a contract extension, Slater could become an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

–Field Level Media

Feb 1, 2024; Inglewood, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh speaks at an introductory press conference at YouTube Theater at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Peers welcome Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh back to NFL

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INDIANAPOLIS — There was no sign of Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh in and around Lucas Oil Stadium as the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine kicked off Tuesday, but the welcome committee was ready to celebrate his return.

“He’s gonna do great,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday at a podium session his brother declined. “We’ve been together the last couple days. He’s fired up, enthusiastic, talking to players, he knows a lot of these guys. It’s been fun.”

Jim Harbaugh is operating in a dual capacity in a sense this week with a record 18 prospects representing national champion Michigan at the combine. Harbaugh left Ann Arbor in January to become head coach of the Chargers, marking his return to the NFL.

As a housewarming gift of sorts, the Ravens didn’t block personnel director Joe Horitz from interviewing with the Chargers, clearing the way for Horitz to leave one Harbaugh for another.

“I don’t know how you can be in a room with Jim and feel rubbed the wrong way. He cares, he’s a great person and he’s competitive. He wants to win ball games,” Horitz said Tuesday. “It’s all about getting better and being the best. I don’t know. I love him. It’s been a blast. I’m talking about the enthusiasm that he has brought to the building. Every day, I come in in the morning, coming into his office, you feel his energy. Our players feel it, our coaching staff feels it. When he walks into the draft room when we’re in meetings, the scouts feel it. It’s exciting, it certainly is.”

Horitz and the rest of the NFL are chasing AFC West bully Kansas City. But for now, Horitz has his hands full balancing the books in Los Angeles.

Individual cap hits of more than $20 million create uncertainty around pass rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack and wide receiver Keenan Allen. Running back Austin Ekeler is a free agent and wide receiver Mike Williams could be a candidate for a renegotiated deal or be moved.

“Certainly, we’re going to be taking a draft-centric approach. I believe in that,” Horitz said. “But, free agency, June free agency, signings right before August, turning the roster during the season. The roster should never be where you want it. … In terms of the cap, I’m confident we can get there because you have to get there (under the NFL-enforced spending limit). I have no choice but to get under the cap, so I can promise you that we’re going to do that.”

The Chargers have the No. 5 pick in the draft, the highest pick the franchise has had since selecting Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert at No. 6 in 2020.

When Horitz makes the draft selection in April, it will be his first as the primary decision-maker in the personnel department. He’s been in a seat alongside Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta since 1998, when Horitz began a scouting apprenticeship under Ozzie Newsome.

DeCosta will notice the change with Horitz calling the shots for the Bolts.

“Joe is just one of my best friends,” he said Tuesday. “I think Joe started in 1998, and I was an office guy and a young scout and took Joe under my wing, and we did a lot of stuff together. Our kids went to school together; he was my pickleball partner; sat next to me during the draft; helped me over the years, run the meetings and assess talent. Joe has got a great eye for talent. He’ll do an amazing job as an evaluator for the Chargers. He’s got good opinions, he’s a consensus builder. The scouts are going to love him. The coaches are going to love working with him, and he’s going to do a fantastic job.”

–Field Level Media

Aug 12, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers helmets on the bench at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Report: Chargers add former All-Pro NaVorro Bowman as LB coach

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New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is adding one of his former players, NaVorro Bowman, as the team’s linebackers coach, ESPN reported Saturday.

Bowman played for Harbaugh with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-13 and was a first-team All-Pro all three seasons. He missed Harbaugh’s final season in 2014 due to knee injuries.

Now 35, Bowman joined the 49ers in 2010 as a third-round draft pick and played 89 games in San Francisco, plus 10 with the then-Oakland Raiders, before retiring following the 2017 season.

Bowman was a defensive analyst at Maryland in 2023, his first coaching job.

–Field Level Media

Oct 9, 2022; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman runs on the field before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Report: Jim Harbaugh adding Greg Roman to Chargers staff

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Longtime offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who worked with Jim Harbaugh at two previous stops, is reuniting with the Los Angeles Chargers’ new head coach, per an NFL Media report Sunday.

Per the report, Roman is heading to Los Angeles on Monday to meet with the Chargers and iron out the details of his hiring.

Roman, 51, was an associate head coach under Harbaugh at Stanford (2009-10), then served as the 49ers’ OC when Harbaugh took San Francisco’s head coaching position (2011-14). That stint included a Super Bowl appearance in the 2012 season, a loss to Harbaugh’s brother John and the Baltimore Ravens.

Following two seasons as OC for the Buffalo Bills (2015-16), Roman joined head coach John Harbaugh’s Ravens staff in 2017 and was named OC in 2019. Roman, who helped quarterback Lamar Jackson win his first NFL MVP award, remained with Baltimore through the 2022 season in his second stint with the team.

Roman began his NFL coaching career with the Carolina Panthers (1995-2001) and also worked on the Houston Texans’ staff (2002-05).

–Field Level Media