Justin Herbert says his spring preparation with new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has taken a sharper turn toward footwork, including lining up in the shotgun with his left foot forward. McDaniel’s message is clear: they want to find small “margins” that
Justin Herbert has spent this spring practicing the little things. The movement of his feet, the angle of his stance, and the speed of what happens next.
During spring practices. the Chargers quarterback said his preparation for his first season working with offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has included a greater focus on footwork. Herbert tied the change to what the offense asks of him. In this system, he has to get the ball out faster than in past seasons.
One tweak, Herbert explained, is lining up in the shotgun with his left foot forward instead of his right.
McDaniel backed up the idea with his own explanation of why a quarterback would adjust something as specific as that. He pointed to Herbert’s openness to new ways of doing things. saying it gives them room to “change things that have been standardized in their game for years and you can do it with reasonable expectations and higher performance.”.
For McDaniel, the goal isn’t to search for a flaw to patch. He framed the work as an attempt to find the “margins” that can move Herbert “to a higher plane as a player.”
“It wasn’t like I was trying fix something that was like. ‘This is broke. ’” McDaniel said via the team’s website. “We’re looking at a player that is very, very talented and top tier in achievement his whole career. [We want to] try to take him to the next level where he can own certain things and really get the ball to his teammates as fast as possible and help efficiency of the offense.”.
The attention to footwork matters because it comes with a bigger football objective. Herbert’s numbers over his first six seasons support the notion that his game didn’t require major repairs. But the team hasn’t found the same kind of success in the postseason.
That gap is part of why bringing in McDaniel is about more than changing practice themes—it’s designed to improve what happens after the regular season ends. And the work has been underway well ahead of Week 1.
Mike McDaniel Justin Herbert Los Angeles Chargers footwork shotgun stance offensive coordinator spring practices Week 1 postseason struggles football analysis