Chargers News: Chargers hire Pep Hamilton, don’t be too excited

We received even more Los Angeles Chargers news in the aftermath of the 2020 NFL Draft as Daniel Popper of The Athletic reported that the team is hiring former DC Defenders head coach Pep Hamilton to be the quarterbacks’ coach in 2020.

It appeared that Charger fans took this Chargers news fondly. Gavino Borquez of The Chargers Wire said this “is great for Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert” with the Lightning Round Podcast tweeting that “might help flatten the learning curve”.

While Hamilton’s claim to fame is that he was the quarterbacks’ coach at Stanford for Andrew Luck and then was the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive coordinator, I do not think we should be getting that excited about Hamilton’s hiring.

Chargers News: Don’t get too excited about the Pep Hamilton hiring.

Could Pep Hamilton have a positive impact on Justin Herbert and Tyrod Taylor? Absolutely. At the end of the day, that kind of is his job. However, given his coaching history, I would not bank on it.

The first thing that I do not like about Hamilton is that he has not been able to lock down a job for a long tenure despite coaching for over 20 years. Sure, coaches bounce from place to place, but constantly filtering from team to team, from the pros to college, is usually not a great sign.

This will be Hamilton’s ninth organization/college since being hired as an offensive quality control coach for the New York Jets in 2003.

And while he was the quarterbacks’ coach for Luck and then was his offensive coordinator there is no way we can give him credit for Luck. I am sure he had some sort of impact on Luck, but that impact was likely small. Luck is arguably the most polished NFL prospect from the high school level on up that we have seen this century.

Hamilton was fired in his third season as the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, and while it was not all Hamilton’s fault, the offense was not good in his last season. He then was the assistant head coach and the quarterbacks’ coach in Cleveland when they went 1-15 and signed a four-year contract with Michigan.

Hamilton was out of Michigan after two years, and while they did not officially fire Hamilton, it was pretty clear that a change was made because of his input in the offense.

And then we go to the XFL, where the DC Defenders, despite being one of the best teams, had a total of 720 passing yards in five games. Sure, the quarterbacks were not great, but Hamilton did not do a good job at putting former Charger Cardale Jones in a position to succeed despite Jones being one of the more talented quarterbacks in the XFL.

Hamilton has the experience, that is for sure, and perhaps he could make a difference on Justin Herbert or Tyrod Taylor.

However, I just find it hard to buy in on this being a hiring that moves the needle in any way for the LA Chargers. While it might not hurt the team, I do not think this Chargers news necessarily adds anything to the team, either.