Less than one week ago the entire future of the LA Chargers changed drastically as the team hired Jim Harbaugh to be the head coach. That was the first domino to fall with the vacant general manager opening being the next most obvious move.
It took less than a week for Harbaugh and the Chargers to land on a GM candidate. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Chargers are working towards hiring Baltimore Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz as the team's next general manager.
The move has not been made official at the time of writing this but Hortiz has been the favorite for several days. The Chargers have found their guy and it is someone who the fanbase can be excited about.
Chargers set to hire Joe Hortiz as general manager
The ties between Harbaugh and Jim Hortiz made him a strong favorite for the role as soon as the former was hired. Hortiz has spent many years in the Baltimore Ravens front office, where he has built a close relationship with John's brother, Jim.
Baltimore has been a beacon of consistency over the last two decades in the NFL. While the team only has one Super Bowl win in the last 20 years, there are very few teams that have had the overall success that Baltimore has had.
The Ravens have made the playoffs nine times in the last 14 seasons and have only had five losing seasons this entire century. Baltimore is fourth in total wins dating back to 2000, trailing only the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots.
Getting someone who has grown up in that Baltimore front office is a huge win for the Chargers. Los Angeles is looking to change the culture of the franchise and hiring someone from a cornerstone of the league will help accomplish that. Working in tandem with Harbaugh, Hortiz can absolutely bring the culture change that fans and ownership is waiting for.
It was not going to be hard for the Chargers to upgrade from Tom Telesco but with this hire, the Chargers made one of the biggest upgrades possible. Now it is time for Hortiz and Harbaugh to get to work and turn the Chargers back into a Super Bowl contender.