Even for those pundits who might have not known a ton about O’Leary before he was hired, they have a lot of trust in Harbaugh to identify the coach for the job, even if he’s under the radar.
They believe there’s something with O’Leary that brings confidence he can succeed.
“This is the fun part about covering the NFL, you learn every offseason then August comes around and you really won’t know until the games start. I do trust Harbaugh,” The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia said. “He has been, in college and the NFL, he’s got the rolodex that when he identifies someone. I trust him and give him the benefit of the doubt there. Certainly something we won’t know until the games start.”
Helman added: “We obviously don’t know how well it’s going to go and I’m sure he’s got a big learning curve heading into the NFL, but I’m intrigued in a good way. For you to identify this guy instead of going with someone who’s already in the NFL or a bigger name, it must mean Minter, or someone, saw something in him that made him feel confident about this.”
As is such with any first-time NFL playcaller, we won’t know anything for certain until the regular season kicks off next September.
But one thing for sure is the Chargers defense will have a number of eyes on them that are excited to see O’Leary and his unit.
“You’re in wait and see mode, but Jim has done a pretty consistent job of surrounding himself with the right coordinators over time,” Mays said. “The fact he identified Jesse, Mike Macdonald was [at Michigan], the Harbaugh’s overall deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to who’s calling the plays on both sides of the ball.”
Rapoport added: “The Chargers have done very, very well with first time NFL coordinators who are dynamic personalities, who can help them figure it out. To me, I think it was pretty promising.”
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