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10 Insights: What Are Joe Lombardi's Thoughts on Justin Herbert?

Jun 03, 2021 at 04:59 PM

Here are 10 insights/quotes from this week's media availability with all three Chargers coordinators:

1) Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Justin Herbert:

"He's very smart. He's very competitive. He’s a perfectionist. You can see why he was so successful last year. He wants to be great and he wants to do everything perfectly. I'm excited to keep moving forward in the process with him. He's fun to be around. I'm sure it's frustrating for him. He drops back, and then he just kind of holds the football because we're not throwing it. I can't wait to see him start letting it loose. This process is going to be very good in the long run, just as far as learning and everything. Looking forward to seeing him go full-speed."

2) Defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill on the defense competing off the field:

"In the classroom, we're trying to create that. We use Kahoot! [game-based learning platform] a lot. We're trying to test their knowledge on what they retained from the day and see if they can spit it back at us. Those guys get competitive in those modes. It was amazing to just see after the first day we did it. We just did a test run on Chargers history, and at the end of that, [S] Derwin [James] was pissed. Right there, you just know that you have a competitive group. It doesn't matter if we were on the field or not; we try to put them in those competitive modes and you saw it on day one. Just to make note, so guys know, Nas has pretty much won all of them."

3) Chargers special teams coordinator Derius Swinton II on the rookies contributing on special teams:

"All of the rookies, from our number one pick — he's on field goal — to our undrafted guys, they've all been contributing on special teams so far and they've all been in all of the meetings and have been paying attention. Those guys, I think, because they've played it, there's some carry-over. I might say a term, and they might say, 'OK, that's what we said in college. [OLB] Chris Rumph, he's just like that. He played at Duke, so he's a high-level kid, but he can convert it. Those guys are converting it. [LB Ben] Niemann, he played at one of the top, I would say, schools for putting our special teams players; Iowa. You can see it in the drills. He's a one-rep guy; he doesn't need a lot of reps. All of the rookie class, they've really been good at absorbing the things that we've been putting in. I think that they can all contribute at some point."

4) Lombardi on Herbert learning new offensive systems:

"I think it shows that he has a lot of 'figure-it-out-iveness,' if that's a word. He's able to learn quickly and apply things quickly. He's done it over and over again. We're throwing a lot at him right now; not even so much offensively, but all of the looks that he's getting defensively. It's been a fast four days of practice. But, every day, I think that we all get a little bit better. You definitely see that intelligence, that instinctiveness and that work ethic that is going to lead a guy like that to be successful in some difficult circumstances."

5) Hill on safety Nasir Adderley:

"He's healthy. He's moving around. He asks great questions in the meeting. He's able to take the meeting to the field. You see a leadership role from him. He's taking control in the back end, making all the adjustment calls. We're happy where Nas is at right now and we're going to continue to put him in spots where he can express those things so that he can develop those things as we move forward."