Jim Harbaugh endorsement from players pushed free agents to Chargers

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Chargers landed some notable free agents before the draft and seemed like a popular possible destination for players on the market in the process. 

It’s not hard to see why: Jim Harbaugh. 

Harbaugh’s culture revamp and competitors welcome approach while making the playoffs in Year 1 of a rebuild has a way of acting as a great recruiting tool. 

And it sure doesn’t hurt that players who experienced that turnaround under Harbaugh did a little recruiting, too.

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Da'Shawn Hand told Omar Navarro of Chargers.com that current players made an appealing pitch. 

"Everybody here just said the same thing, 'You're going to love it here. You have to come to work, but it's a great atmosphere and they treat you like a grown man,'" Hand said. "I like that."

Naquan Jones, the team’s other big addition in the defensive trenches, said similar things. 

"That's kind of what he told me," Jones said, per Navarro. "Basically like, 'We know you can play, we know the way you can play, your style of play is wanted here. Just come in here, do your thing and you'll have an opportunity.'"

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There’s certainly room for guys to come in and earn major roles on a front seven that lost Joey Bosa and Poona Ford this offseason. Ford was another prove-it-deal player who exploded last season and earned a big contract elsewhere. Another, Teair Tart, did the same and re-signed before doing some of the recruiting here. 

A year from now? If all goes according to plan for Harbaugh’s Chargers, we could be having the same conversations about Hand and Jones, too.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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