Justin Herbert is overhauling his footwork, as offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel tries to get the Chargers quarterback to speed up his release.
Herbert didn’t throw a football in Tuesday’s OTA practice. Instead, he used a weighted free ball for footwork drills while working through his throwing motion. He said he expects to do that one day a week into the season.
“I thought it was helpful for my footwork just to be able . . . not to have to worry about throwing the ball right now,” Herbert said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN. “Mechanically, it’s a little different timing. . . . He wants the ball out early. We feel like that is going to help us get the ball out quicker.”
McDaniel’s offense requires anticipation, something Herbert is working hard to improve on.
“We really emphasized the first couple of weeks of just getting the ball out as quick as possible,” Herbert said. “Almost getting to a point where the receivers haven’t looked back for it yet, and that just allows them to catch the ball with maximum ability to turn upfield and have time before a defender gets to them.”
Herbert was the most hit and pressured quarterback last season, as Pro Bowl tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt played a combined six games. Herbert, though, took responsibility for some of the hits and pressures, saying he held the ball too long at times.
Herbert expects to be better at getting the ball out quicker this season, because of McDaniel’s approach.
“I think he’s just got a great feel for the game and I think he understands how defenses are ever changing and it’s his goal to be able to take away the pass rush,” Herbert said. “If you’re getting the ball out quickly, there’s really nothing they can do about it.”
They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
Veteran edge rusher Joey Bosa is one of the top players remaining on the free agent market.
The question is: Does he want to continue his career? If he does, Bosa will have options.
His brother, 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, seems to have doubts about how much Joey Bosa wants to play an 11th season.
“I think he’s working on his golf game right now,” Nick Bosa said Thursday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “So, I don’t think he’s thinking too much about football.”
The 49ers finished with an NFL-low 20 sacks last season, with Nick Bosa tearing the ACL in his right knee in Week 3. Nick Bosa is back, and Kyle Shanahan addressed whether Joey Bosa might join his brother in San Francisco this season.
“I look at our team as kind of we have our team, and anyone else that we can figure out to bring, especially someone like that, that would be awesome,” Shanahan said. “But that stuff’s not always possible.”
Joey Bosa, who turns 31 in July, has not had a double-digit sack season since 2021. The five-time Pro Bowler has only 19 across the past four seasons, including five in 2025.
Chargers safety Derwin James has reason to celebrate this week, but it’s not the kind of celebration that he’s most interested in experiencing at this point in his career.
James signed a three-year extension this week that makes him the highest-paid safety in the league. That contract reflects James’s many individual accomplishments since joining the Chargers as a 2018 first-round pick, but his versatile contributions to the team’s defense have not resulted in great team success.
The Chargers have made the playoffs four times since James entered the league and they’ve won one playoff game. During a Wednesday press conference, James pivoted from discussing his new deal to discussing his desire to change that record.
“Honestly, I want to win, win the Super Bowl so bad, man, so coming out here and just working, working, working hard as I can every day, and I feel like that’s what I’m so focused on,” James said, via Dan Greenspan of the Associated Press. “The money’s good, yeah, it’s good, but I can’t get my thoughts off being the last team playing.”
The Chargers obviously think James can help them achieve their own goal of winning a championship and they’ll now have at least three years beyond 2026 to try to make it happen.
The Chargers have given safety Derwin James another new contract. And he has absolutely earned it.
A first-round pick in 2018, James was entering the last year of his second deal. He was due to make $17.5 million. That money gets added to the three new years, for a four-year contract that runs through 2029.
Here are the full details of the contract, per a source with knowledge of the terms.
1. Signing bonus: $12 million.
2. 2026 90-man roster bonus: $3 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 base salary: $11.5 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2027 base salary: $17.5 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2028 base salary: $24.6 million, $13.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury at signing. That amount becomes fully guaranteed in March 2027.
6. 2029 90-man roster bonus: $3 million.
7. 2029 base salary: $21.5 million.
It’s a simple, clean deal. The first two years — at a payout of $44 million — are fully guaranteed at signing. The $13.5 million guarantee in 2028 is fully guaranteed as a practical matter, given the very low chance that the Chargers would cut James after one year and a total obligation of $44 million.
The new money average of the three new years is $25.2 million. The total average of the four-year package from signing is $23.275 million.
