AFC Notes: Justin Herbert, Chargers, Chiefs, Jets

Chargers

Chargers QB Justin Herbert said he’s 75 percent recovered from his left shoulder injury and has not thrown since the end of last season.

“It’s a pretty long process,” he said of rehabilitation, per Lindsay Thiry. “Kind of expecting it to be a five- or six-month recovery and being on the lead shoulder, it’s kind of tough throwing and golfing and doing all those things that are kind of explosive movements.”

Chiefs

Chiefs GM Brett Veach said signing a linebacker this offseason was not a high priority for them, but they felt LB Drue Tranquill was too good to pass up on while having the same agent as former Chiefs and new Patriots WR JuJu Smith-Schuster made things easier. 

“I don’t know if we went into free agency saying linebacker was a super high priority – I think we probably focused on the O- and D-line, predominantly. But then as free agency goes, there’s always some guys that for some reason they’re just out there and they’re really good players and we just picked up communication because Drue Tranquill actually has the same agent as (Patriots WR) JuJu (Smith-Schuster),” said Veach, via ChiefsWire. 

Veach said Tranquill’s agent informed Kansas City that his client was still available after things didn’t work out on re-signing Smith-Schuster. 

“So when we were trying to work through that JuJu situation (and) once we congratulated JuJu’s crew and his team of agents, we we’re made aware that Drue Tranquill was still out there and having had a lot of experience playing against him (we) knew how good he was. (He’s) a guy that can play all three (linebacker) positions. He can play MIKE, he can wear the green dot and back up (Nick) Bolton, he can play some WILL and he can play some on the line of scrimmage. (He’s) a great blitzer (and) great in pass coverage.”

Jets

Jets’ new QB Aaron Rodgers said playing under OC Nathaniel Hackett was a “big reason” why he wanted to join New York. 

“A big reason I’m here is Nathaniel Hackett,” Rodgers said, via Ryan Dunleavy of the NY Post. “Hack and I became really close friends. I love him like a brother. And I believe in him.”

Hackett said they want to keep their system “tight” and typically would bounce ideas off of Rodgers during their time together in Green Bay. 

“There’s a lot of stuff we don’t want to mess up,” Hackett said. “We want to keep it as tight as we can, and if there’s tweaks here and there, we’ll talk about that and work through it. We see [the game] through the same lens. Even if I had ideas, I would always bounce them off him.”

Hackett admits there will be some “growing pains” in Rodgers’ first year. 

“Aaron runs things out on the field very uniquely,” Hackett said. “There’s a lot of things the guys are going to have to learn and get used to. Where that goes, I’m not sure, but I know there are going to be some growing pains.”