The Chargers are off and running at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
Almost halfway through the week in Indianapolis, the Bolts have started meetings with prospects while on-field workouts are slated to begin on Thursday.
With plenty of buzz in the air, Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and General Manager Joe Hortiz took time to appear on The Pat McAfee Show.
"If you like football, where would you pick a better spring break destination than Indianapolis for the Combine?" Harbaugh said.
The show aired live from Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday morning.
And both Harbaugh and Hortiz were fired up to be in Indianapolis because of the value it carries as they continue to try and build towards Version 2.0 of the Chargers.
Although the Combine has changed in recent years, it continues to provide a lot when it comes to team building for the Bolts General Manager.
Hortiz laid out the importance of being present at the Combine not only for the upcoming draft, but for the future as well.
"Just with the interviews itself, it could be our only exposure to the player," Hortiz said. "A chance to sit in a room with him for 18 minutes, get a feel for him.
"It could be for this year's draft, it could be four years down the road when they become free agents," Hortiz added. "We're making connections there and trying to get a feel for the players in that room. It's a great opportunity for us and the coaches. It's certainly the coaches first exposure to them."
It's also a big chance for the team to see whether these prospects fit in with the Chargers culture that's being built by Harbaugh and Hortiz.
The message of "Competitors, Welcome" continues to be one echoed by the Bolts, and even though the meetings with prospects last just 18 minutes, a lot can be taken from them in such a short time.
"That's one of the questions we have, how much does a guy love ball and will he fit in to our culture that we established already," Hortiz said. "That's what we're doing here interviewing guys."
He later added: "If you sat in meetings with us, watch Coach work in there and his energy. When they match his energy, you know they love [football]."
And when asked by McAfee how he knows if a player is a "Harbaugh guy", the Head Coach believes it's easy to tell.
"It's not a Harbaugh guy, it's a football guy," Harbaugh said. "How can you tell? You can tell some in the interactions. Some guys, you can just tell that they are them. They're not there trying to bullcrap you.
"Mainly, you look at the tape, what you do speaks so loudly that we don't even have to hear what you say," Harbaugh added. "The reports that they get from their coach at the school."
Of course, there's also the on-field drills that most prospects will take part in later in the week that bring it all together, another important piece of the pre-draft puzzle.
But the chance to get to see them in competition with one another is something Hortiz and Harbaugh are looking forward to see who comes out on top.
"Then just seeing them out here on the field, watching them compete on a level playing field, going against each other, performing in front of us," Hortiz said. "It's a great opportunity to let the cream rise to the top."
