Special teams has been an issue for the LA Chargers this season. This comes as a surprise to many, as special team's coordinator Ryan Ficken revitalized the group years ago and has kept the group among the best in the league.
Some of the issues on special teams have been happenstance. After all, the Chargers weren't expecting their Pro Bowl-caliber long snapper to get hurt right before the season, forcing the team to sign someone who would retire two months later. There's no preparing for that.
The one thing the Chargers do control is the personnel on the special teams side of the ball. And for whatever reason, Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz have seemingly deprioritized special teams when making back-end roster decisions. These decisions seem small, but they can cost the team.
Harbaugh was asked about this on Wednesday after a trade deadline that saw the team trade one of its most prominent special teams players, Ja'Sir Taylor, for a 2028 seventh-round pick. The Chargers head coach didn't take the question as an opportunity to explain the team's reasoning. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to deflect as an ill-intended question.
Jim Harbaugh on if the personnel management on special teams has impacted the #Chargers performance in that phase: "That's not a noble, real question."
— Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) November 5, 2025
Jim Harbaugh doesn't take accountability for Chargers' special teams struggles
It would be one thing if the Chargers were struggling on special teams with a unit they believed in. This is a different situation. The Chargers have struggled on special teams and the team has only compounded those issues with various roster decisions.
Taylor isn't the first standout in the third phase to get let go. Earlier this year, the Chargers waived special teams ace Caleb Murphy to make room for the returning Khalil Mack. In the most predictable move possible, Murphy was claimed by a team that values special teams, the New England Patriots.
Murphy wasn't doing much on the defensive side of the ball so it may have seemed like a minor move at the time. However, neither is veteran Bud Dupree, who the Chargers opted to keep instead of Murphy once Mack returned.
The key difference between Murphy and Dupree, though, is that Murphy provided special teams value. Dupree doesn't even play in that phase. As such, the Chargers forced themselves to play Tuli Tuipulotu on special teams when his main focus should be on the defensive side of the ball.
The roster calculus hasn't added up and this was Harbaugh's chance to explain the reasoning behind those decisions. Instead, he decided to take offense to a completely fair question as if it was some kind of "gotcha" attempt.
It's unfortunate Harbaugh took this route instead of owning up, or at least explaining, the rationale behind these decisions.