Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers ready for a week of bonding in Charlotte: ‘Let’s bring the board games’

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Jim Harbaugh’s focus is always on “the team, the team, the team,” as he has said repeatedly since February. And so the Los Angeles Chargers coach will never pass up an opportunity like this: Two Eastern Time road games back-to-back, and a viable reason to bring his players and staff together again in that hallowed place, the team hotel. .

The Chargers leave for Charlotte on Friday. They play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Chargers will then stay in Charlotte for the week, practicing at UNC Charlotte, before heading north for their Week 3 game at the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will spend nine days away from LA before returning the night of September 22nd.

“It’s not the most ideal thing,” Harbaugh admitted earlier this week.

It’s the body-clock reasoning. The Panthers game and the Steelers game start at 10am Pacific. And staying in Charlotte saves about 10 hours of travel time.

But make no mistake: The culture-building component of a week on the road is part of Harbaugh’s calculus.

“We can be all together again for a whole week, almost training camp,” Harbaugh said. “A definite team bond will be had in such an environment where we are all together.”

He added: “There’s no reason why we can’t have fun. Let’s bring the board games and the snacks.”

One board game that will make the trip is called Chameleon. It can be played by anywhere from three to eight players. One player is secretly designated as the Chameleon. A code word is also chosen. The other players must figure out who the Chameleon is before the Chameleon figures out the code word.

Like many of the bonding elements of this Chargers team, Chameleon’s genesis was in the team hotel. Receiver Simi Fehoko said he started bringing it to the hotel for the final three games of last season.

Kicker Cameron Dicker and quarterback Justin Herbert were the first to play with Fehoko. The offensive linemen then joined. Through the offseason and into the season, it became a locker room favorite.

“Greatest game ever invented,” said Fehoko.

“It’s a dope game,” linebacker Daiyan Henley added.

The Chargers had “a lot” of players staying at the team hotel during organized team activities in the spring, according to Henley. Training camp began on July 23, and all players were required to stay in the team hotel until the first preseason game. After the first preseason game, veterans had the option of staying elsewhere. But as Henley said, “It was guys in the team hotel who didn’t necessarily have to be in the hotel, who just wanted to do it, just wanted to fully embrace the culture and bond with the guys.”

“It’s a team that enjoys each other’s company,” Harbaugh said.

Herbert stayed in the team hotel during training camp, according to Henley.

“We all know what Herbert does, what he does,” Henley said of the Chargers’ $265 million franchise quarterback. “He doesn’t have to stay in the hotel, but that’s just the type of captain he is, and he just shows his leadership in ways like that all the time. He shows the way to be a leader.”

The Chargers moved into their new facility for the start of camp. Players moved up from Orange County and looked for new apartments and houses. The team hotel provided a place to stay during this transition. And that was a factor in so many players staying in the team hotel.

But not the only factor.

“It just shows where everybody’s head is at,” left tackle Rashawn Slater said. “Everyone has just invested in what we’ve got going on here.”

Harbaugh gets that out of players.

Henley remembers Harbaugh’s message early in the offseason: “To be a team, we have to be more than just a team when it comes to football. We have to be guys who want to be around each other when it’s off the field.”

“It’s about unity,” Henley said. “And no matter how business it is, he always reminds us that the connections we make with each other are just as important as winning a game.”

The former tends to feed the latter.

During the spring, at the team hotel in Orange County, the Chargers would play pickleball on rooftop courts, according to Fehoko. Dicker, Herbert and offensive tackle Foster Sarell rounded out the foursome.

“We’re getting close,” said Fehoko. “Really close.”

The teammates would get together on weekends, including regular trips to escape rooms. That continued after the move. Left tackle Rashawn Slater said the Chargers went to an escape room a few weeks ago during training camp. The leaders in the escape room, Slater said, were Herbert and right guard Trey Pipkins III.

“They are the most experienced,” Slater added.

Herbert would host Chargers at his house to play on his golf simulator and cook dinner, according to Fehoko.

Dicker hosts what the Chargers call “Wagyu Wednesdays.”

“He grabs steaks, invites everyone over to his house, and we all just eat,” Fehoko said.

If the time at the team hotel planted the seeds, the Chargers are now seeing the stems grow and flowers bloom.

Players new to the roster are starting to join. On Thursday night, tight end Will Dissly planned to host teammates for game night, according to Fehoko, who said he was bringing Chameleon.

“Even them,” Fehoko said of the new additions to the roster, “they just embrace it.”

Slater felt the team was coming together during the offseason. Harbaugh brought a new approach. So did executive director of player activity Ben Herbert.

Early in the process, Slater said all the Chargers had a similar reaction: “What the hell are we doing?”

“It’s a lot of change from what we’re used to in the NFL,” Slater said. “When coach Harbaugh came in and coach Herbert came in, it started in OTAs, we did a lot of things differently than we did before. And so I think everybody at first is shocked at the difference and then just like, ‘Well, you know what, we just get it,’ — that was a huge part of the connection.

“That experience of going through change together and going from, ‘What is this?’ totally buy in and just have fun with it.”

The trip to Charlotte will be a first in the NFL for Slater. He never stayed in town between games.

“It’s just an opportunity to be like, ‘Well, s—, we might as well have fun with it,'” Slater said. “It’s a really positive environment, and so we’re just going to attack it together.”

“Every day it’s something new,” cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. said. “Just gotta laugh, just be happy.”

It’s easy to see the camaraderie building.

Will it lead to victories? That remains to be seen.

But it started in the team hotel. And now, in Charlotte, it will continue in the team hotel.

“No matter who you are, what your status is, get to know everyone who’s here,” Henley said. “That’s something that’s become a staple for us.”

(Top photo of Jim Harbaugh and Bradley Bozeman: Ashley Landis/Associated Press)