According to the Associated Press on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Chargers have named Joe Hortiz of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as their new general manager. He has spent the last 26 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens organization. Hortiz was the Ravens’s personal assistant from 1998 to 2000, the Ravens’s professional scout in 2001 and 2002, the Ravens’s area scout from 2003 to 2005, the Ravens’s national scout from 2006 to 2008, the Ravens’s director of college scouting from 2009 to 2018, and the Ravens’s director of player personnel from 2019 to 2023.
During Hortiz’s time with the Ravens, Baltimore won two Super Bowls. The Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV on January 28, 2001, and the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013.
What is interesting about the Chargers offseason so far is that they hired a head coach before the general manager. Jim Harbaugh was named the Chargers new head coach on January 24. Hortiz takes over from Tom Telesco, who has since been named the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Hortiz also goes from working with one Harbaugh to another. While Hortiz was with the Ravens, John Harbaugh was the Ravens’s head coach since the 2008 NFL season.
Anyway you look at it, the Chargers need a healthy Justin Herbert in order to be successful. Los Angeles went 0-4 the last month of the season without their star quarterback. However, their defense was not much better either. In this time period, the Chargers defense gave up 114 points. In addition to his NFL experience, Hortiz was a graduate assistant coach with Auburn University for three years from 1995 to 1997.
