Joe Hortiz on working with Jim Harbaugh: ‘You walk in the room, you feel it’

The Los Angeles Chargers are exiting draft season and first-year general manager Joe Hortiz is over the moon about his team’s head coach. Jim Harbaugh has already left a huge impression on the front office, and he hasn’t even coached a real practice yet. Hortiz opened up on the Pat McAfee Show this week about what it’s like to work with the former Michigan coach.

“I tell you what, you walk in the room, you feel it,” Hortiz said. “There’s an incredible amount of energy. It’s awesome. I really do, I feel blessed. I work for a great organization and as a first time GM, Jim Harbaugh’s my head coach, Justin Herbert‘s our quarterback, man, I really feel lucky and blessed. It’s a really perfect thing to walk into.”

During the draft process, Harbaugh’s energy was a big help to the Chargers as they tried to figure out which players were the best fit. At the end of it all, they exited the draft with nine new additions, including first-round pick Joe Alt. Having Harbaugh in the room for interviews leading up to draft day was a major advantage for the Chargers, according to Hortiz.

“He’s a weapon. He walks in the room and lights it up,” Hortiz said. “You talk about the combine interviews, the script, everyone’s ready, well, you’re not ready for coach. You walk in there and the energy is just elite. That’s what it does, it pulls it out from the players.

“You see the guys that can keep up with coach and have that same energy. It’s special. He’s a unique coach who brings energy, charisma, passion, knowledge of the game, experience at the level. It all comes out. And he wins everywhere. That’s why he wins. He’s proven it over and over.”

Chargers considered options on the No. 5 overall pick

During his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Hortiz also revealed how close the team was to trading the No. 5 overall pick.

“We had a couple calls, one probably on the clock or before the clock,” Hortiz said. “It was a great offer in terms of what they were offering. They weren’t trying to get up to five for cheap. But we felt where it would take us to just wouldn’t put us in a range of of players we really wanted to consider.

“The best move was to take Joe [Alt],” Hortiz continued. “We were all in on Joe. Everyone loved Joe. Everyone from myself, Jim [Harbaugh], all the scouts, all the coaches, John Spanos, we all were all in on Joe.”

Hortiz joined the Chargers this year after working in the Baltimore Ravens’ front office since 1998. He started as a personnel assistant and worked his way up to scout, director of college scouting and director of player personnel.

On3’s Brian Jones contributed to this report.