Chargers News: Where Jim Harbaugh Ranks In Preseason Coach Of The Year Odds

LA's new coach is now the winningest-active play caller in the league.

New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has emerged as the odds-on favorite to win Coach of the Year honors with the Bolts, per Dylan Svobida of The New York Post.

At present, DraftKings Sportsbook has allocated +550 odds to Harbaugh. Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is a distant betting runner-up, with +800 odds of netting the honor.

The optimism makes sense.

In 2024, Harbaugh will be replacing a relatively underwhelming head coach, Brandon Staley, on a team that boasts the single-best asset a 5-12 NFL club could have: a Pro Bowl-level quarterback on the cusp of his prime, Justin Herbert.

An aging Pro Bowl wide receiver (Keenan Allen) and a geriatric Pro Bowl linebacker (Khalil Mack) help anchor LA’s foundation elsewhere on the field. All told, it’s a good core, if not exactly a championship-caliber one, occupying an AFC West division alongside the literal reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. 

New general manager Joe Hortiz will have his work cut out for him, as the team is projected to be tens of millions of dollars over the NFL’s anticipated salary cap with several bloated contracts. Assuming LA makes savvy additions in free agency and via the draft, and Harbaugh coaches up a talented roster, it seems likely the Bolts will improve mightily on their 2023 record. Perhaps Harbaugh is in line for some hardware, after all.