Chargers rookie minicamp: 7 takeaways, including how Easter ham relates to new practice structure

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers opened rookie minicamp Friday at The Bolt, the team facility. They will hold two more practice this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

“This is a day and a weekend of evaluation,” coach Jim Harbaugh said before Friday’s practice. “Really just mining for gold, diamonds, gems. Those rare gems, they don’t just hop out of the ground and into your pocket. You got to dig. You got to go in there and find them. So that’s what I want to do today, top of the list.”

mining for gold this wknd pic.twitter.com/cwd5M4An3O

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 9, 2025

Here are some observations and takeaways from the opening day, including on-field work and Harbaugh’s news conference.

1. The Chargers had 56 players on the field for Friday’s opening practice. All nine draft picks participated: running back Omarion Hampton, receiver Tre Harris, defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell, edge rusher Kyle Kennard, receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, tight end Oronde Gadsden II, safety RJ Mickens, offensive lineman Branson Taylor and defensive back Trikweze Bridges. The Chargers announced Friday morning that they had signed all of their draft picks except for Harris and Hampton. The Chargers also announced Friday morning that they had signed 18 undrafted free agents, who all participated in the opening practice.

Five players who signed reserve/future contracts in January participated: edge rusher Tre’Mon Morris-Brash, safety Emany Johnson, receiver Jaylen Johnson, offensive lineman Karsen Barnhart and linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste. All five spent time on the Chargers practice squad last season. International Player Pathway tight end Jordan Petaia also participated. And rounding out the group were 23 tryout players. Two notable tryouts: Alaka’i Gilman, the younger brother of Chargers safety Alohi Gilman, and offensive lineman Jimmy Bell, a former Mississippi State basketball player who measured in with the Chargers at 6-foot-9 and 332 pounds.

2. Harbaugh debuted a new practice structure for this year’s rookie minicamp. The Chargers did not hold any 11-on-11, seven-on-seven or even one-on-one drills. The goal, Harbaugh said, was to create a more even playing field in the evaluation process.

The players rotated through four main sections of practice. One of those sections was individual drills. Players worked with their position groups. Each position was tasked with mastering three drills throughout the practice. An example of one of those drills with the interior defensive line, coached by Mike Elston: A player set up in front of the leverage sled and worked through five coaching points. The first was stance. The second was the strike at the sled. The third was peaking into the primary gap responsibility while maintaining outstretched arms. The fourth was disengaging into the primary gap. The fifth was disengaging into the secondary gap, the opposite direction.

The second section was special teams drills, led by coordinator Ryan Ficken. Players learned two drills with Ficken, both focused on kick coverage skills. In the first drill, players started 20 yards away from the returner, who had the ball on the goal line. The coverage players accelerated toward the goal line before throttling down and sealing off the returner. The second drill was focused on tackling, with players honing their technique on bags.

The third section included two strength and conditioning drills with executive director of player performance Ben Herbert. The first was the three-cone drill, one of the marquee tests during the pre-draft process. The tracks how well a player can accelerate and change direction in short areas. The second drill was a Turkish get-up. Players held a dumbbell over their head and had to move from lying on their backs to a standing position.

For the special teams drills and strength and conditioning drills, the players learned the drills during the first period earlier in practice, then went full speed in a competitive environment for the second period later in practice. For example, players were timed on their three-cone drill in the second period. Edge rusher Kylan Guidry, an undrafted free agent out of Western Kentucky, posted the best three-cone time at 6.83. Guidry’s athleticism and movement jumped out in the first practice.

For the fourth main section of practice, the Chargers also installed plays and schemes. The offense and defense worked on separate fields at a walk-through tempo against air.

“Let’s identify the talent, let’s identify if a guy has the talent and is good enough to be here, then take them through the 11-on-11 in a couple weeks rather than do it backwards and see if they’re good at 11-on-11 right now,” Harbaugh said. “We likely would not get that diamond in the rough, that gem, right? Because you wouldn’t see the talent as much. You might see who was able to learn a system better. Picture a 90-minute meeting to go over offense and defense, and then go out on the field and then we’re judging who learned the system better, but we’re not really seeing the capabilities, what they have talent-wise.”

The draft picks did not participate in the competitive special teams and strength and conditioning drills later in the practice. Undrafted free agent running back Raheim Sanders also did not participate in those drills. He was the only non-draft pick to sit out those drills. That was all by design.

“Omarion Hampton, we don’t have to go out there and evaluate him in these drills, in these competitions, because we know him,” Harbaugh said. “We have checked every single box that could possibly be checked. And I think I’d be doing a disservice if I took away time from other guys that we didn’t know. They’re going to be the ones really competing for a spot on the Chargers. Same with Tre Harris, same with every guy that we drafted. We know them really well. Rocket Sanders, I know him well. He’s got great tape.”

big O locked in pic.twitter.com/k40o5imzau

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 9, 2025

3. Harbaugh offered an anecdote that informed why he changed his approach to rookie minicamp. He heard the story from his mother, Jackie.

“Her mom would always cut off one-third of the Easter ham every Easter and bake it that way,” Harbaugh said. “So my mom asked her mom, ‘Why did you do it that way?’ And her mom said, ‘Well, that’s the way my mom always did it.’ So my grandmother asked her mom, ‘Why do you cut off a third of the Easter ham every year?’ And my great-grandma said, ‘Because the oven wasn’t big enough.’ It just goes to the point, to the analogy: Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t make it the right way.”

lol switching things up pic.twitter.com/FlNWhS3D75

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 9, 2025

4. Harbaugh mentioned two other undrafted free agents that popped on film: Kansas receiver Luke Grimm and Iowa State tight end Stevo Klotz. Harbaugh said he believes Klotz has a chance to be an “above-average core special teams” player. Grimm is a polished and shifty route runner, and he showed some of that during individual drills Friday. Grimm also got some work as a returner during the practice.

5. Harbaugh said Zion Johnson and Bradley Bozeman have both been getting snaps at center during the offseason program. The Chargers opened Phase Two on Monday, and this week was the first time Chargers players could be on the field with position coaches. Harbaugh said Bozeman was at center and Johnson was at left guard one day. Then Johnson was at center and Bozeman was at left guard the next day.

“We’ll see how long that goes in that order,” Harbaugh said. “We’re a long ways from having to set a starting lineup.”

Harbaugh said he envisions Johnson starting at one of the two positions.

6. The rookies went through their medical physicals on Thursday. They arrived at The Bolt on Friday. Kennard and Caldwell said they both got to meet edge rusher Khalil Mack in the locker room on Friday.

Caldwell said it was “a pinch-me moment.”

“I thought it was going to be cool,” Kennard said, “but I was still in my head like, Khalil Mack!”

Kennard said Mack sent him a text after the draft.

“He was just like, ‘Excited to have you out here, young buck,’” Kennard said. “He made a joke to me: ‘Don’t celebrate too long, it’s time to get to work.’ I’m like, definitely. If Khalil Mack is telling me don’t celebrate, I’ll stay in the house and go to sleep.”

pov: u get a text from k mack pic.twitter.com/WWKnqiffDx

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 9, 2025

7. Taylor was working at left guard during the team offensive reps against air. Taylor played tackle in college at Pitt, but the Chargers will be trying him inside at guard.

(Top photo of Jim Harbaugh at Chargers rookie minicamp: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)

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