Chargers coordinators Jesse Minter and Greg Roman detail their philosophies and schemes. | Top Vip News

COSTA MESA, Calif. – Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and offensive coordinator Greg Roman sat down with beat writers Thursday at the team facility for their introductory media presentation. Special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, who was hired from the previous coaching staff, also answered questions.

Minter and Roman discussed their philosophies, their schemes, their roster evaluations and more. We’ll focus on his sessions, as Chargers fans should already be very familiar with Ficken, who is now in his third season with the team.

Here are notes and takeaways from time with Minter and Roman.

Minter looks for ‘toughness and physicality’

• On a broad level, Minter summarized his philosophy to an important point.

“I truly believe defensive football is 50 percent of what you play and 50 percent of how you play,” he said.

On one side is the scheme and the and unpleasant communication. On Thursday he put it differently.

“There’s a style of football that I think we both believe in to play winning football,” Minter said, referring to Harbaugh. “That takes toughness and physicality.”

• Scheme-wise, an important facet of Minter’s defense is playing disguise and post-snap rotations. This strategy is something Chargers defenders should be familiar with, as disguise was a big part of how former head coach Brandon Staley wanted to play defense. Staley often talked about making things as difficult as possible for opposing quarterbacks by what he called “changing the landscape.”

It’s an attractive approach in theory. But how those costume elements are implemented and taught is important. In Staley’s case, his defense became too complex for his players to execute consistently. Minter was asked about the disguises in his defense and how he strikes that balance between complexity against opposing quarterbacks and appeal to his players.

“I really hold true to the ‘concept’ teaching belief,” Minter said. “When we get guys in the offseason, we’re trying to understand what we’re trying to take away in certain coverages, what we want it to look like. If the quarterback knows you are in this coverage, this is the likely place the ball would go based on the quarterback’s progression. So when you’re playing a particular coverage and you know where the weak spot is, then okay, let’s conceptualize the pre-snap. What would lead him to throw the ball where we have an advantage and show him those different looks?

“I really think in trying to teach that concept from the beginning, here’s the strength of this coverage, here’s the weakness of this coverage. If they know you’re in this coverage, this is where the ball will go. And then I really think the players start to take ownership of, okay, let’s show this because we know we’re trying to get him to throw the ball over here. Everything comes together. Everything is calculated. And I really think that as the players really learn what we’re doing, they start to be the ones who take charge of the costumes and all that.”

That last part of the answer is crucial. In the final days of Staley’s tenure, defensive players painted a bleak picture. They frequently approached Staley and other members of the defensive staff to tell the coaches the scheme was too complicated. They asked for certain aspects to be reduced. They felt that would allow them to play faster. They tried to take that property. But those requests fell on deaf ears too many times.

Minter’s approach, at least based on his comments on Thursday, seems a departure from this.

“We’ll go at the pace those guys can operate at,” Minter said. “It may not be so much the first year. It might be a lot, depending on how it starts to go.”

• Minter said he has been working on recent Chargers film since he was hired earlier this month. When asked what stands out, the first group mentioned, “There aren’t many people who have the runners, the types of advantages, that we have.”

Of course, that group could look different depending on how the Chargers handle their cap situation in the coming weeks. Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa are set to hit a cap hit of over $30 million in 2024, according to Over the Cap, and it will be very difficult to keep both of them on the roster with their current contracts. Minter said those cap decisions are “above my pay grade.” But he did offer this: “As a coach, that’s what you would love. I would love to have those three.” The third player is second-year running back Tuli Tuipulotu, who will undoubtedly be on the roster. Tuipulotu is a rising star.

• After the attackers, the next player Minter mentioned: safety Derwin James Jr. “A phenomenal player,” Minter said. Versatile safeties can thrive in this defensive scheme. Just look at how Mike Macdonald, Michigan’s defensive coordinator before Minter arrived, used All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton with the Baltimore Ravens last season. James can do a lot of different things. Minter’s most important job will be to figure out the best way to use it. At times, James wore too many hats under Staley, and that affected his performance, particularly in 2023.

“There’s a fine line because he’s so versatile,” Minter said of James. “We want to try to teach defense conceptually and we want to teach things as concepts, both in frontal structures and coverage concepts. If we’re able to do that between now and September, it will give the guys a chance to move around a little bit more.

“I want him to understand how we play certain coverages. And I think when you really try to look at it that way and understand it, hey, this week, maybe we can move you over here so we can do a little bit more with you. Or maybe there’s a matchmaking issue here that we want you to be able to handle. That’s why we want him to be a key player and we want to allow him to do the things he does really well.”

Minter added that by watching James, he determined that “the closer he is to the action, the better he is.”

“He’s a dynamic blitzer,” Minter said. “He’s dynamic in man coverage. I think it could take away a lot of tight ends, backs, those kind of matchup problems that other teams have. So we are very excited to work with him. But we want to make sure we use it in the best possible place. I don’t know where he is yet, but I really want to work with him. I think he is going to be a dynamic player.”

Roman seeks a balanced offense

• In his introductory news conference earlier this month, Harbaugh said one of his priorities will be to “strengthen the running game.” That’s Roman’s specialty. And on Thursday, Roman expressed it clearly as part of his vision.

“We want to be a balanced offense,” he said. “We want to be able to run it when we want to run it and release it when we want to release it. If they present favorable aspects to execute it, then we want to be able to execute it at a high level. Everywhere I’ve been, that’s been the goal, to try to have that full attack.

“We want to have an identity as a crime. And we want it to be a strong and powerful identity. And that’s what we’re working on. But I think in this league, you can really help dictate commands to defenses if you have a strong running game. If you actually talk to most defensive coordinators in this league and put them aside when they’re playing a really good run team, they’re sweating a little bit. That week they sleep a little less. So I think it’s in our favor to be able to have that balanced attack.”

• The natural next question was: How do you balance implementing that vision of the running game while also maximizing the talents of quarterback Justin Herbert?

“That’s where you have to get back to what your main concern is, and for us, winning,” Roman said. “So, whatever that particular week is. We may have to throw a lot at this game to win. I might have to run it next week. How that looks on the stat line and all that, I don’t really care. It’s not really part of what I’m trying to do. Statistics and all that happens and comes about through production and success. So if you have a balanced attack, you should have pretty good stats in both areas.

“I can put it this way: Can you imagine Justin Herbert having a great running game? That’s how I see it”.

Herbert, of course, has never had an above-average running game during his career. The truth is, no one can answer the rhetorical question Roman posed because we simply haven’t seen it yet.

“We want to have an offense that supports their talent, and there are a lot of different ways to do that,” Roman said. “But the quarterback can’t do it all by himself.”

• Roman has developed excellent running games everywhere he has been during his coaching career, and he said the key to developing that phase is “commitment.”

“You have to invest in it,” Roman said. “Then you have to get buy-in from the players and then you have to do it. In fact, you have to call runs during games. “We are going to do whatever it takes to win, but you have to commit to doing it or you have no chance of being better than average.”

This will be encouraging for the Chargers’ offensive linemen and backs. There was often a feeling, both under Joe Lombardi and Kellen Moore, that the pass-callers weren’t sticking to the running game. The players sometimes found it difficult to get into the rhythm. One thing is clear: that won’t happen with Roman calling plays.

“You have to give players the opportunity to express their physicality through what you do, the plays you call,” Roman said.

• Roman made one thing clear: “We’re trying to be great at running the ball and we’re trying to be great at throwing the ball. “We’re trying to be great at both all the time.”

(Feature photos by Jesse Minter and Greg Roman: Junfu Han and Mitch Stringer/USA Today)