Justin Herbert will report to Chargers training camp on July 28 standing differently in the shotgun than he has at any point in his six-year career.
New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has moved Herbert’s non-throwing side forward, meaning the quarterback now aligns with his left foot in front instead of his right. The team detailed the change in its training camp preview this week. The purpose is simple: from that stance Herbert can catch the snap and throw without resetting his feet, which shaves time off a release that was already among the league’s better ones.
“You want to get the ball in a position where the receivers can run with it,” Herbert said. “Getting the ball out earlier and in timing and rhythm allows them to do that.”
McDaniel described the goal as “ultimately trying to take advantage of the space that defenses gives” — the same premise behind the offenses he ran in Miami, where quick throws to receivers in motion did the work that deep drops do elsewhere.
The second half of the plan was subtraction. Herbert has historically been a workhorse in the offseason, taking nearly every rep and chasing precision on every throw. This spring he sat out throwing roughly one day a week while the footwork work took priority, which means he arrives at camp fresher than usual. Head coach Jim Harbaugh called the approach a “ramp up” to what lies ahead.
Mechanical overhauls at quarterback rarely show up cleanly in July. Footwork is the last thing to hold under pressure, and the first live rushes of camp will tell more than any spring walkthrough did. Herbert threw for 3,727 yards and 26 touchdowns and ran for 498 more in 2025, numbers that were fine and not what a quarterback of his contract is asked to produce.
Behind him, the room is unchanged from last season. Trey Lance held the backup job for all of 2025 and DJ Uiagalelei returns to challenge for it, a competition that will play out in the same practices where Herbert’s new stance gets its first real test.
