Ladd McConkey reveals what Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh’s football philosophy is and how he motivates the players

The Los Angeles Chargers brought up their third consecutive win Sunday, beating the Steelers 25-10 with wide receiver Ladd McConkey contributing four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Despite a slow start to the new season, McConkey has been making the most of the Chargers’ passing game in recent weeks but says he is just looking to be more consistent in his second year in LA. He leads the NFL in receiving yards against man coverage with 233 since the Week 6 game against the Dolphins, in which he made the winning play.

McConkey feels as though his game is improving under Jim Harbaugh and his coaching team - the idea he says, is to get better year on year.

Harbaugh aiming to guide the Chargers to the postseason for the second year

The 24-year-old, a 2nd round pick, 34th overall in the 2024 Draft gave an insight into what it’s like working under Harbaugh, a coach who likes to “keep things simple” and whose record in LA stands at 18-9. In an interview with the Rich Eisen Show, the WR started by talking about about how the coach sets up the Chargers’ practice routine.

“It starts on Wednesdays, with full pads, we’re out there - obviously being smart but you gotta keep at it, physicalness going throughout the week. So that’s part of it, and then after that, our offense coordinator G Ro does a great job of emphasizing it. Sanjay [Lal], my receiver’s coach is like, ‘Hey we’re gonna block’ if you’re out there on the field. So they just do a great job in emphasizing and showing us reps, like if you do it, if you are physical, this is what happens, we can pop big runs, you can turn first downs in the touchdowns. It can be different every week. Coach Harbaugh will have a different message whichever week we’re playing so this past week was just physicalness”.

Coach Harbaugh’s philosophy: simple but effective

Rich Eisen mentioned that he asked Harbaugh in person about his working methods and the coach simply replied: “I love football. I love people who love football. And people who love football love me”. McConkey agrees, adding that the coach’s greatest skill is being able to get everyone to pull together and work for each other.

“It’s as simple as that. I mean he always says competitors are welcome - we’ve got a bunch of those on our team. Coach Harbaugh just does a great job of getting guys to rally together. Offense, defense... we’re all feeding off one another, somebody makes a player then the next person makes a play - it’s just a ripple effect after that. It’s as simple as that, if you love football,” he concluded.

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